M6 - what are they like?

[Zippee]

Seeing the current SOTW thread got me thinking about the current M6 which looks a bit of a performance bargain at the moment. Whilst I'm in no position currently to consider one it's a car that could be on the list for next year. As such what are they like to drive (obviously no Elise) and live with? Running costs, reliability etc?

[edo]

Drive (unsurprisingly) very similarly to the M5. So this means an absolute monster of an engine, but IMHO the gearbox (SMG) spoils the party.

[Rawwr]

My impression from driving an M6 a few weeks ago: Significantly quicker, faster and more capable than I expected.

[Mermaid]

edo said:

... but IMHO the gearbox (SMG) spoils the party.

as does the small fuel tank, but high fuel consumption.

However it is a peformance bagain. But don't get one without a BMW warranty.

Edited by Mermaid on Friday 24th September 11:40

[Zod]

There is an awful lot of bks talked about the gearbox. It is absolutely fine and perfectly easy to use smoothly or pressing on in anger. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the investment is worthwhile.

[Great Pretender]

Zod said:

There is an awful lot of bks talked about the gearbox. It is absolutely fine and perfectly easy to use smoothly or pressing on in anger. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the investment is worthwhile.

[Mermaid]

Zod said:

There is an awful lot of bks talked about the gearbox. It is absolutely fine and perfectly easy to use smoothly or pressing on in anger. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the investment is worthwhile.

I never did work out why the Yanks got the manual option.

[Dracoro]

Zod said:

There is an awful lot of bks talked about the gearbox. It is absolutely fine and perfectly easy to use smoothly or pressing on in anger.

Is a contradiction to the following

Zod said:

it takes a bit of getting used to, but the investment is worthwhile.

It's either perfectly easy to use OR it takes getting used to, one or the other.

[RDMcG]

Zod said:

There is an awful lot of bks talked about the gearbox. It is absolutely fine and perfectly easy to use smoothly or pressing on in anger. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the investment is worthwhile.

Absolutely agree..there is a minor amount of technique in smooth upshifts, but it rev-matches downshifts. It is,however, nasty in auto mode, especially if you accelerate briskly. I have had mine for four years and it has ben a pleasure to drive. Its bloody quick. The small gas tank (65 litres) is just silly for this car.

[Zod]

Dracoro said:

Zod said:

There is an awful lot of bks talked about the gearbox. It is absolutely fine and perfectly easy to use smoothly or pressing on in anger.

Is a contradiction to the following

Zod said:

it takes a bit of getting used to, but the investment is worthwhile.

It's either perfectly easy to use OR it takes getting used to, one or the other.

Not at all. Once you get used to the fact that it really is a manual gearbox, so that changing quickly will be a little jerky, just as a very fast change in a manual can be (particularly when cold), you just learn to lift ever so slightly as you change up, unless you are pressing on. That's it. It takes a decent driver with mechanical sympathy no time at all to get used to the idea.

[derestrictor]

Sublime.

You learn to drive around/with the admittedly idiosyncratic 'box.

I've not driven too many cars with so well honed a (very) fast handling/ride set up.

It traverses local blastways with a dexterity directly proportional to speed and as I've stated ad infinitum, coming straight from the extreme torment of Caterham's finer Tin of Frenzied Pilchard, you have no sense of short change in this lairy coup.

[Ozzie Osmond]

I've never understood what a 6-series does which an equivalent 3-series doesn't do just as well. The 6 seems a bit bigger, a bit flashier and a whole lot more expensive. No wonder they become "bargains" in the used market. Few people feel the need to have one.

PS Much like the 8-series before it.

[Garlick]

Few ramblings about the PH M6

http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=2183...

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...

[UncappedTag]

Without putting the cat amounst the pigeons, can you explain why the gearbox is not better than a manual. Does this extend to oth SMG BMW's. I know a freind who had SSG and tbh felt like an auto and no quicker than the auto 330 I had to change gear.

Manual BMW boxes are always notchy IMO.

[CraigyMc]

Mermaid said:

Zod said:

There is an awful lot of bks talked about the gearbox. It is absolutely fine and perfectly easy to use smoothly or pressing on in anger. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the investment is worthwhile.

I never did work out why the Yanks got the manual option.

Because in America, where autos are the norm, manual gearboxes are seen as the sporty option. The market didn't (doesn't) understand the difference between a slushbox, an SMG box, and a dual-clutch box. BMW ended up doing a manual box against their true wishes (hence they did things like limiting the torque in lower gears, and putting valving into the clutch to limit how fast it could be dropped - the first time they'd done that to an M car I think.)

Personally I like changing gears - it's part of driving.

I do see operating a car as being different from driving, though. Maybe it's just me.

C

Edited by CraigyMc on Friday 24th September 13:05

[CraigyMc]

Ozzie Osmond said:

I've never understood what a 6-series does which an equivalent 3-series doesn't do just as well. The 6 seems a bit bigger, a bit flashier and a whole lot more expensive. No wonder they become "bargains" in the used market. Few people feel the need to have one.

PS Much like the 8-series before it.

205mph?

[RDMcG]

CraigyMc said:

Ozzie Osmond said:

I've never understood what a 6-series does which an equivalent 3-series doesn't do just as well. The 6 seems a bit bigger, a bit flashier and a whole lot more expensive. No wonder they become "bargains" in the used market. Few people feel the need to have one.

PS Much like the 8-series before it.

205mph?

there are two software limiters, one at about 155mph and a second at a about 180. The latter is tricky to find; I had mine done at Hartge the day I picked up the car. After that It good for about 200mph.

[derestrictor]

CraigyMc said:

Ozzie Osmond said:

I've never understood what a 6-series does which an equivalent 3-series doesn't do just as well. The 6 seems a bit bigger, a bit flashier and a whole lot more expensive. No wonder they become "bargains" in the used market. Few people feel the need to have one.

PS Much like the 8-series before it.

205mph?

"I've never understood what was so attractive about Heather Locklear's fellative prowess, in her absolute early 80s prime that couldn't be replicated by an equivalent, contemporary, 16st Burberry Queen with a penchant for Lambert, Butler and a comely, northern inflexion."

For pity's sake.

[Mannginger]

[Dunk76]

derestrictor said:

CraigyMc said:

Ozzie Osmond said:

I've never understood what a 6-series does which an equivalent 3-series doesn't do just as well. The 6 seems a bit bigger, a bit flashier and a whole lot more expensive. No wonder they become "bargains" in the used market. Few people feel the need to have one.

PS Much like the 8-series before it.

205mph?

"I've never understood what was so attractive about Heather Locklear's fellative prowess, in her absolute early 80s prime that couldn't be replicated by an equivalent, contemporary, 16st Burberry Queen with a penchant for Lambert, Butler and a comely, northern inflexion."

For pity's sake.

I have a warm fuzzy feeling that, despite all the challenges over the years, you're still utterly utterly fixated with that woman's clunge.