X3

R

Robb

Member
Bit of a surprise this one but my girlfriend has been looking for a new car for a while now and was firmly set on the hot hatch route.
Last night when I got home from work she informed me that we were going to have a look and test drive of an X3 this Friday, apparently she saw a nice one in the gym carpark and wants to take one out.
I know this is the opposite end of the spectrum from the hot hatches and I for one know nothing about them, anyone got any experience on what makes a good one and which engines/trim are best?
TBH, its not going to be my car so the decision is entirely up to the better half but I don’t think im against the idea, its just came as a bit of a surprise after the stuff we’ve been taking out.
 
my sister in law has a 2.0d X3, i have driven it plenty of times and it has no power whatsoever, obvoiusly i am going to say that owning a 3.0i Z4, but even her and her husband say it and he drives a nivara! ......in fact its that bad they are looking to replace it and its just not that good, hasnt been that reliable either.

i cant comment on other models/engines and trims, but i woudl stay clear of the 2.0 diesel.
 
I've driven the 3.0i version. Its nice... however too small to be a Truck, and too big to be a Car. Power is plenty in the 3.0 if its an around town car. Although I'd be buying a used one... no car is worth the new depreciation value.
 
according to most of the press it's the one bad car BMW make, but I've never driven one. I can't imagine the latest 2.0d would be that slow, the engine pulls quite well in a 3series so it can't be that much heavier.

how about an ex-demo X1? They can't be far off.
 
Not looking at a new one, they seem really overpriced from new.

Had a quick look at the X1 and its tiny, its built on the 1-series platform yet they seem to have made it have even less room in the back.

The one she has booked to test drive on friday is a 2.5 petrol, manual so it should be alright. The 3.0 diesel looks like it could be the pick of the bunch but commands quite a premium as there isnt many for sale.
 
As an X5 owner I can tell you that the consensus is that the X3 was a poor BMW. It was priced almost as much as the X5 not built as well, lacked the quality, much worse ride quality and was just a tad smaller. If I were in the market I'd still get the X5 over the X3 anyday, but if that's too big look at some of the touring styles.

3.0d is the big Bimmer to go for.
 
See its a funny one this as its not particulary a bmw she is after, she hates estate cars and funnily enough rear wheel drive, which basically rules out the entire rest of the range. The X5 is too big, but strange fact is that the X3 actually has a bigger boot than its bigger brother. :?

Still not convinced its going to be a go'er so will try it out on friday with an open mind and see whats its like, tbh, i love driving stuff that iv never been in before regardless what it is. :driving:

I can still see us hunting down the perfect focus ST come saturday though. :fuelfire:

We shal see....
 
The only reason to go for these big BMW's is load and passenger hauling, towing and to some extent road presence, while retaining car like qualities. Aside that I'd never have one and once my daughter is through uni it will be gone for something else. Right now they make an attractive proposition as a family 'truck'

Cooper S is the car for women right now. My elder daughter has a black one and it's a fearsome bit of kit. Front wheel drive and turbo'd, zero boot unless you drop the seats, but can move 4 people and has a certain style.
 
Had a look at the mini's but the boot issue, or lack of it was an issue, i also think the sales man put her off a bit with an arrogant attitude.

A decent boot is one of the priorities, at the moment my z4 coupe is the most practical car we have and i really didn't like putting bricks/sand and whacker plates in it when laying a new drive in the summer, although it did cope very well, yet i managed to get a telling off from every diy store we visited.

We also have part ownership of 2 labrador's and whenever we want to take them anywhere we also have to loan the inlaws crappy corsa to put the dogs in the back.
 
Robb said:
A decent boot is one of the priorities, at the moment my z4 coupe is the most practical car we have and i really didn't like putting bricks/sand and whacker plates in it when laying a new drive in the summer, although it did cope very well, yet i managed to get a telling off from every diy store we visited.
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why would they tell you off :o it is your car after all :idunno:
 
Know what you mean re the bootspace and arrogant Mini dealer atttitude.

Life is compromises though - the X5 was the most expensive skip in Lichfield last weekend as I took 1/2 ton of wall tiles and building rubble in it, then back again with an entire bath and furniture. To think I paid £42,000 for this skip a few years back :cry:
 
The old X3 was shocking, agreed. I test drove it and it was horrible.

The new model however is much, much improved and has been moved upmarket considerably. My dad had an X5 3.0d and moved to a X3 3.0si as in NL, taxation on Diesels is punitive and the equivalent diesel was about 15k Euro more then the petrol version.

I drove it recently and it is a much nicer place to be in, almost as nice inside now as the X5 that I have. Bit smaller though, but remember that the boot space of an X3 is actually bigger then the boot of an X5.
 
my mrs has a cooperS as well, the original supercharged version and its an amazing machine, fun to drive and very quick in my opinion. it also has the harmon kardon stereo which is far superior to my carver system in my z4..
 
My wife bought one back in 2004, new. It's a 2.5 auto with sport, premium and cold packages. It's not that fast but is reasonably responsive and it corners very well. She likes the stiff ride (hates the Lexus). It has never been in the shop for anything, has about 50K miles on it. Overall she loves the car. I, of course, prefer the Z 3.0 with 6 speed manual, but that's just me. To each his (or her, in this case) own. I actually don't mind the X3 on road trips it will cruise along just fine and gets pretty good gas mileage as well. Plus, it actually has some luggage space. The car was built by Magna Stehr in Austria and the build quality is quite good IMO.
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