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Those who've encountered monster truck 'racing' may have noticed their tendency to fit a normal car's bodyshell on top of the steroid-laced chassis of a monster truck. This is a tendency which crops up occasionally in the mainstream vehicle design world - resulting in such interesting machines as the Mitsubishi L400 Delica Space Gear, which is a Mitsubishi minivan on the chassis of a Pajero 4x4, resulting in a people-carrier which can go anywhere. (That model is on the theoretical list of "vehicles I wouldn't mind owning" - I happen to quite like the body shape - and having seen one that was painted all black, with full additional rally kit, it looked like a cyberpunk SWAT machine.)
However, BMW have now trumped this for 'specialness' - the new BMW X6. Which appears to be the body of a coupé, stretched over the chassis and drivetrain of the BMW X5 4x4 (with a second set of doors added). It's pretty sleek - or at least it would be, if it weren't for the vast chunkiness of the vehicle beneath the midline, to allow for the huge wheels. It also looks like something the villain would drive in a Tom Cruise near-future sci-fi movie.
However, having been driving behind one, there's one aspect which hasn't been thought of ... the rear aspect. With the rising line of the bodywork and the high tail, the boot lip is about a yard off the ground - not so handy for the shopping, unless you have a forklift. Still, other than that, it's fine. As long as you're going forwards. The boot lid is about five feet or more off the ground, and the rear window is pretty narrow, too. Expect an increasing number of bumpers dented by reversing into bollards - or of children flattened - unless it's got a whole new kind of reversing sensor.
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However, BMW have now trumped this for 'specialness' - the new BMW X6. Which appears to be the body of a coupé, stretched over the chassis and drivetrain of the BMW X5 4x4 (with a second set of doors added). It's pretty sleek - or at least it would be, if it weren't for the vast chunkiness of the vehicle beneath the midline, to allow for the huge wheels. It also looks like something the villain would drive in a Tom Cruise near-future sci-fi movie.
However, having been driving behind one, there's one aspect which hasn't been thought of ... the rear aspect. With the rising line of the bodywork and the high tail, the boot lip is about a yard off the ground - not so handy for the shopping, unless you have a forklift. Still, other than that, it's fine. As long as you're going forwards. The boot lid is about five feet or more off the ground, and the rear window is pretty narrow, too. Expect an increasing number of bumpers dented by reversing into bollards - or of children flattened - unless it's got a whole new kind of reversing sensor.
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