Category: Sporting 4x4s 
Price Range: £41,955 to £44,135
Admirable road-holding abilities, high-driving position, sporty styling.
Poor rearward visibility, cramped in the back, expensive to run, only four seats.
The X6 looks like a compromise - and it is. Despite delivering in terms of driveability and desirability, it's not a hugely practical car.
The Early Adopter. This is who'll buy the BMW X6, says BMW.
These are people who got their hands on the iPod, the Wii and the digital radio before everyone else. They are irritatingly cool people and they'll rush out and buy the BMW X6 because it's cool.
Why, though? Well, it's because it's everything you want. Want a 4x4? You got it. Want a sports car? You'll never guess what...
The X6 is what you get if you put a sports car and a 4x4 in a blender - or, in BMW's case, a 3-Series Coupe and an X5.
Porsche is largely to blame. The German sports car company, not satisfied with building the best supercars in the world, got greedy and wanted a bit of the SUV action. It started off with the Cayenne and the Yanks loved it. Then Land Rover built the Range Rover Sport and the rot was not to be stopped. BMW wanted its slice of the pie and now it has the Early Adopters in its sights.
OK, so the mongrel X6 is neither 4x4 fish nor sports car fowl and it's easy to be cynical because the designer's handiwork is so patently obvious. Bang a sloping back on to a 4x4 and, hey presto, you've ticked every box for Alpha males and footballers' wives.
Apart from the familiarity of the design and its basis on the X5, there are some new elements. For example, in the four-strong X6 model line-up there's a new 4.4-litre twin-turbo petrol V8 engine, plus an addition to its four-wheel-drive system.
It's called Dynamic Performance Control and it allows the drive to be distributed not just between the front and rear axles, but also between the left and right rear wheels. If it needs more torque on one side, it delivers it: meanwhile, the wheels on the other side of the car will be operating in a sort of 'reverse torque' mode to deliver the best possible stability and traction. It's like a rower turning direction, paddling heavily on one side in one direction and paddling in the reverse direction on the other. That's the theory, anyway.
The X6 isn't stupidly expensive. The entry-level 3.0-litre 235bhp petrol model will set you back £41,965 - that's in Land Rover Discovery territory - for which you get some bling rather than a boxy 4x4. If you want to go the whole hog, go for the fire-breathing V8 xDrive 50i, but expect to pay a lot more - about £50k - and be prepared to wait a bit, as it's not due until November.
So, who's going to buy one? BMW reckons about 1,600 X6s will be sold in 2008. But the thing is, it's not the prettiest of cars. Viewed squarely from the back, it's pleasant enough, and from the front it still manages to retain its dignity, but from the side, the extended rear overhang is lumpen and ungainly. It's hardly sporty. Still, this has to be a Marmite car - you'll either love it or hate it, in equal measure.
The Americans'll probably love it, though.
