KOHLER, Wisc. – It takes something special to shake the cynicism of a seasoned reviewer. Something like the hushed ambience and loud flavors of Scala’s Bistro in San Francisco, or the stark horror and raw performances of Schindler’s List, or the unrivaled service and lush beauty of the Palmilla Resort in Baja California, or the gorgeous complexity of Green Day’s American Idiot rock opera. Each of these examples is stunning in an increasingly homogenous world where every street corner, suburb, and exit ramp is dotted with exactly the same Starbucks coffee shops, patronized by people wearing exactly the same dark-rinsed jeans, with exactly the same iPods plugged into their heads playing exactly the same Kanye West track – whether you’re in Paris, Texas or Paris, France. Like those four examples of excellence in a landscape of bland mediocrity, the 2006 BMW M6 serves as a mental colonic, clearing the cobwebs, heightening the senses, and forcing the use of a thesaurus to illustrate its thrilling allure. Get into the M6, and you’re faced with BMW’s oft-criticized iDrive control system, a Sequential Manual Gearshift selector that defies convention, and a multitude of controls that sometimes refute logic. The beautiful leather-wrapped dashboard, the plush Alcantara headliner, the sheer learning curve to operate the M6 – it all reeks of overkill. Now add the controversial Adrian von Hooydonk styling, with its drooping eyes and bustled butt, along with the politically incorrect V-10 engine and its $3,000 gas guzzler tax. Understandably, the critic’s cynicism builds. “Who on God’s green earth needs, or wants, this car?” you ask no one in particular as the push-button starter fires those ten cylinders. Then you drive. And you discover that you do.
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