[R. Ravi]

Sooo, if you've by some chance come across my post in the travelogue section of T-BHP (linked here): [I look very very interesting in this video, my first "vlog," so excuse that please].

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/199577-pan-american-road-trip-picking-up-our-sakhir-orange-bmw-m6-gran-coupe.html

this post is going to cover a different aspect of our delivery, and focus a lot more on my initial feelings of the car. If you haven't read the post in the travelogue section: TL;DR: Road tripped the car ~2000 miles half way across the US from Tucson, Arizona to Chicago,IL. Hit Dallas in-between. Crazy drive in a crazy car.

Here’s a link to the delivery/test drive video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6FW5Zu_w18

Anyway, let's get to it.

IMPORTANT CRITERIA FOR THE CAR:
1. Must look good. I don’t need everyone to look at me, but if I look at my car, I want to feel special.
2. Must have 4 doors. My family visits. My friends don’t have cars. I wasn’t willing to push the front seats forward every time someone needs to get into and out of the car.
3. Must be comfortable on highways. I drive long distance quite a bit, so I need a car that’s going to be soft and comfortable when I need it.
4. Power. Oh yeah. I’m still in college, and I’m pretty sure this one’s self explanatory.
5. Drivetrain wise – leaned towards AWD because I spend my time in Chicago. It’s snowy and rainy, so 4 wheel drive means I can use my car more of the year. However, after talking to a couple of my friends who own M cars, they said that RWD with snow tires works too.
6. Audio. I’m not an audiophile, but I do enjoy music. So do my friends. A lot of the cars mentioned below have upgraded B&O (Bang and Olufsen) sound systems, so if it didn’t have that, it was dropped.
7. Safety wise, needs the best safety in class. I ferry family around a lot. In the unfortunate case something went wrong, I needed to make sure everyone would be safe. Also, more technology to keep me on the road. Most of these cars have over 500HP, and that can get very crossed very quickly.
8. The ability to be both comfortable and sporty. I drive hard with friends, and sometimes I do intercity travel with 5 people in the car. The car should handle both relatively well. Not best in class in both, that’s virtually impossible to be the best at both, but it should keep up.


COMPETITORS:
Contemplated: M3, M4, M5, M6, E63, E63 Wagon, S63, Aston Martin Rapide, S6, S7, RS7 and S8

M3 was too small. It's a 4 door car, but I ferry a lot of people around and my dad visits quite often. Putting him in such a small car when he's paying for it (lel) felt a little disrespectful. Plus I made him drive it. He felt like it was a sports car, and didn't like driving it. I'm trying to make him buy a supercar one day, so it's very important our first supercar/sports car experience is a positive one

M4 was a 2 door. I'm in college, so from a practicality perspective, it was not practical at all. Plus, if you've seen an M3 next to an M4, the M3 has more flared arches and looks a lot more aggressive than an M4. So IF I did go for a car this size, the M3 was definitely the way I was going to go.

Dynamically, I don't track my cars (yet). Nor do I have a dedicated track car, so the majority of my car use is highway cruising. Plus, I live in Chicago, so most of the year, tracking is not exactly possible, so I wanted more of a GT car.

M5 looks kinda normal to be honest. Doesn't really look like a sports car from the outside. TRUST ME, I get compliments everywhere for the M6 Gran Coupe. My car gets spotted all over the internet in Chicago (on forums similar to T-BHP). If I have my windows open, people shout great car all the time. It's fantastic. An M5 just wouldn't feel as special. Walking up to an M6 GC every day just makes your heart stop EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Again, dynamically, I push my car hard, but not really track hard, so dynamically, meh. Not much of a difference.

M6 coupe has the same 2 door problem. Doesn't look as good as a Gran Coupe to be be honest.

E63 was driven. A little too torquey. Also, the leather bench seats are not comfortable at all. It's like sitting on a wooden chair. Also, not much tech. Not much of a GT car. Kinda tight in the rear seats as well. Driving experience was kinda jerky. As a passenger, I felt like I was thrown into the seat a little too much. Didn't drive the wagon, assumed it had the same feel. But from a buying perspective, I was definitely leading more for the wagon if I did go for the E63 because it holds its' value a lot more.

S63 was way too big. In all honesty, dad loved it. He's a 50 year old IT professional, so if you can relate to that, go drive the S63 first because it is the most comfortable and most tech packed, by far. It will be the most comfortable and most refined driving experience you will every find, with the exception of maybe a Rolls Royce.

Aston Martine Rapide is a quarter million dollar car that is very susceptible to depreciation. I rode in one in 2014, and it was the best sounding (with the V12) car that I had ever been in. Kinda became a dream car at that time, so I kept looking to see if I could find one that was in budget, but never could. If I did find one, it was older, and out of warranty. On an Aston V12? Not a chance.

S6 didn't feel special inside or out. Looks pretty standard. Drove one. Fast, but not special. Walking out to it every morning? Doesn't feel special.

S7 is definitely more special. One of my favorite car platforms, that Sportback. (I'm a sucker for that body style I guess). Saw a couple around the US for sale, but from what I understand, bigger Audis have under steer. Not attractive. Also, legally, Audi S7 and RS7s are 4 seaters. I have a large family. Getting a car and not an SUV in itself is risky, so yeah. Losing that 5th seat was a sacrifice I wasn't willing to make.

RS7s are more expensive, and 4 seats as well. Love the car though. Styling makes it look more special. Love it. If you can make the two compromises, this is a serious contender.

S8 was more like an execute Autobahn destroyer. Not really a back road killer. It may handle dynamically, but sitting so high in the car, behind that long, heavy looking engine, I didn't have the confidence to put it into corners. Lot of tech, and very comfortable place to be. Even for back seat occupants. So if you're driving straight, and want to go fast, this is a serious contender.

For all Audis a huge selling point is the 4 wheel drive system. I drive in snow and rain a lot. I clench quite a bit.


OTHER M6 GRAN COUPES:
I tried, and I tried to get a local M6 Gran Coupe. Firstly, worth mentioning, I really, really wanted a special M color. Not black or white or something. Even something like Frozen Grey (Matte Grey), or Frozen Brown were fine. Something different, that really showed it was an M6 to car people, not just a rebumpered or rebadged 6 series or something. (People confuse it for a Ferrari because mine is so close to red)

Also, the volume of M6s, and to a higher extent M6 Gran Coupes, produced are very very low. There are like 1300 cars produced worldwide, so if you look for M6s for sale at any one time, there's maybe a handful.

These cars are so hot that some people buy them sight unseen. Saw one pop up locally, called the dealership 2 hours after the listing was posted online, and they said someone called and bought it before it even arrived at the dealership smh.

There was one in Cali, but I was advised against the Carbon Ceramic brakes, so I decided not to go for that car. The Carbon Ceramics are noisier, more expensive to replace and they only really make a difference on track apparently.

The car I ended up going for was in Tucson, Arizona. Was for sale for a while. Called ahead, asked for price. They weren't really willing to negotiate. They dropped the price after a while, and it became a pretty good value proposition. I called after about a month, and they told me that the car was being moved to Vegas because there just wasn't a market for it in Tucson. BUT, they told me that if the car moves, the price will go up. So I told them I'll fly in the next day, check out the car, and if I liked it, I'll buy it. Long story short, I'm looking out of a Starbucks window at that M6

TEST DRIVE:
The very first thing you notice when hopping into a car like this is the seating position. You sit so much lower down in the car than a regular daily driver. The seat itself cocoons around you, and your body is so much lower down than a regular car seat. You don’t feel like you’re sitting in a regular chair, but more like one of those lounge chairs. Side bolstering is nice and stiff, and the seats have so many adjustment options for position and lumbar support that you absolutely will find a comfortable seating position.

The amount of technology is also phenomenal. The main thing that you notice as soon as you hop in is the Heads-Up Display (HUD). It displays your current speed, speed limit on the road, turn-by-turn navigation and radio station/media information. This is really helpful in the states where speeding has such a high penalty. You can also change the HUD to display in “M-View,” which gives you a redline shift indicator, current gear, current speed and speed limit information, and is customizable, so if you’re on a track, you never have to look down for the tach or speedo.

Next thing you’ll definitely notice is the steering wheel weight. These cars have overweighed steering wheels to be honest. They’re fine on open roads and when the car is moving, but in tight city streets where you do a lot of darting in and out of traffic, your arms get tired pretty quick. You cannot operate the wheel confidently with one hand, because it will slip out of your hand. This makes parking a bit of a hassle because you have to violently yank the wheel with both hands in order to actually park, which gets annoying.

Now, M cars come with drive modes. You can configure the steering, engine and suspension to be in one of three settings – Comfort, Sport and Sport+. Comfort being the most relaxing, and Sport+ being the most aggressive. Even if I’m driving aggressively, I find Comfort heavy enough. The steering on the newer BMWs are all power steering, so it’s not direct feedback. So essentially the different settings don’t really change the amount of feedback you get from the road, but rather the ratio and weight of the wheel. I’ve never found myself needing tighter steering that Comfort, even on backroads, and putting it in Sport+ just makes the wheel unnaturally heavy.

Turning the car on, the first thing that hits you is the engine noise. That glorious V8. I also did a cold start in the showroom, because they moved the car inside because we were coming to look at it. Sounds phenomenal. Much better than the inline 6’s in the M3s and M4s.

Gear-shifter wise, the M dual clutch unit is a little different than most cars. The car has no “park,” rather if you turn the car off in first gear, the transmission is locked in first gear and the car is “off.” Kinda weird, but weird in a cool way. Putting it in drive means pushing the gear shift over to the right. Pushing it in once puts it in “Drive,” automatic mode. Pushing it again means it’s now in sequential mode. You can shift using the ‘+’ or ‘–‘ on the gear shifter or the paddles on the steering wheel.

I left the car in the most comfortable setting for the test drive. It was enough for me, but I realized after buying the car how much of a difference Sport+ is. I’ll detail the difference in a long-term review of the car. I want to just focus on the test drive and purchasing experience of this car.

The engagement of the DCT can get a little jerky if you put it in sequential mode and miss a shift, but once you get used to it, it’s very quick shifting. In efficient engine setting, the build-up of power is gradual, but effective. The throttle feels like it’s turbo-lagged, but in essence it just takes a second to gradually give you all 600HP. Conversely, Sport+ is instantaneous power. You touch the throttle, you get the proportional amount of power. Immediately. This is not a recommended mode if you want a smooth ride. Efficient is very smooth. Kept it in efficient mainly because my dad was in the car. I DID NOT want to show him what the car was capable of, and then him not buying the car :P

Other than that though, the car is pretty normal to drive. But the car does stand out. A lot. Even on my test drive, people were gawking at the car, and waving. Another huge selling point of the M6 GC is the way it looks. It is GORGEOUS.

Anyway, our test drive went well.

Even at lower city speed conditions, the car handled much better than anything I had ever driven. Car came with Michelin Pilot Super Sports, which are great summer tires. Grip really well, and handle the rain better than you’d expect to be honest.


ENGINE AND POWERTRAIN:
Car is Front Engined, Rear Wheel Drive. 4.4L Biturbo V8. BMW underquotes their performance specs, and people have dyno’d the cars with the powertrain that I have, and they’ve gotten roughly 640HP.

BMW has an option available on M cars called the competition pack. They have upgraded power (+40HP), stiffer sportier suspension, and blacked out exhaust tips. Highly recommended if you’re getting an M car. I’m not really quoting the original HP because BMW says the competition pack pushes 600, but mine pushes around 625-640. I have this pack on my car.

FUEL ECONOMY:
Average about 10 mpg with spirited city driving. 3.54 kmpl. Fun. At best, highway cruising gives me about 17 mpg, or 7.23 kmpl. I have a very heavy foot.

Fuel tank is about 21 gallons, or 80 liters.

EXHAUST:
Engine exhaust note is fantastic. The M3 and M4s don’t sound great because they’re turbocharged, but this V8 is great. Even though it’s biturbo’d. To be honest, the car is very long. The exhaust is at the back, and there is a lot of insulation to make the car comfortable. Because of this, the exhaust note is kind of muffled, so they had to do the artificial noise in the cabin through the speakers thing.

Again, if you want a well balanced car, this is great. If you’re being sensitive and delicate, the engine note isn’t too intrusive into the cabin, and if you want to be obnoxious, it sounds loud, burbles and ‘pops’ on the shifts. Great exhaust.

SAFETY:
12 airbags. 2 frontal airbags, 2 side impact protection airbags, 4 overhead airbags and 4 for knee protection.

TCS, ABS, Stability Management.

Also comes with the Driver’s Assistance package. This gives you blindspot detection, the heads up display, speed limit detection system (uses a camera), lane departure warning, frontal collision warning, city collision mitigation and pedestrian detection.

Overall, great systems. Really reassuring when you’re on the road. I don’t like to weave in and out of traffic like a lot of drivers that drive sports cars in the states, but if the road is open, I punch the throttle. When you use an M car like an M car, and not a regular car, having this tech is essential. For you, and for other people.

Car also comes with a mode called M Dynamic Mode. Gonna explan it briefly here because it’s meant to let you drive hard, without letting you crash. It’ll let you slide, but if it detects the angle the car is in is too much, it’ll cut in and let you reel the car back in. It uses the onboard computers to do it, and turns TCS partially off, so I thought I’d mention that.

OPTIONS:
BMW has the most common options bundled together into “Packages,” but if you want to order your car with your own set of options, you can.

The “Packages” you’ll get are:
Competition Package: Power upgrade, suspension, blacked out exhast tips
Executive Package: Heated steering wheel, power rear sunshades, front ventilated and active seats, heated rear seats, HUD, and automatic high beams and lights
Driving Assistance Plus: Blind Spot, All Driving Assistance, Side and Top View Cameras and Speed limit detection

Other major options:
Carbon Ceramic Brakes.
Manual Transmission.

Though they change these up through different countries, specs and production years.

Most dealers just order the cars with most of the options enabled on M6s in the US. The only variations you’ll really get are cars without the Competition Package and/or cars without the carbon ceramic brakes.

I have all the packages, but I was advised against the Brakes. They’re too squeaky, and only really prevent brake fade under heavy track use. Also, I have the automatic/DCT, not the manual. M DCTs are so good, second only to Porsche PDK, if that. So I was told, experience the DCT, because you won’t be able to unless you get a Porsche at some point.

Attached my exact spec if you want to see all the options on an M6 GC.

So I hope you have a little more insight on why I picked the M6 Gran Coupe, why I picked THIS M6 Gran Coupe, and what options the car has. I’m shooting a review of this exact car, because so many people adore this car, and so few people actually have it. There are very few reviews on it too.

I’ll link it later on when I actually do it.

If you have any more questions on this car, M cars in general, some of the technical specs and/or just want to talk about stuff, response to the thread! I’m pretty active on here, so I’ll get back to you ASAP!

[R. Ravi]

I forgot to add pictures to the first post. My bad.

[ChiragM]

Nice write-up R. Ravi.

Congrats on the new car .

I remember reading your travelogue. Given the same choices, I would have picked the M6 Gran Coupe anyday over the others. It is one of the best looking cars out there, especially in silver or, as you have mentioned, in Frozen grey. However, your car does stand out on in a sea of black, white and silver cars.

Wish you many happy miles with the car. Looking forward to more posts in this thread.

[RajBajwa]

Hi R Ravi,

I had read your travelogue and I do believe your car is one of the best cars members from this forum own. There are a few super car owners in the forum but we don’t get a chance to read a lot about their purchase decisions and the on going updates in the review section. Every car guy who buys a performance car does some analysis behind choosing their respective rides which is a mix of technical specifications, ride suitability, on road performance, age demographic suitability and many other factors. There are many reviewers who have an extreme level of detail but what I love about your purchase decision review is the fact that it is one of the best Bimmers one can get and your ride is much more sweeter with all the option packs. I will be hooked on to your thread. Please do keep updating it.

Best,

Raj

[R. Ravi]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

Nice write-up R. Ravi.

Congrats on the new car .

I remember reading your travelogue. Given the same choices, I would have picked the M6 Gran Coupe anyday over the others. It is one of the best looking cars out there, especially in silver or, as you have mentioned, in Frozen grey. However, your car does stand out on in a sea of black, white and silver cars.

Wish you many happy miles with the car. Looking forward to more posts in this thread.

Yes! It was honestly a no brainer. There are so many other factors that go into deciding between cars, but I didn't want this to become a couple thousand word, 10 page essay that someone would have to go through! I thought I'd try and keep it short enough that people would read the entire thing :P

I was driving with a Frozen Grey M6 Coupe with Competition Pack two days ago. It was gorgeous. It was at night, on lit American motorways, and it was honestly giving my car a run for its money. Guy was driving hard with me as well, and it sounded great.

In the sun though, the Sakhir definitely stands out more! But I do understand the understated aspect of the Frozen Grey. Different, but doesn't scream look at me.

Anyway, I'm rambling . Thank you so much for the read. I've done so many miles with this car, I think I'm going to be able to post a long term review soon lol.

Originally Posted by RajBajwa

Hi R Ravi,

I had read your travelogue and I do believe your car is one of the best cars members from this forum own. There are a few super car owners in the forum but we don’t get a chance to read a lot about their purchase decisions and the on going updates in the review section. Every car guy who buys a performance car does some analysis behind choosing their respective rides which is a mix of technical specifications, ride suitability, on road performance, age demographic suitability and many other factors. There are many reviewers who have an extreme level of detail but what I love about your purchase decision review is the fact that it is one of the best Bimmers one can get and your ride is much more sweeter with all the option packs. I will be hooked on to your thread. Please do keep updating it.

Best,

Raj

Thank you so much for the compliments on the car and the review! I tried to make the buying experience a little concise and practical, as if you were trying to do it yourself. There are some cooler stories that went into the buying experience, which I have no problem chronicling, maybe I'll keep updating the thread with small stories regarding the buying experience.

I didn't want to make the first few posts too long - I'd rather people read the entire gist of the experience than read the first 10% and get bored (I get that, I read a lot of reviews), or feel like I'm branching off too much from the core experience.

I will for sure keep people updated. This is my first "supercar" (honestly, not sure if it's a supercar, but I don't think "sportscar" does it justice :P), so everything is new to me too!

Thank you so much for the read! Let me know if there's anything else you want to know!

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Anyway, my instagram dedicated to the car is @the.Indian.GT. I think it's appropriate to promote that since it's personal, but mods if it isn't please remove it? If you want to see some of the supercar adventures me and my friends go on, follow (plug lol).

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Took delivery of a 2019 BMW 530i. Will write about the entire experience on here. Custom ordered it for an executive at our company. I think it was one of the first stateside - we ordered it back in September, custom from the factory. It's not for me, and honestly I'm not too pleased with it, but that's for another thread!