The Latest BMW X6 M Competition ‘Stands out in a Crowd’

The 2024 BMW X6 M Competition

        Courtesy of BMW
      




    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    


  



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Any BMW M-branded vehicle given the Competition treatment promises a special driving experience. Offering the top performance packages available from the Munich-based motorworks, Competition branding means additional horsepower, ratcheted-up suspension, and a bit more visual flair.

An M-badge on a BMW means the vehicle passed through the company’s special tuning process, taking an already meticulously built car or SUV and adding more horsepower, tighter suspension and overall improved performance.

In the case of the latest BMW X6 M Competition, that extra oomph goes into a sizable vehicle designed to carry a gaggle of passengers and their collective stuff in comfort. It gives the buyer who doesn’t yet want to surrender to the limitations of SUV driving with a little more acceleration and torque.

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At any of its trim levels, the fashion-forward external aesthetics of the X6 challenge the driver’s eye. Described by the automaker as a “premium Sports Activity Coupe,” the machine looks like the traditional characteristics of multiple vehicles got together on a wild night of song, dance, and premium gas to mix their gene pools. It has the forward lines of a coupe. It’s got the four doors of a sedan. It’s big enough to be a full-size SUV. It has the tail end of a crossover or oversized hatchback. However the buyer sees it, it’s going to draw a serious amount of ogling—especially in its dark, brooding M-badged Competition form.

According to Rebecca Dalski, senior BMW product specialist, that attention is a primary consumer motivator.

“The X6 customers prefer a vehicle that stands out in a crowd,” Dalski says. “It reflects their personality. They look for balance in terms of performance, comfort, and handling—yet they want something that feels adventurous and offers highly contemporary design inside and out.”

That’s a fancy and understandably corporate way of saying the X6 has a unique look. Still, Competition certified M builds really sell to drivers who want that extra kick. Dalski insists that’s the theme with all of M Competition options.

Inside the X6, the driver finds the full suite of safety, comfort, and infotainment features expected in a BMW.

        Courtesy of BMW

“Every high-performance model from BMW M has a Competition variant in the lineup, either as an optional package or as standard—except for the M2 and the just-introduced M5 and M5 Touring,” she says. “This is purely a reflection of customer demand. If there is a demand for even more performance from our already high performing M models—even more power, even sharper handling, greater focus on track driving, etcetera—we will evaluate it.”

By way of satisfying that demand, the roughly US$130,000 X6 Competition packs a specially tuned, 4.4-liter V8 engine laying out 617 horsepower. An eight-speed transmission with a sport-shifting option sends that power to an all-wheel drive system. It’ll do 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds and sends out whispers of a top speed a tick north of 175 mph.

The in-dash curved display dominating the operator’s view stretches for more than 2 feet across the cabin.

        Courtesy of BMW

Since the X6 debuted at a special media track-driving event at the Circuit of the Americas in 2007, it got a little brawnier. The 2025 varietal is an inch longer, an inch wider, and less than half an inch taller. Those are slight adjustments to a vehicle that already feels big from behind the wheel.

Though its square-shouldered strutting threatens to push smaller cars out of the way so it can get about being fast and loud (if you make sure to kick up the Sport driving mode’s engine exhaust note and keep it locked in there), there’s still that refined Bavarian dancing ability in the X6 Competition’s DNA. It never feels as light as an M5 going around a corner, but the X6 M suffers surprisingly little under steer when taking a turn at speed.

The power hits the pavement efficiently, and the vehicle’s specially added speed often surprises those driving in the X6 Competition’s vicinity. The acceleration is not overly aggressive, but it is steady, focused, and ample.

“Power in the base X6 model has increased from 300 in 2008 to 375 today,” Dalski says. “Fuel efficiency has increased from 17 mpg combined to 24 mpg combined. The technology has evolved considerably in that time, from the introduction of mild-hybrid drive across the model range to the BMW Curved Display powered by BMW iDrive 8.5.”

Inside the X6, the driver finds the full suite of safety, comfort, and infotainment features expected in a BMW. The in-dash curved display dominating the operator’s view stretches for more than 2 feet across the cabin and includes a 12.3-inch digital screen connected to the car’s infotainment features. Though that screen is obviously touch-ready, it also heeds voice commands and hand gestures (the latter control, however, is still less reliable and remains a technology that hasn’t established itself as necessary or even desirable).

As for that challenging external styling the X6 brought to the BMW family, Dalski plays it up as a signature strength and a distinctive choice for the would-be adopter.

“What hasn’t changed since its introduction is the X6’s mission to provide distinctive, athletically elegant styling,” she says. “It has an aggressive stance and a dynamic driving experience that continues to set it apart from the ordinary. The overall effect is uniquely bold, dynamic, and expressive.”

Even in this era of endless debates over plug-in cars and automakers vacillating over whether they’ll transition entirely to electric vehicles anytime soon, Dalski sees no signs in sight that the desire for their enacted performance designs is waning. She believes there’s still untapped enthusiasm out there for power, speed, and fine engineering.

“There often seems to be an appetite for even more,” Dalski says. “We point to the success of the limited production M4 CS and M4 CSL models, which offer performance beyond even the Competition model.”