It’s never a good day when your high-performance sports coupe’s lap time around Germany’s legendary Nurburgring is matched an SUV, unless you’re BMW and the SUV in question is the 2015 X6 M.
BMW has been heavily criticized for slapping an “M” badge on the X6 and its X5 sibling, but a test by Germany’s Sport Auto provided vindication. It found that the new version of the X6 M is just as fast as the outgoing M3 coupe.
Sport Auto is know for bringing new cars to the ‘Ring to record lap times, and it found that the 8:05 time clocked by the 2015 X6 M matched the last E92-series M3 coupe it tested.
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The E92 is well-loved by enthusiasts, so this could be coupe for the X6 M, which is viewed as a perversion of the BMW M brand by some. Others just can’t understand the squashed roof.
In addition to providing a counterpoint to all of that criticism, the 8:05 time would make the 2015 X6 M the fastest SUV at the Nurburging, beating the 2015 Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR’s estimated 8:14 lap time.
With a 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 under the hood, you’d expect the X6 M to turn in a fast time. That engine produces 567 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque, enough to launch this “Sport Activity Vehicle” to 62 mph in 4.2 seconds. Top speed is limited to 155 mph.
That stellar Nurburgring performance doesn’t upset the BMW hierarchy, though. Sport Auto also recently compared the E92 M3 to its replacement, the 2015 M4 coupe. The new Bimmer lapped the ‘Ring in a scorching 7:52.
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