2022 BMW X6

The volume trim for 2022 is the xDrive40i, whose 3.0L turbocharged B58 inline-six with 48-volt mild-hybrid assist makes 335 hp — unchanged from 2021, and well short of the 375 hp the engine gained with the 2024 LCI facelift.

The B58 six delivers 331 lb-ft across a broad 1,500–5,200 rpm plateau, which is what gives the X6 its effortless part-throttle response despite a 4,800-plus-lb curb weight.

BMW's claim for the 2022 xDrive40i is 5.3 seconds to 60 mph — quick for a mid-size luxury SUV, though the V8 trims are what the X6's styling promises.

The B58 is one of the smoothest turbocharged sixes on sale, and the 48-volt starter-generator (standard since 2021 and carried into 2022) removes the shudder from stop/start restarts. Peak torque from 1,500 rpm leaves almost no perceptible lag.

The ZF-sourced 8-speed Steptronic is the segment benchmark — decisive, quick to kick down, unobtrusive in Comfort and sharp in Sport, with no hunting and genuinely useful paddle control.

Built on the X5's CLAR platform, the X6 is rated at 7,200 lbs when fitted with BMW's trailer hitch package — near the top of the mid-size SUV band and far beyond what its coupe roofline suggests.

For 2022 BMW dropped the rear-drive sDrive40i, so xDrive all-wheel drive is standard on every US X6 — a genuine year-specific improvement over 2021. The system is rear-biased with torque vectoring and an available M Sport limited-slip rear differential, but there is no low range or terrain-mode hardware.

The X6 is a road-biased sports activity coupé: roughly 8 inches of clearance, no skid plates, no locking differentials, no low range, and standard 20-inch (optional 21–22-inch) wheels on low-profile performance tires. xDrive and the available air suspension cover snow and gravel and nothing past that.

Two gas engines in four states of tune — a 335 hp mild-hybrid turbo six and a 4.4L twin-turbo V8 at 523, 600 or 617 hp — which is broad performance coverage but no hybrid, PHEV or EV option, and 2022 narrows the range further by deleting the rear-drive six.

EPA combined rating for the volume gas trim. The 48-volt mild-hybrid inline-six is creditable for a 4,850-lb luxury coupe-SUV, but graded against other gas SUVs it lands below the middle of the class.

The 48-volt starter-generator's smoother stop/start and brake recuperation hold the city penalty to 2 MPG below combined, respectable for a heavy all-wheel-drive luxury SUV.

Mass, wide tires and permanent all-wheel drive cap highway economy at 25 MPG — the weakest of the three EPA figures against the gas-SUV band, and the sloping roofline buys less here than its looks imply.

A large 21.9-gallon tank turns middling economy into genuinely long legs — just over 500 miles between fills, comfortably above the mid-size SUV norm and the strongest element of this category.

23 MPG combined on premium puts running cost near the top of the mid-size SUV band; EPA reckons about $5,500 more in fuel over five years than an average new vehicle.

Premium is recommended rather than strictly required — the B58 will run on regular with reduced output — but every 2022 X6 variant is a premium-fuel car, a standing per-gallon penalty against mainstream SUV rivals. No flex-fuel, hybrid or plug-in alternative exists in the US X6 range.

NHTSA holds records for both 2022 X6 body styles but has never crash-tested either — overall, frontal, side barrier, side pole and rollover all read "Not Rated", with rollover possibility returned as 0.0. The estimate is not a segment guess: the G06 X6 is the G05 X5's structure with a coupe roofline, built on the same line in Spartanburg, and NHTSA rated the 2022 X5 AWD 4 stars overall. The roofline changes the greenhouse, not the crash structure, so 4 stars is the defensible carry-across — but there is no tested figure behind the number.

IIHS published no 2022 X6 rating page — the X6 does not get one until 2024 — so the model year carries no Top Safety Pick of its own. What exists is indirect and good as far as it goes: IIHS crash-tested a 2019 X5 xDrive40i and explicitly extends three Good frontal results to the X6 (driver- and passenger-side small overlap and moderate overlap). Nothing else transfers — IIHS states in as many words that the X5's Good Side 2.0 rating does NOT apply to the X6, and the original side, roof strength and head restraint results carry no X6 extension. Mid-band is the honest place for a car with a verified-Good front structure, no side or roof result of its own, and no award.

Active Driving Assistant is standard on every 2022 X6 — frontal collision warning with pedestrian detection and city collision mitigation/braking, Active Blind Spot Detection, lane departure warning and rear cross-traffic alert — plus a standard rearview camera and parking sensors, so AEB and blind-spot coverage come without paying up. Adaptive cruise and lane centering are not standard: they sit behind the $1,700 Driving Assistance Professional package on a $67k-plus SUV, which is what holds this out of the top band.

The X6 runs the same forward-sensing hardware and the same Active Driving Assistant software as the X5, which IIHS rates Superior in vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention with both the standard and the optional system, and — newly for this model year — Superior in daytime pedestrian testing. Held a notch below the X5 because none of those front crash prevention results is published against the X6 itself, and no nighttime pedestrian result exists for either car in 2022; the top band wants demonstrated night performance. The X6's own first published results (vehicle-to-vehicle 2.0 Good, pedestrian Good) apply only to 2024-26.

Active Blind Spot Detection and rear cross-traffic alert are standard on every 2022 trim, and on this body they earn their keep more than on most rivals — the slit rear window and thick D-pillars mean the electronics are covering sightlines the glass does not. Coverage stays alert-level as standard, though: front cross-traffic alert and lane-change assist need the $1,700 Driving Assistance Professional package, active park distance control comes with the $800 Parking Assistance package, and no trailer-aware blind-spot mode is offered.

Lane departure warning is standard, but active lane keeping and the lane centering that makes the small corrective inputs arrive only with the optional Driving Assistance Professional package, and reviewers of the G05/G06 judge the centering competent rather than confidence-inspiring — it holds a lane without the set-and-forget composure of the best systems in the class.

Fitted with Driving Assistance Professional, Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go is a smooth full-speed-range system that handles crawling traffic cleanly and integrates with the Extended Traffic Jam Assistant and automatic lane change; reviewers of the shared X5/X6 platform rate it among the better setups in the segment. It falls short of the top band because on the volume xDrive40i it is a $1,700 option rather than standard equipment at this price.

The 2022 X6 (pre-LCI G06) offers Extended Traffic Jam Assistant with the optional Driving Assistance Professional package — genuinely hands-off, but only below 40 mph on mapped limited-access divided highways with the driver-attention camera confirming eyes on the road. That is a real hands-free capability yet far narrower in scope than Super Cruise or BlueCruise, and it predates the roughly 85 mph Highway Assistant BMW introduced with the 2024 LCI facelift.

Adaptive full LED headlights with automatic high beams are standard on the 2022 xDrive40i — a step ahead of the X5's plain LED base unit — with Icon Adaptive LED with Laserlight bundled into the $3,550 Executive Package. IIHS published no 2022 X6 headlight rating, and the two nearest measured readings are both unflattering: the 2022 X5's LED-projector-low/LED-projector-high unit rates Poor for 2019-23, and when IIHS finally tested the X6's own base xDrive40i unit for 2024 it came back Marginal, with Acceptable reserved for Premium/Executive/M60i cars. Mid-band reflects decent standard hardware with nothing measured to confirm it.

This is the tax the X6 pays for its shape and its clearest safety compromise against the X5 it is built alongside: the low, sloping roofline, tapering rear side glass, very thick D-pillars and a shallow slit of a rear window leave substantial blind zones to the sides and rear. The raised seating gives a good view over the hood and a rearview camera is standard, but the Surround View with 3D View that would properly compensate sits in the $800 Parking Assistance package rather than on the base car.

The X6 carries the X5's rear bench and its child-seat hardware — two outboard positions with complete lower anchors and tethers, the center position tether-and-belt only — which IIHS rates Good for ease of use on the X5, with anchors that are not buried deep and do not need much force. IIHS does not extend that rating to the X6 and left child seat anchors Not rated on the 2024 X6 page, so the X6 itself has never been assessed, and the coupe body is what costs it: the chopped roofline and shallower rear door aperture make lifting a rear-facing seat in more awkward than in the X5, with five seats only and no third-row escape valve. Workable rather than easy.

Every 2022 X6 — xDrive40i, M50i, X6 M and M Competition — is a strict five-seater; the sports activity coupé roofline that defines the body leaves no room for the third row, and BMW has never listed one for the X6 in any market.

The panoramic moonroof is standard equipment on the 2022 X6, so 39.3 in is the figure every buyer actually gets. That is roughly an inch and a half down on the X5 built on the same platform and lands just below the middle of the SUV band.

40.4 in clears the 40 in floor of the SUV band by a whisker and trails most mid-size rivals on paper, a consequence of the G06's long hood and rearward cabin. The very wide seat travel and telescoping wheel make it a non-issue in practice for tall drivers.

This is where the coupé roof charges its rent: 37.5 in of second-row headroom puts six-footers close to the headliner, and the standard panoramic glass takes back some of what the roofline already gave away. It sits low in the SUV band.

Mid-band for an SUV and about 1.7 in short of the X5's on the identical 117 in wheelbase — enough to be felt with adults behind adults. Combined with the low roof forcing a knees-up posture, it makes this a four-adult car rather than a five-adult one.

There is no third row on any 2022 X6 and never has been on the nameplate — the tapering roofline makes one physically impossible. A floor score for the capability this item measures, not a judgment on the two rows that are there.

Near the bottom of an SUV band that runs to 80 cu ft — smaller than plenty of compact crossovers and 6.5 cu ft down on the X5 for the same footprint. The shape compounds the number: the raked tailgate caps usable height, so upright luggage does not fit where the volume suggests it should.

Folding the bench roughly doubles the hold, but 59.6 cu ft still sits near the floor of the mid-size SUV band and about 12 cu ft behind the X5. The load floor is close to flat and the 40/20/40 split takes long items well; it is ceiling height, not floor area, that limits the car.

Thinner than the X5's on the same platform, because the X6 does without the split two-piece tailgate whose lower half doubles as a load ledge. What remains is deep door pockets with bottle holders, an underfloor cargo well, tie-downs and a 40/20/40 bench with pass-through, against a shallow, button-crowded centre console reviewers single out — and for 2022 the wireless charging tray that used to sit in it is no longer standard content.

The front seats are a genuine strength — heated 14-way power sport seats standard in leather, with multi-contour, ventilation and massage available, and reviewers rate them fit for all-day drives. The rear bench is the limiter, not through cushioning but through packaging: a low cushion under a roofline close enough overhead that adults sit hunched on long stints.

Firmer than the X5 by design and by tire, and consistently so. Adaptive dampers keep body movements tightly checked and low-speed compliance is better than the wheel sizes suggest, but the ride turns brittle over broken pavement unless the optional rear air suspension is fitted, and the standard 275-section run-flats on 20-inch wheels are the limiting factor either way.

One of the X6's clearest wins and among the quietest cabins in the class — wind and tire noise are unusually well suppressed at highway speed, and the mild-hybrid B58 inline-six is near silent at a cruise. The fastback roof helps here rather than hurting.

The menu is deep — heated front seats, leather and a panoramic moonroof standard, with ventilated and massaging front seats, heated rear seats, four-zone climate and rear sunshades available. What holds 2022 below the surrounding model years is how the content was repackaged: BMW deleted the Convenience Package, stopped selling heated seats as standalone options, and moved the heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, heated armrests and four-zone climate into the new $1,100 Climate Comfort Package, while remote engine start moved up into the $3,550 Executive Package.

For 2022 the entry point rose because BMW deleted the rear-drive sDrive40i, leaving the all-wheel-drive xDrive40i at $67,350 before its $995 destination charge as the cheapest way into an X6. At $68,345 delivered it sits more than $3,000 past the $65,000 ceiling of the SUV pricing band, so the item bottoms out.

The xDrive40i is the volume trim, but BMW's a-la-carte structure means almost nothing leaves a dealer at sticker, and 2022 made that worse: the Convenience Package was killed, wireless charging dropped off the standard list, and heated seats stopped being standalone options, so buyers wanting them had to take the Climate Comfort Package. A representative 2022 xDrive40i lands in the low-to-mid $70,000s; Executive Package cars run past $80,000.

CarEdge projects $6,199 in combined maintenance and repair over the first five years, marginally below the luxury-SUV average, with a 26% chance of a major repair in that window. The distribution matters more than the total: BMW Ultimate Care absorbs scheduled service to 3 years/36,000 miles and the factory warranty covers repairs to 4 years/50,000 miles, so effectively the whole figure lands in years four and five — and CarEdge's ten-year projection of $19,624 shows how steeply it climbs after that.

Unlike a forward projection, the 2022 model year now has four years of observed data and it is running better than the nameplate average: CarEdge shows the 2022 X6 at 62.4% of its original price after four years, and KBB has it down 32% at three years. Extrapolating the usual year-five step-down from those two anchors lands near 53%, between iSeeCars' era-blended 49.8% retained and CarEdge's nameplate-wide 55.7%. The caution is that this generation sold into peak-shortage pricing, so retention measured against MSRP flatters what 2022 buyers who paid over sticker actually got back.

BMW's New Vehicle Limited Warranty on 2022 models runs 4 years or 50,000 miles — a year longer than the 3/36 mainstream standard, but short of the 5-year terms some rivals offer, and the 50,000-mile cap bites before the years do for anyone with an average commute. Squarely mid-band for the segment.

BMW gives the powertrain no extension beyond the basic term: the mild-hybrid B58 six and its 8-speed automatic are uncovered at 4 years/50,000 miles, against the 5–10 year powertrain terms this band is calibrated to, so the item scores zero. Longer protection exists only as a paid BMW Vehicle Service Contract — which CarEdge explicitly recommends for this nameplate.

BMW Ultimate Care covers factory-scheduled maintenance — oil, filters and fluids, engine and cabin air filters, spark plugs, brake fluid and inspections — for 3 years/36,000 miles on every new 2022 BMW, backed by 4 years of unlimited-mileage roadside assistance and BMW ConnectedDrive service trials. A genuinely multi-year included-maintenance program puts this in the upper band, but it falls short of the best in class: wear items such as brake pads, discs and wiper blades need the paid Ultimate Care+ upgrade, and 2022 actually trimmed the connected-services content by killing the Convenience Package that carried the WiFi hotspot trial.

$73,500 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (53% retained, or about $38,955) leaves about $34,545 in depreciation. Add the projected $6,199 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $40,744 in total.

2022 is a settled third year of the pre-LCI G06 — carry-over hardware, the rear-drive sDrive40i dropped so the lineup is xDrive-only — and every indirect signal is good while both direct ones are simply absent. J.D. Power publishes no Quality & Reliability figure for the 2022 X6 at all (the page reads "Not Rated", unlike the 81/100 it carries for 2021 and 84/100 for 2023), and Consumer Reports declines to buy and test the X6 on the grounds that it is a niche derivative of the X5. What is left is strong but circumstantial: the mechanically identical 2022 X5 is CR's best-rated year of that generation, NHTSA holds one recall and five complaints against the model year, and BMW's three-year dependability result for 2022 builds beat the industry average. RepairPal's owner-repair data remains the one model-specific dissent, and it is harsher on the X6 than on the X5 or X3. Good, but proxy-based rather than measured, which is what keeps it below the X5's own score.

The yardstick for a 2022 build is the 2025 VDS, which surveys these cars at three years: BMW posted 189 PP100 against a 202 PP100 industry average — better than average, ninth overall, and the strongest of the German luxury marques, but still short of the Lexus/Toyota tier and behind Cadillac and Porsche among premium brands. Consumer Reports was more enthusiastic in the same period, lifting BMW ten places to third overall in its November 2022 brand ranking, while J.D. Power's initial-quality data for the model year put BMW ninth. Upper-middle and improving, with the two big surveys disagreeing on how far — the same read the sibling X5 earns for this model year.

The cleanest recall year of the G06 generation and a dramatic improvement on the 2021 car. NHTSA lists exactly one campaign against the 2022 X6, and it is a software reprogram for an FMVSS 118 compliance technicality rather than a hardware defect — no workmanship errors on safety-critical parts, which is precisely what dragged 2021 down (that year carried seven campaigns including an improperly assembled 48-volt battery connection with a fire risk and an integrated brake system whose rotor could separate under hard braking). It is also cleaner than 2023, whose single campaign was a transmission control unit that could seize the gears. Complaint volume corroborates: five entries for the whole model year. Held out of the top band by the ordinary G06 out-of-warranty service themes rather than by anything in the recall record.

The volume xDrive40i pairs the B58 3.0L turbocharged inline-six with the ZF 8HP eight-speed — about as proven as a modern forced-induction luxury powertrain gets. Closed-deck block, millions of units across the BMW range, a repeat Wards 10 Best Engines winner, and the engine that resolved the timing-chain and plastic-cooling-component failures of the N54/N55 era. The 48-volt mild-hybrid starter-generator is in its second year here, and unlike the 2021 build — where that hardware drew a fire-risk recall over an improperly assembled battery connection — the 2022 model year carries no powertrain campaign at all. Two things keep it just below the sibling X5's mark: scattered owner reports of faster-than-normal coolant loss and early injector failures on G06 B58 cars, and the fact that buyers stepping up to the M50i get the N63 4.4L twin-turbo V8 instead, a family with a materially worse oil-consumption and turbo history. The much-discussed G05/G06 front differential failures are essentially confined to that V8 and do not describe the scored trim.

The X6 carries the X5's cabin, one of the richest in the mid-size luxury SUV set, with standard leather upholstery and wood trim, soft-touch coverage across essentially every surface a hand reaches, and dense, well-damped switchgear; reviewers rate even its plastics above mainstream norms. This is the pre-LCI interior with the 12.3-inch iDrive 7 display and retained physical climate and volume controls. The 2022 model year also restored the Climate Comfort Package — heated front and rear seats, heated armrests, heated steering wheel and four-zone climate — as the route to equipment that had been separately optional, so a typically-specified car is well appointed. Only the most theatrical rivals in the class read as more special.

This is the strongest evidence in the category and it is measured at the level of this exact nameplate in this exact model year: J.D. Power's 2022 Initial Quality Study ranked the X6 second among Upper Midsize Premium SUVs, with the X5 third. That result carries extra weight because of when it was earned — 2022 was the worst initial-quality year J.D. Power had recorded in 36 years, with premium brands running 21 PP100 behind mass-market on technology-driven problems. The owner record agrees: five NHTSA complaints for the whole model year, none describing assembly defects, and the single recall is a software reprogram rather than the workmanship errors that marked the 2021 build. Press reviews of the Spartanburg-built car report tight panel gaps and a solid structure. Held short of the top band only because the X6 placed second rather than first in its segment and because the low-roof body's large tailgate and optional 21- and 22-inch wheels still attract scattered wind- and road-noise remarks.

Roughly 350 BMW centers across all 50 states is dense coverage by luxury standards — wider reach than Genesis, Volvo or Land Rover and comparable to Mercedes-Benz — and because the X6 is mechanically an X5 under a different roofline, every store already stocks and trains on its hardware, so a low-volume nameplate carries no access penalty. Service satisfaction for this period is respectable rather than leading: BMW placed fifth among premium brands in the contemporaneous J.D. Power service study, inside the top five but well behind Lexus. The 2022 model year also improved the ownership package in a small but real way — Ultimate Care's three years of complimentary scheduled maintenance became transferable to a subsequent owner from MY2022 onward. Still thinner than a mainstream marque in rural areas, which is what holds this below the top band.

Mechanical sourcing is a non-issue — the B58 and ZF 8HP are among the most widely produced parts BMW makes and the CLAR running gear is shared with the X5, so independent specialists and the European aftermarket cover the X6 fully, which is what keeps this out of the bottom band. Everything else about ownership cost is poor and measurably worse than the X5's. RepairPal puts annual repair and maintenance above both the class average and the X5's figure, with owners making unscheduled shop visits half again as often as the class norm and a higher probability that any given repair is a major one. The X6-specific sheetmetal, rear glass and tailgate are low-volume, dealer-priced items with no aftermarket equivalent, and the standard 20-inch — optional 21- and 22-inch, often staggered — run-flat performance tires are an expensive recurring consumable. The generation's big-ticket jobs land well after a 2022 car's 4-year/50,000-mile warranty lapsed in 2026.

BMW Live Cockpit Professional is standard across the 2022 X6 range — a 12.3-inch centre touchscreen paired with a 12.3-inch digital cluster, running iDrive 7. There is no bigger screen to option: the 14.9-inch Curved Display arrives only with the LCI facelift sold as the 2024 model year, so 12.3 in is both the standard and the maximum here.

iDrive 7.0 is one of the best systems of its era — fast, logically tiled, and offering redundant inputs (rotary controller, touch, voice, and gesture with the Executive Package) so the driver picks the method rather than being forced onto glass. The knock is the density of console switchgear and the fiddly climate controls, which reviewers say take real time to learn.

Both wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto are standard on every 2022 X6 with no subscription attached — BMW dropped its short-lived CarPlay fee before this model year and added wireless Android Auto to iDrive 7 cars in a July 2020 software release. Top band; the only reservation is that BMW offers wireless projection only, with no wired fallback when a phone will not pair.

The BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant answers a natural-language wake phrase and handles climate, navigation and vehicle settings conversationally — among the better factory assistants of the iDrive 7 era — and BMW Maps cloud navigation with live traffic is standard, good enough that owners do not automatically default to phone projection. Amazon Alexa integration reached this car by over-the-air update before the 2022 model year began.

A deep ladder — a 10-speaker, 205-watt system standard, the 16-speaker Harman Kardon surround setup as the popular mid-step, and the 20-speaker Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround system at the top, one of the best factory installs sold at any price. Held a little below the surrounding model years because the 2022 semiconductor shortage restricted Harman Kardon availability on built inventory, so the mid-step was not reliably orderable.

A crisp 12.3-inch fully digital cluster is standard on every 2022 trim with no trim walk required, carrying mode-linked themes, a map inset and driver-assist visualisation. It stops short of the top band because the iDrive 7 layout — the outward-sweeping tachometer and fixed dial arrangement — is the era's most-criticised element, less configurable and less legible at a glance than Audi's Virtual Cockpit.

BMW Remote Software Upgrade delivers genuine whole-vehicle updates over the air that add features rather than just refreshing maps, installed from the car or remotely through the My BMW app. The cadence is a package every few months rather than the rolling releases of the best in class, and owner reports of slow or stalled downloads keep it out of the very top band.

The My BMW app is polished and complete — remote lock/unlock, vehicle finder, live status, remote climate, and remote surround-view viewing on cars with the parking package — and BMW Digital Key turns a compatible iPhone into an NFC key shareable with up to five people. Below the top band because Digital Key Plus with ultra-wideband is a 2024-and-later feature on this platform, remote engine start on a 2022 X6 requires the $3,550 Executive Package, and connected services move to subscription once the trial lapses.

Five USB ports across both rows plus 12V outlets cover the basics, Enhanced Bluetooth became standard for 2022 and a Wi-Fi hotspot is available — but this is the model year wireless phone charging fell out of the car. BMW deleted the Convenience Package that carried it, stripped its contents from the Premium and Executive Packages, and the semiconductor shortage restricted it further on 2022 builds. There is no household AC outlet anywhere in the vehicle.

Remote keyless entry with push-button start is standard, the power tailgate is fitted, and BMW Digital Key lets a compatible phone act as the key — the everyday cases are covered. The gap is remote engine start, which for 2022 sits only inside the $3,550 Executive Package after BMW dissolved the cheaper Convenience Package that used to carry this class of content.

Rear camera plus front and rear parking sensors are standard, and the $800 Parking Assistance Package adds 3D Surround View, Parking Assistant Plus and Backup Assistant — a high-resolution bird's-eye render and semi-automated parking this body needs more than most, given how badly the fastback roof and slit rear window compromise the view out. The deduction is that surround view is an option rather than standard on the trim people buy.

BMW's full-colour head-up display is among the largest and clearest in the industry, projecting speed, navigation, ADAS status and speed limits. What costs this model year is where BMW put it: for 2022 the HUD sits inside the $3,550 Executive Package rather than the cheaper Premium bundle that carried it in adjacent years, so on the volume xDrive40i it is an expensive reach rather than a commonly ticked box.

The hardware is sound — two outboard LATCH positions with complete lower anchors and top tethers on the X5's Good-rated pattern, a high hip point that saves stooping, and a 40/20/40 bench. The body works against it: the roofline drops right over the rear door aperture, so lifting a child or a rear-facing seat in means ducking under it, and 27.4 cu ft behind the bench is genuinely tight for a stroller plus a week of gear.

Standard content is good — Active Driving Assistant puts AEB with pedestrian detection, blind-spot detection, lane departure warning and rear cross-traffic alert on every 2022 trim, and the forward-sensing hardware is the one IIHS rates Superior on the X5. But the 2022 X6 carries no crash rating of its own from either agency, adaptive cruise and active lane keeping sit behind a $1,700 package on a $67k SUV, and the compromised rear and side visibility is a real everyday cost in a family car.

Up front this is an excellent long-haul family car — whisper-quiet, all-day seats, a panoramic roof and roughly 500 miles of range. The second row is the limiter: 35.7 in of legroom under a 37.5 in roof is fine for kids and a squeeze for teenagers, only 27.4 cu ft is left for luggage with everyone aboard, and for 2022 the four-zone climate and heated rear seats that would make the back bench a nicer place are locked in the $1,100 Climate Comfort Package.

The powertrain makes traffic easy — the 48V mild-hybrid B58 and ZF eight-speed give near-imperceptible stop/start restarts and clean tip-in, and the adaptive dampers soften usefully for town work. The body gives some of that back: a firmer baseline ride than the X5, a bulky footprint, and rear three-quarter visibility poor enough that a routine lane change leans on the blind-spot system rather than a glance.

An expensive way to cover commuting miles. 23 MPG combined on premium fuel is unremarkable even for a luxury SUV — about $3,300 a year at EPA assumptions — and the consumables punish: 275-section run-flats on 20-inch wheels and dealer-rate service once the included maintenance period ends. Unlike the X5, which offers the xDrive45e plug-in this year, the X6 has no electrified variant to escape into.

Awkward in the city. 195 in long and 79 in wide on a 117 in wheelbase with a roughly 41 ft turning circle already makes tight garages work, and the fastback body compounds it — the shallow rear window and thick D-pillars leave the driver judging the back of the car entirely on camera. The optional 3D Surround View and Parking Assistant Plus recover most of that, but only when the $800 box is ticked.

Towing is the one genuinely capable dimension: 7,200 lbs with the factory hitch is strong for a unibody crossover and the B58/ZF8 pulls it without strain. Everything else is against it — no bed, passenger-car payload, and a 27.4 cu ft hold under a sloping tailgate that will not take upright boxes or a stack of sheet goods. A tow vehicle, not a work vehicle.

The mechanical core is durable — the B58 inline-six and ZF 8HP both carry strong high-mileage reputations — but everything wrapped around it is built for a garage. Air-suspension hardware, run-flats in expensive sizes, Sensatec and ambient-lit trim, and repair costs at roughly double the all-vehicle average make hard-use ownership costly, and there is no fleet or commercial tradition behind this nameplate at all.

Close to nothing here. Cargo tie-downs, an underfloor well and a power liftgate are the whole provision — and unlike the X5 there are no factory roof rails on the US X6 and no split-tailgate load ledge, so even a rack is a retrofit that means dropping the headliner. No onboard AC power, no washable or vinyl interior, no upfit ecosystem.

This is the X6 at its best. A whisper-quiet cabin, front seats rated for all-day driving, a composed high-speed ride and roughly 500 miles between fills from the 21.9-gallon tank; with Driving Assistance Professional it adds Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go, Traffic Jam Assistant and automatic lane change for genuinely low-fatigue interstate work. Only the firm secondary ride over broken surfaces and the cramped rear quarters hold it below the top of the band.

Gravel roads and ski-season snow, and not much past that — though 2022 helps a little at the margin, because deleting the rear-drive sDrive40i makes xDrive all-wheel drive standard on every X6 sold this year. Ground clearance is a respectable 8.5 in and the 7,200 lb tow rating covers a boat or a toy hauler, but low-profile 275-section run-flats, a deep front air dam, no terrain modes and no off-road package set the real limit, and the absence of factory roof rails rules out the boxes and bike carriers that make an SUV an adventure vehicle.

Flexible in the ways software can manage and restrictive in the ways geometry decides. The 40/20/40 second row folds to a near-flat 59.6 cu ft, there is underfloor storage, tie-downs and an available hitch — but 27.4 cu ft behind the bench is small for the footprint, the raked tailgate caps the height of anything you slide in, and with no factory roof rails there is nowhere to put what does not fit inside.

Near the top of the mid-size luxury SUV field, and measurably sharper than the X5 it shares a platform with — a lower roof and centre of gravity, wider rear track and firmer standard damping give a taut, hunkered-down feel through quick direction changes that belies nearly 4,800 lbs. Adaptive M suspension is standard content, with active roll stabilisation and rear-axle steering available.

Accurate, well weighted and easy to place, so confidence behind the wheel is high — but the electric rack filters out road texture and reviewers consistently call it short on genuine feedback. The complaint bites harder here because the chassis underneath is good enough to deserve better: precise rather than communicative.

Pedal feel is firm, progressive and consistent, and the brakes do not fade in normal use, with M Sport brakes optional on the xDrive40i. The instrumented numbers are the reservation — the shared G05/G06 running gear records a 119 ft 60-0 stop in the xDrive40i, behind most direct rivals — and owners report pad wear and squeak on the heavy 20-inch package.

A benchmark drivetrain. The 335 hp B58 turbo inline-six pulls with essentially no lag from 1,500 rpm, the ZF eight-speed shifts imperceptibly in Comfort and decisively in Sport, and the 48V starter-generator hides the auto stop/start restart well enough that it is hard to notice. No shudder, no hunting, no driveline slop.

The inline-six is inherently balanced, so essentially nothing reaches the wheel or pedals, and at a cruise it is close to silent inside a cabin reviewers call whisper-quiet. Under load it produces a cultured, genuinely pleasant note rather than the coarse thrash typical of turbo fours at this price.

A wide arc near the top of the SUV band — U-turns take a second bite and parking structures need care, the consequence of a 117-inch wheelbase and wide 275-section front tires. The optional Integral Active Steering tightens it noticeably but is not on the volume configuration.

The seat itself is excellent — 14-way power adjustment as standard (16-way multi-contour available), a wide wheel range and a commanding view over the hood suit almost any driver. What pulls it down is everything behind the driver's shoulder: the fastback roof, tapering side glass, thick D-pillars and a slit of a rear window make over-the-shoulder checks close to useless, and the console carries a dense array of switches reviewers say take time to learn.

One of the few SUVs this size an enthusiast will genuinely enjoy, and the sportiest reading of the G06 platform — the inline-six's shove and sound, quick responses and flatter cornering than the X5 make a back road worth taking, with 523 hp and 600-plus hp versions above it. It is still a 4,785 lb luxury SUV, and the numb steering is what stops it going higher.

In absolute terms the $68,345 xDrive40i is well found — Sensatec upholstery, heated 14-way power sport seats, panoramic moonroof, twin 12.3-inch Live Cockpit Professional displays with navigation, standard Apple CarPlay with no subscription fee, adaptive LED headlights and a full driver-assistance suite. Against the price it is thin, and 2022 moved backwards rather than forwards: BMW demoted wireless charging from standard to optional, deleted the Convenience Package outright (taking remote start, four-zone climate and the WiFi hotspot trial with it), and stopped selling heated seats as standalone options so buyers had to take the new Climate Comfort Package.

The X6 asks about $5,650 more than a 2022 X5 xDrive40i built on the same platform with the same 335 hp mild-hybrid B58 and near-identical equipment, and gives back less: 27.4 cubic feet behind the rear seats, compromised rear headroom and worse rear visibility, all in exchange for the roofline. The performance case is real and the cabin is genuinely premium, but reviewers are direct that the money buys styling rather than content or capability, and U.S. News separately flags the car as expensive to own.

Three variants for 2022 — xDrive40i at $67,350, M50i at $86,250 and the X6 M at $110,395, the last available with a $9,300 Competition package — plus BMW's deep a-la-carte catalog for suspension, audio, interior trim and driver assistance. The range narrowed this year and only upward: dropping the rear-drive sDrive40i removed the cheapest way in, there is still no plug-in hybrid (unlike the X5's xDrive45e), and 2022's package restructuring cut option flexibility by folding heated seats and the Dynamic Handling Package into bundles.

2022 was the best US sales year the X6 nameplate has ever had — 13,675 units, up roughly 43% on 2021's 9,590 and more than triple 2019's 4,240 — and the peak of the current generation's trajectory before the decline that followed in 2023 and 2024. It remains a deliberately niche body style, selling roughly one for every five or six X5s, so this is a strong showing within a small pond rather than segment leadership.

BMW is among the most aspirational mainstream-luxury brands in the US — it led Lexus and Mercedes in US luxury sales for a third straight year going into 2022 — and the X6 carries an extra layer of it as the car that invented the sports activity coupe in 2008, with the GLE Coupe, Q8 and Cayenne Coupe all following it. The styling is genuinely polarizing, which costs a few points against the brand's own average, but street presence and badge pull are not in question.

2022 was the worst year in recent memory to buy this car. The chip shortage had gutted inventory, vehicles sold between July and early September 2022 transacted at an average of about 10% above MSRP nationally, and luxury SUVs were among the most heavily marked-up categories — meaningful factory incentives and negotiability had effectively vanished, and BMW's captive-finance support was thin. A buyer was realistically choosing between sticker and a market adjustment above it, which is the definition of the bottom band.

2022 is the third year of the G06, which launched for 2020, putting it squarely mid-cycle: current platform, current 48-volt mild-hybrid powertrains, but not cutting-edge, and the LCI facelift with the Curved Display, toggle gear selector and revised engines was still two model years out when a 2022 buyer signed. No redesign risk hanging over the purchase, which is more than the 2023 run-out car could say — but no headline freshness either, since the year's changes were package deletions rather than additions.

Reviewers consistently rate the 2022 X6 a competent luxury SUV that is never the pick of its class — U.S. News scores it 6.9 out of 10 and ranks it 19th among luxury midsize SUVs, and Edmunds frames the whole proposition as fashion over practicality. Praise for the B58 powertrain, handling and cabin quality is steady, and so is the verdict that the X5 does the same job better for less money. No major US award (10Best, NACTOY) went to the X6 for 2022; the nameplate's award of the era was a UK What Car? 'Coupé SUV of the Year' for the diesel xDrive30d, which does not apply to the US car.