As in other current M models from BMW, the 2008 BMW M6 is afflicted with a dual personality. It masquerades as a big luxury coupe around town, but when the roads open up, the M6 can transform into a superhero. At a push of the M button on the steering wheel, the suspension tightens and the throttle response becomes more acute. Where a superhero might where a cape, the M6 gets a carbon fiber roof, lowering its center of gravity. But while the big, long coupe shows a lot of brawn in its styling,... // CNET News

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Unfortunately, those directions took us through the heart of downtown and all its attendant traffic. The start and stop traffic was brutal, but the M6 didn't seem to mind. We had it set for the city, with the suspension in comfort mode and the throttle relaxed. The M6 was well-mannered, and didn't mind letting us creep along with its six-speed manual transmission in first gear. The only thing that had us worried was the speed of the gas gauge.

With the secondary screen in the M6 set to show route guidance, we had no difficulty following its directions, and even got to put on a little more speed as we broke out of the jam. But we couldn't make up the time we had spent at lights, arriving at Crissy Field a full 17 minutes over our ETA. The car does have traffic reporting in the navigation... // CNET Reviews

One thing that will make enthusiasts happy is the six-speed manual transmission option, as opposed to the Sequential Manual Gearbox, which was the only transmission available on previous versions of the car. The manual transmission isn't high-tech, but it works well, offering fairly wide ratios so that you can clear 60 mph in second gear, pushing up toward the car's 8,200rpm redline. On the tachometer, BMW gives a yellow zone, running from about 7,800rpm to 8,200rpm before the redline.

We noted that, driving about 70 mph on the freeway in sixth gear, the engine speed remained around 3,000rpm--a little high for economical driving. And this is where the M6's performance suffers. During our time with the car, which included a mix of city, freeway, and mountain driving, we saw an average of... // CNET Reviews