BMW X3 - Review, Specs, Pricing, Features, Videos and More

This is a case of heart over head.

I drove the 2024 BMW X5 twice this year. The first was the in the excellent xDrive50e form, a plug-in hybrid that a friend called a cheat code of a car. It was the one that I’d want were it my own money, no doubt about it.

Or at least, there wasn’t. Two months later I’m back in the familiar, comfortable throne of an X5 M Competition, all snarling V8 and aggression. “An SUV doesn’t need that much power,” I originally rationalized, but the M seduced me with friendly and accessible performance, logic be damned.

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We went literal for our latest green comparison.

In the battle of the 2022 Porsche Macan GTS vs 2022 BMW X3 M, neither car is a fuel-sipper. There’s 937 horsepower between them. Miles per gallon? Pfft, we’re focusing on smiles per gallon here.

These are the sorts of vehicles we’re not supposed to like. Crossovers can never be sports cars, some will say. And these aren’t—but they sure get close. Not just in how they surge from A to B, but in how they can deconstruct a road in a way that pastes a grin onto your face. The Macan and X3 are overachieving all-rounders. If the question is what vehicle can do it all, well, here are two credible answers.

As managing editor Mike Schlee and I learned over a week with both of these mean green machines, how they address the question is quite different.

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This is the Goldilocks version of the X3.

Sitting smack dab in the middle of the refreshed 2022 BMW X3 lineup is this, the M40i. With the plug-in hybrid retired for the facelift—in the US, though not in Canada—this diet M model sits between the entry-level four-cylinder, and the hardcore X3 M.

That could result in a luxury crossover that falls between two seats: not as frugal and comfortable as the lower trims, lacking the supposed excitement of the top ones. Thankfully, the X3 instead blends the best attributes of BMW’s best-seller together. This is a compact SUV that does darn near everything well, with the frisson of driving enjoyment the brand once staked its reputation on.

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If there’s one car that’s clearly in the sights of the Genesis GV70, it’s the BMW X3.

BMW has made bank with its compact crossover. At the end of 2021, the X3 had extended its lead over the segment, selling 75,858 units in the US. The closest competitor, the Audi Q5, sold four-fifths that total. It’s not hard to see why the X3 does so well: it blends the brand’s sporty reputation with the shape the market demands, and at the right size. It also comes in a variety of flavors—we called the mid-level X3 M40i the “Goldilocks” of the range recently, and that same car is the one we’ve brought to face the newcomer today.

By comparison, the entire Genesis brand sold fewer units than BMW shifted X3s. But sales tripled over 2020, and a large part of that growth came from the brand’s GV70. It arrives in a red-hot segment free from the shackles of decades of brand history. Striking design inside and out, a laundry list of tech, and fuss-free pricing are just some of the reasons we said the GV70 “ deserves to be on your compact SUV shortlist.”

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The fight for the luxury compact SUV sales crown is a close one.

Last year, the Audi Q5, Mercedes GLC, and Lexus NX all were within spitting distance of each other. Yet above them all sat the BMW X3. Over the course of three generations BMW has seemingly cracked the code for compact SUVs, finding the right blend of luxury, sporting pretensions, and practicality.

With the whole pack nipping at its heels, the X3 arrives for this model year with a substantial round of updates. The result is a carefully considered package, improving on the X3’s strengths while sanding down anything buyers might consider its weak points.

The current X3 was hardly an aging veteran, showing up on the scene in 2018. So BMW has gently massaged the package, tweaking the exterior styling while bringing in more tech within.

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For our latest specs comparison, we’re taking another look at the compact luxury crossover class.

Car manufacturers are making big investments in this vehicle category, and it shows in the sheer number of models available if you’re shopping for a small upscale SUV.

This time around, our competitors are the BMW X3 and Volvo XC60, a matchup that pits a German juggernaut against a stylish Swede.

To this comparison, BMW brings its reputation for high-performance vehicles in a lineup that includes two trims bearing the brand’s highly regarded M motorsports badge.

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