[Mandrake]

MelbourneFinn characterizes the M6 as making no sense, which resonates with me. He and I have the F06, so I will refer mainly to that one. Certainly many of the justifications I had for buying one turned out to be wrong, but I absolutely love the car, anyway. First, some things I got right:

-The M6 does not make sense in its excesses: Does anyone need 560-600 horsepower in a 4-door saloon car? A gratuitous carbon fiber roof? Carbon ceramic brakes on the family hauler? Roughly $30K beyond the M5 for better looks and less room? None of these things would be easily explained to a skeptical audience, but all are supremely appealing to me.

-I really liked the design, an unusually successful blend of aggressive, sexy, elegant, and powerful. Still do, and it's really common to draw appreciative comments whenever I stop. These are beautiful and rare cars.

-I had long imagined getting an outrageous family car and when I began looking I concluded the M6 was the lone choice for a manual transmission, and probably the last such option ever. The take rate on manuals has been really low for years and BMW no longer offers them in the M5 or M8, nor in the competition packages of the M2-3-4. Audi hasn't offered a manual for years, the C8 is paddle-only, and very few cars from any maker still offer one. I don't see that changing.

But many of my other expectations were not so well founded. Yes, you can use it as a family car, but if you needed 4 seats, would you really want to compromise the room in back with an unnecessarily raked roofline and a transmission tunnel topped with climate controls that effectively eliminates the middle seat?

And yes, it is comfortable for road trips but it's so gorgeous that a completely inflexible no snacking policy was adopted immediately.

I also thought based on reviews, videos, and a couple test drives that it would handle more crisply. It's a heavy car and remarkably agile for its weight, but it is not nimble in the same way as true sports cars. It handles more like a cigarette boat and gets more precise at faster speeds. With its enormous power it can chase down a lot of sports cars, but it is not the fastest off the line as a two ton, RWD monster. Think GT car more than race car, although many forum members have enjoyed tuning, tracking, and racing. It's an extremely capable platform. However, it carries a lot of weight that wouldn't appear in a dedicated racer, if you care about that.

I did look into the E92 M3 and the NA V8 exhaust note is a real highlight. A great choice, but I have never looked back. On the points where I was not well informed...well, I don't care. It turned out that the sexy roofline was worth a lot more to me than rear seat headroom. All the ways in which the car makes no sense are extremely appealing to me. I look at competing cars and more recent models and feel even more delighted with the M6. As mentioned by MF, the M5 is the more sensible choice, but who cares? The M6 is the baller's choice!