Atlanta, Georgia — The regular BMW X6 — with its massive footprint, significant cornering capabilities and relatively soft suspension — feels like it could roll over pretty much anything, including other cars, pedestrians, buildings and the like. The brand new 2010 BMW X6 M, the high-performance version of the X6, is even more of an oddity in the automotive world. Me, I like to call it an urban assault vehicle.

Along with its X5 M sibling, the X6 M is the first-ever all-wheel-drive M vehicle. It’s also the first turbocharged M—a bit of a surprise given that BMW’s high-performance division first began to factory-pimp cars way back in 1978. Over the past 30 years, they have cranked out some of the most desirable automobiles known to man or machine. So the obvious question is: Does this thing do the M badge justice?

To find out, we made a beeline for Road Atlanta, a challenging and hilly race course that features high-speed sections, treacherous curbing and turns that call for razor-sharp handling. This series of demanding characteristics has proven more than a match for purebred racecars in the past, so coming in there was some question over how the BMW would fare.

First things first: It’s an SUV. Ignore the fact that the BMW comes armed with a twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 that pounds out 555 bhp and 501 lb-ft of torque from 1500 to 5650 rpm. Pay no attention to the fact that the thing can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.7 seconds courtesy of a launch control system. Set aside the top speed of 275 km/h top speed, a fairly stratospheric figure available with the optional M Driver’s Package.

Disregard all this wildly impressive information and, instead, consider the following: The X6 M weighs 2350 kg and stands 1684 mm high. That’s a lot of vehicle to be tossing around a race track, no matter what might be under the hood. Sure enough, the BMW does not feel like a 555-horsepower vehicle under hard acceleration — it might be fast, it just doesn’t feel that fast.

Although the thing carved corners reasonably well and generated relatively heavy g-loads without the expected body roll, the undulating track did highlight a few weaknesses. Down the long back straight, I saw 235 km/h on the slick heads-up display before having to hammer on the brakes for the 90-degree turn 10A left-hander.

This was the absolute maximum I could extract from the X6 M before courage gave way; not only did the SUV get extremely light over a rise going down the straight, the brakes also faded after just a few laps of high-speed approaches. (To be fair, they didn’t fade beyond a certain point.) This was disappointing… until I remembered that the X6 M is, in fact, an SUV.

The vehicle could definitely benefit from a larger fixed rear wing. Or possibly a larger rear wing that deploys automatically at high speeds. But the X6 M does feature a lot of wizardry designed to help you forget it’s an SUV. Chief among these goodies is the torque vectoring all-wheel-drive system, technology that sees power transmitted from one rear wheel to the other to aid in cornering. It’s a slick system that certainly has the SUV motoring around corners with a healthy amount of momentum.

Of course, the BMW also comes standard with a stability control system that enables switching from normal to sport mode. Pressing the “M” button on the steering wheel triggers the least intrusive amount of stability control, along with the most aggressive level of power delivery, more responsive steering and a sportier setting for the electronically-controlled dampers.

The transmission is a 6-speed automatic with three shift modes: drive, sport and manual. Both the sport and manual shift modes proved less than fully satisfying during the track session. In sport mode, automatic upshifts seemed to happen at inopportune times; in manual mode, the BMW was reluctant to shift down into second at the aforementioned turn 10A.

Cosmetically, the X6 M differs from the base X6 in a few ways. The M has a different front fascia with massive air intakes, special gills in the side panels, a sculpted rear air dam, a pair of dual tailpipes and 20-inch light alloy wheels. Inside, the X6 M boasts a special steering wheel, sport seats and the heads-up display that reveals the gear indicator, digital speed readout and illustrated tachometer.

Now, make no mistake, despite its weaknesses, the BMW proved very fun around the track. I had the option of driving just 10 laps and then making an early break for the hotel mini bar. Instead, I stuck it out till the rain threatened, running the tank dry on our X6 M and flogging it around for about 25 laps in total.

In the presentation, the M engineers referred to the X6 M as, “the ultimate sports car in the SUV segment.” Without a doubt, this is an SUV you could take to a track day — the question is, would you? For my part, I’d rather enjoy the fine work of the M technicians from behind the wheel of an M3 or M5…

2010 BMW X6 M: Specifications

Base price $99,900 (Canadian)
Vehicle type Front engine, all-wheel drive sport utility vehicle
Engine Twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8
Power/torque 555 bhp (408 kW) @ 6000 rpm
501 lb-ft (680 Nm) @ 1500-5650rpm
Transmission(s)     Six-speed automatic
Fuel consumption    19.3 urban (L/100 km)
10.8 extra urban (L/100 km)
13.9 combined (L/100 km)
Acceleration        0-100 km/h: 4.7 seconds
Top Speed        250 km/h
275 km/h*

* With optional M Driver’s Package.