What is the point of the X6?

My girlfriend needs a proper 4x4. She ticks a good few of the boxes mentioned in that she lives in the sticks, (foothills of the highlands in fact so lots of snow), has two horses and a big horsebox to tow (requires 2500kg towing weight at least) and regularly drives on unmetalled farm tracks and across fields. She buys a year to two year old examples and bemoans the fact that the market is swamped by useless soft roaders and that the choice of able 4x4s is becoming more and more limited. I periodically need the use of 4x4s for work (construction) and have access to company Defenders. X5s X6s and MLs would be unfit for purpose. Real 4x4s do a job and are good at it.

What they are not good at is driving on roads. They are top-heavy, wallowy, slow witted, unresponsive, unrefined and unpleasant to drive. Sad school run Mums discovered this when they were daft enough to pile out of their Volvo Estates into bull bar toting Isuzu Troopers, Daihtsu Fourtracks, Mitsubshi Shoguns and Nissan Patrols in the early to mid 1990s. (kind of ironic that these old school 4x4s had a predisposition to park on their roofs and the seperate body on ladder chassis offered little crash protection. They therefore managed to get rid of a fair proportion of their not so bright drivers by means of natural selection). Alas manufacturers have pandered to the needs of these fashion victims hence the soft roader.

For me a soft roader has no point. I'd have an excellent and very able 6 Series Coupe if I wanted a stylish sporty BM (or better still a Merc SL) or a brilliant 5 Series Touring if I needed the space. If I wanted to drive off-road a Disco would do the job.

Not true! Body framework is sent to Germany where's protected submerging in series of pools filled with special solutions,and then send to England for completion,with menu hours of hand work performed by very skilled and experienced workers.

no one really needs 4x4's these days but there is a market demand there and companies are exploiting it for a bob or 2. One of the main reasons for buying 4x4 i hear is for the safety of their children but i just hope they can drive carefully and avoid hitting pedestrians and damaging people's car's from near drive by's. The X6 is pretty useless car but nonetheless some people are keen to buy one for some strange reason. The Land Rover Evoque is useless too but its a posh version of a small SUV with front wheel drive. These products are market driven whether or not they go off road i think is irrelevant on today's roads but the fact there is a market otherwise they wouldn't spend millions to design and make one.

The whole idea of a company owning a brand i.e. BMW own R-R and VW own Bentley is how true can they make a car reflect its heritage, History and character and not about who owns who. these cars may have German engineering sense but it doesn't make the car any special if doesn't relate to its core roots and with German engineering, it doesn't mean it will last a lifetime if its owners don't maintain the car by paying for its parts servicing and maintenance. I hear the old R-R cars were reliable but no one could fit the huge bills for servicing because labours and parts costs were so high due to it being hand built and so sold the cars on and eventually the cars got to a state where they were just branded as unreliable. new R-R is partly built in Germany and shipped in wooden boxes and all we do is just fit a few bolts. Hardly hand built like the old ones. bit like the new Mecano sets, big pieces just fit a few bolts and 5 mins later you have a Mecano car or beach buggy - its just stupid! Its called "British Engineering" if BMW understand such a term. Jags have always been about making cheap for thrills good looking cars. they offered luxury close to rival R-R and they offered sports thrills to rival Aston Martin for a cheap price and plus they had racing heritage and first car manufacturer to use all round disc brakes. This cheap thrills still shows in their new cars and i can't really fault it in anyway even though its owned by Tata. Bentley again its about brute looks and massive proportions. Apart from the Continental GT and flying spur which are cheap VW mass marketing cars, all the others are true to what a Bentley should be about.

Apart from TVR, which, unless I missed a staff meeting, doesn't exist anymore, all the others are still BUILT in Britain. Even if it's from parts made elsewhere. The end product is still assembled in the UK, by British workforces.

Oh, and one question. What do you mean by the Aston Martin comment?

Say thank you to your female friend for me. This is the most rational explanation I have yet heard for the existence of this vehicle.

Wow, I can't believe this debate is still going on......

This pretty much sums it up. If you need a 4x4 (as in "off roader") you certainly wouldn't be buying an X6, or any BMW, or a Merc ML, or a Porch Cayenne.....or indeed most of the breed that are out there.

To me, if you need a 4x4, you're either a farmer, or you live in the sticks somewhere that regularly sees several inches of snow or floodwater.

The only other reason I could see anyone needing a 4x4 is if you regularly tow something big and heavy, such as a caravan. In which case you should be shot anyway!

Some threads just run and run. Hope my debate on reintroducing vinyl roof and best crooklocks creates as much debate.

To answer the question, this could apply to any car above a standard micro car.

The X6 is designed to look different and not to offer a "me too" product. Some will like it, others will not. No doubt it will be a fine vehicle to pilot and will accomplish all that it asked apart.

Cars need to strike out a degree of individuality and the X6 does that.

Maybe our time has gone, but our sarcasm (or at least mine) still rules ok, since it seemed to bypass you.

Rolls Royce: German

Bentley: German

Aston Martin: Outdated design and tech

Jaguar: Indian

Land Rover: Indian

TVR: Russian/Joke reliabilty and build quality/Non-existent

Make that black, yellow and red and "Rule Germannia, Germannia rules the waves...."
Wake up boys, you're 200 years too late, your time has long gone.

If we hate the X6, what's the point of Land Rover's Evoque then?