Exclusive! 2013 BMW X6 in India road test

Look at the X6 and one will notice the striking new colour. The deep sea blue hue on our test car is one of the many new shades that are on offer. But apart from that there are quite a few additions and modifications made to the 2013 model. In terms of styling, the front end receives a new refreshed face, the headlamps are sharper and the kidney grille is slightly different. There's also an optional full LED adaptive headlamps on offer as well as new shape corona rings that give the X6 a completely different character especially when the sun goes down.  The front bumper is all-new and houses a different air dam and fog lamp. Like in every updated X model, the fog lamp is repositioned, in this case sitting higher than before. No changes have been made to the sides, the only change being newer design alloy wheels that are sporty and go well with the X6's character. The rear also gets a new design tailamp with LEDs but nothing more has changed.

Step inside and one is greeted by new dual-tone interiors, our car featured a black/beige combo that looked quite elegant and attractive. The design however remains untouched and makes do with the older dashboard. The biggest highlight however is under the hood. Where the previous X6 diesel featured a 3.0-litre, straight- six engine that put out 245PS of max power and 540Nm of peak torque, the newer engine is also six-cylinder 3.0-litre unit but produces an additional 60 PS and 60Nm taking the max power to 306PS delivered at 4400rpm and max torque to 600Nm, all of which is available from as low as 1500rpm.

This is possible due to the use of two turbochargers that work in sequence. On the road, power delivery is seamless and the new 8-speed automatic transmission helps the X6 hit the ton in just 6.4 seconds, that's 0.1 seconds quicker to the claimed figure and a whopping 2.2 seconds quicker to the older model. Top speed is a claimed 236kmph, we managed to touch 229kmph in our test. Roll-on figures are way quicker now and passing cars is effortless. Fuel efficiency has also gone up. In town, the car returned 8.1kmpl and 12.2kmpl on the highway, an increase of 0.8 and 2.2kmpl respectively over the 2012 xDrive30d.  The new X6 is available in two packages, Innovative and Luxury. The updated X6 is also available with a petrol engine in the form of the 407PS xDrive50i with a new 8-speed auto transmission. The diesel X6 starts at Rs 78.9 lakh while the petrol variant starts at Rs 93.4 lakh (all prices Ex-delhi). For more on the new X6, check out the March issue of OVERDRIVE, out on stands shortly.