New York: BMW's New M-Twins: Wraps off X6 M and X5 M

BMW chose the New York Auto Show for the World Premier of one of its pair of new performance models from its storied M division, the sole purpose of which is to stretch the limits of BMW's current luxury line.

The New York debut of the X6M crossover - the X5M SUV will come later - is the first all-wheel-drive vehicles tackled by the M boys. The most obvious M touch is under the hood where the already powerful 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V8 in the X-AWDers has been boosted up nearly 40 percent to 555 horsepower and a stump-pulling 500 lb-ft of torque. Twin scroll twin turbo technology and unique exhaust tuning utilizing the patented Cylinder-bank Comprehensive Manifold were the keys to achieving the power gain. This juiced up V8 is rumored to be the replacement for the V10 now aboard BMW's top performers.

Power is delivered through the 6-speed M Sports Automatic transmission with paddle shifters in its first application in an M division vehicle.

To handle the additional grunt, the intelligent xDrive AWD and Dynamic Performance Control systems underwent some serious M-tweaking. In the ride and handling departments, M division installed Adaptive Drive and its newly developed Servotronic power steering system, plus 20-inch light alloy wheels fitted with runflat tires in sizes 275/40 R 20 at the front and 315/35 R 20 at the rear.

The brake system is simply too complex to discuss succinctly. Here's how BMW describes the X6 M brake features: "These include ABS anti-lock brakes, Trailer Stability Control, Hill Descent Control, Dynamic Brake Control which maximizes brake force when required, Cornering Brake Control for advanced trail-braking, Brake Fade Compensation for extreme driving conditions, automatic Brake Drying when the windshield wipers are activated, Start-Off Assistant for driving on steep hills, and a braking function for use by the standard cruise control." And if that's not enough, you can purchase the special M option of hiring Hans Stuck to drive you around... just kidding.

The driver also has the choice of Normal or Sport mode, selected by a button on the steering wheel which activates new steering mapping, as well as damper and stabilizer bar controls. The list of additional gadgetry would fill a small booklet. The X6 M - and X5 M - will do everything but wipe your nose... wait a minute...

Check out our video take on the XM 6 in the piece entitled The Performance Cars.