LAUNCH REPORT:

BMW X3 (2004) review

by Ross Finlay and David Morgan (8 May 2004)

Far be it from me to question the numbering system of the BMW model range, but I was expecting the X3 to be a couple of sizes below the X5. Unless there's a so-far unannounced car still to come, the X3 in size and performance is just one step below the X5, and I'm trying to resist the temptation to call it the X4.

Priced well below the X5, the not-so-junior 4x4 starts at £28,715 for the 2.5 SE manual, and rises via automatic, Sport and three-litre specifications to a high point of £33,115.

These models are only the beginning, though, because BMW plans to add a two-litre turbo diesel later this year and a three-litre some time in 2005. The problem with the latter engine is simply one of supply: it's in great demand for the 3-, 5- and 7-Series as well as for the X5, and there just isn't the factory capacity right now to build as many as would be needed for the X3 as well.

Anyway, all that's somewhat academic as far as customer orders are concerned. The entire UK allocation of 5000-plus X3s for this year is already booked. Once the diesels arrive, BMW is expecting the X3 to attract more than 10,000 sales in a full year (compared with 8535 for the X5 in 2003) as the market for Sports Activity Vehicles gets bigger all the time.

BMW's 21st-century styling approach, with Chris Bangle as head of design, isn't always appreciated by viewers of the Munich saloons, but his team has done a pretty neat job on the X3, with a "family" front end which won't frighten the horses, and a scalloped effect along the body sides, above the doorhandles, which stops the X3 being a big oblong 4x4 box. Structurally, this is a unitary construction rather than ladder chassis design, and that naturally makes it feel more car-like on the road.

Inside, the X3 provides pretty good passenger space front and rear, with a sizeable and well-shaped load area inside a high-opening tailgate. Only a space-saver spare wheel is fitted. There are plenty of small stowage places scattered around, the 60/40 split rear seats fold flat, and the target market is indicated by the fact that among the accessories there are mounting units for two mountain bikes, which can be accommodated inside the X5 once the rear seats are out of the way.

Knowing the market, BMW is offering a wide variety of trim materials and colour mixes. I'd think very hard before going for the black-over-beige option, because some of the lighter-coloured material used in that case for door and fascia trim just doesn't look the price. The accessories and options catalogue includes all manner of interior presentations, and there are Sport items and Sport packages as well, including lowered suspension.

Up front, the driving position, instrument design and control layout are fine, with the proviso that you have to like the iDrive BMW insists on fitting for the audio, satellite navigation and information systems. Myself, I'd like to see a standard set of push buttons as an option. It'll never happen, though.

If the jury is still out on iDrive, there are no complaints about xDrive, the sophisticated 4WD arrangement with an electronically controlled clutch, which works via the stability control system to predict rather than react to moments of lost traction front or rear.

This is most useful off-road, of course, but BMW research suggests that, on average, only one in five X5 owners world-wide go off-road as often as once a month, and the X3 customer surely won't be all that different.

However, xDrive has its part to play on tarmac too. Wandering off the official test route in the north-east of Scotland, to take in not just dual-carriageways, other A-class roads and some sporting over-the-hills B-roads, but also a number of "yellows" on the Ordnance Survey maps, with short straights, S-bends over bridges and plenty of 90-degree turns, I thought the X3 offered the kind of poise at brisk speeds not often experienced with 4x4s. Where it loses out to some extent is in ride quality on bumpy tarmac, when it feels more 4x4-ish, although that doesn't apply on decent surfaces.

Being a BMW, of course, it has the advantage of being available with two top-class six-cylinder petrol engines - the familiar 192bhp 2.5-litre and 231bhp three-litre - both of which offer very strong acceleration and the kind of eager revving, with splendid sound effects, you don't often find in a 4x4.

When fitted with the six-speed manual transmission, which has five well-spaced lower ratios and an overdrive top but doesn't manage a particularly sporting gearchange action, the 2.5 gets from 0-62mph in 8.9 seconds and goes on to a top speed of 129mph. The three-litre is available only as an automatic with a manual selection option but, even so, the 0-62mph time improves to 8.1 seconds and the top speed rises a little too.

BMW has tried to make sure that the X3 is a fine on-road car, and it has certainly succeeded there. The combination of performance and handling is the kind which lets you come over a brow, see a variety of corners, dips and climbs ahead, and know that this is going to be quite a lot of fun. Ross Finlay.

For a sports activity vehicle which handles so well on the black stuff the X3 is a revelation off-road. The car's clever xDrive is a mirror image of the four-wheel drive system used on the new X5 and delivers impresses levels of traction and grip in demanding situations.

Driving a three-litre automatic over a wet and loose-surfaced quarry proved the system's flexibility. Steep, slippery slopes and body-flexing ruts and ramps failed to stop the 231bhp five-door while its Hill Descent Control turned potential downhill slaloms into a safe and steady perambulation to the straight and relatively level.

The X3's traction secret is an electronically-controlled clutch which distributes power instantly from front to rear and wheel to wheel as soon as its sensors pick up wheel slip. Unlike electro-mechanical systems the multi-plate electronic clutch can respond to a spinning wheel as soon as slippage occurs.

That means the standard 68:32 power bias to the rear can be redirected in a flash with up to 100% drive going to the rear with the clutches fully open to a 50/50 split front to rear with the clutches closed. If both rear wheels and one front wheel were on ice and offering to spin, the xDrive's clutches send all available power to the remaining front wheel getting grip.

In practice it made progress through deeply rutted and muddy tracks a simple matter of gentle throttle control and steering. How times have changed. The automatic transmission made a better job of it that any of the traditional manual four-wheel drive systems I've fought with over the years.

The problem is that it makes off-roading too easy. Thankfully most owners will never take their X3 into serious rough stuff - just as well given the fact that xDrive could lead them deep into trouble before they eventually find out they really are stuck! David Morgan.