| This is a first drive with a difference. The BMW X6 has been around for 12 months now, as a sportier alternative to the already-quite-sporty X5 SUV, and in that time it has certainly surprised a few people. In the same way that the original X5 handled like no-one believed an SUV could, the X6 demonstrated that you could make a car this size, height and mass but still cover ground as quickly and with as much pleasure as any respectable sports car.
But that's not quite the end of the story for the X6. It might well be the most unlikely M car ever, but the wizards at the BMW M division have taken it under their wing and decided to give it the full treatment.
The X6 in standard form is a remarkably focused device. The visual muscle has been taken to new levels here, not least thanks to the 20in wheels, body-coloured everything and air intakes at the front that would probably swallow other cars whole. There's a good reason for this though, because behind those flared nostrils lies a serious engine.
It's a 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8, as seen in the X6 xDrive50i and 750i, but here it's tweaked still further to deliver a frankly outrageous 555bhp and 680Nm of torque. That makes it the most powerful M car, and the first one to use twin turbos. That might go a little against that high-rev, naturally aspirated approach of existing M cars, but all that is forgotten once you fire it up.
Few production BMWs have ever sounded this raucous, and when you first prod the starter button and hear it turn over, it's hard not to take a deep breath. That's all from the peerless comfort of your classic BMW cabin of course. The chunkiness of the steering wheel and snugness of the seat means by now you've already forgotten that you're sitting in a 2.3-tonne beast.
Like the rest of the range, the X6M has the excellent six-speed automatic transmission, with three modes including paddleshift operation. Here it also has launch control: put it in the right mode, foot flat on the brake, raise the revs, and when you release the brake it blasts forward with the electronics hell-bent on delivering you to the horizon as quickly as possible.
And it does so with eye-watering success. The four-seater, almost five-metre-long semi-SUV will blast to 100kph in 4.7secs - that's a solitary tenth slower than the 414bhp M3. It's not just down to pure grip either, whatever the speed, the X6M ploughs forward with startling vim. The engine is remarkably flexible and makes very short work of hauling the X6M up to speed.
That's not the main party trick however, because the funniest part is when you carry that ridiculous speed through a bend. Somehow the mass is disguised as you pitch into a corner, and the sharpness of response and accuracy that is present in every good BMW is just as apparent. It has its limits of course, but you'll be lucky or mad if you ever get anywhere near discovering them. More than ever, the clever Dynamic Performance Control allows you to power out of bends with no signs of understeer, and convert that massive grunt into meaningful acceleration.
All these changes have failed to turn the X6M into a meaningless track weapon. It's still comfortable, has a pleasurable cabin and can manage four adults plus 570 litres of luggage. Admittedly, BMW is honest about the X6M being something of a car for the select few: around 40 customers in a peak year isn't much, and probably not a great surprise given the price tag. But what the X6M does is demonstrate without any doubt that a sports car doesn't need to be small, or have just two seats and no boot to be a riot to drive. Specs - Model: X6M
- Engine: 4.4-litre V8 twin-turbo
- Transmission: Six-speed auto
- Max power: 555bhp @ 6,000rpm
- Max torque: 680Nm @ 1,500rpm
- Top speed: 250kph
- 0-100kph: 4.7secs
- Price: Dh500,000 - 530,000
- Plus: Looks like an SUV, behaves like a sports car
- Minus: Looks 2,380kg In terms of dry weight, it's a sumo wrestler but it's as deft as a black-belt ninja
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