Stellar or Stale? The 2010 BMW X3

Little known fact: According to a study by J.D. Power, no off road vehicle satisfies its buyers quite as well as BMW’s diminutive X3. Dubbed a “Sports Activity Vehicle,” the X3, in its current iteration, is something of a sales floor veteran, having debuted a full seven years ago. Although revised in 2006 to bring it back in line with BMW’s new styling language, the X3 simply hasn’t captured the market in recent years. With U.S. sales amounting to 34,604 apparently very happy new owners in 2004, X3 sales have dropped to a fraction of that in recent years. While the recession can easily be blamed for last year’s dismal sales performance (just 6,067 X3s were sold in the U.S. last year), even 2008 proved problematic; as BMW struggled to move just 17,622 of the entry level SUVs into garages across America.

And simply looking at the 2010 model, you’d be hard pressed to find a great reason to reconsider the spritely soft-roader. Although based on the widely successful 3-series sports sedan, the X3 brings little of the 3-series’ good looks to the party; donning drab black plastic and awkward-even-for-a-Bangle-design curves. Oddly angular headlamps that suddenly expand into the fender share nothing beyond their internal elements with any of BMW’s stable, and the sharply scalloped hood looks to be a carbon copy of the first generation X5’s; something of an anachronism when the X5 itself has grown into far more organic, mature bonnet-borne scallops. Thankfully, the rear view is slightly more impressive. Aping its larger brethren, it fits in even better this year thanks to the application of the same horizontal cat’s whisker marker light tubes as we’ve come to know and love on the X6 and X5. Finally, if  you're a Canadian, you better like it grayscale as the 2010 X3 is only available in white, black, and grey.

Step inside though, and you’ll almost forget the bizarrely un-BMW exterior. Saturated in the same rich textures and soft leather as you’d find in nearly every other BMW, the Magna Steyr-assembled vehicle will look familiar to those who have acquainted themselves with the 3-series. With a similarly simple dash layout that keeps all the controls in a central location, there are a few features that will keep Canadian buyers especially happy. First and foremost, there’s the wise decision to pair nicely heated seats (not too hot, and with a good-sized heated area) as standard equipment with a heated steering wheel. Interestingly, that steering wheel comes with a panoramic sunroof in the Executive Package; the only option package available. Much appreciated while touring the various Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic sites, the presence of a heated steering wheel in an entry-level vehicle was a welcome surprise. Likewise, the dashboard storage bin more than makes up for the relatively small armrest storage area, and gives you an excellent place to put wallets, cell phones, and other small knick knacks. However, if you’re someone that often find themselves with a mug or a bottle of pop, you’ll quickly find yourself wishing for a few more cupholders, as the front seats have a solitary one to share. Furthermore, fitted with the older style conventional automatic shifter, any beverage taller than a shot glass will end up smack dab in the middle of the space your forearm will want to occupy. It’s not that big of a deal, but it does make you appreciate the oversized toggle switch that is the newer-style BMW shifter.

Of course, drinking any beverage inside the X3 is something of a chore already. With a jarringly firm ride, the X3 bounces its way down the road in a manner that would better become a sports sedan of the M3’s ilk. On many of our over-repaired highways afflicted by frost heaves and unpredictable soil, the X3’s ride was simply unpleasant. And making matters even worse was the high seating position. Although giving a commanding view of the road and providing a comfortable position from which one could watch the scenery pass by, it essentially puts your head on a giant lever, magnifying the rough movements of the chassis. And then there are the brakes. Providing little in the way of modulation, they have a merciless initial bite that seems impossible to predict, and that comes back to haunt any attempts to bring the vehicle to a standstill smoothly. I’m sure more spirited drivers won’t mind, but as someone who approached the X3 as something of a more all-weather, all-road capable touring vehicle, it comes as a rude surprise.

And that’s perhaps the problem. Lauding the X3 for its performance in surveys that declare it the best-liked off roader in the land, I approached the vehicle as I would any other small car-based SUV. Namely, I approached it as something that pairs comfort and capability in a package that occupies the market’s middle ground; a vehicle Goldilocks would approve of as being not too soft, and not too hard. But the X3 is anything but. Having earned a spot in history as the hardest-cornering factory SUV in 2004, the X3 pulled 0.88 G on the skid pad; a figure matched (in many tests) by the Bavarian brand’s own M5 sports saloon. Obviously, its aggressive braking systems and admittedly sublime steering further the X3’s ability to decimate corners in a manner no other entry-level premium SUV could hope to match, and no doubt propel a large margin of the X3’s sales in countries with better road conditions than we (seriously, have you seen German highways?!). And even here, in a country dominated by miles of relatively unkempt highway, the X3’s aggressive nature will find buyers. But if you’re one of the vast majorities that are shopping for the happy medium, you might want to wait and see what 2010 has in store for BMW’s X family of vehicles.