BMW M6 2008 News

With the 2014 Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG now offering as much as 430kW in ‘S-Model’ trim, the 412kW of the BMW M5 is starting to look a little feeble, at least in terms of bragging rights (we doubt most owners would be able to tell the difference). To rectify the issue, BMW is planning an upgrade for the M5, which Car and Driver is reporting will boost output to 423kW. The upgrade will likely arrive as a Competition Package and is said to be developed for both the M5 and M6. Being part of a Competition Package, expect a host of other upgrades including new wheels, brakes and tires. Revised suspension and a number of minor aero tweaks are also likely. Cars fitted with the Competition Package are expected to deliver 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) times around 0.1 of a second quicker than those with the current 412kW rating. This could mean 0-100km/h in 4.2 seconds for local models. For those at home counting, that’s still 0.6s behind the new all-wheel-drive E 63 AMG S-Model available in left-hand drive markets. Look for the M5 and M6 Competition Package to be offered overseas by the mid-year, while the option is yet to be confirmed for Australian models. "We would absolutely be interested if such a package proves suitable for our market, but cannot confirm any M5 or M6 performance boosts at this stage", BMW Australia's Corporate Communications boss Lenore Fletcher said. "Australia has the highest per-capita takeup rate of BMW performance variants in the world." Ms Fletcher suggested the package could join the range when the M5 and M6 range is refreshed locally in the fourth quarter of this year.  Note, the power wars aren’t likely to end there. Audi’s RS 6/RS 7 duo is tipped to receive their own ‘Plus’ upgrades that could see output reach as much as  447kW. However, no official word of their release has been mentioned.  

The M-enhanced version of BMW’s svelte 6-Series Gran Coupe has been one of the worst kept secrets of the year, with barely disguised prototypes, teasers and official comments all making it obvious a new M car was in the works. Now, BMW has finally revealed its new 2014 M6 Gran Coupe, ahead of a sales launch early next summer. Like the latest versions of the M5 and M6 coupe and convertible duo, with which it shares a platform, the M6 Gran Coupe follows a familiar path of performance tuning. Up front is a twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V-8 engine rated at 412 kilowatts and 678 newton-meters of torque. Power is sent rearward, first to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and then to a unique limited-slip differential before reaching the rear wheels. The special differential, dubbed the Active M Differential, is an electronically controlled multi-plate limited-slip differential programmed to optimise traction, stability and sporting character. The locking force within the differential is varied continuously between 0 and 100 per cent. In addition to the data provided by the car’s electronic stability control system, the Active M Differential’s control unit also takes into account the position of the accelerator pedal, the rotational speed of the wheels and the car’s yaw rate. Every driving situation is therefore analysed so that any loss of traction on one side of the car is identified early and the degree of axle lock adjusted as required. The engine, too, is a marvel of engineering. It produces about 10 per cent more output than the old M V-10, but the real story is torque, which is up 30 per cent and delivers its peak rating from 1,500 all the way up to 5,750 rpm. The rev-limiter is set at 7,200. The key to the engine’s prowess is a pair of turbochargers nestled in the V between the two cylinder banks in a reverse-flow layout. This layout results in an unusually compact engine where the intake is moved outboard and the exhaust inboard. The lengths of intake and exhaust tracts are also shorter, helping to reduce pressure losses. The engine is also aided by direct fuel injection, a relatively high fuel to air compression ratio of 10:1 and BMW’s Valvetronic valve timing technology. Other performance specs of the latest M car include aluminium-intensive suspension, reinforced chassis mountings, electronically-controlled shock absorbers, speed-sensitive hydraulic power steering and M-specific stability, anti-lock braking and transmission programming. At its peak, the M6 Gran Coupe will rocket to 97 km/h from rest in just 4.1 seconds and easily reach its electronically-limited top speed of 250 km/h. To bring it back to rest, the car gets massive 15.7-inch brake discs up front and 15.6-inch discs at the rear. These are composed of steel and aluminium and are gripped by six-piston fixed callipers painted blue metallic and featuring the M logo. They’re housed within a unique set of 20-inch forged wheels.  

It has announced the end of its evocative, high-revving V10 engine and its M6 coupe and convertibles.  Once the revered powerplant of the M5, the 5-litre 373kW V10 is being chopped to rationalise - and economise - BMW's engine range. In its place comes a version of the X5M and X6M bi-turbo 4.4-litre V8 which, in the X5M, delivers 408kW/680Nm.  BMW Australia says the V10 - which pumps out its maximum power at 7750rpm with a redline peak of 8250rpm - is already out of production. The 6-Series coupe and convertible in M-spec are also finishing up and, as yet, there's no hint of a replacement.  BMW Australia spokesman Piers Scott says there's a new 6-Series poised for launch early next year. "That will come to Australian showrooms by mid-2011," he says.  "The first of the new 6 models will be the convertible and the coupe will follow later in the year." Mr Scott says there's no timing or details of a new M6 "at this stage".  Insiders say the all-new 6 presents a softer look than the current model, translating to the more feminine lines of the new Z4 compared with its previous, harder-edged model. BMW has previously stated that the design moves to temper the more aggressive lines is aimed at broadening its appeal. That is, more appealing to women. It is likely the next 6-Series may pick up some technology from the outgoing M6, including the carbon-fibre roof and bumper.  With its new models planned for 2011, BMW has left room at the end of the year for the M5. "The new M5 launches internationally towards the end of next year, and is likely to get a turbocharged V8," Mr Scott says.  It is expected to get a tweaked bi-turbo V8 version as it also downsteps in cylinder numbers from the V10. BMW has globally sold 14,152 units of the M6 Coupe and M6 Convertible. Since its launch in 2005, 9087 Coupes were built compared with the 2006 introduction of the Convertible that sold 5065 units. BMW reported that for two years in succession - 2005 and 2006 - the V10 won the international Engine of the Year Award and in the two years that followed, achieved first place on each occasion in the category for engines with displacement above 4-litres.

While Andretti's comments were motor racing-related they conversely were relevant to road car technology. Sitting in the lagoon restaurant of the Marriott Hotel at Surfers Paradise, Andretti was having a good old natter about whether driving skill has been taken away in this age of electronic overload. “I look at the computer as a tool and I've said it a thousand times, a tool to advance your knowledge.” The 1978 F1 world champion qualified his opinion by saying “a computer does not do the work for you — it gives you information. “But you have to ask the computer what you want to know therefore it's not a substitute for what you know.” That conversation was recalled when a letter to the editor in an issue of Forbes magazine in March appeared where a reader proclaimed his horror at electronic advances in cars. He wrote: “Allowing software unfettered control of our automobiles removes one of our chief assets; human decision making.” Well thanks for coming and don't mind us because for all the fancy pants technology there isn't a car you can buy that does the driving for you. The letter writer suggested if a child stood in the middle of the road and a car was programmed not to swerve into another car then it may instead swerve towards the child and put it at risk of being run over. One car which ranks as a gold medallist in terms of electronic wizardry, if not complexity, is BMW's M6 convertible. For $296,000 there are a trillion things you can program it to do — but you can't program it to run over a human. The M6 soft top possesses the same complex and sometimes awkward SMG Drivelogic 7-speed transmission attached to the 5-litre V10 engine as the hell-raising M5. But the real trickery is in the spider's web framework of M car's software. The driver has an arsenal of tricks from which to chose, depending on mood, road conditions or whether you can hire a track for a day to let the full complement of the M6's considerable athletic juices flow. There are a welter of different settings to suit your taste with the EDC (Electronic Damper Control) smoothing, or firming, ride in three distinct settings. The SMG gearbox is good for 11 different driving programs — six for manual S mode and five in automatic or D mode. Most are plain useless and make you wonder why BMW don't simplify the whole deal and cut the number of settings to normal, sporty, and hyper performance, for example. In sequential mode, the pure driving program is position six and this can only be activated if Dynamic Stability Control is switched off. The magic button to cut all the nonsensical steps you have to take to personalise the settings is M on the steering wheel. Press M (the “magic button”) and it lights everything up like a pinball machine. It gives you an instant extra 100bhp to lift maximum grunt to a neat 500bhp or 373kW, it firms up the dampers to their hardest setting and it gives you the maximum position of the Drivelogic gearbox. Whammo, everything is instantly maxxed out for a red-hot launch. All this smart-alec stuff is no gimmick. The personna of the M6 softtop changes from a little old woman shuffling down the street to a manic pole dancer on an endless prescription of No-Doz. Trying to convey the extent of the grip levels, the integrity of the rebound damping and the quality of the meaty steering feel of this convertible in words seems impossible. You need to taste the real thing to fully understand how the ragtop M6 can transfer all of its considerable energy on to the road with prodigious ease. In fact the dare is to find a road where you can explore the car's limits and the truth is they are few and far between. What helps harness all the brutality is the tricky M differential lock that keeps torque nice and balanced while it feeds varying amounts of torque to the rear driven wheels. That is one of the main reasons why the M6 convertible is such a traction attraction. Flaws in rigidity are always the issue with softtops but flex and shake here is negligible and you really need to be a test engineer who knows how to lap the Nordschleife blindfolded to detect any weakness. The M6 fires from 0-100km/h in less than 5sec but it does not lose marks when it comes to changing direction. Blip the right peg and the induction note and exhaust note coming from the four barrels sticking out the rear spoiler are infectious. This ballistic convertible is simply a car for all seasons, all conditions. It is as comfortable trucking along the city grind as it is in the spaghetti twists. Every now and then you need to glance at the head-up display that beams a colourful graphic of revs, speed and gear selection on to the windscreen. Of course all this silky performance is backed up by a braking package that can bring the M6 convertible to a stop from 100km/h in 36 metres. The two-stage brake lighting display is handy in stop-go traffic particularly if you need to give the pedal a serious nudge in a hurry which is when the area of brake lights grows more intense. Removing the carbon fibre roof that defines the M6 coupe has lost little in the way of dynamics. This V10 is a weapon and like many supercars these days, they are engineered to be driven way above what is socially acceptable on public roads. Expect to clock up the fly-buy points big-time at the petrol bowser as this is a demon on the drink and shows no respect for premium petrol prices heading towards $1.50 a litre. This test car averaged 19-litres/100km on a 450km drive that comprised 300km of 110km/h running and the rest in stop/start weekday traffic. Separately, a spirited run on fast winding back roads lifted the guzzle-rate to well over 20litres/100km. The M6 convertible is not a car for everyone, the price alone backing up that statement. But it is a car you need to spend a lot of time in if you are to have any chance of becoming intimate with the performance and electronic gadgetry. You need to tell it what to do in order for you to extract the best from the experience and learn what particular settings work best in particular environments. And for that, the BMW M6 convertible is truly gifted.