Any X3 owners here?

Having purchased my first BMW this year, a 2004 330Cic, I know find myself thinking of adding another BMW to our stable, maybe an X3.

Our daily drivers are 2 Subaru's, a 2007 Forester XT & a 2011 Legacy. I am thinking of selling my Forester next spring. My wife would like to replace it with a MB GLK, however I don't think I want that. I am thinking maybe an X3.

Any E46 owners that also have experience with the X3s? It would be a CPO 3-4 year old X3, can't afford new. How are they? Any known issues? How do the drive? just looking for opinions

Thanks

XOutpost.com is home to all X Vehicles. Tons of information there.

Originally Posted by Poncho@home

Having purchased my first BMW this year, a 2004 330Cic, I know find myself thinking of adding another BMW to our stable, maybe an X3.

Our daily drivers are 2 Subaru's, a 2007 Forester XT & a 2011 Legacy. I am thinking of selling my Forester next spring. My wife would like to replace it with a MB GLK, however I don't think I want that. I am thinking maybe an X3.

Any E46 owners that also have experience with the X3s? It would be a CPO 3-4 year old X3, can't afford new. How are they? Any known issues? How do the drive? just looking for opinions

Thanks

You do know you're posting to the E46 forum...

Yes I know where I am posting. I am looking for opinions from people familiar with E46s. I happen to think my E46 is a fantastic car, so in comparison to a 3 series, how does the X3 hold up? I know they are 2 different segments of the automotive world, not looking for a direct comparison, but does it give you the same driving pleasure the 3 series does? Is it just as inspired? Or is it a completely different beast as if from another car manufacturer?

I have no experience with the X3 but the GLK is not bad and if you can afford it get a ML350.

Only experience I have with an X3 is this girl that I drive with to and from classes everyday has a 2008/9 with around 20k on it. Smooth ride, kind of small for an SUV but handles pretty nice and makes a good DD.

Reminds me of my E46 interior wise, but just so much smoother and comfortable. I would never own one, but Ill keep bumming rides in it daily.

had one for a few days and it was great, loved it.. looks nice, good MPG for small suv, if its a good size for your needs, i recommend them, the one i had had the pop up NAV which was nice but not necessary, basically the same as an E46 under the hood so maintenance is almost the same there.

First Gen X3.

Drives beautifully, very heavy, not so good on fuel, CRAP interior quality, dodgy transfer cases.

And really horrible interiors.

_________________________________

Current Gen X3.

Too expensive

My first bimmer was an 04 X3 m54b30 "brand new"
With a 6 MT, and I absolutely loved it. It has more passenger room than an x5 and was a blast to drive.
I put 65k on it, and it never gave me a single problem.

Expect the same type of maintenance as any e46 Xi



Sent from my SGH-I727 using Bimmer App

Originally Posted by trive2

First Gen X3.

Drives beautifully, very heavy, not so good on fuel, CRAP interior quality, dodgy transfer cases.

And really horrible interiors.

I have to disagree with you on the interior, my E83 facelift 3.0si has very nice fit and finish interior and exterior.

Otherwise you are spot on. My fuel consumption sucks, but hoping new tires and an alignment helps with that in the short term. Drives very well, but its super heavy compared to E46.

Get a 2007+ with the N52 motor, no M54. This thing is reasonably quick (faster than my 5MT 325 was).

Also make sure you drive a sport pack car, and a non-sport pack. My car is non-sport (but with the optional 18s), and it STILL has a harsh ride over bumps. Many say the sport packaged suspension is TOO stiff.

Originally Posted by trive2

First Gen X3.

Drives beautifully, very heavy, not so good on fuel, CRAP interior quality, dodgy transfer cases.

And really horrible interiors.

_________________________________

Current Gen X3.

Too expensive

My expereince is also much differerent. I had an '02 325xi that had more quality issues than my '05 X3.

Don't get me wrong, the 325 was a great car, but this X3 is also a very stoudt reliable solid vehicle.

I have 101k miles on mine with no unforseen issues. The interior quality is BETTER than the e46. I don't have delaminating pillars like in every e46. I don't have rubber pealing off the dash console like in every e46. I don't have squeaky seats or rattling rear decks, or broken window regulators like the e46. The interior of my x3 is more quiet and rattle free than my former e46. Plus maybe I am just lucky, but my x3 does not suffer from leaky valve colver gaskets or leaky oil filter housing gaskets, or broken DISA, torn CV boots, etc. My e46 on the other hand had all of the above.

Overall, despite that I am not really an SUV kinda guy, the X3 impresses me in every way. Fit and finish is proper. Performance is on par and handles better than I ever would have imagined, reliability is stoudt.

I really like the X3, only complaint is mpg, I get about 21 to 23. But it is a heavy car ~4,080 pounds.

^ 21-23, wow.

We live very close to DC, so the X3 sees a lot of city driving. Averaging about 17mpg, 75% city, 25% highway. I zero'd Consumption 2 on the highway the other day and only got ~24mpg indicated.

Like I said, needs tires and alignment. Hoping those numbers go up by ~2mpg each.

I do 75 miles a day with mine. Mix of city and highway driving. More realistically I am closer to 21mpg. If I took a long highway trip I get 23 or 24. But I do like the car, handles and drives superbly. Also installed a simple GROM bluetooth interface in mine. So I can stream music wirelessly off my iphone through the BMW stereo and control it with steering wheel buttons. Works great with Siri and the maps turn by turn voice over the car's speakers.

I dunno, the interior held together alright, but the doors felt like they were off a Mitsubishi and everything scratched up easily. They were very light and tinny. If the car didn't weigh 30% more than an E46 that could be excused... but it's heavy. And the GAUGE CLUSTER!!! It doesn't look like it came off a BMW at all!!! I actually looked at trying to retrofit an E46 cluster into the X3 It looks awful! Admittedly it was a pre-update.


Otherwise though..... Man it drove great. It was SOOOOO nice to drive. Handled almost as well as the 330i but with a much much better driving position. In the end I couldn't get over how cheap the interior looked And was too scared to take it on the beach (which was the whole point in the first place)


Oh, and at half the mileage of the E46 it had all the same problems -___-. Guess it's luck of the draw.