BMW X3 Review & Road Test: BMW X3 xDrive20d SE (2011) Part 2

The BMW X3 now has a quality interior

In part 2 of our review of the new BMW X3 we road test it to see if BMW really has brought the new X3 up to scratch. How’s the drive? How’s the ride?

The BMW X3 xDrive20d SE we’ve got this week is going to be the best seller in the range. In fact, it looks as though BMW will only bother with one other X3 – the xDrive30d – in the UK, declining to bring any petrol-engined X3s to the UK on the grounds of low demand. And they’re probably right.

For now, the 2.0 litre turbo diesel is actually Hobson’s choice, so it’s a good thing it’s a decent lump. With 181bhp and 280lb/ft of torque the X3 can get to 62mph in just 8.5 seconds and tops out at 130mph.

If you want to access that performance you do have to work a bit with the manual ‘box our car had. A manual box Claire and Carla found a bit far back for comfort and which we all thought would be better off replaced by the new eight-speed auto – one option not on our car’s extensive list.

The X3 is so car-like to drive and so refined the auto-box would probably suit it better. And the standard stop-start would then work properly, unlike the stop-start on the manual. That’s not BMW’s fault, it’s the driver’s fault. We all do the same – foot on clutch and in gear when stationary – which means the stop-start never kicks in on a manual.

“The ride is firm, but it’s compliant; you feel the road but you don’t lose a filling with every small ridge or crumbling section of tarmac.”

The crashy-bashy suspension of the original X3 is replaced by something that feels far more BMW. Yes, the ride is firm, but it’s compliant; you feel the road but you don’t lose a filling with every small ridge or crumbling section of tarmac.

The electric steering has proper feel, if not exactly overwhelming feedback and even on the winter tyres (Winter tyre package – £1800) BMW thoughtfully provided (sadly it was a mild and snow-free week) the X3 had loads of grip.

Loads of grip that can be enjoyed to the full, especially with the Variable Damper Control (VDC) (£910) which gives some extra meat to the X3’s electronic dampers and tweaks the throttle response to turn the X3 in to something resembling a 3-Series when the mood takes. Which is both surprising and enjoyable.

Which leaves this review sounding a lot like a fan piece. Perhaps it’s the distance that BMW has come with the new X3 that makes it feel so good. Perhaps it was just that sort of week.

A week and a few hundred miles isn’t enough to know what a car is really like to live with long-term. But that few hundred miles has made it clear that BMW has hit the target with the new X3. Inside and out the X3 is now a good looking car, and to drive it is both rewarding and frugal (although we only got 43mpg – not BMW’s claimed 50mpg).

The new X3 also feels like a quality product; it actually feels like a BMW, and that was the main thing missing from the original X3.

That it drives like a 3-Series most of the time, will allow you to blat round B Roads without losing your fillings or your dignity, and will cruise on motorways all day at anything you can get away with, is impressive. So good is the new X3 it comes very close to being the best in its class.

We’d give it garage space. Especially with an auto ‘box.