Test drive BMW X6 E71 2008 - 2009 SUV

All photos of BMW X6 E71 2008 - 2009

According to the law of Albinos, or pleasant exceptions

The coupe should be three -door! A car with sports deposits has a minimum road clearance! A high car cannot be controlled by light! These seemingly axioms are increasingly disputed. The arguments of Infinity and BMW was listened to by Maxim Sachkov. Photo: George Sadkov.
Infiniti FX45 4.5 l, 328 hp, 5-speed automatic, Premium equipment, 2 198,000 rub.
BMW X6 3.0 L, 306 hp, 6-speed automatic, basic equipment, options, 4,113,635 rubles.
Everything obeys strict rules. But there are always exceptions. Take the animal world: five babies similar like two drops of water are born, and an albino appears sixth. The same thing in grammar is laid out on the shelves, but you will definitely stumble upon a reservation. In our test, bright cars came together, quite deserving to be considered exceptions to the rules of the automobile world.
BMW-X6 Bavarians dubbed Sports Activity Coupe in a literal translation of a compartment for a sports and active lifestyle. In terms of growth, the alternate, the contours resembles an elegant sports car. Spaces have now appeared in the division of the bodies by type. However, why now? Take a look at the German visa: Infinity-FX45 has similar shapes and sizes, a powerful engine, all-wheel drive. Ideology is undoubtedly the same, but how could designers of different continents realize it?
Glass, tin, wooden
In ancient times, the Russian language teacher approached the window and showed it sequentially on glass, pen, frame. So the students were better remembered by adjectives, not obeying the rule. I, having settled in the wheel of Infinity, touched either solid plastic, then finish from the rosewood tree, or the overlays made of aluminum until I came across a foreign body. I did not expect to see in a rich salon hard plastic panels visor visor and the central console seemed to be rearranged from another car, an order of magnitude less at a price.

Sports genes are literally crushed. Moreover, so much that it is not even a very well-fed driver behind the wheel. The right leg is found either with the casing of the steering column, then with a wide console. In addition, the latter pressed the seat belt lock to the seat, which was why the belt had to lengthen the belt. Because of him, you feel the feeling of the elbow in the literal sense.
A curious solution: the helm travels up and down along with devices. I'm afraid not everyone will like such fun. For example, I quickly found a common language with the design, and a high colleague complained that the rim of the steering wheel overlaps part of the speedometer and tachometer. Despite the rich set of adjustments, it is not immediately possible to take a convenient pose. Even a person of medium height feels with shoulder blades, where the short back of the seat ends.
It is time to move the selector to the position is interesting whether he got into the drive? Blind red dots next to the lever is just right to look at the magnifying glass. Fortunately, I found a duplicate indication on the dashboard. I sit well, I look far, but only forward! Behind the high window sills, an insidious column or open well will easily hide, maneuvering in the parking lot, it’s just right to look out of the window. Yes, and to take it back in light, looking into the small window of the fifth door, it is unsafe, it is more reliable to rely on mirrors and a video camera (by the way, there is even a minimum configuration). Such cars are made to ride ahead, and not spin in one place, interrupted a colleague when I complained about infinity's visibility.
Escaping into the scope, and really forget about the shortcomings of the FX45. A powerful eight tears off a two -ton colossus, like a fluff. You fly, not noticing how the machine is jammed. Confidence and calm reign inside, which is facilitated by solid dimensions and tenacious brakes. Infinity is reliably on the road, and informative steering and well -tuned pendants exactly fulfill the driver's desires. In corners, huge and wide tires dig deeply into the asphalt, and when their coupling forces

they are exhausted, the car begins to smoothly slip off the trajectory with all four wheels. Moreover, the electronics does not intervene if the driver returned the car to the true path in time. But if necessary, it acts clearly. True, for such diligent behavior you have to pay a small quitter. On a mediocre coating with pits and waves in the cabin, it shakes, and the steering wheel walks in the hands, like alive.
Nevertheless, you get a good portion of pleasure from communicating with infinity. Interesting, but more? I am transplanted to BMW
It is written in capital letters
Despite the strict design, the x6 salon seems more comfortable. Perhaps such a sensation evokes a two -tone performance with harmonious interspersed of metal and wood. Here nothing presses and does not hurt. For example, even in the lower part of the central console, soft inserts, so that the bruise on the leg does not fill in the bends. There are more places in the BMW, and the chair is very convenient. Is the pillow short? Press the lever, and the central insert will advance so that even the legs of the basketball player will not bend at the knees. Do the shoulder blades hang in the air? So you can separately adjust the upper back. And you don’t expect at all, sorting out, as in the button accordion, numerous buttons, that lateral support is ready to adapt to the figure. Moreover, the chair squeezes in his arms not as a locksmith, but rather as a faithful friend.
With an interesting innovation of Bavarians, the original gearbox selector met at the presentation of the X5 of the second generation (ZR, 2007, No. 2). Funny, beautiful, but unusual. This time I got into a job for quite some time with a non-standard switching scheme, now and then glancing at a cunning curved lever, but when I got used to it, I came to the conclusion: convenient. To the maneuvers in narrow driveways will have to adapt even longer. The glazing line here is lower than in infinity, but overboard it still floats unnoticed. What is the review back? You can not strain in BMW, because nothing is visible at all! Well, the technique has already been mastered by mirrors (they are perhaps even more convenient than in FX) and, alas, graphic parking sensors instead of the rear view camera.

Amazing! X6 accelerates faster, and the maximum speed is higher, although under the hood for two cylinders and a couple of dozen horses less, and the equipped mass of cars is almost the same. Obviously, the secret of renewal in well -chosen gearboxes of the gearbox. Good machine for infinity! But only until then, until you try the new six -shot weapon of BMW. Sometimes it seems that switching does not happen at all, they are so soft and timely. The transmission does not just understand the driver at a glance, but predicts his actions.
Okh and ahi smoothly go from one area to another, now I can do the masterfully honed handling. I admit, I even forgot for a while that I am sitting in a car with a road clearance of more than 200 mm with a good smoothness of the X6 changing the direction without unnecessary thought and with minimal rolls. In the turn, where I was forced to adjust the trajectory to infinity, BMW fits, sorry for the banality as a high -speed train. You feel only lateral acceleration, and then the car seems to twist a certain force around the vertical axis slightly. I try to add. And again everything happens without my participation, only out of the corner of my eye I manage to grab a light bulb blinking on the dashboard: the stabilization system worked.
If the X6 is capable of such a normal mode, what to expect from it by turning on the sport? But after the experience, you experience a little disappointment: nothing changes significantly. It seemed that the steering and the suspension became a little more assembled, the engine responds more actively to the accelerator pedal. Perhaps this button has more psychological than the physical effect.
* * *
An already middle -aged infinity (we regret that the new modification of the FX50, sales of which will begin by the end of the year) did not approach the test with the newborn BMW. But I will pay tribute to him even against the background of such a strong competitor FX45 looks worthy. For the Japanese, this is not a defeat, but rather a uninhabited loss, because the German company really raised the bar very high. I wonder who else will compete with x6, will the class of high all -wheel drive compartment develop at all? And by whose rules there will be to play in it?
On cars!
It’s not easy to climb into a high car. In the machines presented, the task is complicated by the fact that the doorway is small. To get to the driver’s place, even a person of medium height has to bend his head and at the same time perform almost a twine, rising on his left leg, and transferring the right to the salon. The floor in BMW is slightly higher than in infinity, and the threshold is wider, so good muscle stretching the X6 driver will not hurt, otherwise it will stain trousers. In FX, another danger is awaiting the far -out edge of the instrument panel, which is easy to apply to the knee. A little to protect yourself from bruises and cones will help the seat that drives back when you turn off the ignition (this function can be turned off).
As for the second row, it is easier to sit in infinity: both the opening is higher and the threshold is already. And leaving the gallery is more difficult, especially the owners of large shoes in the legs are interfered with the stamping of the body.
Maxim Sachkov: Even before the experts placed points, the BMW advantage has become obvious. The company managed to make a car that has almost no shortcomings.

Infiniti FX45
The model debuted in 2003, after three years she underwent restyling. The FX all-frustrations, like other infinity models, brought gray dealers to Russia, and from the end of 2006 they began to sell us officially.
Engines: gasoline 3.5 (280 hp) and 4.5 l (328 hp)
Gearboxes: 5-speed automatic
Complete: Elegance, Premium
Price: 1 857 5802 198 180 rub.
+ _x0007_ Khurous dynamics, good handling, convenient control of on -board systems.
- _x0007_no -like entrance and output, modest trunk, poor visibility.
General estimate 8.0
One of the legislators of fashion among sports all -terrain vehicles is good, but in order to become a leader, you need to add. We are waiting for the new FX50.
BMW X6
The novelty of the Bavarian company is positioned as a compartment for a sports and active lifestyle (Sports Activity Coupe). Cars are made for the client, so it is not easy to find twins.
Engines: gasoline 3.0 (306 hp) and 4.4 l (407 hp), diesel 3.0 l (235 and 286 hp). Cars with a 286-horsepower diesel do not supply to Russia.
Gearbox: 6-speed automatic
Configurations: individual
The price of basic configurations: 2 516 4003 254 700 rubles.
+ Excellent characteristics of the engine and gearboxes, excellent handling, convenient landing of the driver, impeccable materials and assembly.
- _x0007_no -like entrance and output, low ceiling on the rear seats, there is no reserve, poor visibility, high price.
General assessment 8.4
A new exception to the rules that is difficult not to remember.