Like fast cars and have extra bucks to spend for one? Try one of BMW's ultimate cars -- the $96,100 M6. It's the factory hot rod version of BMW's 6-Series coupe and a technological marvel.
The M6 has a 500-horsepower V-10 engine, so it's no wonder that this rear-drive BMW hits 60 mph in 4.1 seconds and is electronically limited to top out at 155 mph for the U.S. market. Remove those controls and it would do at least 185 mph.
BMW says every person who buys or leases a new M6 will be its guest for a course in advanced driving techniques in M6s at BMW's Performance Center in South Carolina. (I once took a course there and recommend that M6 owners do the same.)
Fuel economy isn't an M6 strong point: an estimated 12 mpg in the city and 18 on highways, and that subjects the car to a $3,000 gas guzzler tax. That tax, along with a destination charge and some options, raised my test M6's price to $106,390.
Premium fuel is required for the 40-valve engine, which has variable valve timing.
The M6 is frightfully complex. It's loaded with the usual luxury auto comfort, convenience and safety equipment -- and with electronic adjustments for everything from the suspension and steering to its seven-speed Sequential Manual Gearbox. That gearbox can be put into six manual shift programs and five automated programs.
BMW's "M" high performance subsidiary doesn't usually modify big BMW coupes such as the M6, preferring to work on smaller BMW coupes and mid-size sedans such as the mechanically similar M5. The 2006 M6 is only the second M6, and it has been 23 years since the first one was introduced.
The M6 is a big, 3,909-pound car with a 109.5-inch wheelbase that looks and drives like a big, heavy coupe. However, it has the athletic moves of a first-rate high-speed GT (Grand Touring) car, with its special steering, sports suspension, huge tires and strong brakes.
A drawback: The super-wide tires on 19-inch wheels result in a jerky ride on lumpy roads, despite a supple suspension.
Despite its size, the M6's tight rear seat is best suited to children. Adults will find it difficult to get in or out of the rear if they need to sit there for short distances.
Styling is sleek, although the controversial raised rear trunk lid looks like it belongs on another car. At least it helps allow the trunk to be fairly large.
A carbon fiber roof enables the M6 to be about 4 inches lower than the M5 sedan's roof to reduce weight and lower the center of gravity to enhance handling.
Also making the M6 safer during spirited driving is the Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) system, which (take a deep breath) includes all-speed traction control, electronic brake proportioning, anti-lock braking, cornering/braking stability enhancement, Dynamic Brake Control, Brake Standby, Brake Drying, Start-off "Assistant'' and M Dynamic mode -- and M Variable Differential Lock.
Those features are comforting, but explaining most of them would probably put anyone but an auto engineer to sleep.
Long doors have big outside handles for easy entry -- at least when the M6 isn't in tight parking spots. My test M6's thick owner's manual was in the trunk because there wasn't room for it in the rather snug cockpit, which is quiet for highway cruising. However, the fairly large trunk provides decent cargo space.
The leather-and-wood interior is luxurious, with supportive front seats, easily gripped steering wheel and gauges that can be quickly read.
BMW's controversial, oddly named iDrive system uses a console control to adjust, among other things, major climate, audio and navigation functions with the help of a dashboard screen. It causes a driver to remove complete attention from the road.
Pushing a console button that reads "Power" raises horsepower from 400 for routine driving to 500 for more aggressive driving, although no Chicago area roads resemble the no-speed-limit German autobahns suited to 500-horsepower driving.
At least the horsepower boost feature is an interesting feature that can be mentioned by M6 owners at parties.
The Sequential Manual Gearbox can be shifted manually with two steering-wheel-mounted paddles (one for upshifts, the other for downshifts). This gearbox also can be left in fully automatic mode, although that results in rather jerky gear changes.
Some first-time M6 drivers who know only about the gearbox's automatic mode might be alarmed to learn after parking that the transmission has no "park" gear -- only a "neutral" gear because it's not an automatic transmission. You thus must leave the M6 in "neutral" and use the parking brake to prevent the car from, say, rolling backward when on an incline.
Manually shifting the gearbox while removing your foot from the accelerator pedal between shifts allows smoother gear changes than leaving it in automatic mode. But I soon tired of using the paddle shifters and just left the transmission in automatic mode.
A conventional 6-speed manual transmission probably will be offered next year.
No matter what type transmission, though, some M6 drivers will wish there were some autobahns around here.
2006 BMW M6 PRICE: $96,100
LIKES: Very fast. Racy looking. Superb handling. Upscale interior.
DISLIKES: Jerky automated manual trans- mission. Stiff ride. Distracting iDrive control system.