X3 off-roader is on the money

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Friday, December 09, 2011

Since it redefined the experience of driving an SAV with the original X5, BMW has maintained purpose and forethought in developing a range of ‘soft-roaders’ that now includes the X1, the X3 and the X6, as well as the venerable X5.

The ‘SAV’ handle is important when considering BMW in this area of endeavour. It was invented by BMW as the company preferred to differentiate their 4x4 products from the SUV mainstream.

A sports activity vehicle, the Munich concern decided, was better than a sports utility vehicle and the new moniker aimed to put it into a different class: it was a driver’s car and not an agricultural vehicle.

BMW were right as the X5 handled like a car and not a wildebeest, and this stood it aside from the pack.

It was an innovative machine: instead of the traditional ‘ladder’ chassis which featured a body on a frame, the X5 utilised a uni-body car chassis design and this opened a new vista for a 4x4 that was way better on the road than anything previous.

The success of the X5 emboldened BMW — not to mention Mercedes, Audi and Range Rover, to build a new generation of 4x4 vehicles.

For BMW, the X5 spawned the X3 in 2003, and later on the madcap X6 and the more conventional X1.

But enough of the history.

The X3 has developed a huge fan base and a coterie of one-time owners who despised it.

Opinions on the car were well divided. Those who liked it swore by its versatility, practicality and, in the case of the two-litre turbodiesel, its economy. Those who didn’t like it simply swore.

Late last year, the second generation of the X3 arrived, once more to a mixed welcome.

The original was built by independent outfit, Magna Steyr, in Austria, but the current machine is built by BMW at the company’s American plant at Spartanburg in South Carolina.

Initially, it was available with the venerable two-litre turbodiesel, but earlier this year BMW introduced the three-litre turbodiesel version, which we test this week.

It is, unsurprisingly, a very impressive machine and one which would certainly fulfil the needs of any demanding driver.

It is a machine that definitely lives up to BMW’s billing as one of the best driver-focused 4x4s on the market.

Advanced chassis technology, class-leading performance, decent standard kit and a seriously sporty demeanour mark this X3 out as a cut above most of its rivals and that is all very well and good.

But, the real question is BMW’s ability to sell many of them — particularly here in Ireland at this point in time.

Unfortunately, production schedules demand that this article be written before this week’s budget is announced, so we are a little in the dark as to what the Minister for Finance will do on the taxation front.

However, given all the indicators we have had thus far, it would appear that motor taxation is going to get a serious lash and that the current rate applicable to this machine in tax band D may soon no longer apply. What affect that may have on potential sales remains to be seen.

The nuts and bolts of the matter show us that this is a fine machine, what with its six-cylinder in-line engine, eight-speed gearbox and its M Sport styling kit, which adds the likes of 18” alloys, chrome kick plates on the door sills, M Sport multi-function steering wheel, anthracite interior headlining and sports seats.

On the engine front, the three-litre unit under the hood is a gem. What with some 190 kW (258 bhp) and a massive 560 Nm of torque, it will not be found wanting in many circumstances.

The 0-100 kph capability is just 6.2 seconds with a top speed of 210 kph, and that just gives you an idea of its briskness.

Combine that performance with on-road behaviour that is as fluent as you could possibly expect from a car so tall. The handling is crisp and precise, grip levels are astonishing and that combination makes driving this thing quickly along twisting country roads very easy.

Throw in the fact it will return 6.0 l/100 km and you have a pliant machine that will not commit GBH on your pocket every week. And when you consider that it will outrun pretty much every one of its rivals — it is three seconds faster to 100 kph than the most powerful Freelander, for example — and go a lot further on a single tank of fuel, the arguments for it are quite compelling.

The practicality of the X3 is also worth noting, because this really is a family car and it is also one that will do considerable donkey work with ease — although BMW frown on the addition of a tow bar — so it does have a lot going for it.

But it competes in a very small market segment here in Ireland and will not sell in any sort of volume; thus the X3 3.0d M Sport will appeal to certain drivers who need a pacy, practical and decently economic 4x4 machine.

If those are the parameters you’ve set for your next car, then you won’t have to look too much further.