Road Test: BMW X3 3.0d M-Sport

Price as tested: €67,726

+ Stunning engine, great cabin, space, handling
– Expensive, a touch vulgar, not the best looking, hard ride
= Really lovely, but you know the 2.0d is a better all-rounder

No. No, I’m not going to fall for it. I’m going to duck the marketing puff, ease my way around the badge allure and sidestep the sheer brilliance of the engine. I am not going to like the BMW X3 3.0d M-Sport. Nope. I’m just not.

Ah, who am I kidding? It’s pretty brilliant really...

OK, let’s do a bit of stall setting-out. Nobody needs a BMW X3 3.0d M-Sport. Nobody needs a car that’s roughly the same price as a 530d M-Sport Touring, but not as good looking, not as good to drive and will stir the anger of passers-by. The only possibly need you could have that would require this car would be to drive regularly across a not very rough field at high speed. Anyone? Anyone?

But of course, need is never a good arbiter of want, and there’s quite a lot of want surrounding an X3 in general, and quite a bit more when it comes to this M-Sport model, with its pimped sills, bumpers, lights and wheels. By speccing the M-Sport trim, you get 18-inch star-spoke M alloy wheels, chrome plated door sill finishers with M designation, High-gloss Shadowline exterior trim for the window surrounds, M Sport multi-function steering wheel, Sport seats and Anthracite headlining added. All of which adds up to an X3 that’s... well not exactly better looking than standard but one that looks alluringly (if ever so slightly ridiculously) pumped-up.

Inside, along with that steering wheel and the dark headlining (classy) our test car came with its standard-fit Nevada leather seats trimmed in a deliciously deep and rich ‘Havana Brown’ colour. Never has the place where you place your buttocks looked so inviting. Comfy too, which is always a bonus.

Now, while pretty much every X3 that gets sold in Ireland will have the brilliant 188bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel under the bonnet, ours was fitted with the 3.0-litre 258bhp straight-six diesel. Overkill, when the 2.0d provides all the performance (and economy) you could possibly need?

Well, yes. Of course it’s overkill. As I said at the top, nobody needs a soft-roader with a big, honking six-cylinder engine. But once again there’s need, and there’s want...

And once you have experienced the cream-smooth roar that accompanies the very brisk 6.2secs 0-100kmh run, as the flawless eight-speed gearbox shifts away next to your left thigh, you will never want to return to the land of four cylinder engines ever again.

Well, that is until you clock the fuel consumption. Now, BMW claims that the X3 3.0d will return an average of 6.0-litres per 100km, and if you drive a lot in town, make the most of the very slick stop-start system and generally drive like a nun, you might just manage that. But over a week, with a more realistic driving style, we never got our average down below 8.0-litres per 100km. Which is significantly more thirsty than the X3 2.0d’s claimed (and more realistic) 5.6-litres per 100km.

Still, it is good to drive. The steering, a little distant from what’s happening at the front wheels thanks to electric power assistance, is nonetheless very nicely weighted and that chunky M-Sport steering wheel feels great in your hands. The X3’s chassis is also beautifully balanced, with surprisingly deft turn in for something this tall and with a centre of gravity somewhere around your chest height. It’s pretty close to being as good to drive as the lower, lighter 530d Touring (still our touchstone for cars in this price bracket) and if it falls short, then it’s in the ride department. BMWs, and X3s, in general are pretty stiffly sprung, and combine that with the M-Sports bigger wheels and stiffer springs, and you’ve got a car with a bad case of the jiggles on anything other than a perfectly ironed stretch of tarmac. It’s not actually as harsh as you might have feared but still not what you’d call smooth.

OK, being realistic, we’d have the X3 2.0d every time. Except we wouldn’t because actually buy a 520d Touring rather than either. But if you’ve got the wherewithal, the desire and, yes, the need, then the creamy smooth whooshings, and chunky funky bodykit of the X3 3.0d M-Sport would be pretty tempting.



Facts & Figures

BMW X3 3.0d M-Sport
Price as tested: €67,726
Price range: €45,900 to €61,480
Capacity: 2,993cc
Power: 258bhp
Torque: 560Nm
Top speed: 240kmh
0-100kmh: 6.2sec
Economy: 6.0l-100km (47.0mpg)
CO2 emissions: 159g/km
Road Tax Band: D €447
Euro NCAP rating: Not yet tested