BMW X3 20 xDrive M Sport Review: The Crowd Favourite

What we like:

Spacious

Build quality is generally very good

Sufficient power from the B48

A proper luxury car

What we dislike:

M Sport fixed rate suspension is too harsh

The X3 seems to be the soccer mum’s choice of SUV at the moment. At one point in time, the Mercedes-Benz GLC shared this status, but not quite anymore. And since when have we seen a new Audi Q5? A new model is long overdue.

Furthermore, the X3’s dominance seems to have extended even towards the end of its product life cycle, so much so that we are already testing the new generation here, the G45. By most accounts, it looks set to continue winning the popularity contest.

There’s a cleaner sheet metal look to the new car, which I suppose makes it look more modern. The previous X3 was a very attractive car, though, which would have been hard to top. Here, a more minimalist form was the objective, along with a wider and longer body that sits lower to the ground. Thankfully, the front kidney grilles keep within classic proportions and so, there is nothing really offensive about the whole design. In this world where a BMW may take the shock-and-awe approach instead, that’s fine by me.

The interior is a nice step-up in quality and draws inspiration from the latest crop of BMWs, including the Curved Display as well as the Interaction Bar.

Unique to the X3 is ambient lighting that wraps around the centre console as well as a ‘control panel’ on the door that allows you to adjust the air-conditioning and seat memory settings, among others. Unfortunately, in a largely well-appointed interior, this panel feels a little bit cheap.

Otherwise, space is terrific all-round and the boot is especially large and well-shaped. With its rectangular corners, it’s superbly practical. This being the M Sport package, you get reminders all over the car that you paid more for something sportier. The M steering wheel as well as the ‘Boost’ paddle are the highlights here, the latter allowing short bursts of higher power when you call upon it. Unrelated to the M Sport package but nonetheless an important point, the Harman Kardon system is thrown in here too, a nice upgrade over the base model.

When you start up the B48, you may be pleasantly surprised by the sporty exhaust note of this workhorse of an engine. It’s been serving the BMW range for some time now and it’s a fabulous engine with great reliability and tunability. Best of all, it feels sufficiently endowed here versus, say, in the 520i sedan (don’t ask me why). With 190 hp and 310 Nm of torque, it pairs very well with the 8-speed Steptronic gearbox, offering seamless brisk progress all of the time with hardly any vices to speak of.

The X3 goes about its business in a polished manner, but one thing does mar the experience a little bit - the M Sport suspension. Unlike the top M50 xDrive variant that comes with adaptive M suspension, here you have to accept what’s been fitted to the car. Primary ride is pretty good, with bumps soaked with sophistication, but the secondary ride suffers with a fair bit of road unevenness finding its way to the cabin. It feels jiggly and never quite as composed as it should be.

I suspect the base X3 20 xDrive should be a fair bit more pleasant to live with thanks to its standard suspension as well as smaller 19-inch wheels (versus 20-inch here), but then you do miss out on some nice-to-have options like the excellent Harman Kardon sound system.

I don’t doubt for a second that the G45 X3 is going to be a hit yet again. It offers fantastic build quality and is one of the better handling SUVs you can buy. It has a superb drivetrain as well as a large and practical interior. However, I’d suggest driving it back-to-back with a non M Sport model before putting your money down.

Photos by James Wong

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