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The deer came out of nowhere, scared and running, bounding and wide-eyed.

I spotted them early, out of the corner of my eye, and then put what driving skills I have to work, steering and braking — carefully but quickly — through leaping, furry chicanes.

I missed four of them, treating them like gigantic cones in a high-speed slalom. A fifth tucked in behind my brand-new 2008 BMW X6 sport wagon.

Bad move. The fifth sadly met his end on the right front fender of a trailing X6 driven by a former driving instructor who now chats about cars on a breakfast television show.

Like me, he was scooting down a straightaway at a healthy rate of speed on Michelin's test track in Laurens, South Carolina. Laurens? It is a woodsy spot about an hour's drive from the plant in Spartanburg where BMW assembles the X6.

This is rural Carolina in every sense, right down to the Civil War monuments to the Southern Grays who, flying the Stars and Bars, fought the Northern Blues and their Stars and Stripes. The Grays lost and, from the look of it in Laurens, some parts of the South still have not forgotten.

(In Laurens itself, a sleepy little village with an antebellum courthouse dotted with posters for the re-election of Sheriff Ricky Chastain, I found the World's Greatest Redneck Store. There, I sifted through Civil War mementos — Confederate flags and trinkets likely manufactured in China — suggesting that someone believes the South may well rise again.) Spartanburg may be booming, with the new and expanding BMW plant — production is jumping from 160,000 cars a year to 240,000 — not to mention Michelin's North American headquarters and a growing high-tech industry, but prosperity and at least parts of the 21st century have not yet found their way to Laurens.

The country life in Laurens explains why wildlife somehow managed to find themselves roaming about a high-speed driving circuit. For the record, the fellow trailing me was unhurt, but the right side of the X6 was reduced to twisted sheet metal and broken glass. The deer, oh, the poor deer — you get the picture.

One thing we all learned from this is that the X6 is fantastically nimble for a huge sorta-SUV. This is noteworthy.

Remember, despite its sexy silhouette, cat-eye headlamps and discreet fender jewellery, the X6 is big, bigger than it looks at a distance or in pictures, and bigger than you'd expect in a vehicle BMW labels a sport activity coupe or SAC.

Honestly, the beltline — the line below the windows — is nearly at my shoulder height and, at six feet, I'm a guy in the 90th percentile. That's tall.

Yet inside, there is seating for just four. What we have here is a new car that BMW says fits a niche in the market that did not exist until now. Really?

We'll see. The latest sales figures would suggest the pool of buyers who covet big rigs like this is shrinking in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown in the United States.

All those people who were refinancing their homes at 125 per cent to buy fancy cars, boats and vacation cruises are obviously in trouble. Perhaps that is why rumours persist that BMW might just end up exporting 40, 50, even 60 per cent of X6 production to Russia, China and the Middle East.

Whoever buys the X6 in Canada or elsewhere will get a huge, 2,220 kg (with the base inline-six-cylinder engine), technologically competent four-seater with a roof that slopes steeply to the rear.

BMW types concede that the design is polarizing, that it is a "love-it-or-hate-it shape," and I am here to state emphatically that I like everything about this look except the big gap in the wheel wells between the sheet metal and the tires.

And, boy, does this thing handle.

The impressive, standard-fit Dynamic Performance Control system that is all-new here increases power and torque to the outside wheel in a slippery bend to help the car remain securely on its line. It works and is a tremendous bit of engineering.

I have never driven such a big, tall wagon so fast around corners in my life. And never with such ease, with such a sense of control.

There is all sorts of horsepower to go with it, too. The mighty V-8, 4.4-litre, 400-horsepower, twin-turbo engine roars and responds wonderfully if you like that sort of thing. BMW says the V-8 X6 leaps from 0-100 km/h in 5.6 seconds, with fuel economy (using premium gas) rated at a combined 12.5 litres/100 km.

The V-8 is rated at a whopping 299 grams/kilometre for carbon dioxide emissions — nearly three times the European target — so there is the inline-six for those with a CO2 conscience. It has 300 horses on tap, will sprint to 100 km/h in under seven seconds and has a combined fuel economy rating of 10.9 L/100 km.

Next year, BMW says it will offer the X6 with a new twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre clean diesel engine as well as a Two-Mode hybrid drive system. That's four engine systems for one niche model.

Pricing? The xDrive35i with the inline-six starts at $63,900 and the xDrive50i with the V-8 starts at $78,100, not including destination and delivery charges. In the United States, the XDrive35i starts at $53,275(U.S.) and the XDrive50i starts at $63,775 — with both figures including a $775 destination and delivery.

BMW Canada spokesman Jochen Frey says the price differential is something the company has been grappling with since the Canadian dollar surged in value against its U.S. counterpart. He says pricing in Canada is set in the Canadian market, based on competitive conditions.

"The prices in Canada are made for long-term planning, not necessarily today's exchange rate," he said.

He also added that there is about $2,000 in additional content in the Canadian versions of the X6. Distribution costs are also higher in Canada. Individuals who wish to import vehicles from the United States also must deal with extra costs and requirements associated with bringing in a vehicle from the U.S. All these matters factor into Canadian pricing.

In any case, those with the coin get a car with bullyboy looks that in relative terms is delightful to drive.

It is big and bulky, but the X6 drives, as they say, "small." I found myself happily picking my way precisely and at high speeds through the sweeps and curves of the Michelin test track.

The "active" steering is quick and sure, the brakes stunningly responsive without being grabby and testy. The command driving position gives you a panoramic view, also.

In the X6, we have yet another example of what is possible if the engineers know what they're doing and there is enough money to do things right. You see, this all-wheel-drive bruiser is based on the X5 SUV, but is slightly longer and wider. Shared platform, yes. But very different vehicles.

The X6 has all the creature comforts even in the most basic model and that means the sweeping dash is festooned with buttons and gadgets trimmed in black and wood and aluminum.

The console has a rather unintuitive shifter lever, there are paddles to control the fast-shifting six-speed automatic and a meaty steering wheel.

That said, the iDrive control system is still irritating, but growing less so some eight years after it was first introduced. BMW keeps refining and simplifying iDrive and some day I may even like it.

The cabin is comfy, really comfy, for long drives and even in back, where there are two separate rear seats, the headroom is more than adequate despite that sloping roofline.

At the rear, though, the high boot lip will be a challenge for Rover's leaps and the heavy rear hatch calls for power assistance or different struts to ease the lifting and pulling.

So the X6 is a big, powerful, athletic and very stylish wagon with room for four and lots of cargo space at the rear. It dodges deer with the best of 'em, too.