The Ultimate Driving Machine - My BMW X3 SUV. Review on BMW X3

To begin with, I would like to narrate a little about me & my decision to pour in a lot of my hard earned money on a sophisticated mechanical machine with a lot of gizmos that essentially moves you from point A to point B in supreme comfort & style.

I do not belong to an uber-rich family nor am I the CEO of an MNC nor did I get a lot of share from my ancestral property. I am just an ordinary businessman hailing from a well to do off family and to say the least I have been doing pretty well in my business & have worked too hard of late to earn myself reasonably good dividends.

Right from my childhood, I had an obsession for automobiles & I grew up riding & driving archaic machines like Lambretta's, Premier Padmini's, Ambassador's & Mahindra jeeps that our family owned. At the wink of an eyelid, those beautiful days seemed to have zipped by & all the fun and frolic soon disappeared. Times changed, We all grew up, (I mean me & my cousins) We all got married, Priorities in life changed, Responsibilities increased, so did expenditure & time flew. My Y2K Millenium New Year's drink that I had at Kodaikanal with my friends & the quality time spent then is still fresh in my mind & 14 years have passed since. I remember telling my friends(the effect of Smirnoff Vodka obviously) then that I would buy a Sports SUV very soon!

The time for that was now(at last) & I decided to buy a 4 X 4- an imported one at that for my own personal outings & adventures. My knowledge about Automobiles is quite good & I preferred to invest in a car that was technically very good rather than just cosmetic/aesthetic appearance. I shortlisted my search to two good SUV's - the Audi Q5 & the BMW X3. In my refined search, I omitted the Japanese & Korean SUV's since I was very keen on buying a German Engineered Car. I zeroed in on BMW X3 Metallic Bronze - the color was up to my liking & initiated the booking process.

Here is the split up of Vitamin - M(M stands not only for money but hard earned money) in detail:-

Ex-Showroom price Chennai - Rs. 55, 87, 600=00

RTO LTT Charges - Rs. 8, 68, 640=00

Comprehensive Insurance - Rs. 2, 19, 987=00

BMW Secure - Rs. 62, 134=00

On Road Total( A whopping Rs. 67, 38, 361=00) Phew!

Now, this review is getting boring and lengthy so I will highlight the aspects paragraph wise.

Technical Features / Specifications & Driving - Handling of BMW X3:

3.0 Litre Inline 6 Cylinder 24 Valve twin-power turbocharged diesel engine effortlessly delivers an outstanding 258 BHP of Raw power propelling the car from 0 to 100Kmph in under 6 Seconds. This Gargantuan Power mill churns out 560+ Nm of torque.

Fantastic Steptronic 8-speed gearbox with 3 different driving modes - Normal/Sport & Sports Plus. The joystick is a real pleasure to use in the manual mode. The gear lever(joystick) feels disconnected from the gearbox and you simply cannot feel the vibrations as in most cars. The Steptronic is a BMW marvel once you get used to it.

The X3 is technically loaded with lots of Assists like:- Cruise Control / Dynamic Damper Control / Driving Experience Control / Hill Descent Control / Performance Control / Servotronics & xdrive - intelligent 4WD with variable torque split.

BMW has not compromised on safety and here is another long list of equipment in the BMW X3:-

Airbags/Head Airbags & Side Airbags. ABS works brilliantly. Cornering Brake Control( CBC), Dynamic Stability Control( DSC) & Dynamic Traction Control( DTC) are some of the unknown features that work for you! Electronic Vehicle Immobilizer, Run Flat tyre Indicators & Crash Sensors are standard across the range.

Added to these are the interior features like two zone Climate Control, plush leather upholstery that you can customize prior to booking, electrical seat memory functions and lumbar support for the front seats. Front and Rear Park Distance Control is a boon whilst parking. The 22 cm idrive navigation screen is a delight to use via a central large knob for functions. 6 DVD Changer inbuilt music system produces very rich quality music output. The Panorama glass roof makes you feel at ease with the outside world. Steering mounted controls add to convenience while driving. My car is shod with 18-inch light alloy Y spoke wheels and has 245/50-R18 Rubber that grips the tarmac like a leech. The massive battery is charged by Brake Energy Regeneration every time you apply brakes thereby reducing the substantial load on the alternator.

I have been too technical in this review so far - now a bit about my on road experience - The car moves like a dream and is very fast and furious. Night visibility with Xenons is outstanding. The car feels very safe, has abundant unusable power and is a sheer machine engineered for exhilaration. Everything about this car is so good that I hardly can point out anything negative. Despite the deceiving low stance, the ground clearance of 212 MM is pretty okay for decent bits of off-roading.

The build quality is robust and this monster can soak abuse without breaking a sweat. The suspension & drivetrain is superb & the overall engineering is top notch. Plastics & fake wood finish panels boast of very high quality and the much-hyped kidney grille at the front is unmistakable with aluminum linings running. I have not had a real serious long drive to test the car. Will update this review once I do that.

I now understand the true sense of German Engineering - and their philosophy of design. I must admit that the X3 is not a crowd puller when it comes to looks, It is not as huge as the sum you end up paying and does not have a commanding road presence like an Audi. It is the Engineering brilliance of this car that is admirable. The fit and finish, the paint job, plastic & rubber material, the alloys etc.boast of tremendous quality which places this SUV in a different league altogether, far from its rivals. The attention paid to every detail is mind blowing & the panel gaps are consistent throughout the body. The X3 is assembled via the CKD kit that is brought into the Chennai plant from Germany (another significant factor that justifies the pricing.) The build is robust and is almost tank-like.

Now the inevitable question:- What made me buy one? I am sure in the days to come I may come out with a reason or justification of my act to buy one. But I keep asking myself another tough question - WHY? to which I simply have no answer as of now.

The Final Verdict on BMW X3:- The Car is definitely worth the price but am I worthy of it? It is the debate that will continue in my mind from now on in the days to come.

A little tit-bit about owning the BMW X3 (a Sticker I noticed on a BMW):- Dad's down payment, Wife's EMI & Enjoyed by Me!