BMW 6 Series vs Hyundai Elexio

What's the difference?

This isn't a car for everyone's tastes, but if you fit in to the buyer group that just doesn't really know what they want in a luxury car, it could be the perfect fit for your family. The 6 Series GT is a practical large prestige car, albeit one that will likely find very few buyers.

The Elexio doesn't really push any boundaries in terms of its exterior design, its powertrain, or its battery. It doesn't drive itself. It doesn't look like a spaceship. And apart from some interior quirks, it's all pretty familiar in the way it goes about its business.

And I think maybe that's the point. Maybe that's what people are really looking for. Because Hyundai says this will be its best-selling EV in the country. And on our short test, we can't find too many reasons to disagree.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with accommodation and meals provided.

Note: The author, Andrew Chesterton, is a co-owner of Smart As Media, a content agency and media distribution service with a number of automotive brands among its clients. When producing content for CarsGuide, he does so in accordance with the CarsGuide Editorial Guidelines and Code of Ethics, and the views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

There is no denying the 6 Series GT looks better than the old 5 Series GT. It isn't as frumpy, it looks more sporty, and to me it appears to have grown into its identity with more conviction than its predecessor.

That said, I don't necessarily like the look very much - it's a bit like a BMW X6 that has been rounded off a little and lowered down substantially. But I can appreciate some of the finer design aesthetics that it offers up: the frameless windows are a nice touch, and the swooping roofline looks smoother than a duck's back.

Other things like the active grille shutters and the air breathers ahead of the front doors are nice functional touches, and to my eye it lives up to BMW's hope of it looking "smooth but muscular". You can get the 630i with either the M Sport package, like you see here, or the more sedate Luxury Line, which is, well, more luxurious looking.

The M Sport styling and equipment package you see in the images here - with M aero kit and 19-inch wheels (ours had been upgraded to optional 20s) - help out with the athletic look of this very big vehicle.

It's huge in fact. The length of the 630i is 5091mm long, it measures 1902mm wide and sits at 1538mm tall, with a lengthy 3070mm wheelbase.

All that equates to a lot of room in the cabin, and what a sumptuous and delightful place it is to be - leather, wood and plush finishes abound.

I don't want to sound boring, but the thing I really like about the Elexio exterior package is there's nothing too challenging about it. Some of the Hyundai Ioniq cars can be a bit more polarising (and, in the case of the Ioniq 6, a lot more polarising) but there's none of that going on here.

It feels very clean, fairly timeless and like it's going to age pretty well. In short, it looks like a familiar family SUV with only really the full-width light bar, the cubed headlights and a bit of an architectural flourish at the rear three-quarter – which actually reminds me a bit of the Kia EV5 – giving it a more modern edge.

The wheels are 20 inches, there are only a handful of fairly predictable colours and it all just feels really familiar. But, as I mentioned, things do get a bit more out-there in the cabin.

Let's start with the good. I really like the fit and finish. It all feels very high quality and the materials used are lovely, including the velvet-like fabric in the door panels. I also like the square-edged steering wheel.

But the not so good? Now, the central screen looks great, but it controls everything – and I do mean everything. Apart from the steering-wheel controls, I couldn't locate a single physical button in the cabin.

Now, I said before that this is a bit like an X6, but it has heaps better interior space than that SUV.

As soon as you slide into the driver's seat, you feel like your inside a large car. The cabin space is plentiful, and there's an abundance of storage on offer, too: there's a split-lid armrest between the seats, a pair of cupholders, a phone storage nook with wireless charging, and big door pockets with bottle holsters.

In the back you have access to door pockets, a flip-down armrest with cupholders (that middle part of the seat can fold down completely to allow storage of longer items), and there's excellent room on offer. How many seats in the BMW 6 Series GT? Five - like, five full-size seats.

Because the roofline doesn't rake as sharply as a four-door 'coupe', headroom is excellent for adults (even of the 183cm variety, like myself), and legroom and toe room are equally very good. This is bigger in the back than a 5 Series, but maybe not as plush as a 7 Series… so I guess it makes sense numerically for its nomenclature.

Of course you get climate control in the front (and in the rear if you option it), and the materials are excellent. The media screen is tablet-style, proudly displaying 10.25 inches of high-def real estate that is both touch-capacitive and controllable by way of the central rotary controller with touchpad. And get this - you can even use gestures to control certain elements like volume, swiping and changing tracks… but you have to option that.

The fully digital instrument display is bordered by a set of incomplete dial rings, which is just odd. BMW, back yourself - your buyers can handle just having a digital screen in front of them, particularly when it's as good as this one.

This grandiose hatchback's boot is commodious - with the back seats in place it has a huge 610 litres of cargo capacity, which extends to 1800L with the 40/20/40 seats folded down using the quick release levers in the boot area.

There is no spare wheel (the BMW range is fitted with run-flat tyres) but it does have a secondary hidden storage area under the boot floor for hiding items or stowing wet gear, bathers/swimmers or muddy clothes.

For context, the X6 has 580L seats up, 1525L seats down.

At just over 4.6m long, just under 1.9m wide, and just under 1.7m tall, the Elexio fits snuggly between the smaller Kona Electric and Bigger Ioniq 5 among Hyundai's electric family. In family vehicle terms, it's marginally shorter than the brand's petrol and hybrid-powered Tucson.

But owing to the magic of EVs and their flat floors, the Elexio feels massively spacious in the backseat. I'm 175cm, and had no trouble getting comfortable behind my own driving position, with plenty of leg and headroom. 

Tech is pretty strong, too. There are twin wireless charging pads up front, a total five USB-C ports, and a household style plug (which car companies call Vehicle to Load) located in the boot.

There's storage in the doors and centre console, including a storage drawer, and cupholders up front and in the pulldown divider that deploys over the middle seat in the back.

But the weirdest thing is the driver screen, which is the only straight-ahead access the driver has to things like speed or navigation directions. It's a very cool 3D-effect display, but it utterly disappears if you're wearing polarised sunglasses. 

That's actually pretty common with all head-up displays, but they usually are projected above a traditional driver's binnacle. In the Elexio, it's the disappearing screen or nothing.

To be fair, the central screen also displays speed and crucial information, but I hate having to turn my head to look at it. It's my least-favourite thing about Teslas, and if you're wearing polarised sunglasses, the Elexio ends up feeling a lot like that.

I do love that there is an actual control to select Drive, Reverse or Park, and I adore the addition of a physical stop/start button, too.

There's also an auto-opening boot which reveals a 506-litre space with the rear seats in place, and 1540 litres with the 60/40 split rear seats folded flat. Keep in mind there's no spare tyre taking up space, though. You'll be leaning on the repair kit should you get a flat.

The Elexio arrives with just the one grade for now, the Elite, and the pricing is a bit weird. It lists at $61,990, but is actually being offered for significantly less than that at launch, with a special $59,990 drive-away deal in place until around the end of March.

There is a cheaper Elexio grade coming sometime in quarter two this year, and it will be $58,990. But I reckon you can expect a sharp drive-away deal there, too, at least at launch.

How does that stack up? I think we have to go on permanent pricing, rather than any special offers, and that puts the Elexio above its main rivals in the BYD Sealion 7 ($54,990 for the Premium), the Tesla Model Y ($58,900 for the Premium Rear-Wheel Drive) and the Xpeng G6 ($54,800 for the Standard Range). Though the cheaper Elexio variant will help to narrow that gap.

There are significantly cheaper electric SUVs that fall into the mid-size category, too. Like the Geely EX5 and Leapmotor C10, both of which are less than $50k on the road.

Anyway, for now the Elite arrives with 20-inch alloys, cube-style LED projector lights, an auto-opening boot and Hyundai’s Digital Key, which allows you and up to 14 other people to use their phone as the key.

Inside, there’s leather seating that’s powered for driver and passenger and heated and ventilated up front. There’s also dual-zone climate, twin wireless charging pads and a household-style power point to power your devices.

Where it gets really interesting, though, is with its cabin tech, which is seriously bleeding edge. The entire dash, from in front of the passenger to pretty much the edge of the steering wheel, is dominated by a 27-inch screen that actually gives the passenger more real estate than the driver.

It's impressive stuff, with high-res games for the passenger to play (including the super-sharp Space Invaders), but there's also wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, twin wireless charging pads, and a relatively small head-up display (only located within the binnacle) for the driver.

Under the bonnet of the 630i is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, which produces 190kW of power (at 6500rpm) and 400Nm of torque (from 1550-4400rpm). It uses an eight-speed automatic transmission, and is rear-wheel drive.

That may not seem a lot considering the size of this machine, but consider that some of the steamiest four-cylinder hot hatches have nearly the same outputs, and you realise this engine offers up a far-from slouched approach to propulsion.

The 640i xDrive has a 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbocharged engine with 250kW of power and 450Nm of torque. It gets the same eight-speed auto, but as the xDrive naming indicates, it's all-wheel drive.

But this is the one you'd prefer if you want to hit highway speed in a hurry - the 0-100km/h claim is 5.3 seconds, where the 630i takes a full second longer (6.3sec) according to the company.

There’s just the one powertrain on offer here — with a front-mounted electric motor, so front-wheel drive, that produces 160kW and 310Nm. That makes the Elexio feel spritely enough, but it’s no rocket ship.

BMW claims fuel use of 7.0 litres per 100 kilometres, and you'll need to use 95RON premium unleaded when you fill up.

On my trip with the car, I saw about 9.0L/100km across mostly high-speed driving - some freeway, some highway, some country back road touring, and quite a bit of corners and city stuff thrown in as well. I think that's pretty respectable.

What wasn't so great was the lack of premium fuel in some of the 'away from civilisation' places on my route home. Keep that in mind if planning your own GT long-distance cruise.

Delivering the driving power is an 88.1kWh LFP battery, which Hyundai says equates to a WLTP driving range of 546kms.

The Elexio’s E-GMP platform is a 400-volt architecture, which does limit DC fast charging to around 120kW – the Ioniq 5, for example, will charge in excess of 230kW. 

Hyundai says you’ll go from 10 to 80 per cent in around 38 minutes plugged into our fastest chargers. AC home charging is capped at 10kW.

I'll put this out there - if you like to drive, there are BMW models for less than this one that will put a much bigger smile on your face. Like, a 440i Gran Coupe, or even just a 330i sedan…

But if you're in BMW's target market - that being older executive buyers who want space and luxury as a priority over thrills at the wheel, you could do a lot worse.

That's because the 6 Series GT lopes along the highway without fuss - the engine easily coping with the demands of overtaking moves, the adjustable drive modes allowing a light steering and wafting suspension feel to wile away the kilometres.

There are 'Comfort' and 'Comfort Plus' modes, but the latter is a bit too spongy and can be boaty feeling. The Comfort setting is made for the highway.

It is actually pretty agile for its dimensions.

If you decide to deviate from the straight sections, you'll be able to explore a little bit of dynamic range, especially when you dial up the 'Sport' mode, which changes the damper settings, steering weight, throttle and transmission response, and even the digital dials in front of the driver to a more aggressive look.

Our car had the 'Integral Active Steering' setting, which is a variable ratio steering system that includes rear steering - that essentially helps make is more turnable in corners at highway speed, and easier to park at lower speeds. It's difficult to say whether the assistance is excellent or not short of driving a car without the tech, but to this tester it was hard to hide the size and weight (1835kg kerb weight) of the vehicle.

That isn't to say it's clumsy or lumbering - it is actually pretty agile for its dimensions, though it makes a lot more sense on long drives and coastal cruises than it does in the narrow and twisty alpine roads of the Snowy Mountains Highway that I tested it on.

There's good grip from the tyres, and strong response from the powertrain - but if it were my money, and I had to have a 6 Series for whatever reason, I'd be looking towards the 640i model, which has a thumping six-cylinder with 250kW/450Nm - certainly an engine that would be more at home in this car. Plus that model comes with AWD.

Ok, let's skip to the good part quickly. I really like the way the Elexio drives. Honestly, Hyundai (and, to be fair, Kia, Porsche, Polestar, Tesla, some German brands and Leapmotor with the new B10, amongst others I'm surely forgetting) are restoring my faith in how an EV can feel from behind the wheel.

It turns out they don't have to feel soft and saggy and come with a light sense of seasickness as standard. They can be engaging, connect you to the car and to the road below, and attack corners with some athleticism, too. 

And so it is with the Elexio, which – to be fair – has a spec sheet that reads a bit like a bedtime story, such is the lack of excitement in the numbers. A two-tonne-plus, front-wheel-drive family SUV that produces less power than a Toyota Camry doesn't exactly quicken the pulse.

And it's true that the flat-footed acceleration on offer won't knock your cap off (though it feels perfectly perky enough to get you up and moving). But the numbers don't tell the whole story here.

A sports car this ain't, but its driving nature perfectly suits the ethos of the car. The ride can feel a little harsh at times, but irons out most road imperfections to the point that you notice them, but they're not uncomfortable.

The steering is direct without being overly aggressive –though I prefer the sportiest setting with the heavier feel – and the body roll is minimal, too.

In fact, you can push the Elexio harder than you might think along twister roads, with plenty of confidence-inspiring stability and without too much complaint from the tyres. Because there's not a huge amount of power underfoot, and this is going to sound absolutely crazy, but it gave me (much-heavier) Mazda MX-5 vibes, in the sense that you can really feel like you're driving it without feeling like you're going to get yourself in too much trouble.

There’s a long list of safety stuff aboard the Elexio, including nine airbags and just about every active safety system you can imagine.

They seem better tuned than some of Hyundai's competitors too, without being too overzealous. That said, overspeed warnings remain an auto industry scourge.

Particularly clever is a system Hyundai calls 'Forward Collision-avoidance Assist 2', which shows just how far modern AEB (or autonomous emergency braking) systems have come. 

Once, and not so long ago, a vehicle could automatically apply the brakes if it sensed a collision ahead. Hyundai's system, though, not only works in both directions, but also detects pedestrians and cyclists as well as cars, and works when you're pulling out of a junction and it detects fast-moving oncoming traffic. It also detects traffic coming in either direction when you're travelling straight through an intersection, and when you're changing lanes.

The Hyundai Elexio wears a full five-star ANCAP safety rating, though one stamped 'tested in 2024'. The data was actually taken from the crash-test result of the related Kia EV5.

BMW runs a condition-based servicing plan, which means the car will tell you when it needs servicing. But you can rest assured it won't (theoretically) cost you much, with the brand's 'Service Inclusive' pack. It covers you for basic maintenance as and when required for five years/80,000km. According to BMW, that includes "annual vehicle checks, oil changes, all filters, spark plugs and labour costs for the duration of the package".

BMW offers a three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty plan, and you get the same cover for roadside assistance.

The Elexio is covered by Hyundai’s new seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, provided you service with Hyundai. If you don’t, then it's five years of coverage.

Service intervals are a pretty luxurious 24 months or 30,000kms, and Hyundai’s service plans will see you paying $779 at the two-year mark, and another $1118 at the four-year mark, which puts your annual cost at around $475.

I'd say that's about average, with the happily extended service intervals counterbalanced by slightly higher servicing costs than you might find with some competitors.