The third-generation BMW X6 arrives with sharper dynamics, bigger engines, and no compromises on presence.
BMW has just dropped the cover on its third-generation X6 for the 2020 model year, and Munich isn’t just asking you to look at the updated silhouette — it’s pointing at three new powertrains and a chassis that was literally rebuilt around them. The Sports Activity Coupe class that BMW invented back in 2008 just got another chapter, and this generation carries more weight in every sense.
Over four hundred forty-three thousand X6s have crossed showroom floors worldwide since launch. BMW built this generation on an extensively revised platform that stretched and reshaped almost everything. Length gained an inch, wheelbase stretched 1.6 inches, width up by 0.6 inches. Height actually dropped 0.7 inches — which lowers the center of gravity and makes the whole package sit flatter on its haunches. The new X6 looks bigger without looking bloated, a trick BMW pulls off by extending the greenhouse lines and sharpening the character cuts along the flanks.
One of those visual upgrades worth noticing upfront: the illuminated kidney grille. It debuts on the new X6 and can activate automatically when you unlock or lock the car, or stay on manually. It plugs into the daytime running light circuit and won’t shut off while driving — so expect a bit of drama arriving home at night if you opt for it.
The front fascia carries active air slats behind the grille bars, large lower intakes, and sharp creases that give it a meaner expression than before. Standard footwear is 20-inch wheels, but bump up to the M Sport Package or choose separately and you’re looking at 21-inch or even 22-inch rubber wrapped in performance compounds. The roofline sweeps back into that unmistakable double-bubble contour, and the rear end stacks spoiler surfaces — one above the glass hatch, another functional split element tucked just below the tailgate lip.
L-shaped LED taillights hang under the hatch glass, exhaust tips sit low inside the diffuser panel, and together the pieces create a stance that communicates intention without shouting. If you’ve been watching X6s grow into their own over the years, this feels like the shape finally caught up with the engineering underneath.
Trim-level appearance varies between the standard xLine, M Sport, and the M50i flagship. xLine packages its exterior bits in Pearl-Effect Chrome — grille bars, air intake surrounds, Air Breather accents, tailpipe finishes. Body-color front under-guard protection sits above a matte-black rear diffuser. Switch to M Sport and nearly every trim element flips to High-Gloss Black Shadowline finish. On the M50i, the kidney grille, mirror caps, badges, and exhaust tips step up to Cerium Grey. Brake calipers wear blue.
Interior: driver focus meets genuine material depth
Step inside and the layout still points squarely at the driver, but BMW has expanded the range of materials available enough that “standard” no longer means compromise. Vernasca Leather covers the seats and Sensatec dresses the dashboard across all models. Extended Merino Leather jumps to optional on the 40i variants, and the M50i gets multi-function seats as standard kit.
Auto dual-zone climate control comes standard; step up to optional four-zone and rear passengers stop squabbling over temperature sooner. The Panorama glass roof opens to let light in, and its surface area swells to 83 percent larger than the predecessor. There’s also an optional Panorama Sky Lounge version that projects over 15,000 tiny illuminated points through the glass after dark — a starfield effect available in six colors. Ambient lighting wraps through the cabin, and the Welcome Light Carpet illuminates the ground ahead of each door when the X6 unlocks.
Somewhat more esoteric: select switches — transmission selector lever, iDrive controller, start/stop button, volume knob — can come dressed in glass. Not decorative overlays; actual glass components that add weight and precision to your fingertips. If you want sound, the Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround system pushes 1,500 watts through twenty speakers with a seven-channel amp and genuine three-dimensional imaging. Wireless charging drops ahead of the cup holders, and the rear seatbacks fold in a 40:20:40 split to expand cargo flexibility.
Paint selection splits into standard non-metallics, metallics, and BMW Individual exclusives. Alpine White and Jet Black anchor the non-metallic lineup. Eight metallic shades span Carbon Black, Black Sapphire, Dark Graphite, Mineral White, Flamenco Red, Arctic Grey, Manhattan Green, and Riverside Blue (the latter two require the M Sport Package on 40i models). For Individual, there’s Tanzanite Blue II Metallic and Ametrin Metallic — both no-cost on the M50i.
Vernasca interiors run five colorways: Black, Coffee, Tacora Red, Ivory White, and Ivory White with contrast Brown stitching (M Sport requirement on 40i models). Extended Merino steps up to four combinations. BMW Individual Full Merino reaches four too, including an Ivory White/Night Blue bi-color option.
Three engines, two transmissions, and serious power spread
Powertrain architecture splits across three distinct configurations. The entry-level sDrive40i runs rear-wheel drive; the xDrive40i adds BMW’s intelligent all-wheel-drive system; and the M50i brings twin-scroll turbos and eight cylinders to the table. All pair with an eight-speed Sport Steptronic automatic whose control electronics received updates this generation for faster shifts and smarter routing decisions informed by navigation routes and, where equipped, Active Cruise Control radar inputs.
The 3.0-liter TwinPower Turbo inline-six powering the 40i variants delivers 335 horsepower between 5,500 and 6,500 rpm — a thirty-three-horse increase over the outgoing engine. An exhaust manifold cast directly into the cylinder head joins a single twin-scroll turbocharger paired with direct injection operating at 350 bar maximum pressure. VALVETRONIC variable valve timing works alongside improved charge-air cooling, reduced-mass turbine housings, and a split-cooling valve strategy to keep thermal management tight. Low-friction belt drive and lighter crankshaft plus oil pump components round out efficiency measures that translate into noticeably quicker acceleration versus the prior generation.
The M50i swaps in BMW’s 4.4-liter V8 with twin twin-scroll turbos and an air-to-water intercooler setup. Output lands at 523 horsepower between 5,500 and 6,000 rpm — seventy-eight horses more than the previous M50i generation. New aluminum alloys strengthen the block, wire-arc spray iron coating on the cylinder walls cuts friction, Grafal-coated pistons and revised rings handle the increased stress, and a viscous crankshaft damper tames torsional vibration. A tunable M Sport exhaust system gives selectable notes triggered by a switch in the cabin; the same exhaust option exists on the inline-six variants when ordered with the M Sport Package.
xDrive channels torque predominantly to the rear wheels until front grip demand triggers intervention. The electronically controlled rear M Sport differential locks slip and distributes drive force between rear wheels for sharper exit traction — standard on the M50i, optional on the xDrive40i. That differential also appears as part of the optional Off-Road Package, managing lateral grip imbalances on uneven surfaces.
Suspension geometry that balances sport and comfort
Up front lives a double-wishbone arrangement; rear suspension uses five-link geometry. Dynamic Damper Control rides standard and toggles between sporting and comfort bias through the Driving Experience Control switch. Optional additions stack on top: the Dynamic Handling Package brings active roll stabilization via electric swivel motors that flatten cornering attitudes, plus Integral Active Steering that angles rear wheels in phase with fronts at speed and counter-phase at low speed for tighter turning circles.
A two-axle air suspension option provides independent per-wheel control fed by an electric compressor with pressure reservoir. This keeps the X6 level under uneven loading, links to Dynamic Stability Control for braking modulation based on load sensors, and offers five adjustable ride-height positions selectable from the driver display. Ground clearance rises for off-road travel or dips below default height for easier loading — buttons do the heavy lifting either way.
The Off-Road Package (available on xDrive40i models) adds dedicated snow, sand, gravel, and rock modes that coordinate ride height, xDrive torque split, transmission shift logic, DSC intervention thresholds, and accelerator pedal mapping with a single button press.
Wheel sizes span 20-inch light-alloy with 275/45R20 all-season run-flats as standard, 21-inch performance run-flats as option, or 22-inch performance non-run-flats. Space-saver spares pair with the non-run-flat tires. M Sport brakes arrive standard on the M50i, optional elsewhere.
Parking, visibility, and tech that actually helps
Rear-view camera covers the base. Top View, Panorama View, and 3D View build into the optional Parking Assistant Plus suite, generating a complete 360-degree image rendered on the Center Display. Remote 3D View lets you pull up a live three-dimensional scan of your vehicle and its surroundings straight from the BMW ConnectedDrive smartphone app — useful when scouting tight spaces before committing to a maneuver.
Back-Up Assistant earns mention here because it genuinely solves a real annoyance. Reverse out of a narrow driveway or parallel spot and the system remembers your incoming steering path. Press a button, modulate brake and throttle, and the X6 steers itself backward along the same arc — for distances up to fifty yards. You don’t have to fight the wheel during the reversal.
Driver aids get deeper, iDrive goes full digital
Active Driving Assistant runs standard equipment across the board: Blind Spot Detection, Lane Departure Warning, Rear Collision Warning, Frontal Collision Warning, Pedestrian Warning with City Collision Mitigation (which now flags cyclists too), Cross Traffic Alert Rear, and Speed Limit Information.
Upgrade to Driving Assistance Professional Package and you pick up Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go — maintaining speed and set following distance using front radar, capable of coming to a complete halt and resuming automatically within thirty seconds. Lane Keeping Assistant adds active side collision protection with steering torque correction and haptic warnings. Extended Traffic Jam Assistant opens limited-access highway autonomy at higher speeds. Evasion Aid reacts to pedestrians, and Front Cross-Traffic Alert warns against cross-path collisions when pulling toward obstructed roads.
The Head-Up Display grows with an enlarged projection zone, optimized graphics, richer content layers — speed, limits, navigation arrows, assistance alerts, phone and media lists, all projected into line-of-sight without forcing eye movement down to a console screen.
iDrive hits seventh generation here, dubbed BMW Live Cockpit Professional. Two 12.3-inch screens dominate: a fully digital instrument cluster wedged behind the wheel and a matching Center Display out front. Haptic iDrive controller returns alongside a responsive touchscreen surface, cloud-synced voice controls, gesture recognition, and customizable widget layouts arranged in four configurable arrangements accessible by swipe. Preferences saved to your profile transfer automatically to any other BMW via the cloud network.
The digital instrument cluster frames the speedometer and tachometer as geometric bands along the outer edges, freeing the central region for navigation routing. Center Display content can overlay onto the tach area when needed. Driving mode selection changes the entire visual style theme across both screens.
Connectivity: BMW Connected ties it all together
Built-in apps feed news, weather, office functions, and online search. Intelligent Emergency Call auto-summons help if a crash occurs. Navigation maps update routinely. BMW Connected acts as the companion app on iPhone, Apple Watch, Android phones, Android watches, Alexa devices, and Google Home platforms alike. Calendar appointments route straight into the sat-nav with departure times calculated around live traffic, and push notifications warn when it’s time to pull away.
The Open Mobility Cloud threads the entire ecosystem — vehicle, phone, watch, cloud profiles — into a single connected experience that starts calculating your route before you even reach the car.
This third-generation X6 doesn’t merely iterate — it expands the envelope across every metric: power, technology depth, chassis sophistication, and personalization breadth. Whether you land in the sDrive40i, xDrive40i, or the seriously quick M50i, theSports Activity Coupe formula gains something tangible with every added feature layer.
Vehicle data
| Make | BMW |
| Model | X6 |
| Generation / chassis code | Third generation (G06) |
| Model year(s) covered | 2020 |
| Body style | Sports Activity Coupe (SAC) |
| Powertrain / engine | sDrive40i / xDrive40i: 3.0L TwinPower Turbo inline-6 M50i: 4.4L TwinPower Turbo V8 |
| Power / torque | 40i: 335 hp @ 5,500–6,500 rpm M50i: 523 hp @ 5,500–6,000 rpm |
| Transmission | 8-speed Sport Steptronic automatic |
| Drivetrain | sDrive40i: Rear-wheel drive xDrive40i / M50i: xDrive all-wheel drive |
| Key performance figures | 0–60 mph times not stated in sources |
| Price (as stated) | Not stated in sources |
| On-sale / announcement period | Announced September 2019 |
| Market | Global / US |