2013 BMW M6: When Power and Weight Fight, Who Wins? - Ignition Episode 24 - video Dailymotion

MotorTrend

On this episode of Ignition

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 This week on Ignition, the BMW M6

00:10 is fast like a speeding bullet, but heavy

00:13 like the man of steel.

00:14 So here is the M6 convertible.

00:22 It uses the same 4.4 liter twin turbo V8 as the M5.

00:27 It also makes the same power and uses the same seven speed twin

00:30 clutch transmission.

00:32 It gets the same suspension setup

00:33 with the rear subframe bolted directly to the body.

00:36 And it uses the same latest bits of technology,

00:39 including around view cameras and an automatic stop start.

00:42 So you have to wonder, with all this hardware borrowed

00:44 from the M5, can the M6 be just as fast?

00:47 You also get the same launch control

00:54 that you get in the M5, as clunky and unwieldy as it is.

00:58 To use it, you turn off stability control

01:00 by pressing and holding this button here

01:01 until you see DSC inactive.

01:04 Then you put the shifter in manual mode

01:05 by moving it over to the right.

01:07 Make sure it's on the harshest shift setting.

01:09 Now you're ready for launch control

01:11 if the guy next to you hasn't left a line yet,

01:13 which he might have.

01:14 To use it, lightly tap the brake with your left foot.

01:17 You don't want to slam it.

01:18 Just graze it with your left foot.

01:20 And then you push the shifter forward.

01:21 Once you see a checkered flag appear on the dash,

01:24 then you go flat on the gas.

01:25 And from at that point, while the engine's revving,

01:28 you can choose the revs with the cruise control.

01:30 You can change it by 100 RPM increments.

01:32 That's all kind of tedious and insane.

01:34 Let's face it.

01:35 The easiest way to do it is just to launch when the car says

01:38 it's good to go.

01:41 Gets you out of the hole with a little bit of wheel spin.

01:43 Chirps in the second.

01:44 0 to 60, 3.9 seconds.

01:50 And the quarter mile arrives just over 12 seconds.

01:54 It's a couple tenths slower than the M5,

02:00 but still a respectable performance

02:02 for a car that weighs 4,500 pounds.

02:05 And now for a 60 to 0 braking test.

02:07 We're on the steel rotors, but you can actually

02:09 get carbon ceramic rotors as an upgrade.

02:12 Let's see what these steel ones can do.

02:16 Our best stop from 60 was 105 feet.

02:19 As we begin the figure eight test in the M6,

02:27 there's a tendency when you start for the car

02:30 to push as you enter a corner.

02:33 That tendency changes, though, as the tires heat up.

02:36 It's interesting.

02:37 The car has two very different handling characteristics

02:41 depending on the heat of the tires.

02:43 When they're cold, they push.

02:45 When they warm up, the whole car becomes

02:47 this oversteering machine.

02:50 The rest of the car, though, is capable,

02:55 if not the most exciting.

02:56 You have to be very careful with throttle on corner exit

03:00 or else you get these big sideways movements, which

03:04 are fun, but not fast.

03:08 This car definitely has high limits.

03:12 It put down a very good lap time,

03:15 and it seemed to take well to extended periods

03:19 of aggressive driving, even big sideways whoopsies like that.

03:23 Not completely in love with it, though.

03:30 I can respect it, but I don't desire it.

03:41 So the M6, I don't know what it is about the Germans,

03:46 but lately all it seems they want to do

03:49 is just make their own interpretation

03:51 of the Chevy Corvette.

03:52 That's what this feels like with that massive long hood

03:56 and that twin turbo V8 underneath it.

03:59 That engine, by the way, just makes incredible power

04:02 delivery.

04:03 You have 500 pound feet of torque from 1,500 RPM

04:07 all the way to 5,750 RPM, where at that point,

04:11 peak power comes in.

04:12 You have 560 horsepower until 7,000 RPM.

04:18 And when you finally find a straight

04:20 where you can give it the go, that power just

04:24 is unrelenting.

04:25 In terms of handling, the M6 isn't

04:31 a car that likes to be driven hard down a mountain road.

04:34 It's much more adept at being guided by smooth hands.

04:39 That may seem odd with the M part of the M6 name,

04:43 but that's where we're at with modern BMWs.

04:46 And I'll tell you what, you can enjoy it a lot more

04:49 if you just drive smoothly.

04:51 This is a talkative steering wheel.

04:53 It's telling you a lot more.

04:55 It might be even a little bit more communicative than it was

04:58 in the M5.

04:59 Before I forget, this is the new M steering wheel.

05:03 And there's not much to complain about with it.

05:06 It works just fine, nice, thick bolstering.

05:09 And it gives you a great feel of the road.

05:12 Shift paddles work well.

05:14 The font on the digital gauges looks a little bit oversized.

05:18 I mean, it's easy to see, but it's

05:20 kind of like looking at your grandparents' computer screen.

05:23 Everything is plus size, so you can't miss it no matter what.

05:27 Something we seldom touch on this show

05:29 is comfort, because we're always driving crazy fast sports

05:33 cars.

05:34 But I'm really impressed at how smoothly and comfortably

05:38 this M6 goes down a road.

05:40 And again, that's something that's also

05:42 at odds with the M name.

05:44 But here we are.

05:46 This is an incredibly capable performance car

05:49 that can go down a road quite nicely.

05:51 You don't feel that hard edge of performance

05:55 as you're going down the freeway on the commute.

05:57 This is comfortable in a ways that you'd never

06:00 expect from a 560-horsepower sports convertible.

06:04 It's like the M5 in that regard.

06:06 I'd have a tough time choosing this over an M5,

06:10 because the only logic that really gets you there

06:12 is you just want a car without a roof.

06:14 Well, if you want a sports car without a roof for a little bit

06:16 over $100,000, it kind of might make sense

06:20 to get a 911 Cabriolet.

06:22 The M6 is a tough car to place in the automotive landscape.

06:26 I mean, you can respect it, sure.

06:27 It's a 4,500-pound car that goes like stink

06:30 and rides very comfortably when you want it to.

06:34 But while you can respect it, it's a hard car to desire.

06:39 Yes, it's big.

06:39 And yes, it's heavy.

06:41 And here's the part where I would normally say but

06:43 and give some reason why I don't mind, yet I don't have anything.

06:47 The M6 excels as an engineering exercise.

06:50 Making a car that's incredibly heavy as well as incredibly fast

06:53 is a remarkable feat.

06:54 And while it's easy to respect the M6's capabilities,

06:58 it's difficult to get excited about another 4,500-pound sports

07:01 car.

07:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]

07:30 You only get a set number of launches

07:33 before you have to drive the car a certain distance.

07:36 How many launches that is, what the distance is you have to drive,

07:40 BMW doesn't really tell you.

07:42 So that means in between runs, you

07:43 have to drive up and down the drag strip in order

07:46 to get launch control back.

07:48 Smooth move.

2013 BMW M6: When Power and Weight Fight, Who Wins? - Ignition Episode 24

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