BMW M6: Quite the road rocket!

There's something about a high-horsepower BMW M car that makes petrolhead hot in the pants. Maybe it’s the willingness to go sideways, and no enthusiast worth their salt would say no to a tyre-shredding hooligan. Or maybe it is the fact M cars have always been the ultimate sleeper cars. Feast your eyes on this BMW M6 and it tugs at your heartstrings for all of the above reasons, but this one is a very special Bimmer – once owned by Sachin Tendulkar.

Right from when it was first introduced, the M6 was never as mainstream as an M5, and that works to its advantage. That is because in a room full of M5 fanboys singing praises of the fast four-door, the M6 prefers to seduce you with its low-slung silhouette that oozes sex appeal. This particular example finished in BMW’s Frozen Silver paint scheme that was an Individual option back in the day, continues to turn heads even today, and it reeks of exclusivity. Perhaps that was why the Master Blaster picked it in the first place. The looks have been amped up in a very subtle manner, with a carbonfibre lip spoiler and diffuser. The stock 20-inch alloy wheels look gorgeous and there’s no doubt that BMW’s design language, which wasn’t as polarising back in the day, continues to remain timeless.

Danish, the owner of this M6 tells me that the interiors have been highly specced too, this being the only example in India to get the dark brown cognac colour scheme for the upholstery as opposed to the black or white leather that is present on the other ‘normal’ M6s, along with creature comforts such as heated and cooled front seats with a massage function. But an M car is always about sporty intentions, and this M6 gets an M Performance steering wheel finished in Alcantara to make sure that you do not mistake this for any other run of the mill BMW interior. Danish also mentions that he personally prefers the comfort of his M6 to the other Bimmer in his garage, an F10 BMW 5 Series, though that is certainly not the case with the performance.

Lurking under the bonnet is a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 (from the first turbo’d M5, the F10) that has been massaged to produce 750bhp of power at the crank. Modmycar India in Mumbai has performed most of the modifications responsible for the performance of the M6, with the boost in power being courtesy of a Stage 2 ECU tune from Etuners. And to think that Danish continues to refer to the outputs as the result of a ‘convservative’ tune! It’s also a potent machine to head to the drag strip in, and Danish’s M6 will be making an appearance at the Valley Run, a drag race event held annually that is very popular amongst petrolheads and is a gathering for tuned cars from across the country.

In our conversation, he also says that the boost from the turbochargers is very linear as well, with the powertrain easily capable of handling a lot more power. The torque on offer is mind-blowing too, at 950Nm, and that should make for ludicrous amounts of tyre smoke if you were to indulge in hoonery. Many refer to the M6 as a tail- happy machine, but Danish insists that is not the case if you give the car the respect it deserves. He has used the M6 extensively, letting it loose on Mumbai’s streets at night with no traffic to play spoilsport, and he refers to it as one of his favourite driving experiences. Danish particularly is a fan of the M Dynamic Mode, which lets the car break traction just enough and helps you go sideways without becoming a part of the scenery.

If you’re wondering whether an M6 can be your daily driver, Danish answers in the affirmative, as long as you stay on top of the maintenance and ensure that the car gets the TLC it needs. With proper attention, a BMW M can be one of the best buys that an enthusiast could get, with stonking performance that does not come at the expense of everyday usability, particularly with features such as BMW’s adaptive dampers at your disposal to deal with massive speed breakers.

This particular BMW M6 is well-known in Mumbai’s car circles as something of a unicorn, with its swoopy silhouette, leaving behind sports cars in its wake. It actually fits an enthusiast’s brief perfectly. It definitely has the goods under the bonnet to bonfire the rear tyres off, should you be in the mood for it. Yet all the drama and the savagery that one might associate with a performance car putting out more than 700bhp is beautifully wrapped up in the stately body of a GT car with cushy interiors. This is definitely a car you would want to cruise across continents in. But if munching miles isn’t your thing, you could always take a detour to the closest drag strip in style, warm up the rear tyres with a burnout and blast off towards the horizon. I like to think that’s how the Master Blaster would’ve done it.