BMW X3 (2024 - ) review

With no electric option this time round your choice is between petrols and diesels with what’s known as mild hybrid assistance, or a full plug-in. Practically speaking the former has a built-in electric motor to chip in and help efficiency but can’t drive on that alone, while the plug-in can run for around 50 miles without the combustion engine firing up at all. In financial terms the plug-in costs more to buy but less to tax, which particularly helps those buying as a company car or owners able to plug in at home and benefit from running it on cheaper electricity for regular daily errands like the school run or commute. Without charging the plug-in loses any efficiency advantage over the regular petrols or diesels, these suiting private buyers more and a little cheaper upfront or in monthly lease or finance costs. If you feel the need for the speed of the high-performance M50 version expect to pay the premium in purchase, running costs, tax and insurance.

While a new car the X3 uses mainly proven engines and other mechanical parts, and BMW’s image as a premium brand inspires an expectation of quality and reliability. That doesn’t always play out in reliability surveys so we’ll have to see if the new one improves on that.

The X3 is as packed with tech as you’d hope, with a huge array of driver support and safety systems included, and more on the options list as part of the Driving Assistant and Driving Assistant Pro packages if needed. BMW traditions as a brand for keen drivers means these are often less obtrusive than the auto braking, lane keeping and speed scolding systems in many rivals, which does a lot to keep your blood pressure down at the wheel. We especially appreciated the quick and easy shortcut for disabling the speed warnings – just hold ’set’ on the steering wheel cruise control buttons to silence the incessant bonging. We’re not advocating breaking the speed limit, of course. But in our experience these systems often get the limit wrong anyway, and are frequently more irritating than useful.

Bar the lump in the floor in the back robbing the middle passenger of foot space the X3 is a superb family car, with lots of room up front for the driver and passenger and plenty of leg- and headroom for those in the outer rear seats. Behind the standard power tailgate the boot is a decent size, if a little shallow and a ways off the ground but there is at least stash space for odds and ends under the floor. The confidence inspiring height of crossovers remains very popular with a lot of drivers and the X3 delivers , given BMW knows better than most rivals how to make tall cars drive like conventional ones. True, the models we drove on the launch benefited from cost option adjustable suspension capable of going from comfy plush to sporty and taut depending on the driving mode. But the default was refined on all sorts of road surfaces, comfortable without being wallowy and wind and tyre noise were both suppressed for relaxing progress. In short, the X3 feels hard to fault whether you’re at the wheel or a passenger.

The X3’s interior is very modern and stylish, with a wide double-screen display, clever use of recycled materials on the dash and seats and some bold design features like the illuminated vents on doors, central dash and around the prominent ‘bin’ between the seats with wireless charging for two devices and cupholders for your morning coffees. Some of the other materials in the cabin feel a little cheap, though, with some hard plastics and sharp edges you wouldn’t expect on a premium car of this type. We can’t fault the tech, though, BMW’s latest Android-powered operating system up there with the best in the business with its stylish graphics, snappy responses, logical menus and easily configurable shortcuts for commonly used features. We like the option to interact with voice, touch or via a physical control knob as well. Just beware the creeping extra cost if you hit the options, with some things that should be standard like device holders and USB-C charging ports in the rear ‘hidden’ in upgrade packs.

All X3s have BMW’s xDrive all-wheel drive system, but it’s more about confidence in wet and slippery conditions than going off-road. Filthy weather on our test at least helped us appreciate that, even if the power of the petrol xDrive20 we tried was never going to seriously challenge the X3. This four-cylinder engine is smooth enough when driven gently and the neatly integrated electric motor helps fill in some of the gaps in the power delivery. But if you ask for more it can sound a little breathless in a car this big and heavy, and the automatic gearbox can get a little busy. We’ll hopefully get to try them in due course but there’s still a diesel option while plug-in hybrid should have a lot more zip whether it’s using the electric motor alone or in combination with the petrol engine, the M50 with its 398 horsepower and sports car matching acceleration stats meanwhile promising some serious shove if that’s your priority. It also gets plenty of M-branded trimmings inside to avoid confusion with ‘regular’ X3s.