There comes a point in life when you’re told to grow up. To become mature. To make sensible decisions. Decisions involving space, comfort and lumbar support when you’re planning on a car purchase. Decisions that won’t upset your chiropractor or your accountant. And somewhere along that journey, people stop buying cars for how they drive.
They buy them for what they carry. And that’s usually when the SUV enters the conversation.
BMW, more than most, has struggled with this transition. A brand built on steering feel and balance suddenly found itself selling tall cars to people who once cared deeply about how a car felt through a corner. And for a while now, many of those SUVs have been good at a lot of things, maybe just not driving.
Thankfully, this one hasn’t read that memo, well, not entirely! This is the new BMW X3 30 xDrive. And finally, it gets the engine it always deserved. Because for a long time now, SUVs have been about everything except driving.
Under the bonnet sits BMW’s familiar 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine, paired with a 48V mild-hybrid system. On paper, it doesn’t sound revolutionary. But out on the road, it feels different. Feels right. There’s urgency when you pull away, a solid shove through the mid-range, and when you keep your foot in, it doesn’t fade away or run out of enthusiasm. Spend a few minutes with it and you realise this one wants to move and inturn moves your pulse too.
It is the B48 unit performing as expected. Think of it as the B58 you know from BMW’s fast stuff - the M340i and the modern-day Toyota Supra, just with two cylinders fewer. Same family. Same character. Just trimmed for everyday life. It’s smooth, eager and responsive to your foot. Quite addictive, this.
It’s paired to an eight-speed ZF automatic that understands its role perfectly. In Comfort, it disappears into the stage. You barely notice it. Ratios slip past unobtrusively, the engine ticks over quietly as you get on with your usual day. Switch to Sport, though and it wakes up. Holds gears longer. Responds faster. You find yourself reaching for the paddles not because there is a need to, but because it feels natural.
After a while, you stop thinking about numbers and acceleration figures. You just drive. And that’s when the X3 30 starts making sense. Power goes to all four wheels through BMW’s xDrive system, which distributes the torque where it’s needed. There’s grip when you lean on it. Relaxed when you back off. Feed in throttle early through a corner and it just goes without drama, no scrabbling, with a little body roll that is mass fighting physics.
A few corners in, you forget you’re in something this tall. Something this heavy You feel the biggest difference through the suspension. At city speeds, yes, you’re aware of the 20-inch wheels. Because this isn’t soft. This isn’t floaty. This is a BMW. But get some pace into it and everything settles. Body movements tighten and the car feels cohesive and predictable. On a flowing road, the X3 shrinks around you.
You start carrying speed without really trying. The steering plays its part here. It’s nicely weighted and accurate. Like modern BMWs, it doesn’t chatter endlessly about road texture, but it is still able to tell you what matters. You always know where the front end is, which, in turn, builds confidence. Confidence to place the car neatly, confidence to commit to a line, confidence to keep driving. After a couple of hours behind the wheel, you stop thinking about the size altogether. You just place it and go.
Inside, it feels very BMW. The driving position is spot on, down low for the segment, legs stretched out, steering wheel falling naturally to hand. The flat-bottom M wheel feels chunky and satisfying to hold. The sport seats do exactly what they should when the road starts doing interesting things. The head-up display means your eyes stay up, which is useful, because that’s where all the action is. And yes, it’s loaded.
There’s the big curved display running BMW’s latest OS, ventilated seats, a panoramic glass roof, three-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, lane assist, augmented navigation and a full 360-degree camera system. All the modern stuff you expect at this price point is present and correct. And to set this top-of-the-line M Sport Pro variant apart, you get the larger wheels, smoked headlamps and tail lamps, red brake callipers, and subtle M detailing inside. Thankfully, none of it dominates the experience. Because for me, the powertrain does.
Find yourself an empty stretch of road early on a Sunday morning…and it reminds you exactly why you bought a BMW in the first place. What stays with you isn’t one big moment or headline-grabbing party trick. It’s how everything comes together.
It works during the week. It deals with traffic, errands and airport runs without complaint. It fits into grown-up life seamlessly. And when you finally get a decent road, it rewards you for caring. It rewards you for choosing it. Because somewhere along the line, we were told that growing up meant giving up on driving pleasure. That it had to be packed away, stored safely for “someday”.
The new BMW X3 30 lets you disagree with society. And in doing so, it reminds us that maturity doesn’t have to mean boredom; it can simply mean choosing better.
