BMW M6

Specifications

Look up. There’s a photo of our BMW M6 getting big over-steer on a track. It does this impossibly well. Whether you’re looking at small slip angles or giant slides, it’s cool and nonchalant and helps you out.

So, big kudos to the M engineers for making a big and heavy car feel so friendly when it’s in this unnatural environment. But really, they’ve missed the point.

It never feels light. Worse, it never feels especially sharp. It’s not a sports car. It’s not, in the old sense, an M car.

I’d rather the engineers had spent time making the steering more progressive on the road. It’s got a mushy deadness around the center, and then after a few degrees of lock becomes suddenly more direct. Both of these things made me feel edgy and uptight through fast open corners on the road, even though it’s got insane grip.

By the same token it’s good that the carbon brakes are so strong when you’re trying to scrunch up the tarmac ahead of you. But I’d be happier if they were sharper and more sensitive at the top of their travel.