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      09-09-2009, 08:10 PM   #6
rleestma
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Drives: 2010 X6 M
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

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The way I look at it, if you want a fast car, go with a traditional M. If you are 6'6" like me, don't want to pile in and out of a low ground clearance car, like sitting up high with lots of visibility, want something unique, and also appreciate handling and speed, then really, your only options are the ML63 AMG, Porsche Cayenne, a Range Rover Sport or the X M series. At that point, it just comes down to personal preference.

My .02: Mercedes is an old money car, Porsche is just ostentacious, a Range Rover is a little boring, the BMW X M series is a working man's, new money car. Not only that, but it's fairly common knowledge that BMW makes the best cars in the industry. For the 5th year in a row they won the most sustainable auto maker award. I talked to a guy in a BMW dealiership near Detroit last week who stated that his best customer is GM, they buy over 40 vehicles from him a year, and all they do is reverse engineer BMWs.

I heard the phrase once, "M is dead, long live m". It appears to me that BMW is re-inventing M. It means turbochargers if they can eliminate the lag. It means an automatic that can shift faster than a stick. It means sophisticated electronics that will allow the other 99% out there to really maximize the performance of the vehicle without being on the track every day. To some, this is sacrilage. It reminds me of the way the Jeep community cried blasphemy when Jeep started building SUVs without solid axles. It's just going to happen, stop clinging to the past.

In this economy or any other, anyone that sits on their behind and sticks to the same old forumula will one day wake up and realize that their own negligence and stubborness brought the house down upon them; take one look at the story of Jaguar or GM to use a more modern day example.

Frankly, I'm proud to drive my X6. There's nothing else out there like it, it'll whip a Cayenne or any other SUV out there. Frankly it'll out-run most M cars out there too. It certainly doesn't hurt that I don't have to humiliate myself every time I get in or out of the vehicle. Regardless, I don't think that an opinion from someone with more track experience has more merit than my own, and if I choose to drop 100k on it and I have to pinch myself every time I see the vehicle, they can take a long walk off a short pier.

M is dead, long live M.

Flame suit on.

Ryan
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