2013 BMW M6: When Power and Weight Fight, Who Wins? - Ignition Episode 24
On this episode of Ignition
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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.