The UK based magazine, EVO, sat in the X6 M taking it for a ride and they begin with this question: Can a 547bhp M Division makeover turn the X6 into a more loveable car?

We’ll go ahead and take a look at their report….

“Let’s get the bad news over with first. This will leave plenty of space for the good news that must inevitably follow when you’re talking about a new BMW powered by a twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 with 547bhp and 502lb ft of torque and which accelerates to 62mph in 4.7sec and has a top speed of 171mph.

The bad news is that the above stats belong to the X6M, on paper the most wrong-headed idea BMW’s Motorsport division has had in its mostly glorious 37-year history. Indeed, it appears to be a flat contradiction of the thing that, at one time, it vowed it would never do: an SUV. (In fact it’s done two – there’s an X5M as well.) From this flows the other supposed M-badge no-nos: turbocharging, automatic transmission and four-wheel drive.

Then there’s the timing. Could there be a less opportune moment, as the world attempts to extricate itself from the worst recession for 50 years, to launch a monstrously powerful 2.4-ton leviathan clearly aimed at sticking one on the Cayenne Turbo S and Mercedes ML63 AMG? M Division boss Kay Segler says they aren’t rivals (for the coupe-themed X6M at least) but on price and performance they clearly are.

Continued here….

The X6 M is not a slightly upgrade over the 50i, but rather a fairly new vehicle, engineered by the talented people at Motorsport. While we didn’t have the possibility to time its 0-60mph performance, the fellows over at Straigthline are here to satisfy our curiosity.

In their track test, the BMW X6 M ran from 0 to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds, but that’s not all, the overall handling and dynamics managed to leave a positive impression on them. Let’s see what they have to say:

“When BMW introduced the idea of the SAV (Sport Activity Vehicle) with the original X5, we scoffed appropriately. Then we drove it and were shocked that the ungainly beast was not ungainly at all. Then BMW took it a bit further and rolled out the X6. It appeared even more useless, yet it, too, was a surprisingly entertaining drive.

BMW didn’t stop there, of course, as it rolled out Motorsport versions of both the X5 and the X6 earlier this year. There was no good reason for them to exist, but BMW went ahead and built them anyway. After testing the X6 M, we’re glad BMW took the time.

You see, this X6 is so fast that its odd looks, big sticker and pointless existence don’t really matter. You simply have to respect it for what it can do. And we’re not just talking about going fast in a straight line. It stops and turns amazingly well, too. It’s a triumph of engineering over design and marketing. Just take a look at the numbers if you don’t believe us.”

Full Article Continued

Since some of you might be reluctant to believe in the objectivity of the automobile magazines when it comes to these two controversial M models, we decided to go straight to a BMW owner that could share his personal opinion of the car. In this case, the BMW X6 M. SandmanTR from Xoutpost posted the following review:

“A bit of background history on me. When the X6 hit the market, I fell instantly in love with it. There was no question about it. But I do agree with most: You either love it or hate it.

As an X5 owner for quite some time, I was excited to see BMW create a coupe version of the SUV/SAV line so I was beside myself when BMW announced an ///M version for both of these great vehicles. We canceled our plans to order a MY2010 X6 and held on till someone (dealer) knew enough about the ///M version so we could place our order and start the waiting game for delivery.

We were struggling to get a call back from a handful of dealers and 2 weeks ago I found a So Cal dealer that just happened to have the “exact” config we wanted on the showroom floor with 6 miles on it and no test drives. More importantly, they actually called us back to set up a meet and greet. So away we went to see if we could put a deal together. Long story shot, we did…

…fast forward 2 weeks to today.

The vehicle is nothing short of AMAZING or M-AZING if you will. My office is about 14 miles from my house but I find myself driving about 35 to get to it and about the same on my way home. I just don’t want to stop driving her. It’s that BIG of a grin generator.

A couple of quick notes from my stand point:

Power – Low end torque and no turbo lag whatsoever. Can’t wait to try the launch control after 1200 miles. I’m truly amazed at what BMW accomplished with this engine.

Technology – The new iDrive with Top View Camera system is light years ahead of the old iDrive system and a welcome change. It’s fast and looks great!

Ride - Without the “M” button enabled, the ride is quite nice and smooth. With the “M” button mashed is usually where I choose to go and it rides like you think it would. Tight all around.

Seats – The sport seats work out very well for me. No discomfort at all and fit me extremely well for a guy that’s 6’4”.

Color – I’ve always been a sucker for Alpine White, nothing more to say on that topic. The interior is Bamboo/Black. It’s a great color combination.

Looks – It’s a head turner for sure. The X6M’s stance just looks mean as hell to me. It always has.

Exhaust – Without the “M” button mashed it’s pretty quiet but sounds great. With the “M” button mashed it just sounds mean. I’m at about 700 miles and I have noticed that the note is starting to change a bit. It’s getting deeper and is producing more bass.

For all the people out there that are on the fence about this purchase. Do it! You won’t regret it at all.”

We’re looking forward to more reviews in the upcoming weeks, including one of our own as soon as we take possession of the X6 M. We’ve already tested the car on track and it left us raving about it. Would we feel the same driving it in an urban environment? We’ll find out soon.

[Source: Xoutpost ]

Having tested ourselves the X6 M on a race track, we can identify with the thrill he’s experiencing in this video. The X6M was built to be driven by anyone and judging from the footage, Ian is doing a great job.

On a second thought, he’s actually pretty good at cornering and pushing the car to its limits….. now we’re just jealous and already looking forward to our next encounter with the car.

A quick recap, the BMW X6 M is powered by the S63B44 engine, a 4.4 liter V8 unit which uses an an amazingly engineered and of course patented, exhaust manifold. The powerplant produces 555 horsepower, five more ponies than the Cayenne Turbo S, and also an impressive 500 lb-ft of torque at only 1,500 rpm. Turbo lag? Very very minimal.

Special thanks to Ian James Poulter and Tom S. from BMWNA for this video!

[Source: Ian James Poulter Youtube Channel]

Well, with the first X5 M and X6 M cars arriving at the local dealerships, it was just a matter of time until a BMW owner will get his/her hands on the car and shared their own personal opinion. Ryan from Bimmerpost was kind to share with everyone some photos, videos and his take on the car he has just purchased.

Will he back up our story or are we truly guilty of “fanboyism”?

Impressions

Power – It was posted that the power was not that different than an X5, I couldn’t disagree more. I think that the power is simply outstanding, it’s instant, and frankly the hardest thing I have right now is learning how to apply it properly. It is a hell of a vehicle.

Suspension – My X5 seemed to give the rider more of the impression that they were “in between the wheels”, whereas the X6 M is quite springy right now. I am anticipating that this will settle down as the suspension breaks in. Also, the suspension is noticeably stiffer than my X5. In fact, I had to really get used to it and sit further forward so as to not agitate my back (I’m 6′6″ so it goes with the territory).

Seats – The seats are not as comfortable as the sport seats I had in my X5. I miss the arch of my old seats. I can feel the shoulder support is higher than in my X5, and I’m guessing that this is by design. Besides, I didn’t see a seat option so I figure it is what it is.

Technology – Sick. Just sick. Anything you coudl ever want.

Looks – The view from the front is absolutely incredible, the car looks like it’s about to take off into space. The view from the rear is not nearly as appealing IMHO (unless you’re looking at it from dead behind), but I guess the idea is that you will keep the vehicle moving forward in traffic that this won’t be an issue.

Crowd Reaction – It’s really amazing how many people have been smiling and waving to me in this car, it really does capture attention. I’m hoping that this is a good thing.

Paint – When I first started thinking about the X6M (having known nothing of M cars) I envisioned a really light blue color. The silverstone metallic is silver under direct sunlight, but turns a light blue in dimmer light. Absolutely spectacular color IMHO, probably a big reason why I bought the car on the spot.

While most of the test driving there took place on the track, we’re anxiously waiting to see how the car handles on the road.

The fellows at Car and Driver got their hands on a press car prototype and took it through a few test drives, from a drag race to a track and onto off-road.

Ironmein: We subject BMW’s latest M-spawned monster to a triathlon and find that 555 horsepower can change opinions about fat SUVs

Triathlon Event No. 1: Drag Racing

BMW swore that our X6 M was a burgundy cannonball in a straight line, so our first competition was run-whatcha-brung night at nearby Milan Dragway. This event held great appeal, inasmuch as almost nothing is required of the driver, apart from those long, hot waits in the staging lanes, where most racers place bags of ice on their intake manifolds and fiddle with hot Holleys and push their cars by hand so that the engines remain cool. Not us. We idled for 20 minutes at a crack, with the A/C blasting, seat fans at max blow, seat massagers silently unkinking thigh muscles, and Steve Tormé—Velvet Fog fils—singing “Straighten Up and Fly Right” out of 11 speakers surrounded by “Merino” leather, which perhaps comes from Miami dolphins.

Our X6 M was a prototype and wasn’t equipped with launch control, which will be standard on production models and will likely improve acceleration times by a couple 10ths. So, before each run, it was necessary to program the X6 M for take-no-prisoners mode. I first had to press the minuscule “M” button on the steering wheel that was programmed to disable most of the stability control, then up popped a menu on the nav screen on which I had to toggle through “Settings,” “M Drive,” “Power Sport,” and “Power Sport” again (because the only alternative is “Efficient,” which is not a term anyone would ever use to describe my driving). After all that, of course, I’d worked up quite a sweat, so I had a sip of cool iced tea stored in the center console and calmed my nerves by eating three tasty digestive biscuits.

Continue reading at Car and Driver

As far as pricing, the BMW X5 M has a base price of $85,400 while the X6 M is priced at $88,900. For those of you that missed our previous articles, here is a quick recap: BMW X5 M and X6 M are powered by a tuned up 4.4 liter V8 M engine delivering 555 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 500 lb-ft of torque from 1,500 to 5,650 rpm.

The engine uses the twin-scroll twin turbo technology with High Precision Direct Injection. By positioning the twin-scroll turbochargers together with the catalytic converters in the “V” section between the cylinders, it minimizes the turbo lag and offers better fuel efficiency. The M TwinPower Turbo V8 engine is matted to a 6-Speed Steptronic automatic transmission that offers three driving modes: Normal (D), Sport (S), and M-Sport.

The two Motorsport SAVs come equipped with Dynamic Performance Control, special M suspensions and Adaptive Drive, along with a new Servotronic power steering and Active Roll Stabilization system.

Both cars weigh around 5,300 lbs.

Top speed is limited to 155 mph, but we stopped at 143 mph, good enough for us….at least for now.

For more information on packages and ordering guide, see your local dealership.

It was just brought to our attention that the BMW X5 M/ X6 M minisites have been updated and beside the multitude of information and photos, the official BMW X5 M and X6 M catalouge is available for download.

While some of the information printed in this catalogue might not be an unknown to you, we still recommend you download it, just so you can see some new shots of these two M Sports Activity Vehicles photographed in a downtown scenery.

Digging deeper into these new BMW minisites, we could finally see the entire palette of colors offered by BMW on the X5 M and X6 M. Beside the now classic Alpine White, Space Gray or Black Sapphire colors, BMW introduces some new exterior paint options for these M SAVs : Melbourne Red and Monte Carlo Blue.

Since we like so much, we even took the time to capture some of these photos from the catalogue and we hope you will enjoy them. Of course, you can also download the full catalogue.

Those of you that would like to explore further the new BMW X6 M and X5 M, feel free to head over to their minisite.

The BMW X6 M international launch took place two weeks ago at Road Atlanta and your own favorite site, BMWBLOG, was there to get first hand experience of the new, but controversial, X6 M SAV. Despite the fact that our comprehensive review covered most of the X6 M angles, we would still like to share with you reviews from other auto media publications.

This week, the Aussie fellows at Carsguide.com posted their first impressions of the BMW X6 M. Has the first BMW M SAV met their expectations?

“The super-sized X5 and X6 M are SUVs, but that doesn’t stop them making a sub-six second sprint to 100km/h, hitting a top speed held back to 250km/h, and flaunting the sort of macho body bits that always move an M machine away from the BMW mainstream.

Cranking up to 240km/h down the back straight at Road Atlanta raceway, in a racer red X6 M, was the cement-solid proof that the oddly-styled SUV works better with an M makeover. We’ll have to wait for the X5 with M, but it promises similar stuff.

The X6 is still quirky, and compromised in the cabin, but the selfishness of a driver-focussed update reflects the original thinking behind what BMW calls its sports activity vehicle. And you don’t notice that there are only four seats, or that the rear window view is like peeking out of a letterbox, or that the body could have come from Korea.

Like every M machine, once you floor the throttle in the X6 M — and unleash a twin-turbo V8 that makes a romping 408 kiloWatts — the rest of the deal goes out the door.”

Article Continued

This year, the MotoGP race at the Sachsenring is the only round in this motorcycle road racing championship to be held in Germany. The organizers are expecting more than 200,000 motor sport fans to turn up during the racing weekend at the Grand Prix track which underwent extensive modernisation as recently as 2007. Visitors can already look forward to thrilling performances by the world’s best motorcycle pilots during the qualifying rounds, because similar to the world championship, the battle for the BMW M award will also be entering its decisive phase.

Currently, three riders are the favourites to win the BMW M Award 2009. Having taken the lead in qualifying points, Jorge Lorenzo from Spain (168 points) will be on the starting grid at the Sachsenring, followed by the current world champion Valentino Rossi from Italy (149) and Casey Stoner from Australia (142) who already achieved success in the two previous years.
The BMW M Award has been in existence since 2003. Every season, prior to the first qualifying round, the best test rider is determined, and following the final race, a second title is awarded to the qualifier with the most points obtained over the entire year. At the start of the season, Casey Stoner managed to achieve the best lap time at Jerez in Spain. At the end of the testing sessions he was presented with a BMW 135i Sauber Team Edition for his superior performance.

This world road racing championship, known as the MotoGP, is one of the most attractive and spectacular sport events worldwide. The current racing season comprises 17 rounds held on legendary tracks throughout the world. The “top echelon” of motorcycle sport features four-cylinder, four-stroke engines with a cubic capacity of up to 800 cc and a power output of more than 200 bhp. Depending on the route, the bikes reach top speeds of 320 km/h and more.
“With our involvement in these fascinating motor sport events we are able to reach a target group that is crucial for BMW – motorists who are also motorcyclists,” comments Thomas Schemera, head of Marketing and Sales at BMW M Automobile. “This motor sport offers fascination, emotionality, high-tech and internationality – aspects that are closely associated with the BMW brand. This is why we feel so at ease here.”

As a long-term associate partner of the MotoGP, the BMW M GmbH is not only marginally involved with the 3,670-metre long, high-speed racing track. BMW M GmbH safety cars contribute towards safety during the qualifying rounds and the race itself. This season, in addition to a BMW M6, the new BMW X6 M will also be deployed as an official safety car. Moreover, the organisational team will have further BMW and BMW M vehicles at its disposal, including a BMW M5 Touring for the safety director, a BMW M3 for the race director, a BMW X5 for the stewards as well as a BMW 330i Touring as a medical car. Furthermore, additional BMW X5 vehicles will be available for the VIP courtesy shuttle service.

[Source: BMW ]

The downside? The video is all in German, but we hope that won’t stop many of you to see past that and actually enjoy the X6 M on the race track. Oh and we believe that our 20% Germany based visitors will thanks us for it, in the end, we do have a global audience.

But that’s not here or there, we truly hope that you will enjoy seeing the BMW X6 M going through those sharp corners and see what it can really do. We had lots of fun with the car and we’ll gladly take it again on the race track….next stop….maybe Nurburgring.

Video after the jump

Associating the BMW X6 M with the Motorsport brand would implicitly mean driving the car on a race track and BMW has satisfied everyone’s desire: the International Media Launch of the BMW X6 M took place at Road Atlanta in Georgia.

The event started the night before when a team of BMW X6 M experts and product managers have joined the journalists for an informal session of Q&As. It’s always great to sit across the table from people that have worked on BMW products from their early stages and learn more about the concept behind these new models.

BMW X6 M is one of these new products that have generated both positive and negative reaction from the BMW consumers and understanding the idea behind the X6 M has been one of our goals at this event.

So why would BMW build their first all-wheel drive and turbocharged M car? Well, the general consensus among BMW’s experts is that the market was in need for an “Ultimate Sports Car in the Sports Activity Segment”.

Sounds vague so far? Sure, absolutely, but….digging deeper in the strategy behind the X6 M, we found out that indeed BMW is aiming at a market that is currently “less cluttered” and in need of a new challenge. So far, the unofficial players in this segment were the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, a $124,000 vehicle, and allegedly the Mercedes-Benz ML65 AMG. So tapping into this market with a super M SAV car at this point sound courageous but at the same time, a smart move. We will get to the bottom of this last statement shortly.

Exterior Design

This is an area where for the first time in a while, most of the people and journalists have agreed on: the BMW X6 M has without a doubt “the looks” of an M car. The overall exterior design has received positive feedback and we couldn’t agree more.

The X6 M features an aggressive front fascia with large air intakes and front airdam, as well as gills in the front fenders. At the rear, the X6 M stands out with its unique diffuser that shrouds dual exhaust tailpipes, a typical M brand design element.

The X6 M sits on run-flat tires – 275/40R20 in front and 315/35R20 in the rear – which fit on 20-inch M alloy wheels. The high performance and “good looking” brakes complete the wheels area.

Interior Design

Using as a starting point the BMW X6 interior, the Motorsport Division added their standard M design elements: M seats, an M leather steering wheel with shifting paddles and M launch button, M footrest, M logo on tachometer and M-color  stitching.  High quality materials from the BMW Individual catalog are found inside, along with Merino leather, brushed Aluminum Shadow and BMW Individual instrument panel with leather padding.

The X6 M received the M-specific Head-Up Display, an addition that proven to be quite useful during our super duper fast driving sessions. The X6 M also gets the new, hard-drive based iDrive system which is currently missing in the standard X6 model.

Backing up or parking the car has become a lot easier with BMW’s Rear View Camera which features the new Top View addition.

The interior space is still an issue for some people, mostly the rear sitting passengers, but that’s the price to pay for a rear coupe-like roofline and a four-seater arrangement. Up front the, the interior space and legroom is sufficient and comfortable, even for two 6″2-ish tall fellas like us.

Engine, Suspension, Transmission and Innovative Features

Without a doubt and even on paper, the BMW X6 M is THE most powerful SUV on the market, ooops…we meant SAV, don’t want to upset our dear German M engineers. The S63B44 engine represents the latest innovation coming out of the Motorsport Division steel gates. The 4.4 liter V8 engine uses an an amazingly engineered and of course patented, exhaust manifold. The dual twin-scroll turbochargers are positioned together with the catalytic converters in the “V” section between the two rows of cylinders. According to BMW engineers, compared to a typical V engine configuration, the cylinder heads have been reversed with the exhaust going towards the inside of the “V”. The cylinder head uses the same aluminum alloy as BMW’s diesels.

The two cylinders for each scroll are 180 degrees apart in firing order, yielding better performance and most important, very minimal turbo lag. The turbos also have two liquid-to-air intercoolers.

The engine produces 555 horsepower, five more ponies than the Cayenne Turbo S and also an impressive 500 lb-ft of torque at only 1,500 rpm.

Oh, as a fun fact, there is no oil dipstick in the X6 M which is being replaced by an electronic equivalent, so don’t look for it next time you’re going the old school of checking the oil level.

The M TwinPower Turbo V8 engine is matted to a 6-Speed Steptronic automatic transmission that offers three driving modes: Normal (D), Sport (S), and M-Sport. Shifting can also be done by using the shift paddles. To achieve faster shifting, the engine cuts the throttle and intentionally misfires one cylinder to reduce the torque load during shifting.

In automatic mode, the shifting is much smoother and fast enough to satisfy even the most pretentious BMW fans.

As one BMW engineer has said, the X6 M was built for the M-Sport model and we can attest to that.

The BMW X6 M uses the Dynamic Performance Control differential. The power distribution varies between the two rear wheels and the Dynamic Performance Control differential can transfer up to 1310 lb-ft of torque from one rear wheel to the other.

As explained further by the BMW M experts, the xDrive system provides more traction and rear-wheel drive characteristics.

Typical in an M car, the springs and bushings are stiffer than in the regular X6 model and BMW confirmed that it uses a two level Electronic Damping Control (EDC). With all the stability control features, the X6 M gives you that confidence needed when entering a sharp corner and slightly drifting that you might notice, it’s actually part of the plan.

The X6 M uses an M Servotronic Steering which is smooth and comfortable. To still get the M feeling and handling of an M car, the power assistance is reduced at higher speeds.

Driving Experience

Okay, you’ve made it so far, so stick with us a little bit longer and we will tell you all about the driving experience behind the wheel of one of the most powerful BMW’s out there.

Going back to drive a new M car right after the M Performance Driving School I attended two weeks ago, has put us in a privileged situation where one, we would be able to compare the X6 M more fair against the M cars and two, we’re far more experienced at driving an M vehicle on a race track.

So after doing the mandatory three laps behind a BMW pace car that quickly shows you the inside and outside of the two mile race track setup at Road Atlanta, we were on our way to finally answer the question of X6 M being a true Motorsport vehicle.

One of the concern we have had for a while was around the “overweight” figure that the X6 M sports. At 5,324 lb, the X6 M is far from being a a thin, agile athlete….at least on paper, but those concerns were quickly dissipated as we pushed the car more and more.

Going through the sharpest corners at fairly high speeds has not been just fun, but also safe and dynamic. The more we drove the car, the more comfortable we became behind the wheel of a 555 horsepower car or should we say …. a real M car? YES, the BMW X6 M handled itself as a true M car and has never given us the impression that we’re driving a an SAV model, at least from a handling and driving dynamics perspective.

The car displays tremendous capabilities and the work of BMW M experts can be seen in this model who have truly built a new M vehicle and not just an upgraded version of the standard X6. Cornering is just as fun as any other M car and this comes from someone that has intensively drove all the other M models in an 8-hour race track session just recently. The expected body roll from an SAV model is very well controlled by the Dynamic Stability Control and wheelspin was minimal to none, and mostly occurred due to a less experienced driver or not knowing the car enough.

Despite its large size, visible and weight wise, the BMW X6 M is easy to maneuver and could even become a choice for those less M-inclined customers, but who have always looked for more thrill from an SUV.

Now we all expect a BMW to do well in cornering and tight situations, right? Well, the X6 M performs quite amazing on straight lines as well, both with manual shifting and automatic. While manually shifting the paddles, we managed to squeeze a top speed of 135 mph, that’s 217 km/h for our European readers. Was that good enough for us? Nah, we expected more and we knew we can do better, especially after graduation the M school, so we switched to M-Sport mode and let the car do the shifting for us. After going through about 30 more laps, we finally reached our goal: 143 mph (230km/h).

Not impressed yet? What if we tell you that the straight line wasn’t really entirely straight, but rather combination of a couple of wide curves and uphill/downhill situations? Not bad at all, that was our general consensus, especially since the high speed was achieved on such short distance.

Now the X6 M can’t be all coated in sugar and honey, so we did have a little complaint to make: despite the large size of BMW’s high-performance brakes, the braking distance is definitely longer than in a smaller M vehicle. Even when slamming the brakes really hard, we didn’t get the same feedback we’ve received a couple of weeks ago from the M5 for example. We can already see the counter arguments flying our way, bigger car, larger wheels, more power….etc…but we still wanted to point it out.

So let’s check our findings against BMW’s definition of the X6 M: agility – checked, dynamics – checked, response – checked, feedback – almost checked.

After 30+ laps, we ended the test driving session with a smile on our face and we are finally able to answer those questions we posted at the beginning of the article – you still remember them, right?

YES, in our opinion and based on what we heard from other journalists, the BMW X6 M is a true Motorsport vehicle and eve the purist BMW fans should be proud to have the opportunity to experience something different without fearing that it diminishes the M brand. In the end, a successful car company should always be searching for new segments to tap in or simply, to create new ones.

If we were Porsche executives, we would fear that some of their customers might find the more powerful and affordable BMW X6 M as being a more valuable purchase.

Oh…and those of you that were worried to see turbocharged engines in the future M models, don’t be, they truly are great and innovative and if we were to blindly trust BMW with something, those would be the ENGINES.

Full Disclaimer: Our trip to International Media Launch was sponsored by BMW North America.

This has been one of the most awaited events of the year in the BMW community and one of the toughest challenges for the BMW Motorsport Division to prove everyone that indeed the Munich based automaker can built high performance M Sports Activity Vehicles.

Courtesy of BMW North America, BMWBLOG had the honor to attend this event and get first-hand experience with the BMW X6 M. And since we’re preparing for another interesting event hosted at the BMW Zentrum in Spartanburg, we would like to leave you with some teaser photos taken today.

But, as usual we will return with a comprehensive article on the X6 M and our first drive experience.

Journalists from all over the world have gathered in the sunny, warm Atlanta to attend the official launch of BMW’s first all-wheel drive M car, the BMW X6 M.

While we had the opportunity to see the car live at the NYC Auto Show, we have been eager even since then to drive the powerful X6 M.

Well, our patience paid off and tomorrow morning, we’re jumping into a brand new BMW X6 M and head down to Road Atlanta race track for the test drive event.

Exciting day ahead of us and we promise we will document each step of this new adventure and bring you the latest news.

Then on Wednesday, we are heading back to Spartanburg to tour the expansion of the BMW Manufacturing Plant, the home of the new X3.  And another surprise for you, we will receive a preview of one of the most controversial BMWs built in the last years: the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo.

We’re actually very excited to see the new 5 GT since it has been a car that has grown on us and we’re definitely looking forward to seeing it in person.

And as usual, you can follow us on Twitter.com/bmwblog for real time updates and also for more photos, on Facebook.com/bmwblog

Six BMW X6 M vehicles will be tagging along with the MotoGP European races while up to twelve VIP shuttles will be serving special VIP guests.

This past weekend, the BMW X6 M showed up on U.S. soil as a safety car at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix held at Laguna Seca raceway.

Sporting the M colors and logo all over its aggressive bodystyle, the X6 M looks better than ever. If the car drives as well as it looks, then we might have a winner here, but stay tuned on that, we will have our first X6 M driving impressions sometimes tomorrow.

So, it’s the X6 M everything we expect and more? It certainly seems so, according to Kamil the acceleration feel is very similar to the one of an M5, something that we were happy to hear. Shifting from first to second gear seems to be a bit jerky, but still quick enough for an automatic transmission.

As you might know by now, the 6-speed M Sports Automatic transmission is featured for the first time on a BMW M vehicle. There are two other modes available beside the regular Drive, Sport and M Manual. Gears can be manually shifted through the paddles located on the M steering wheel. The X6 M also features launch control which cannot be used for the first 1500 miles.

As far as the exterior, well, it’s pretty much as we said when we saw the car in New York, to many people it will look like a regular X6 from distance, but any true BMW fan will recognize it immediately, the super-duper aggressive front-end with large air intakes and the typical side vent, M gills and the exhaust with dual twin pipes.

These are some of the things we found interesting about the X6 M, but feel free to head over to his blog and read more about other features and interior design in this BMW X6 M.

While there was lots of controversy around this vehicle at the show as well, there were still many people in the attendance that embrace the idea of having a large BMW with M capabilities. On paper, the car reports an impressive performance, but BMW expect the X6 M to perform much better when released in the hands of their buyers.

In a conversation with Tom Plucinksy, Product & Technology Communications Manager, he spoke about his experience as a passenger in the X6 M and described it as being “impressive, amazing in corner and doesn’t feel that you’re riding in a car that weighs 4,894 lbs”.

At the Nurburgring racetrack, BMW X6 M has proven to be faster than the E46 M3 and finished a full lap in less than 8 minutes. BMW is proud of the performance they achieved in this car and they seem the X6 M and X5 M as opportunity to preview the performance that will be seen in the next M models, with the M5 being the first one to receive a twin-turbo engine.

The reverse flow technology implemented in this engine has been patented by BMW and we will see it in other future models as well.

With a price tag of $85,000-$89,000, the BMW X6 M becomes attractive for those of us looking for a high-performance car, without sacrificing space and comfort.

In our next article,  we will talk about the BMW X6 M design and our impression of the car.