2018 BMW X3 Test Drive Review – Bigger On Luxury

Performance – The 20d badging on our test car means that its motivation comes from a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder TwinPower Turbo diesel engine which produces 190 HP of power and 400 Nm of torque. This is the same B47 diesel motor that debuted in the last generation 5-Series and this is one great powerplant. There is some amount of turbo lag below the 2000 RPM mark but post that the turbo spools up and the car really shines. Mid-range and top-end are good but unlike other BMWs which have their tachometers marked all the way till 5500 RPM, the 2018 X3 will not go beyond the 4700 RPM mark because it just keeps upshifting gears around that ballpark. There are three drive modes – ECOPRO, Comfort and Sport. In the Sport mode, the urgency improves and the performance is better in all aspects. Comfort mode allows the car to soak up all the undulations perfectly while the ECOPRO gets you more kilometres per litre of fuel by cutting down on performance.

The 8-speed Steptronic transmission is as good as ever. It is also fast and slick-shifting and will give you a downshift when you need it. An icing on the cake is that you can manually take control of things via the steering-mounted paddle shifts or the manual mode using the tiptronic function for an enthusiastic drive. Refinement levels have improved dramatically all thanks to the vibration and acoustic glass, however, post the 4000 RPM mark the powertrain is audible inside the cabin.

Driving Dynamics – BMW has worked on the suspension of the X3 which now gets adaptive dampers as well along with coil springs. This ensures that the low-speed ride is absolutely excellent. There is nothing that catches the SUV unless and until you go fast on bad section of roads where the cabin just thuds over it. Coming to the steering, it is great as ever and weighs up well in the Sport mode although it does feel artificial now. There is some body roll obviously due to the size of the SUV and honestly, the third generation X3 isn’t the best handling X3 as it treads between a line that is more towards a balance of comfort and handling rather than outright handling that the previous gen X3 was known for. The car offers a good amount of composure but there is some vertical movement on bad roads at faster speeds. Although the SUV weighs almost 1.8 tonnes, it is agile especially in the corners and rarely will the driver feel the heft of the vehicle. The brakes offer a good initial bite and the stopping power is supreme.