Top Cars

Billed as the world's first Sports Activity Coupé, the BMW X6 was shown as a concept car for the first time at the IAA in Frankfurt earlier this year. Now it's ready for the road and will go on sale in South Africa in the middle of 2008.Combining on-road performance and all terrain ability, with its low side window areas and a roofline dropping smoothly to the rear, the BMW X6 offers the proportions of a fully-fledged coupé. Inside, the new model — again in typical coupé style — provides enough space for the driver and front passengers as well as two further occupants at the rear.Yet, at the same time, enhanced ground clearance, flared wheel arches, four doors, a large rear lid as well as the high waistline all bear out a clear styling resemblance to the other models in the BMW X range.At launch, two models will be available, the BMW X6 xDrive35i and the BMW X6 xDrive35d, with a third model, the BMW X6 xDrive50i becoming available in early 2009. This will be the first BMW model range powered by twin-turbo engines exclusively.Displacing 4.4 litres, the V8 power unit in the xDrive50i allows a maximum output of 300kW throughout a range of engine speed from 5500 to 6400rpm. Engine torque reaches its peak of 600Nm throughout a speed range from 1750 to 4500rpm.The BMW X6 xDrive50i accelerates from 0–100km/h in 5.4 seconds. Top speed is 250km/h limited electronically. Average fuel consumption of the BMW X6 xDrive50i is 12.5 litres/100 km, while the CO2 rating is 299 grams per kilometre.
The second petrol-powered version of the BMW X6 boasts the most powerful straight-six within BMW's engine portfolio and will be available at the launch of the new BMW X6 in South Africa in the middle of next year. Maximum output of the engine featured in the BMW X6 xDrive35i is 225kW from an engine capacity of 3.0 litres.This power is maintained consistently between 5800 and 6250rpm by the 2007 World Engine of the Year, with maximum torque of 400Nm provided from 1300 to 5000rpm.Like the new V8 power unit, the engine in the BMW X6 xDrive35i offers BMW's exclusive combination of Twin Turbo technology and High Precision Injection.The BMW X6 xDrive35i accelerates from 0–100km/h in 6.7 seconds and boasts a top speed of 240km/h. At the same time, fuel consumption is 10.9 litres per 100km on the combined EU cycle.And xDrive35d gets the most powerful BMW diesel engine ever available in South Africa. The 3.0-litre straight-six diesel with Variable Twin Turbo (VTT) technology develops 210kW at 4400 rpm. With its all-aluminium crankcase, VTT turbocharging and third-generation common-rail fuel injection featuring piezo-injectors, the engine was built to combine power, performance and efficiency.Weighing 194 kg, this high-performance diesel is some 50kg lighter than an eight-cylinder with roughly the same output, accelerating the SAC to 100km/h in 6.9 seconds en route to a top speed of 236km/h. Average fuel consumption in the EU test cycle is 8.3 litres/100km.A range of features enhance efficiency on and around the engines. Brake Energy Regeneration, to mention one example, ensures intelligent management of the flow of energy concentrating the generation of electricity for the on-board network on the overrun and brake application phases. This serves to consistently charge the battery, without extracting power from the engine and, as a result, without using any of the energy provided by the fuel. As long as the engine is pulling the car, on the other hand, the alternator generally remains disconnected and not in use.Apart from efficiency in the generation of electric power, this also serves to provide more power for acceleration and thus for enjoying an even more dynamic style of motoring.
The efficiency of the BMW X6 is further optimised by on-demand control and activation of the engine’s ancillary units helping, inter alia, to reduce the power needed for the fuel and steering assistance pumps and thus again saving energy in the process.The drive belt for the a/c compressor, to present another example, comes with an independent clutch automatically disconnecting the compressor as soon as the driver switches off the air conditioning and thus reducing the drag forces generated by the compressor to a minimum.Power is transmitted on the BMW X6 in standard trim by a six-speed automatic transmission directly connected to the engine, incorporating a converter clutch operating largely without slip, and allowing precise choice of gears.The automatic transmission shifts gears either in response to the electronic gear selector lever or the gearshift paddles on the steering wheel. The shift pattern on the gear selector lever is the same as on a conventional automatic transmission, but with the selector level returning to its starting point after each gearshift.Transmission management is not mechanical, but rather goes through electrical signals. To activate the manual gear selection mode, all the driver has to do is press the selector lever to the left. Then you're able to shift gears in sequence by hand — either from the gear selector lever or through the gearshift paddles featured as standard on the steering wheel: Pulling one of the paddles out serves to shift up gears, pressing the paddle serves to shift down.Using this paddle gearshift, the driver is able to shift gears with maximum spontaneity in a manual mode. So whenever he operates one of the paddles, the transmission will shift immediately also from the automatic mode into manual gearshift.