Autoworld Blog

The BMW X6 is not so much an SUV that drives like a sportscar as it is the physical manifestation of BMW telling the world that it can lift anything from the mundane and practical into a real driving machine.

While the X6’s driving character is impressive and can embarrass sporting sedans and even some hot hatches, there is something unnatural about the whole experience. I think it is because the X6 is too accomplished. It is too capable. No SUV can be this capable without attracting criticism because humans generally like their world perfect as long as they have something small to gripe about.

And so I embark on a journey to find something I don’t like about the X6. I have to find a flaw or else I will simply have to hate it.

I guess the worst thing about the X6, is that it is rather plain looking. I mean that in the sense of a female bodybuilder plain-looking.

The wide stance, fat tyres adn flared wheel arches all make the X6 look like the girl next door who happens to pump iron and have more sculpted abs than most boys on her street.

One local motoring journalist says that it looks like Proton Gen-2 on with a gland problem. I don’t really see it but the roofline does look similar to the Proton hatchback. That’s about as much complaint I can muster against this highly talented machine.

Like most SUV’s the X6 has to find extra room within the tightly hemmed in boundary that is defined by the laws of physics if it is to handle as well as a normal car and if BMW wants it to handle like a proper sporting car, then they had better start finding ways to bend the rules.

After much chanting and praying, God sent BMW the X-Drive, and boy what a fantastic system it is.

Mind you, there are other inlelligent all-wheel drive systems in the world such as the Quattro as found in VAG products, Mitsubishi adn Subaru both have really brainy all-wheel drive systems while Land Rover also have something impressive to show off but what makes the X-drive different is the way it responds to situations.

Audi’s quattro is all about pure grip in tricky situations, It can climb a steep icy slope without much problem.

Mitsubishi and Subaru developed their all-wheel drive system to be really good in rally stages and that means they are predictable and easy to manhandle at high speed but then again they are mostly fitted in low-slung cars.

BMW’s stint with Land Rover may have been short but there is no doubt that they develoed a deep understanding of how an all wheel drive system should work, but more importantly they learnt well how an all-wheel drive system should feel at speed.

When you push it hard, the nose will go wide for a moment , then you can feel the system stepping in by transferring power to the inside front and outside rear tyres. In fact you can see it happening on the dashboard display.

When the X-drive steps in, you feel like an invisible hand is pushing the front in and caning the rear to follow the lead. When you attack a series of bends, it’s like dancing.

The driver takes the lead and have to trust the X6 to follow, just like dancing you have to give time for your partner to respond and if you are both of the same mind, then the slight delay between lead and follow becomes part of the dance move.

Lift, brake turn, throttle, wide, wait, open,

Lift, brake turn, throttle, wide, wait, open,

Repeat.

While you practice those moves, chant slow-in, fast-out.

The mantra works like a charm with the X6.

The X6 needs power in corners to work so you have to brake early and enter corners at the correct speed, feather the throttle into corners and open it wide as the turn itself eases.

Driven like this, the X6 is loads of fun but at the back of your mind, you are worried that electronics may fail mid corner…

Like most good dancing couples, the lead, or in this case the driver must have confident moves that the X6 can respond to consistently. If you stumble and hesitate, the X6 will hesitate.

It’s beautiful. The X6 does not feel rigid and clinical, instead it feels alive as it responds to driver input, matching move for move and skill with skill, telling the driver exatly when it starts to run out of ideas. It is not often that the system runs out of ideas.

The X6 is the perfect car for someone who wants the high driving position of the SUV but is not willing toobey the laws of physics which rule that all tall vehicles should behave poorly in corners.

I told you that I bought BMW’s pitch hook line and sinker. It really is that good.

I hate the price tag though. but as BMW said, it is cheaper than a Porsche Cayenne S. I suppose that means that the X6 is good value for millionaires.

Oh well..

There is something magical about a small car with a big engine. I guess it is the simplicity of the idea that attracts us. There is nothing complicated about squeezing a big pulsating motor into a tight engine bay.

This is what the BMW 135i is all about, a simple idea executed well.

They started with a taut and balanced chassis and then put a big engine over the front axle. The approach is rather rustic and all that extra weight in front is a good formula for understeer but still they persist.

I am not quite sure what the weight balance is on the 135i coupe but it is probably front heavy, unless BMW decided to use extra heavy rear suspension bits just to balance it out.

With 320 horsepower on tap, the small coupeis understandably manic and eager to play but all that mass in front and a lot of power threatening to shred the rear tyres, is the 135i any good?

My turn in the car was on the Gua Musang Cameron Highlands highway stretch which offers a combination of fast flowing corners, tightening radius cliff huggers and a few short straight sections.

The good thing about having a lot of power on tap is that you do not have to rush yourself into corners,  just set the car up properly with the correct speed, turn in and choose your line carefully, let the chassis a moment to settle down ito the corner and feed the power in to balance the car’s attitude. That is the theory but can the 135i play along?

The first few turns are fast cosntant radius turns which can be taken at speeds far in excess of 100km/h but the uneven surface of the road means that caution is absolutely necessary.

With so much weight up front, I figured it is better to give it a bit of extra brake and and enter the corner at a slightly lower speed to give the front tyres more chance to bite into the turn. because of the extra mass, I was also careful not to turn too hard and start scrubbing the tyre shoulder and ruining the initial turn in.

After a few corners, it was apaprent that this is a good and safe approach for driving the 135i coupe hard.

Turn in is not as sharp as it is in the smaller engined 1-series but it is still quick and you can dial in a bit more aggression to get a more neutral attitude going into corners.

Once the chassis is settled in, you can then use the throttle to adust the car in corners with little or no steering input.

If you get a string of corners,  all you have to do is lift off between phases and maybe tap on the brake slightly to help with turn in, continue to feather the throttle and dance with the car.

The good thing about the 135i coupe is that the car’s neutral stance and predictable chassis work together with relatively low grip levels (and we are talking relative to the M3 here) give average drivers a peek beyond the limit at reasonably safe speeds.

You can hit a corner at 100km/h, flick the car into the turn, feel the tail drift out momentarily before the tyres dig in and hold their line. You can then open up the throttle and feel the rear drift out under power.

Hit a bump mid corner and the car will shift its line without really changing the direction of travel. It would skip to the outside of the turn but maintain the direction of travel.

With the usual array of electronic driver aids, it is easy for a 135 driver to get sloppy by entering corners too fast and taking liberties. Sure the car will still do its best to stay on the road but a blinking amber triangle and a suddenly asthmatic engine will be your punishment. When this happens, your dance into corners will become disjointed, spastic even and certainly not enjoyable.

The good thing about the 135i’s ESP or Electronic Stability Programme is that it allows gentle , controllable drifts in corners so drivers must learn to take advantage of this. The system must be convinced that you are in control before it allows the drift to continue and it evaluates your level of control through the stability of the car.

If you slam the throttle mid corner and the tail steps out in a violent fashion then the toy store is closed but if you feed power gently and grip is broken progresively, the system lets you ahve your fun. Obviously there is a limit to the angle of slip before the transistors decide that things are gettign too dicey.

In conclusion I say this Rm400K++ coupe is a great fun on any roads, in fact it is probably more fun than the M3. Don’t get me wrong, the M3 is very fast and very good but I have a feeling that it is far more talented that I am and that scares me a bit. A friedn who has driven the car on Seapng says that the limit arrives progressively and controllably but the limit is set very high.

T-E-A? Only if you are a geriatric or an Englishman

No, the real answer is in the photos here.

This one makes you grin ear to ear

Some engineer must have sold his soul to have the laws of physics bent here

This car is competent beyond most drivers and that makes it a scary beast

You must have some idea what we did in the tea capital of Malaysia by now…

We spent two days trying to blow as big a hole as we could in someone’s fuel expense account and guess what?

They wished we had tried harder.

Come back over the weekend and find out what we did

I am starting a new series called from the car, where I will post pictures taken while in the car. Our country is beautiful and even if you are too lazy to get out of the car, you can get some good pictures. These are taken on a drive to Cameron Highlands. It includes scenes along the North-South Expressway and the new Simpang Pulai- Gua Musang highway.

Pt1 - North-South Expressway

Pt2 Simpang Pulai-Gua Musang Highway

Pt3 Cameron Highlands

Pt4 Boh Plantation Sungai Palas