2017 BMW X6 Review
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Edmunds' Expert Review
- Powerful engines
- Agile dynamics
- Comfortable and quiet ride
- Top-quality interior with comfortable front seats and ample storage
- Small cargo area
- Poor rearward visibility
- Limited rear headroom
- rear seats don't recline
- Priced higher than many other luxury SUVs
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Vehicle overview
The 2017 BMW X6 has a lot of good qualities. Unlike most traditional SUVs, however, practicality isn't one of them. This is a personal vehicle, so it's not really a grocery-getter and it's really not a tow vehicle. Now that the SUV has supplanted the sedan as the default vehicle choice of a majority of Americans, it's no surprise that personal-style sport-utes are at the leading edge of design. But not everyone gets the idea.
To make sense of that statement, you need to have a look at this midsize luxury crossover's profile. Though the sloping rear roofline gives the X6 a distinctive, racy look from outside, it also cuts down on both available rear seat headroom and cargo capacity. Add a muscular, hunkered-down stance and the result is a sport-utility that's heavier on the sport than it is on the utility.
Just like a Porsche Cayenne or Range Rover Sport, the BMW X6 offers athletic handling that makes it fun to hustle down a winding stretch of road. The suspension also delivers a smoother ride than you might expect from an SUV with sporting pretensions.
Under the hood, the X6's standard 300-horsepower inline six-cylinder produces lively performance. And the available 445-horsepower 4.4-liter V8 is powerful enough to make the high-performance X6 M model (reviewed separately) seem superfluous.
Inside, the passenger cabin sports a handsome design and top-quality materials that give the space a decidedly upscale look. That said, you'll find the interior to be the source of the X6's compromised utility. For starters, the three-person backseat is really suitable only for two people of shorter stature because the roofline is low and the seats' center section is high. Finally you'll find significantly less cargo space than in the automaker's X5 SUV on which the X6 is based. Of course, if your soccer-mom days are behind you and you now spend your time largely in the company of adults, this might not matter.
If you're considering the BMW X6 but you find those shortcomings off-putting, you might look at boxier, more traditional vehicles with sporty personalities. Alternatives such as the Land Rover Range Rover Sport, Mercedes GLE-Class (formerly the M-Class) and Porsche Cayenne represent fun-to-drive choices with a measure of more interior utility. The all-wheel-drive Audi A7 is another possibility.
Such fine choices aside, if you like the looks of the 2017 BMW X6 and can live with its limitations, we think you'll find it to be a solid choice among midsize crossover SUVs because it drives like a BMW, which is kind of the point.
The list of standard safety features on the 2017 BMW X6 includes stability and traction control, antilock brakes, automatic brake drying (for enhanced wet-weather response), front-seat side airbags, side curtain airbags, and front and rear parking sensors. Also standard is the BMW Assist emergency communications system, which provides automatic crash notification, stolen vehicle recovery and on-demand roadside assistance.
Other safety features that are optional or standard, depending on the trim level, include blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, a forward collision warning and mitigation system with pedestrian detection, a rearview camera, side- and top-view parking cameras, and a night-vision system that's also able to detect pedestrians.
In Edmunds testing, an X6 xDrive35i with optional summer tires (all-season tires are standard on all models) came to a stop from 60 mph in 108 feet, which is a much shorter distance than other luxury SUVs achieved and even on pace with some high-performance sports cars.
Edmunds' Expert Rating
Driving
Hit the road in the 2017 BMW X6 and the first thing you'll notice is the authoritative acceleration provided by the 35i’s 300-horsepower six-cylinder engine. This engine also feels refined throughout its rev range and is nicely complemented by the smooth-shifting eight-speed automatic transmission.
If it's more thrust you're after, the xDrive50i model's 445-hp V8 should prove sufficiently satisfying, although it comes at a hefty price premium. This engine provides all the performance most people could ever want, along with an exhilarating exhaust note when pushed hard. Best of all, its prodigious power output is balanced with a level of refinement that the hyperactive high-performance BMW X6 M sorely lacks.
The X6's standard suspension produces an unruffled ride quality even over bad pavement. Dialing up the Comfort mode with the adjustable suspension produces a similar result. Switching the adjustable suspension to the firmer Sport mode improves handling thanks to firmer body control, though there's no escaping the fact that this is a large, heavy vehicle with a higher center of gravity than your average sport sedan. The steering feels precise but doesn't offer as much feedback as in competitors such as the Porsche Cayenne.
Interior
Slip inside the 2017 BMW X6 and you'll find front seats that are both comfortable and supportive, especially the available 20-way multicontour seats. Rear seats are distinctly less accommodating due to the lack of headroom caused by the sloping roofline. The center portion of the backseat is also not particularly useful — it's more of an uncomfortable hump between the two deeply contoured outboard seating positions. Oddly enough, the rear seats don't recline either. Finally, rear-seat ingress and egress are made more difficult by rear doors that don't open particularly wide and a low roofline that requires occupants to duck their heads on the way in and out.
As for the cabin environment itself, the X6's passenger space offers a stylish design set off by top-drawer materials and trim. The iDrive system's large 10.2-inch touchscreen is a useful improvement, and its control knob and touchpad are easier to use than ever before. That said, it can still take a little longer to do everyday tasks with iDrive than with competing infotainment systems.
When it comes time to haul plunder instead of passengers, the X6's cargo hold offers only 26.6 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats. Fold all three sections of the 40/20/40-split rear seatbacks down and you end up with 59.7 cubic feet of stowage. To put this last number into perspective, the Porsche Cayenne, which isn't exactly the poster child for practical crossovers, offers a total of 62.9 cubic feet.
2017 BMW X6 models
The 2017 BMW X6 is a midsize crossover that has been styled to resemble a sport coupe, although it has four doors and seating for five as standard. Unlike the BMW X5, it does not have an optional third-row seat. There are three primary models: the rear-wheel-drive sDrive35i and the all-wheel-drive xDrive35i and xDrive50i. The high-performance X6 M model is reviewed separately.