All hail the decision-makers in Munich: the new BMW X3 still offers a diesel engine in its range.
The first thing that hits you about the new BMW X3 is the sheer size of the thing. It’s enormous. I mean gigantic. It’s 10cm longer than the first-generation BMW X5 and I remember thinking how unnecessarily big that was when it was launched.
The new X3 is another example of how cars are getting too big, too heavy, too … everything really. I know people love SUVs and a big car means more space inside for the kids, the bags and the dog, but I seem to recall a time, not that long ago, when a VW Golf was a car perfectly suited for family duty. Not anymore, I guess. We need to take too much stuff with us anywhere we go, apparently, and we do like to show off, don’t we? So, bigger is better.
Anyway. One piece of good news is that the X3 I borrowed from BMW was propelled by this incredible technology called a combustion engine. But that’s not all: a combustion engine that burns something called diesel fuel. Yes, diesel. Politicians want us to hate it, but a diesel engine is still the most efficient way of racking up thousands of kilometres – and they are cleaner than ever.
In Germany, the biggest car market in Europe and the most significant for future decisions regarding the industry, diesel-powered cars surpassed sales of battery electric vehicles for the first time since electric cars became a thing. Market share for diesel cars stood at 17.2% and BEVs at 13.5%, a four-year low.
Like a certain Mr. Abraham Lincoln once said: “You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” There is the electric car market in a sentence for you.
It had been a while since I had driven a straightforward diesel press car. They are a rare thing, as constructors want to push BEVs and all kinds of hybrids. It felt good but, most of all, it made sense. A big car, with a relatively small diesel engine making loads of torque is the best recipe for fuel efficiency and the X3 did not disappoint: I averaged 6 litres in all kinds of driving conditions.
The X3 felt effortless, always willing to extract the maximum from the engine and it rode that torque wave like a petrol-hybrid can only dream of. I absolutely do not understand why diesel is not as important as it once was, now that the whole dieselgate scandal is in the past.
The new X3 is quite a departure from the previous generation, but it threads a fine line between having to be different and having to maintain its unique X3-ness. It is, after all, BMW’s best-selling car on a global scale.
I am not going into the whole ‘BMW’s design has lost its way’ again, mainly because most customers seem to like it. The X3 is not a beautiful car to my eyes, but it definitely looks more distinctive than the last one, which was a bit bland. The rear, in particular, has some nice touches and quite an avantgarde look.
This new model is based on a revised version of the CLAR platform and someone at Munich must have found some old-school fairy dust because the X3’s ride is something else. Spectacular really. It also steers like a much smaller car and offers a level of sportiness no other rival can in this segment.
You know what the X3 has? Manners. Yes, manners. It’s the perfect word. It’s a very polite car. You want comfort, sir? Here it is. Speed? Coming right up. A dollop of technology? Well, no problem. And to cap it off, fabulous fuel efficiency. I am not an SUV kind of guy, but a diesel X3 is a car I would heartily recommend to people I like.
The 2-litre diesel makes a quite lively 197 horsepower and the eight-speed gearbox is judged to perfection. It feels like a BMW of old, which is a very good thing, but comes with the latest technologies, info and safety systems.
A modern car that took the right evolutionary steps to be as good as it can be. No compromises here and no smoke and mirrors regarding range or recharging times. Everything is simple and easy to understand, operate and get the best out of, and everything works beautifully.
The interior is very, very nice, thank you. BMW’s Curved Display dominates proceedings, with its 14.9-inch touchscreen and 12.7 digital instrument cluster. They both offer incredibly sharp graphics and an impressive response time. I was happy to see BMW have kept the iDrive rotary controller, meaning you don’t have to rely solely on the touchscreen to control the car’s most important functions.
Space abounds, the 570-litre boot should be enough for most and the rear seats fold individually. However, there is one inescapable caveat about the X3 in this country: it is a Class 2 vehicle at the tolls. Nothing the Bavarians can do, in all their ingenuity, to overcome such stupidity, I am afraid. It is what it is.
Prices for the diesel start at just under €77,000, although I am guessing this Class 2 conundrum may give customers a bit of a room to haggle.
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