2008 BMW M6 Coupe

This V-10 powertrain is certainly more tractable and enjoyable to drive with the six-speed manual than with the SMG transmission that originally was the sole offering in the M5 sedan. A car with 500 horsepower and ten cylinders under the hood has an undeniable allure, but there's still something somewhat strange, somewhat un-BMW-like, about this M6 coupe. It's not a sport coupe, really, since it weighs so much and is so big. Yet it doesn't have the grace of a true luxury coupe, either, like the Mercedes-Benz CL. I don't quite know what to make of it.

That said, the M6's interior is quite nice, and I very much like the black carbon-fiber trim, which is a surprisingly cheap option, at $300, in a cabin where the Silverstone II Merino leather costs $3500. The ambience here reminds me of a sharply tailored Hugo Boss suit. The heads-up display is $1200 very poorly spent, in my opinion. I am still amused by the fact that, when BMW introduced this option several years ago, the company acted like it had stumbled upon some brilliant new concept, never acknowledging that it had appeared in Pontiacs and other GM cars years earlier.

Joe DeMatio, Executive Editor