When the 2007 M6 is trucked to BMW showrooms next May, it will mark 20 years since the U.S. debut of the first M-division-massaged 6-series. Things have truly changed in those 20 years. Back then, an alien named ALF and four postmenopausal Golden Girls passed as TV entertainment for the masses, and 256 horsepower and a 0-to-60 time of 6.1 seconds were stimulating enough to land the first M6 on our July 1987 cover. Today, Toyota's large family car, the Avalon, has more horsepower than that first M6 and accelerates faster. So despite the Golden Girls' inexplicable survival in syndication, the world moved on and has arguably improved. And so, to keep up with the times, the second-ever M6 enters the present day with 500 horsepower and performance that would have crushed even the supercars of 1987.
Essentially a shortened, two-door version of the upcoming four-door M5, the M6 shares many of its internal organs with the M5. Foremost is the 500 horsepower V-10 created by BMW's M-division engineers who probably watch Formula 1 races religiously and don't enjoy shows about the perplexities confronting middle-aged women or, for that matter, visiting aliens. Even when zinged to the 8250-rpm redline, the 40-valve DOHC engine never feels stressed or wanting for anything, certainly not horsepower. Acceleration is fierce, and shifts from the seven-speed sequential manual gearbox (known as SMG and shared with the M5) are so brutally fast that you kind of feel guilty about those gears giving up their lives to shave that 10th of a second off your lap time. If you don't like the paddle shifter of the SMG, BMW will, almost begrudgingly, offer a traditional six-speed manual with obligatory clutch pedal and all, but about a year after launch for those who prefer to abuse gears in the traditional manner.
Keeping the M6 grounded is a chassis setup that is nearly identical to the M5's except for the tuning of the springs and dampers. Struts suspend the front wheels, and a multilink arrangement in back does its best to keep the rears out of arrears. Tire sizes mirror those of the M5: 255/40R-19s in front and wider 285/35R-19 rears putting the power to the ground. The M6s we drove at the Ascari racetrack in southern Spain wore Pirelli P Zero Corsa race tires—these soft tires (tread-wear rating of 60) are unlikely to make it onto production M6s. On the approximately three-mile circuit, the M6 displayed easy-to-explore limits that erred on the side of understeer. In slower corners, the front tires held on long enough to give way to full-throttle, tail-out antics, provided the stability control was completely disabled. The chewing-gum-in-the-hair Pirelli ringers certainly made the M6 less prone to power oversteer than the M5, which is shod with more conventional, longer-lasting Continental ContiSportContact 2s, which will be the standard tire on the M6.
With or without the gumball Pirellis, an M6 at 10/10ths is hard on its tires, despite the M division's attempt to rein in the weight. It's still heavy at an estimated 3900 pounds, but the clever M boys worked to move the center of gravity of the M6 inward and down to ease the stress of directional changes. The idea is to make the M6 behave less like a pendulum. Carbon-fiber composite is present in the front and rear bumpers as well as the roof. The weight saving from the carbon-fiber pieces is about 30 pounds, and the result is that the M6 feels smaller than the shadow it casts would indicate.
Fat is also trimmed from the wheels. Stunning five-spoke forged aluminum 19-inchers are used instead of the 10-spoke cast aluminum wheels that are on the M5. The forged wheels reduce weight at each corner by nearly four pounds. Behind the lighter wheels are the same brakes found on the M5. Large single-piston calipers clamp down on the rotors and retard speed—time and time again. For our track outing, the production brake pads were swapped for harder, more-fade-resistant pads that bit hard but made more noise than poseur owners would likely tolerate. Mercedes takes a slightly different approach with the brakes on its AMG cars, favoring a stiffer caliper with as many pistons as it can cram within the wheel. BMW achieves similar results with a simpler caliper.
The approach to braking isn't the only difference between the M6 and its obvious competition, the CLS55 AMG. With the Benz you get a luxurious four-seater with slingshot acceleration, and it's easy on the eyes. The M6, with its naturally aspirated, high-revving engine, doesn't have the laid-back nature of the Benz's supercharged V-8. The BMW V-10 is more involving and spirited than the AMG offering, and those characteristics extend to the rest of the car, from the SMG to the willing chassis to the angry-catfish exterior.
The M6 will do an acceptable impersonation of luxury, but its true purpose seems to be making the driver think he's F1 pilot Mark Webber. In seventh gear, the V-10 settles into the background, and you might think you're in the far more pedestrian 645Ci. But as soon as you mat the accelerator and the gearbox drops down three gears, the engine's wail will quickly remind you that this is no ordinary 6-series.
Still, we'd probably opt for the M5. The performance is nearly the same as that of the less practical M6, and it's just more outrageous to challenge 911s in a sedan than a coupe. Maybe that's why there has been a constant string of M5s since the wine-cooler era and this is only the second M6, ever.
2007 BMW M6
Vehicle type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door coupe
Estimated base price: $90,000
Engine type: DOHC 40-valve V-10, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 305 cu in, 4999cc
Power (SAE net): 500 bhp @ 7750 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 384 lb-ft @ 6100 rpm
Transmission: 7-speed manual with automated shifting and clutch
Wheelbase: 109.5 in
Length/width/height: 191.8/73.0/54.2 in
Curb weight: 3900 lb
Performance ratings (mfr's est):
Zero to 62 mph: 4.6 sec
Top speed (governor limited): 155 mph
Projected fuel economy (mfr's est):
European urban cycle: 10 mpg
extra-urban cycle: 23 mpg
combined: 16 mpg
WheelHQ.com carries all the BMW Wheels you need.
Essentially a shortened, two-door version of the upcoming four-door M5, the M6 shares many of its internal organs with the M5. Foremost is the 500 horsepower V-10 created by BMW's M-division engineers who probably watch Formula 1 races religiously and don't enjoy shows about the perplexities confronting middle-aged women or, for that matter, visiting aliens. Even when zinged to the 8250-rpm redline, the 40-valve DOHC engine never feels stressed or wanting for anything, certainly not horsepower. Acceleration is fierce, and shifts from the seven-speed sequential manual gearbox (known as SMG and shared with the M5) are so brutally fast that you kind of feel guilty about those gears giving up their lives to shave that 10th of a second off your lap time. If you don't like the paddle shifter of the SMG, BMW will, almost begrudgingly, offer a traditional six-speed manual with obligatory clutch pedal and all, but about a year after launch for those who prefer to abuse gears in the traditional manner.
Keeping the M6 grounded is a chassis setup that is nearly identical to the M5's except for the tuning of the springs and dampers. Struts suspend the front wheels, and a multilink arrangement in back does its best to keep the rears out of arrears. Tire sizes mirror those of the M5: 255/40R-19s in front and wider 285/35R-19 rears putting the power to the ground. The M6s we drove at the Ascari racetrack in southern Spain wore Pirelli P Zero Corsa race tires—these soft tires (tread-wear rating of 60) are unlikely to make it onto production M6s. On the approximately three-mile circuit, the M6 displayed easy-to-explore limits that erred on the side of understeer. In slower corners, the front tires held on long enough to give way to full-throttle, tail-out antics, provided the stability control was completely disabled. The chewing-gum-in-the-hair Pirelli ringers certainly made the M6 less prone to power oversteer than the M5, which is shod with more conventional, longer-lasting Continental ContiSportContact 2s, which will be the standard tire on the M6.
With or without the gumball Pirellis, an M6 at 10/10ths is hard on its tires, despite the M division's attempt to rein in the weight. It's still heavy at an estimated 3900 pounds, but the clever M boys worked to move the center of gravity of the M6 inward and down to ease the stress of directional changes. The idea is to make the M6 behave less like a pendulum. Carbon-fiber composite is present in the front and rear bumpers as well as the roof. The weight saving from the carbon-fiber pieces is about 30 pounds, and the result is that the M6 feels smaller than the shadow it casts would indicate.
Fat is also trimmed from the wheels. Stunning five-spoke forged aluminum 19-inchers are used instead of the 10-spoke cast aluminum wheels that are on the M5. The forged wheels reduce weight at each corner by nearly four pounds. Behind the lighter wheels are the same brakes found on the M5. Large single-piston calipers clamp down on the rotors and retard speed—time and time again. For our track outing, the production brake pads were swapped for harder, more-fade-resistant pads that bit hard but made more noise than poseur owners would likely tolerate. Mercedes takes a slightly different approach with the brakes on its AMG cars, favoring a stiffer caliper with as many pistons as it can cram within the wheel. BMW achieves similar results with a simpler caliper.
The approach to braking isn't the only difference between the M6 and its obvious competition, the CLS55 AMG. With the Benz you get a luxurious four-seater with slingshot acceleration, and it's easy on the eyes. The M6, with its naturally aspirated, high-revving engine, doesn't have the laid-back nature of the Benz's supercharged V-8. The BMW V-10 is more involving and spirited than the AMG offering, and those characteristics extend to the rest of the car, from the SMG to the willing chassis to the angry-catfish exterior.
The M6 will do an acceptable impersonation of luxury, but its true purpose seems to be making the driver think he's F1 pilot Mark Webber. In seventh gear, the V-10 settles into the background, and you might think you're in the far more pedestrian 645Ci. But as soon as you mat the accelerator and the gearbox drops down three gears, the engine's wail will quickly remind you that this is no ordinary 6-series.
Still, we'd probably opt for the M5. The performance is nearly the same as that of the less practical M6, and it's just more outrageous to challenge 911s in a sedan than a coupe. Maybe that's why there has been a constant string of M5s since the wine-cooler era and this is only the second M6, ever.
2007 BMW M6
Vehicle type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door coupe
Estimated base price: $90,000
Engine type: DOHC 40-valve V-10, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 305 cu in, 4999cc
Power (SAE net): 500 bhp @ 7750 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 384 lb-ft @ 6100 rpm
Transmission: 7-speed manual with automated shifting and clutch
Wheelbase: 109.5 in
Length/width/height: 191.8/73.0/54.2 in
Curb weight: 3900 lb
Performance ratings (mfr's est):
Zero to 62 mph: 4.6 sec
Top speed (governor limited): 155 mph
Projected fuel economy (mfr's est):
European urban cycle: 10 mpg
extra-urban cycle: 23 mpg
combined: 16 mpg
WheelHQ.com carries all the BMW Wheels you need.
Source: caranddriver
No comments:
Post a Comment