The Car Enthusiast - First Drive: BMW ActiveHybrid X6
| First Drive | Miami, USA | BMW ActiveHybrid X6 |
For dinner party environmental respectability among the chattering classes nothing but a hybrid will do. Forget diesels; the mere mention of your hybrid will have the guests cooing over your obvious, active concern for the environment. That's great, because it means you can hoodwink them into thinking that the act of driving your BMW ActiveHybrid X6 will stop the ice caps melting, seas rising and even sort out the weather. It won't, but thanks to a combination of two electric motors and a V8 engine it'll use a bit less fuel while getting you around very quickly indeed.
In the Metal
Whatever your thoughts on the X6 there's no denying that it looks good in the USA where BMW launched the ActiveHybrid model. European cars typically do, but the X6's muscular, fastback morphed with SUV lines work particularly well among the amorphous saloons and massive pick-ups that make up American traffic.
It looks right, the X6 something of a guilty pleasure. Less so perhaps in ActiveHybrid guise, at least outwardly - where the ActiveHybrid badges suggest inner greenness. Other hints that this isn't a regular X6 include the turbine style alloys - which help reduce fuel consumption (and hence CO2 emissions) - and a bulge in the bonnet to accommodate the extra electrical components that sit on top of the V8 engine.
What you get for your Money
Three engines: a turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 with 407bhp and two electric motors with 91bhp and 86bhp respectively. Combined they produce 485bhp, that figure lower than merely adding up the three outputs due to some frankly bewildering way the X6 ActiveHybrid divvies up its power. The ActiveHybrid is based on the X6 XDrive 50i, so X6 M aside it's right at the top of the X6 tree, the premium it commands over the car it's based on a not insubstantial chunk of money that'll take many years to recoup in fuel savings.
Driving it
Press the start button and the X6 ActiveHybrid's V8 engine doesn't necessarily start. It'll still drive though, the electric motors and the nickel hydride batteries under the boot allowing it to move at speeds of up to 37mph for around 1.5 miles before the V8 needs to get involved. It does so almost imperceptibly, only occasionally the V8 revealing it's joining the drive with a small jolt through the transmission.
There are two ways of monitoring all the electronic and mechanical trickery that's happening underneath you: via a small battery condition meter on the rev counter, or from the graphic on the centre console. Use either and you'll find yourself trying to maximise your time in electric-only mode and keep the battery charged.
Do so and the engine will cut out whenever it can; not just at traffic lights, but when moving at sustained speed, it joining in again as soon as you ask more of the ActiveHybrid than the electric motors can deliver. That pick up is almost instantaneous, though the 5.6-second 0-62mph time of the ActiveHybrid - in comparison to the X6 XDrive 50i's 5.2-second time - highlights that all the extra power and the massive 575lb.ft of torque the electric motors bring do have to overcome the weight they add, too.
Regenerative braking and energy scavenging from the drivetrain when coasting helps top up the batteries, though you'd not know it, the brakes not exhibiting the lifeless initial pedal feel that some hybrids deliver, the X6 ActiveHybrid driving just like its non-electrically boosted relatives, which means incisive steering, flat cornering, massive grip and handling that's in the sphere of unbelievable for something so massive.
Worth Noting
It's taken this long to get to the numbers that really matter for a reason. The X6 ActiveHybrid returns a combined fuel consumption figure of 28.5mpg and CO2 emissions of 231g/km. Over 100 miles of mixed driving the best we could achieve was 20mpg. That's some way off the sort of numbers the X6 can achieve with its diesel engines, and perfectly demonstrates why the X6 ActiveHybrid won't be coming to the UK or Ireland - or indeed be built in right-hand drive. It'll instead provide some semblance of environmental-friendliness in markets where diesel engines aren't widely accepted, the USA being the key one.
Summary
The ActiveHybrid concept is cleaner and more economical, but mating two electric motors to a 4.4-litre turbocharged V8 engine doesn't immediately turn the X6 into a planet-hugging machine. BMW is pushing its performance credentials as much as its economy gains though, and regardless of any of the numbers the key one is that it'll only sell in tiny numbers to a few wealthy customers wanting to appear environmentally friendly while retaining the X6's ample power. The first full hybrid to feature in the range will eventually be joined by others, the prospect of a diesel hybrid an attractive one, though given the costs involved in combining two expensive technologies we'll be in for a wait.
Car reviews | BMW ActiveHybrid X6 | First Drive: BMW ActiveHybrid X6 | by Car Enthusiast
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