BMW X3 Review: Buggy and Overpriced
The BMW X3 is a petrol mild hybrid SUV with all-wheel-drive and a monocoque1 construction. It comes in only one variant, an M-series. I test-drove it both in the city and on the highway, and evaluated it against my requirements. I wouldn’t buy it, for two reasons:
Reason #1: Not Significantly better than the Creta
First, it’s not significantly better than a Creta despite costing 97 lakhs against the Creta’s 26. In every market, there’s a sweet spot beyond which spending more doesn’t result in a better product, because there’s nothing you can upgrade with the additional budget. For example, when I bought my iPhone 15, spending double or triple on the 15 Pro Max with 1 TB storage wouldn’t have improved the real-world experience.
Reason #2: Buggy
- The seat moved forward by itself 6 times! Each time, I moved it back. The salesman told me it wouldn’t happen again. It did. He was clueless and claimed it wouldn’t happen once the engine is on. But it did. He then called his “technical advisor” who couldn’t advise. If I’m paying nearly a crore for a car, the process of buying (not just the product) should feel luxurious. It wasn’t luxurious or even smooth but annoying. And no, having the salesman wear a jacket doesn’t count when he’s incompetent. I’d rather have a knowledgeable salesman with a good attitude sans jacket.
- CarPlay failed to pair. I tried again, only to get an Unable to connect error message. It finally worked the third time, when I initiated pairing from the car rather than my phone.
- The car supposedly comes with a voice assistant, but it wasn’t working.
- The car comes with BMW Maps, which has an AR mode. Unfortunately it suggested a wrong turn twice, which would have lengthened the journey.
- Another time, it suggested taking a turn on top of a flyover, where there isn’t one.
- Another time, it showed a floating turn indicator on top of the road far in advance of the actual turn, making it seem like I should turn prematurely. If you were in the front passenger seat telling the driver “Turn left here” while pointing to the road ahead, far in advance of the actual turn, you’d only confuse the driver.
- The button to change driving modes is unintuitive. The salesman asked me to press it not where it’s labeled, but in a blank spot above it. Even then, it didn’t work. The salesman tried, but found it hard, too, to change modes. When I tried again, it worked, but the entire panel flexed instead of just the button.
- The car has two sports modes: one via the drive mode button (e.g., Sport and Personal), and via the gear lever. Why two? I don’t know whether I need to activate both for the best performance or does activating one activate the other? If so, which one? And if I floor it, will I get the same response even I’m not in Sport? In other words, do these modes change the shape of the throttle response curve without changing the highest point on it?
- Confusingly, the most comfortable mode is called not Comfort but Personal.
For these two reasons — not significantly better than the Creta despite costing almost four times as much, and buggy — I wouldn’t buy the X3.
If that’s all you needed, feel free to stop here. On the other hand, if you want a detail breakdown of each aspect, keep reading:
Comfort
+ 12-way electrical adjustment including 4-way lumbar
+ Thigh support extension (manual)
+ Good legroom
- Poor headroom
- The dash is high, almost shoulder-level, making the windshield feel cramped.
- When coasting, it loses speed quickly, eventually requiring acceleration. These deceleration-acceleration cycles are less comfortable than maintaining an even speed.
- Slight jerk when starting off after auto hold, even with a gentle touch on the accelerator.
- Engine noise and refinement aren’t obviously better than the Creta.
+ Excellent sound insulation.
- When both sport modes are engaged, the engine revs high (3-4 K RPM) even when not floored, which makes it noisy. When I do floor it and then lift off, it continues revving noisily at high RPM for ~5 seconds. All said and done, I wouldn’t use the sport mode given how noisy and harsh it is.
+ Auto hold
- At 4.8 meters long, it’s hard to park
- No small storage pocket near the window controls, unlike my Ritz.
Driving
- Flooring it when both sport modes are engaged results in acceleration similar to the Creta.
± Requires more throttle input to accelerate.
± Claimed 0-100 in 8 seconds
+ 2-litre turbo engine with 9-speed transmission
- Torque converter
+ AWD
- The inner rear view mirror is small and has a cramped view.
- Poor side visibility
± The accelerator pedal is hinged at the floor.
+ HUD shows speed.
Digital features
- No wired CarPlay, which I prefer for reliability and charging
+ 2 USB-C ports
± Comes with BMW Maps
Cooling
- My fat red Thermos fits in the door but not in the center bottle holder.
+ Ventilated seats
+ 3-zone AC: driver, front passenger, and rear.
- AC requires touch controls
- Moonroof2. A sunroof would have been better since it cools the car instantly after it has been parked for hours in the afternoon summer sun.
- No sunglass holder
Front passenger seat
+ Excellent legroom
+ Good headroom
- The windshield is cramped.
Rear seat
+ The car is amazingly smooth from the rear seat. I asked the salesman if the car is designed to be driven in and he said no, BMWs are for people who love driving.
+ The moonroof is panoramic in all four directions: it extends forward all the way ahead of the driver’s head, rearward behind my field of view, and sideways all the way till the sides of the car. It doesn’t have a center bar, either. It’s beautiful to look at things go by against the clouds. This is the best moonroof of any car I’ve tested.
- Mediocre headroom (similar to most cars).
+ 2 USB-C
- The rear window is not panoramic: it’s neither tall nor wide.
- The rear windows don’t roll down completely.
Misc
- Has animal leather, which I don’t like since it involves cruelty to animals.
- It has a reverse assist that backs out of tight spaces. It takes control of your steering and accelerator, and reverses along the exact path you drove in, thus automatically avoiding pillars and walls. However, it’s blind to new obstacles, like another vehicle that wasn’t there before, so you need to hover your foot on the brake. It was really cool to see it in action. There’s more automation that can help drivers without going all the way to self-driving, which doesn’t work in India, anyway. That said, I don’t know if it improves ownership or just demos well.
- Warranty is 2 years, unlimited km
+ Beautiful blue accent lighting when it gets dark outside.
- Costs 97 lakh, which is way too much considering its cons. Even if it were half, at 47 lakh, it would be too much.
Or unibody.
This means you can’t open the glass to ventilate.