[DeTomaso] NPC: Weekend dose of Dan Neil motorjournalism

[Charles Engles]

Dear Forum,


                            This weekend Dan Neil reviews the  2015 BMW X6
M.     My apologies to any X6 M owners.

                            Excerpts follow:

                            “BMW X6 M: The Pointlessness Is the Point”


                         The 2015 BMW X6 M costs $109,995, as tested, and is
yet remarkably useless.   

                          Many who take a hard look at the X6 “sport
activity coupe,” as BMW calls it, cannot figure out what is and moreover why
it has sold about a quarter million units world-wide since 2008 and nearing
50,000 in the States.  What itch does this thing scratch?


                         Meanwhile, the X6 M is hilariously fast.  Last
month, an X6 orbited the Nurburgring’s

.(then follow an excellent
description of the drivetrain and suspension engineering and performance)
The net of it is a righteous, mechanically optimized tug at the tires’ four
honking contact patches: 0-60 snickers by in 4.0 seconds.  From there it’s
your proverbial rocket-propelled baby bison to an electronically limited top
speed of 155 mph, unless a buyer opts for the Driver’s Package (not
available in the U.S.), which deletes the speed limiter.  I want no part of
what comes next.

                        Outside, feh. I’m not feeling those wheel arch
clearances at all.  The X6 M’s hitched up rear quarters, the visual mass,
manages to dwarf even the 21-inch light alloy mega wheels.  And I will turn
away modestly from the front mud flaps, the flexible aero bits that hang
down below the grille in an incontinence of plastic.

                        There is also the vehicle’s YouTube-friendly vehicle
dynamics.  A staple, any, a cliché’ of car porn videos is the drift, when a
high-powered car spins its wheels and the driver swings the car’s rear end
through a corner like a pendulum, with full opposite-lock steering –the full
oppo.  BMW’s chassis engineers have developed special control algorithms for
more “dynamic flair” at the limit, the media materials say.  “Deactivating
DSC (through DSC off) gives the driver the chance to explore the vehicle’s
limits on the track and nudge it into power oversteer (i.e. a drift) using
the accelerator.  In this mode, the system will only intervene in extreme
situations involving significant shifts in lateral acceleration.”  Be a
better moron through science.


                   FWIW,   Chuck Engles




 
-------------- next part --------------
   Dear Forum,

                               This weekend Dan Neil reviews the  2015 BMW
   X6 M.     My apologies to any X6 M owners.

                               Excerpts follow:

                               "BMW X6 M: The Pointlessness Is the Point"

                            The 2015 BMW X6 M costs $109,995, as tested,
   and is yet remarkably useless.

                             Many who take a hard look at the X6 "sport
   activity coupe," as BMW calls it, cannot figure out what is and
   moreover why it has sold about a quarter million units world-wide since
   2008 and nearing 50,000 in the States.  What itch does this thing
   scratch?

                            Meanwhile, the X6 M is hilariously fast.  Last
   month, an X6 orbited the Nurburgring's.......(then follow an excellent
   description of the drivetrain and suspension engineering and
   performance)  The net of it is a righteous, mechanically optimized tug
   at the tires' four honking contact patches: 0-60 snickers by in 4.0
   seconds.  From there it's your proverbial rocket-propelled baby bison
   to an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph, unless a buyer opts
   for the Driver's Package (not available in the U.S.), which deletes the
   speed limiter.  I want no part of what comes next.

                           Outside, feh. I'm not feeling those wheel arch
   clearances at all.  The X6 M's hitched up rear quarters, the visual
   mass, manages to dwarf even the 21-inch light alloy mega wheels.  And I
   will turn away modestly from the front mud flaps, the flexible aero
   bits that hang down below the grille in an incontinence of plastic.

                           There is also the vehicle's YouTube-friendly
   vehicle dynamics.  A staple, any, a cliche' of car porn videos is the
   drift, when a high-powered car spins its wheels and the driver swings
   the car's rear end through a corner like a pendulum, with full
   opposite-lock steering -the full oppo.  BMW's chassis engineers have
   developed special control algorithms for more "dynamic flair" at the
   limit, the media materials say.  "Deactivating DSC (through DSC off)
   gives the driver the chance to explore the vehicle's limits on the
   track and nudge it into power oversteer (i.e. a drift) using the
   accelerator.  In this mode, the system will only intervene in extreme
   situations involving significant shifts in lateral acceleration."  Be a
   better moron through science.

                      FWIW,   Chuck Engles