The third-generation BMW X3 is a textbook case of a carmaker really not fiddling with a successful formula
You have to give props where it is due, right. BMW invented the modern luxury SUV when they created the first X5. This was a car that could ostensibly go offroad but was designed for life in the sub-urban jungle. Yet, despite the height of the car, it was designed to handle well around corners as well as being luxurious and comfortable. The Japanese had proper off-road vehicles that were cheaper but people did not buy landcruisers or Pajeros to go around the city in. Well, people did but they were not vehicles you could really enjoy driving in the city. Those were (and remain) that would go over mud, sand or ice adroitly, but for luxury city cruising with the occasional patch of uneven road and still with a driving position that lorded over everyone else, BMW did the prototype.
Then they expanded the range, the first smaller SUV they created was the X3 and the first generation X3 was an X5 put into a photocopier machine. But the X3 was oddly, however, the perfect size, not too big like the X5 nor too small like the X1. The problem was that when they redesigned the X3 for its second generation in 2010, it seemed a bit odd. It was definitely not what you would call pretty, and that was odd because BMW had suddenly hit this rich vein of good design. The X3, though not ugly, was just a bit ordinary.
Not that it slowed down sales though. BMW has sold over 1.5 million X3 to date, and the second generation X3 was a best-seller, looks be damned. And that is partially because the X3 continued to offer a great package to buyers. It still looked like an SUV, it had the right amount of space inside, it was comfortable in the back seats, whether you put children or adults and came equipped with all the toys you would want. In India too, the X3, particularly with the two-litre diesel engine, was a top-seller too, although it did lose out to an extent to Audi’s Q5.
So when I found myself in Portugal in the mid-October sunshine driving the third-generation X3, I was a bit taken aback that the new design, while a lot smarter than before, wasn’t a radical change. This is a textbook case of evolutionary design, even though the new X3 is the handiwork of BMW’s young Chinese-Australian exterior designer Calvin luk, who I was fortunate to have a chat with at the launch.
luk explained the details of change. The kidney grilles are bigger and more assertive but the major changes are towards the rear of the car, making it to seem much more muscular. The non-circular wheel-arches and the sculpted taillights give the impression that the car is charging forward. This is accentuated by the new X3 having a more prominent “kink” in the windowline. BMW’s “Hoffmeister Kink” has been a traditional feature of cars from the Bavarian carmaker and it is greatly accentuated in this vehicle. Having luk explain some of the design elements to me was quite interesting and allowed me to appreciate the new design a lot more. So the X3 is not as radical as luk’s complete overhaul of the X1, which is brilliant, you realise that this is a smart vehicle indeed. And he has managed to evolve the design without really bloating the area of the car too much. It is a bit larger than the outgoing generation, but just a bit, so the parking footprint hasn’t increased.
Now, during international media drives, you get to drive the fully-loaded top engine variants of the vehicles. So in this case, I drove the 265PS BMW X3 3.0d on a rough-road track and the 360 PS BMW X3 M40i on some highways and smaller roads around Sintra. Both cars were equipped with BMW’s all-wheel “xDrive” system. Needless to say, in India the third generation X3 will be launched with the two-litre diesel engine option with 190PS of power, the three-litre diesel coming as an option as it did with the previous generation.
The cars I drove came with full smartphone system integration, although my iPhone decided to have issues “mating” with the car and that included a touchscreen central screen, a full-digital display instrument cluster and heads-up displays. In terms of luxury, the M40i variant had a superb Bowers &Wilkins audio system and both cars came with supremely comfortable quilted leather seats. Some of these features are options and may or may not come on the India-spec X3.
One feature that should not make its way over though is the “lane assist” and “active lane assist” feature. These use the camera and radar to warn you that you are departing your lane, and the active feature will actually keep the car in the centre of a lane even if the road is bending. It was quite remarkable to try out these features on central Portugal’s brilliant roads. But in India, where lane driving is considered an option my many, and people think they’re driving “aeroplanes” by driving on the dashed line rather than in between it, you have to keep a 360-degree awareness bubble around you all the time, particularly while driving a luxury car. This feature, while great in developed nations or anywhere where road rules are not optional, is potentially distracting in India.
So how are the cars to driveIJ As I said earlier, BMW invented the softroader, which they now call “Sports Activity Vehicle” — they’ve copyrighted that term by the way, and well, the X3 M40i is sporty to say the very least. Because an inline six-cylinder twin-turbo-charged petrol engine is going to be fun no matter what, driving around the beaches on Portugal’s Atlantic coast, this car was a rocket. We took the car to Cabo De Roca, on the extreme westernmost point of the European mainland through some cobbled streets and the suspension didn’t make a peep. On the corners around Portugal’s B-roads, you had the full confidence to attack them at speed.
The X3 3.0d I drove on an offroad track, which was really not offroad but what one would describe as a bad road in India, and a mildly bad one at that. Anyone who has driven the stretch between Rampur in Uttar Pradesh and Rudrapur in Uttarakhand knows what a bad road really is and one day after the third-generation X3 is launched in India I will take it there. As expected the X3 could handle these surfaces well. The hill-descent control, which was an overkill on this stretch worked fine as well. But when we got back to metalled road and let the three-litre diesel girdle its loins, it could move. And then one of the journalists with us overtook my car and I really got a chance to see the new X3 in motion, and luk was right, it is better looking than you think.
The third-generation BMW X3 will face much more competition than it did earlier. Audi has a new Q5 just around the corner, the Mercedes-Benz GlC is still quite a modern car as is the land-Rover Discovery Sport and the new Volvo XC60 is also around the corner. There are compelling reasons for all these cars to be very honest. As far as driving goes, the new X3 is a great car and you should definitely put it at the top of your list if you are considering a new mid-sized luxury SUV. Now, if BMW brought in the M40i variant, that would be a whole different proposition.