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Caraganza Review 2025 BMW X6 M Competition: Power, Fury, and Zero Practical Regret

There was a time when the idea of “putting on a car” thrilled me. Pilots “put on” a fighter jet; I “put on” whatever sports car I could get my hands on, or whatever some brave PR rep sent to my driveway. It meant I was about to slide into something with more horses than Napoleon marched across Europe and with more satisfaction than an hour spent with a supermodel who actually laughs at your jokes.

That ritual always ended the same way: I’d vanish. I’d point the car toward my secret 2.5-mile stretch of road — a lonely ribbon of asphalt hidden far enough from civilization that the only life in immediate danger was mine, overcaffeinated and fueled by testosterone.

But these days, “putting on a car” feels a bit ominous. Time, as it loves to do, has caught up with me. The testosterone tank is running on fumes. Sliding into something low, tight, and built for speed is less a triumphant moment and more an audition for a chiropractor.

Which brings us neatly to BMW’s 2025 X6 M Competition — a vehicle that, in theory, I should not be able to “put on” at all and one that I got to spend a recent week with. This thing is huge. It’s tall, broad, and styled like a linebacker wearing a designer leather jacket two sizes too small. And yet, once you climb inside (a process that now involves more grunting than I’d prefer), the cabin is so plush and spacious you could practically host a mid-size wedding reception back there. Real leather everywhere makes the interior smell fast. There are enough screens to launch a Mars mission. And like every modern BMW, the menus and submenus require an engineering degree, a moral support animal, and about two uninterrupted hours of your life to sort out.

But once you do, none of that nitpicking matters. Because the moment you thumb the starter, the 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, paired with BMW’s 48-volt mild-hybrid setup, wakes up like a grizzly bear that just realized hibernation is optional. The numbers alone read like the ingredients list of something that should probably be illegal: 617 horsepower, 553 lb-ft of torque, 0–60 in about 3.7 seconds, and an all-wheel-drive system smart enough to rewrite your expectations of what a 5,400-pound SUV should be allowed to do.

And it’s here — in the violence and precision of it all — where the X6 M Competition sets itself apart from its more sensible sibling, the X5 M Competition like the one I spent a week with last year. I called it a “hippo on a sugar rush.” The thing was enormous, insane, and inexplicably delightful—like someone dared BMW to build a physics experiment and they said, “Sure, how bad could it be?”

So then how does it compare to its fashion-model sibling: the BMW X6 Competition you ask.

Well, both share the same engine. Both deliver the same earth-moving torque. Both drink fuel like a sailor on shore leave — 15 mpg combined if you drive like a saint, significantly less if you drive like anyone who actually buys one of these things and thus can afford the fuel.

But the X5 M is the responsible one. It’s the straight-A honor student: taller roofline, bigger cargo area, more headroom, and enough practicality to satisfy anyone whose life involves the words “kids,” “trips,” or “cardboard boxes from Costco.”

The X6 M, meanwhile, is the same student after spring break in Daytona — shaved eyebrow, fresh tattoo, no memory of how it got there, but absolutely convinced it had a better weekend than you did.

You lose cargo space. You lose rear visibility. You lose headroom. And you lose any hold on the moral high ground when explaining to friends why you spent more money for less utility.

But what you gain — and this is the entire point — is a shape and an attitude that convinces you this 5,400-pound slab of bellowing German engineering thinks it’s an overgrown sports car. One that can — and will — show up things lower, lighter, and supposedly more “pure.”

The ride is stiff, of course. BMW calls it “M tuned.” My aging spine calls it “a reminder that ibuprofen still works.”

But power fixes a lot of complaints, and the X6 M has more than enough. It’s the kind of acceleration that makes you giggle first, then worry about what your cardiologist will say later.

Here’s the thing: for all its size, weight, and fastback-SUV-that-thinks-it’s-a-sports-car identity crisis, the X6 Competition still does something magical. It makes you forget how impractical it is, how ridiculous the roofline is for cargo, and how nonexistent the rear visibility can be. It’s a brute that thinks it’s a ballet dancer—and somehow gets away with it.

And for me, for a brief moment, as the big V8 roared, I felt that old spark — that sense that maybe, just maybe, I could still “put on” a car.

I even thought about heading back to that old 2.5-mile stretch of asphalt.

Except now, I’m not entirely sure I could find it again.

The X5 and X6

The 2025 BMW X6 M Competition
MSRP: $129,700
MSRP (as tested): $ 147,025
Engine: 4.4-liter twin turbo gas mild hybrid 617 horsepower @ 6000 rpm, 553 lb. ft torque @1800 rpm
Transmission: 8-speed shiftable automatic
Fuel Mileage: (EPA): 13 city, 18 highway, 15 combined
Fuel Mileage: (as tested, mixed conditions): 14 mpg
Base Curb weight: 5,454 lbs.

Exterior Dimensions
Length: 194.8 in.
Overall width with mirrors: 87.1
Overall width without mirrors: 79.5 in.
Height: 66.9 in.
Wheelbase: 117.0 in.

Interior Dimensions
Front head room: 39.3 in.
Front leg room : 40.4 in.
Front shoulder room: 60 in.
Rear head room: 37.5 in.
Rear leg room: 35.7 in.
Rear shoulder room: 57.7 in.
Cargo capacity, all seats in place: 27.4 cu.ft.
Maximum cargo capacity: 72.3 cu.ft.

Warranty
4 Basic Years / 50,000 Basic Miles
4 Drivetrain Years / 50,000 Drivetrain Miles
12 Corrosion Years / Unlimited Corrosion Miles
8 Hybrid/Electric Components Years / 80,000 Hybrid/Electric Components Miles
4 Roadside Assistance Years / Unlimited Roadside Assistance Miles
3 Maintenance Years / 36,000 Maintenance Miles

Greg Engle
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