BMW X3 2021 Review – International

The BMW X3 has been treated to a facelift, yes, but it’s more of an eyebrow pluck than the full cheek enhancement.

From the front-end, at least, the average person would be hard pressed to understand what’s gone on. But only from the front.

The visuals include, if you squint achingly, a new grille that’s joined into a single unit and is a bit wider than before, though it’s hardly worth mentioning after the trauma of the M3 and iX grilles.

That mildness repeats along the sides until you approach some bulbous red bits sprouting out of the spots Australian BMW designer Calvin Luk had reserved for his crafted tail-lights.

BMW has become enamoured with injection-moulded tail-lights, even if they protrude from the rear corners of the 2021 BMW X3 like a pair of afterthoughts. Like, well, collagen-filled lips on a facelift, except these are the back lips.

They’re also not the best injection-moulded units we’ve seen, with each light injected with three colours, but the light surfaces retain three distinct injection dimples. Not good enough.

All three premium German car-makers have given their mid-size SUVs very mild facelifts recently, to the point where it’s almost like they colluded on it, but they wouldn’t do that, would they?

Change isn’t free, though, even if it’s minor, so the new X3 edges northwards.

The entry-level BMW X3’s price tag has jumped by $3000 (to $73,900 plus on-road costs), whereas the options-free version of our xDrive30d diesel test car climbs by $4000 to $94,900 plus ORC.

The steps forward made by the upgraded BMW X3 xDrive30d are incremental, rather than any great leaps. The biggest are software-related, but that’s a hard sell for a car-maker so it’s easier to suggest there’s also some tinsel.

The entry-level 20i and 20d versions have stepped it up marginally, with adaptive LED headlights (complete with an automatic high-beam assistant), an automatic tailgate and 19-inch alloys underneath, plus all-wheel drive – but only for the diesel.

The new operating software delivers a much faster multimedia system, but more importantly allows for over-the-air updates, finally.

There’s a parking assistant, three climate-control zones, a reversing camera, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a DAB digital radio and, eventually, wireless phone charging.

BMW can’t actually supply that right now due to a shortage of semiconductor chips, so it chops $429 from the list price to compensate until enough Samboys get to North Carolina.

Beyond that, it has a head-up display, a 12.3-inch multimedia screen and BMW’s cockpit professional (so, it’s the good one).

The BMW X3 30i, 30d and new 30e plug-in hybrid variants sex up that game with the M Sport package’s 20-inch alloys, posh-looking brakes and aluminium trims, the comically fat M leather steering wheel, better leather for the seats and adaptive suspension.

They have some other new stuff inside too, including ambient lighting, a 12-speaker audio system and a reversing system that’s better than the other system but, just like the 20s, there are semiconductor issues…

…So the Driving Assistant Professional won’t show up initially, and BMW will cut $2500 from the price for you, which will make it only $1500 more expensive than the outgoing model.

Packages have been a thing since WLTP fuel-economy testing arrived (otherwise every car had to be recertified for every single option), and the X3 has three of them.

The Comfort package starts the ball rolling with $1200 getting you front seat and steering wheel heating, plus lumbar adjustment for the driver.

A rear-seat pack steps this up by adding a tinted film for the side windows, a rollerblind, more seat heating, a luggage net and even rear-seat backrest adjustment, all for $2700.

At the top end of town, $5400 will deliver metallic paint, a panoramic glass roof and the long-range laser headlights.At the top end of town, $5400 will deliver metallic paint, a panoramic glass roof and the long-range laser headlights.

The core technology of the BMW X3 xDrive30d’s powertrain hardware is unchanged, with a 3.0-litre turbocharged inline diesel six mating to an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission and all-wheel drive.

And then it diverges.

While diesel has been on the nose since Dieselgate, the BMW X3 shows there’s life left in the technology.

The straight-six is strong enough to blast to 100km/h in only 5.7 seconds and it has a 245km/h top speed, but it also consumes a quoted 7.0L/100km (which we improved upon during the launch, posting 6.5L/100km without really trying).

There will be a fuel-saving 48-volt electrical system that tips 8kW of power into the powertrain and helps in other ways (like stretching out the coasting and start-stop time), but it won’t arrive with the first wave of upgraded Australian X3s.

The diesel powerplant has 210kW of power and 650Nm and, unusually, revs out to 5000rpm cheerfully.

There are paddle shifts for the eight-speed transmission, but it’s so very good at its job the best idea is to choose Sport, Comfort or EcoPro and simply leave it to do its thing.

We stepped out of the ridiculous X4M into the X3 xDrive30d and it felt like stepping out of a high-school gym class into a world built for grown-ups, with grown-up things to do.

While I’m not a fan of the car’s backwards-spinning digital tacho, the instrument cluster is easy to read – even if the brilliant head-up display delivers all the information you really want.

There’s luxury here in a way that didn’t exist on the outgoing X3, with higher quality materials all around and quality touches evident everywhere.

That becomes more evident when you start driving. The ride quality is a revelation and it combines with the car’s stable, reassuring handling package to deliver a place that’s just charming to be in.

That engine has a note that belies its fuel-squashing reality to sound crisp, responsive and strong, and that’s how it feels to drive.

It’s not as sporty as the BMW sedans (though, at 1935kg, who can blame it?), but it’s still just in front of the competition, without losing anything in ride quality, even in Sports mode.

It’s quiet on the highway, perky enough in town and fleet of foot everywhere in between. There’s no situation we came across that could unsettle the all-wheel drive’s power delivery, either.

With 550 litres of standard luggage capacity (1600 litres with the seats folded down), it’s right in the game in the class, too, while leading the GLC Mercedes-Benz GLC.

The updated BMW X3 xDrive30d is a brilliant car, in reality, even if the SUV thing still irks us in a world that tries to save on CO2 emissions while choosing transport options that are 300kg heavier than they need to be.

It’s hard to say whether it’s easily the pick of the class, because it’s a rich segment including the recently updated Audi Q5, the Benz GLC (which is no longer available in Oz with diesel power) and even the new Genesis GV70 but if the X3 loses anything to them it isn’t much and it makes up for it in other ways.

For us, the highlights are the smoothness of the powertrain, the barely visible sophistication of the transmission and the astonishing balance between handling and ride quality that it boasts.

It was always pretty handy at what it did, but the X3 just got better – at everything except its looks.

How much does the 2021 BMW X3 xDrive30d cost?
Price: $94,900 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Late 2021
Engine: 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 210kW/650Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel consumption: 7.0L/100km (WLTP)
CO2 emissions: 183g/km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Not tested