Dial M to turn the wheels
The new BMW looks fabulous, goes like a dream and costs £80k, but you need a computing degree to drive it.
There are few cars that cook tarmac as well as those engineered in BMW’s “M” division, and the new £80,000 M6 is no exception. With a 500bhp V10 stuffed under the bonnet it’s been built to catapult you, plus three others, to 62mph in just 4.6 seconds and, if derestricted, on to 200mph.
Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Aston Martin and Ferrari should be very afraid because this is a sports coupe that accelerates, turns and stops better than many supercars.
Unlike those supercars, it doesn’t shout about its performance — only the bigger wheels, arches and quad pipes give the game away. Footballers will hate it. Brilliant.
So is it really better than a 911 or a Vantage? Well, yes, if you love your gadgets. You see in the Porsche and Aston all you have to do is turn a key to have fun whereas in the Beemer, with its “i-drive” operating system, you need to have a degree in IT to get the tyres turning.
And quite why you need to go through a menu to change the engine from 400 to 500 horsepower is beyond me.
For £80K, I want the full power at my disposal as soon as I clap eyes on the thing.
The price though, leads me to my biggest problem with the M6, its brother, the M5.
You see, this sibling may not be as light, and may not have a carbon fibre roof, but it does have the same awesome engine as the M6. And it’s twenty grand cheaper.