Bmw x3 xline review6/5/2023 It becomes the entry-level X3, at just under £40,000 – but there is so much tempting stuff on the options list that it will be almost impossible to avoid pushing your final bill over £40K and into the realms of five years of £450 annual road tax rates. The 20i employs a four-cylinder unit, with 184hp. Likely to interest rather more buyers in today’s market, however, will be the new mainstream petrol option. There’s also a more powerful 30d, with 265hp from its 3.0-litre straight-six engine.įor petrol fans there is a high-power option in the form of the M40i – it has 360hp and a sub-five-second 0-62mph time, as it should considering this is the first X3 to wear BMW’s much-desired ‘M’ badge. Few owners will take their X3 off-road, but BMW wants us to believe you can.ĭiesel engines have always been core to the X3 line-up and the latest model maintains the trend, starting with the 4-cylinder, 2.0-litre unit of 190hp that is fitted to our XDrive20d test car. So every X3 comes fitted with all-wheel-drive, and the marketing types also emphasise the fording depth of 50cm and off-road friendly approach and departure angles. Yet BMW wants us to realise that this is a proper SUV, unlike most of them these days. And a perfect 50:50 weight distribution aids the in-corner poise, too. The latest construction techniques (shared with the 5 Series saloon) see significant weight saving, which is good for efficiency and that traditional BMW trait, handling (yes even on an SUV). However, there’s an extra 5cm on the wheelbase, which means more interior space. The new X3 is basically the same size as its predecessor (which notably is a little larger than the first X5 launched back in 1999…). The detailing is carefully applied too, each of the SE, xLine and M Sport versions getting their own individual looks in such areas as grilles and lights – distinctive from one another, but not by too much. On sale since the end of 2017, this all-new third-generation model adds more distinctive styling, a petrol engine option and a performance variant, while not scrimping on the basic core abilities that have made the X3 so popular – in an understated sort of way…Īnd the latest X3 has to make a deeper impression because the market it competes in has exploded beyond all recognition, now populated by the most competitive of new rivals such as the Jaguar F-Pace and Volvo XC60.Īnswering this challenge includes giving the X3 a new exterior treatment – it’s nothing radical but it does make for a more connected appearance, with none of the odd styling touches that have blighted previous versions. Over the past 15 years or so, BMW has sold 1.3 million of them – this is a vehicle that does its job very well, without writing headlines about it.īMW will hope, perhaps, that the latest version makes a deeper impression. Impressions can be misleading, however, as X3s are very prolific indeed on the roads. More BMW news, reviews, features and offersīMW fans don’t get very excited about the X3 – it wasn’t the brand’s first SUV, arriving in 2003 four years after the X5 took the German performance car brand in a whole new direction, and the pioneer’s smaller sister has apparently never been that highly regarded.Only the too-extensive options list detracts from the quality and performance of this model.Īudi Q5, Volvo XC60, Jaguar F-Pace, Mercedes-Benz GLC The BMW X3 deserves to earn far more headlines than it does, as one of the most effective premium SUVs on the market. Lighter, core petrol engine, performance model, more tech The latest BMW X3 is the third-generation version of the brand’s mainstream compact SUV.
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