The E71 BMW X6 has been updated with a facelift for the 2012 model year, helping keep BMW’s amalgamation of a coupe and an SUV looking fresh mid way point in its lifecycle, which for a BMW is typically 7 years.
First launched in 2008, the mid-life facelift or “Life Cycle Impulse” as BMW likes to call it is right on time! Externally, BMW has updated the X6 with the usual new bumpers, headlamps and tail lamps as well as new alloy wheel designs.
The headlamp is now of course lit up with white corona rings, but what’s interesting is that now there’s the option of adaptive LED headlamps, which are fully powered by LED technology – not just the corona rings which act as daytime running lights, which by the way now have the flat bottom design that first debuted on the F30 3-er.
The light sources for low and high beam light are LED units positioned on a horizontal bar at its centre, feeding their light into the reflectors in front. In the facelifted top of the line BMW X6 M, adaptive LED headlights are fitted as standard.
The tail lamps are also lit up by LED, and the styling is designed to be horizontally aligned and to stretch far out to the sides, emphasising the width of the vehicle.
There’s also something interesting – an optional engine bonnet with a powerdome. This feature is not available for order in Germany – not sure why though!
An M Sport kit will be available for the X6, which includes 20-inch M light alloy wheels in double spoke design and bi-colour finish with mixed tyres, adaptive LED headlamps, BMW Individual high-gloss Shadow Line, black surrounds for the fog lights and M door sill cover strips, sports seats with electrical adjustment and memory function, M-specific Alcantara/Nappa leather combination in black with M-style welt and contrast stitching, M leather steering wheel with shift paddles, M driver footrest, stainless steel pedals, interior strips in Aluminium Flywheel black and the BMW Individual roof liner in anthracite.
As far as the updated interior goes, I wish they had also updated the meter cluster with a Black Panel style display that all the new higher end BMWs have. The X6 continues with a meter cluster that feels “last generation”. The same goes to the steering wheel – while all the new BMWs have rocker switches and thumb scrollers, the X6 facelift makes do with regular buttons.
The existing engines remain the same – the X6 xDrive50i makes 407hp, the X6 xDrive35i does 306hp, and the oil burner xDrive40d and xDrive30d make 306hp and 245hp respectively. No details about the X6 M yet, but there’s a new model called the X6 M50d which we’ll go into detail later.
The M50d is classified as a BMW M Performance car, which is one rung below a pure BMW M car on the ladder, and uses a total of three turbochargers to force air into a 3.0 liter six cylinder diesel to make 381 horsepower and an insane 740Nm of torque, taking the X6 M50d to 100km/h in just 5.3 seconds while consuming only 7.7L/100km on average. All engines including the M50d use an 8-speed auto transmission, except the X6 M which uses a 6-speed.
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
wow its a Gen2 :p
They have removed the central divider at the back row seat, right?
I think it was an optional thing like the Passat CC, which I guess will come as standard here (it would be really silly for BMW Malaysia not to make it a 5 seater if you ask me).
I wonder if it has become 5-seater.
Three turbochargers for a 3.0 liter six cylinder!!!! AWESOME!!!
New Kia engine has four turbochargers for a 2.0 four cylinder!!!
doesnt handle like a car,doesnt have off road capacity,neither is it spacious and an extremely uncomfortable ride.wonder wat bmw was thinking when they built this
bmw has no great idea to design cars anymore, just took gen2 design and made it into suv
they don’t have to think much, only make sure they come out with a car that can wow the world, and make huge profit out of it. and from what i know, they have succeeded. and i think that is the most important thing that almost every car manufacturer is after – great sales and profit. who cares if it handles like a car or got off road capacity or spacious or comfortable or not? if i were the boss of BMW, the thing i care about the most is how much profit i could make out of every car my company produces. so if you don’t like it, don’t buy lah, many more people will line up for that car. simple as that .
Hmm…i think u r the same here who took the bmw name to use as a used name ‘ bmwuser ‘ lolx idiot !
who cares, beemer driver here
@nsx..dun just go blindly following a review..u need to drive a car for real to know its feel ..different people have different perspectives on how their car should be
Have u driven one?cuz i have
Wake up lah NSX, the one you drove was a Gen 2.
Hopefully the next generation X6 will have better off-road capability and be bigger than Ninja King.
no use x6, x7 x100 nowadays too much vehicles on roadways, no need for speed
haha2 who use rm700+ x6 for off-road? Just buy truck loh, make more sense. For me x6 is not pretty car but when people see it their say ‘ WHooahhh x6 huh, such a nice car’. Hmm i think i should have one
Doesn’t look any better than pre-facelift model. I’ll have an Infiniti fx37 instead…
X6 has the most intimidation factor, second is Q7. And Infiniti fx37 is a sissy.