BMW M6 (F13)
Why 5.3: 560 hp and 680 Nm against the V10's 500 hp and 520 Nm, delivered from 1,500 rpm instead of 6,000, with a dual-clutch gearbox that actually works. Quicker in every measurable way and quieter in every way that is not measurable, which is the whole argument about this generation.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
The S63 has a deep, heavy bark once you provoke it. But the turbos sit inside the vee absorbing everything on the way out, and BMW pipes a synthesised layer through the cabin speakers to compensate, which is exactly the help a good engine should not need.
8-cylinder · turbocharged · 7,200 rpm redline · rated 5.2 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €98k (2013) → €44k (2026), trending down · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
Two ISOFIX positions on the outer rear seats, the outer pair being the ones the standard covers.
The rear anchors are the supported route — the manual points child seats there, and front-passenger ISOFIX is the exception rather than the rule. A belt-mounted seat up front needs the airbag off, and cars with a rear row don't always fit a deactivation switch, precisely because the rear seats exist.
Derived from production years and seating layout, not a per-car source. ISOFIX was standardised as ISO 13216 in 1997, required on new EU model types from 2011 and on all new EU cars from 2014.
The long version
BMW answered the E63's two real complaints — no low-end torque, a single-clutch gearbox that lurched — by fitting the S63 twin-turbo V8 and a proper seven-speed dual-clutch. On paper it is not close: 560 hp, 680 Nm from 1,500 rpm, 0–100 km/h in 4.2 seconds against 4.6, and a Competition Package that eventually reached 600 hp. In practice the F13 gained about 65 kg, lost the top 1,000 rpm that made the V10 worth the trouble, and gained a synthesised engine note piped through the stereo, which is the detail owners bring up first. A six-speed manual was offered in the United States and almost nobody took it. As a fast continental GT it is genuinely excellent and it depreciated like one: comfortably over $100,000 new, and under $50,000 within eight years. The people buying them now are buying a very quick, very comfortable car at Golf money, and the annual mileage reflects that — they get used, just not enthusiastically.