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BMW

Monday, 8th of September 2008

The X3 comes with a choice of 5 engines - 2 petrol and 3 diesels. The acceleration is sweet and all the engines have a decent amount of urge. The 2.0d SE is the best of the 5, the X3 is a car designed to be worked rather than left to amble along. The 3.0sd model has an impressive 237lb of pull. The engine itself is very quiet other than when revs are high.

The suspension is too firm and there is a distinct lack of feeling to the steering. On the slightly more positive side, body control is impressive and the X3 handles corners well. The high driving position gives great visibility, comfort and a feeling of security.

The quality of the interior is disappointing – too many hard plastics – this is not the standard that you expect from BMW. There are far too many rattles and squeaks from around the windows and doors. The X3 pales in comparison to the X5. There is a feeling that BMW has performed a cost-cutting exercise on the X3 and the result looks cheap and brittle.

Driver, front passenger, front side and head curtain airbags are all fitted as standard. The rear side airbags can be added as an option. Automatic headlights, ABS and traction and stability control also come as standard. The remote central locking can be personalised for individual use.

The headroom is excellent but the low-set rear seat limits legroom. There are 1,560 litres of luggage space available and storage compartments and cubby holes will prove useful. However, the rear seats do not fold flat and the transmission tunnel leaves little room for a third rear passenger. The boot is slightly bigger than the X5’s.

The X3 is very expensive for what it is. When compared to a rival such as the Toyota Rav-4 it looks even more expensive. There is not a great deal of difference between the top of the range X3 and the entry level X5 (a vastly superior model). The petrol engines are thirsty and expensive to run but the diesels are far more frugal. Re-sale values should be high but so will the cost of the insurance.