Quote:
Originally Posted by mobilejo
That's a good question. Here's where I'm at - There is literally no where that I travel on a regular basis that I could utilise over 500bhp in a 2 tonne SUV; the performance would be wasted for me.
I have had a few M cars in the past and I always felt frustrated that I rarely got to work the engine hard even driving at night on empty roads I had to reign it in somewhat.
I have had the 40i in my G30 and with a JB+ (that I will be putting on this car), the performance was the sweet spot for me. Not the fastest thing on 4 wheels but I enjoyed using the power more than the end result if that makes sense - being able to let it rev all the way out and working the engine hard. Also, relatively speaking, my 540i was still faster than 90% of the cars I came across as most cars sold in this country are 2.0 diesels and small petrols as our fuel prices are so high. The average car here does 0-60 in over 6 seconds.
This is heavier than the 540i, but even without the JB+ (not fitting it until run-in is over) I'm not feeling it being 'slow'. The biggest difference is in comfort mode where the 540i could still take off with a stab of the throttle, but the X6 in comfort mode needs the shifter pushed over to the left before it feels ready for a quicker change of speed in comfort mode. In sport/sport+ however, its a lot of fun. I can tell that with the JB+ it will be in my personal sweet spot for performance.
I test drove the Cayenne S and e-hybrid versions (440bhp and 456bhp) and while faster, I didn't feel a big difference until it got to speeds higher than the highest UK speed limit.
I also test drove an M50d X5 (400bhp, lots of torque) and again whilst faster I found it uninteresting to drive being a diesel with lots of torque but low revving and artificial sounding exhaust note.
I guess I just like the B58 engine, and with the M sport exhaust this car is louder than my 540i and sounds much better which is a bonus.
Lastly, I wanted air suspension as opposed to the adaptive M suspension on the M50i/d. I love the fact that I can vary the ride height at the push of a button and found the adaptive M a little too firm on our crappy roads, even in comfort. Air suspension can't even be optioned on the X6 M50i/d here (but it can on the X5 M50i/d for some reason).
For me, the 40i was just where I wanted to be. It doesn't feel under-powered (i.e. the engine never feels like its struggling at any time) but whether its fast enough for you subjectively is something you can only decide from a test drive. You would not be disappointed by its adequacy and ability to hustle when driven hard, but if you need (and can use) that performance edge then it would have to be the M50i. Its that age old dilemma I guess.
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Thank you. I appreciate your feedback. Enjoy the car.