In the event you’re shopping for your first BMW, the reply is straightforward: get the X3. It’s the model’s candy spot—sufficiently big for household life, filled with tech, enjoyable to drive, and priced proper alongside the common new automotive in America. BMW’s lineup could be overwhelming for newcomers shifting up from Toyota, Honda, or rival luxurious manufacturers, however the X3 hits the proper stability between efficiency, practicality, and worth.
Practicality and Loaded with Tech
The X3, whereas not a full-sized SUV just like the X5 and X7, affords ample area for a small household with satisfactory storage capability. Plus, it comes with commonplace all-wheel drive, a useful characteristic for these residing in colder climates. In addition to, whereas the inside might have been extra luxurious, the G45 is loaded with tech, together with 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, 14.9-inch touchscreen, iDrive 9, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, head-up show, and numerous driver-assistance techniques.
To not point out, the upcoming iX3, designed on the Neue Klasse platform, will get iDrive X, therefore making it BMW’s most digitally superior automobile but.
Participating Driving Dynamics with A number of Powertrain Choices
Being constructed on the identical rear-wheel-drive CLAR structure as the three Sequence (and never the front-wheel-drive-based UKL2 platform utilized by the X1/X2) means the X3 delivers a really partaking driving expertise. Certainly, the bottom X3 30 delivers 255 horsepower and a 0-60 mph time of 6 seconds, which is greater than ample for each day driving. In the meantime, these searching for extra efficiency can go for the X3 M50, which offers 393 horsepower and a 0-60 mph time of simply 4.4 seconds.
Notably, the G01 X3 M Competitors produced 503 horsepower and will dash from 0 to 60 mph in lower than 3.5 seconds (it packed the identical award-winning S58 engine because the M3/M4). In fact, a G45-based X3 M just isn’t anticipated, however an all-electric X3 M is reportedly within the works.
Worth for Cash
The X3 has a beginning worth of $50,900, aligning carefully with the common transaction worth of latest automobiles ($48,907) in america. Its principal rival, the Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class, is priced equally, at $49,250. In distinction, the Porsche Macan—usually lauded for its superior dealing with—comes with a considerably increased MSRP of $64,600 for the interior combustion engine (ICE) variant and $78,000 for the electrical mannequin.
Shifting on, the X3’s five-year resale worth is 46.1 %, which is best than bigger BMW SUVs just like the X5 (41.6 %) and X7 (42 %). In the meantime, information from CarEdge additionally means that the X3’s ten-year upkeep prices ($19,075) are akin to these of the smaller X1 ($18,824) and X2 ($18,854), serving to to maintain general possession bills in test.
Conclusion
We’ve spent loads of time behind the wheel of the new-generation X3—first in camouflaged prototype kind, the place its stability and steering precision already stood out, then once more on the media launch, and later residing with it as a each day driver. Every time, it impressed with how a lot of BMW’s conventional driving really feel it delivers in an SUV physique. This isn’t simply principle for us, both. We as soon as owned the very first-generation BMW X3, powered by a naturally aspirated inline-six, and it stays one of the crucial enjoyable SUVs we’ve ever had. Actually, it was our very first BMW SUV—and the mannequin that satisfied us BMW might construct a utility automobile that also felt like a real driver’s automotive.
Make no mistake—the X3 isn’t excellent. As talked about above, its interiors go away quite a bit to be desired. Moreover, by way of outright efficiency, the three Sequence is superior, whereas the X5 is a greater general SUV—usually referred to as the “Swiss Military Knife” of the BMW vary. And in comparison with rivals from different manufacturers, many critics are inclined to favor the GLC-Class, the Genesis GV70, and the Macan.
Nonetheless, the X3 was BMW’s best-selling automotive in 2023 and SUVs are the most important factor proper now so it is smart to go for the G45 if you happen to’re planning to purchase a BMW for the primary time.
