- 2 months ago
BMW X3 20 xDrive G45 gets a proper road test here, and the big question is simple: is the new fourth-generation compact premium SUV actually worth upgrading to? This review looks beyond the fresh styling and into the details that matter, from the mild-hybrid 2.0 petrol and 8-speed automatic to the real-world ride, steering, braking, and fuel economy.
The X3 G45 is only slightly larger than the previous generation, but BMW has reshaped it with a boxier front end, flush door handles, a flatter rear, and a more modern cabin with OS9 infotainment, haptic controls, ambient lighting, and a panoramic roof. There’s also a practical side: a 570-litre boot, 40:20:40 rear seats, good rear space, and strong towing capacity. On the road, the X3 feels quicker than the numbers suggest, handles sharply, and stays impressively quiet.
This BMW X3 review also covers off-road angles, hill descent control, parking assist, reversing assist, driver aids, and the real-world quirks of the new interior layout. It’s a useful test drive and SUV review for anyone comparing the BMW X3 20 xDrive, the G45 generation, or luxury family SUVs in general.
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The X3 G45 is only slightly larger than the previous generation, but BMW has reshaped it with a boxier front end, flush door handles, a flatter rear, and a more modern cabin with OS9 infotainment, haptic controls, ambient lighting, and a panoramic roof. There’s also a practical side: a 570-litre boot, 40:20:40 rear seats, good rear space, and strong towing capacity. On the road, the X3 feels quicker than the numbers suggest, handles sharply, and stays impressively quiet.
This BMW X3 review also covers off-road angles, hill descent control, parking assist, reversing assist, driver aids, and the real-world quirks of the new interior layout. It’s a useful test drive and SUV review for anyone comparing the BMW X3 20 xDrive, the G45 generation, or luxury family SUVs in general.
SEO: BMW X3 G45 review, BMW X3 20 xDrive test drive, compact premium SUV review, luxury SUV road test, family SUV with boot space, BMW X3 infotainment OS9, mild hybrid SUV, driving review, parking assist, towing capacity, and real-world fuel economy.
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MotorTranscript
00:00you often comment that i only review high spec cars that nobody can afford yeah press cars are
00:06usually well equipped but i did manage to change the bmw x3 m50 for an x320 and it's even got
00:14cloth
00:14seats this is the bmw x320 x drive g45 let's see if it's any good
00:33so
01:05the BMW X3 is a compact luxury SUV that has been in production since 2003 more
01:11than 20 years later the Bavarian carmaker is launching the fourth
01:14generation what's new about the X3 and is it worth upgrading to from your
01:19current car over 20 plus years the BMW X3 grew almost 20 centimeters in length
01:26and now measures a whopping 475 and a half centimeters however the fourth
01:31generation G45 is not much bigger from the third generation X3 G01 it's just
01:3834 millimeters longer 29 millimeters wider 25 millimeters lower and the wheelbase
01:44has lengthened by just a millimeter to 2865 millimeters the truck has increased
01:51up to 16 millimeters at the front and up to 45 millimeters at the rear depending
01:56on the version these are largely cosmetic changes slightly longer overhangs led to
02:02worse approach and departure angles which dropped from 25 to 21 and from 23 to 22
02:08degrees respectively for some reason the break over angle is over 1 degree lower
02:14at 18.7 degrees despite a nearly identical wheelbase and a 12 millimeters higher
02:20ground clearance which is now 216 millimeters and since we're talking all those
02:29off-road angles and stuff I'll do my diagonal approach test where two wheels on
02:34the diagonal have limited traction I stop halfway up this incline and I try to get
02:40going again to see if the all-wheel drive system is any good
02:48I tried normal mode with ESP on
03:04since I can only turn off ESP or limit its aggressiveness in sport mode the next
03:09attempt is in sport mode with ESP in sport setting and sport mode with ESP off
03:17completely
03:26and last but not least a system assisting taking off on slippery surface
03:36it looks pretty much the same from the outside and feels the same from behind the wheel
03:50also if you're adventurous enough to take your x3 off-road there is hill descent control feature I'm
03:59letting off the brakes and down I go actually quite good I'm not touching the
04:04brake
04:09perfect let's talk design like other new BMW and mini models the x3 is now more
04:15stubby boxy the front end is almost vertical the radiator grille which should
04:21now be called the radar cover since the air intake is lower now features stripes
04:26vertical and diagonal depending on the equipment version these can be satin or glossy black
04:33illuminated halo around the grille is an option I like it but I do understand if you have a
04:38different opinion about it on the side flash door handles at least they're not the pop-out type
04:46flattened fenders and that would be it by the way I don't know why BMW insists on not covering the
04:53sills with the doors the last few days it was rainy and I had to pay attention to keep my
04:59trousers
05:00clean getting in and out the rear has also been flattened I suppose it was modeled on the exam on
05:08the
05:08here we have additional plastic elements surrounding the rear window except for the
05:12most powerful m50 version lesser x3s have the exhaust hidden behind the diffuser an optional hitch can also extend
05:20from behind it the current x3 can tow up to two and a half tons 100 kilograms more than the
05:26previous
05:26generation model the 30 e version plug-in hybrid has a towing limit of two tons regardless of the
05:33powertrain all x3s have 100 kilograms roof and vertical tow hitch limit the hand of BMW's current stylists
05:43unfortunately can be felt or seen in the boot first of all look at all this mess here today it's
05:50frozen
05:51but if it wasn't we would have water dripping all down the way here and how much of it will
05:57leak
05:57behind the carpet on the sides if you're lucky it'll be the next owner's problem the boot volume has
06:03increased from 550 to 570 liters in five seat configuration with the backrest in the second
06:09row folded fortunately the 40 20 40 split is now standard there is 1700 liters taking into account
06:16the storage compartment under the boot floor that is because without it around here it's not 570 but
06:24around 460 the underfloor storage compartment easily holds among other things the cargo cover and the net
06:32separating the luggage compartment from the passenger compartment there are two shopping bag hooks a 12 volt outlet
06:39and that's about it the boot can be opened and closed with gesture and closed with a button there is
06:45also a separate button which closes the tailgate and locks the car there's plenty of legroom and headroom
06:51in the rear there are spacious door pockets there's third zone climate control and USB-C ports there's an
07:00armrest with cup holders fold the center element of the backrest and you get a ski hatch I wouldn't mind
07:06backrest angle adjustment and it would be nice if there was foot room for an adult on the tunnel I
07:13have a
07:14feeling that even a child will have to sit with the tunnel between their feet while you're checking out
07:19rear space take a look through this huge panoramic roof the rear passengers can take full advantage of
07:26it it brightens up the otherwise gloomy rear part of the passenger compartment while the rear is somewhat
07:34gloomy the front is all lit up like a Christmas tree this ambient type of lighting debuted in the
07:41BMW 7 series and is slowly trickling down to the lesser models we have lighting here around the door
07:47handles and around buttons for the seat memory function and to adjust the airflow yes the airflow is
07:55adjusted electronically oh and then there is another lit bar down here under the center display where in
08:03addition to adjusting the airflow we have buttons for rear and front window defrosters and the hazard
08:10lights as well and something tells me that with the new euro NCAP guidelines for physical buttons to
08:17operate basic vehicle functions BMW will have to abandon this nonsense serves them right there's a mix of
08:29physical and haptic buttons on the steering wheel there are less of them than in the previous generation
08:34many settings such as the adaptive cruise control distance are now in the driver assistance systems
08:39menu on the central display haptic buttons are also on the tunnel next to the iDrive knob the problem is
08:46that since the buttons are haptic i have to take my eyes off the road to operate them so i
08:50might just as well
08:51click on the display instead of using the iDrive controller the infotainment system is BMW OS 9 which
08:59aside from a different interface from my point of view adds little to the vehicle's operations features
09:05such as reverse assist systems saving the parking space or viewing the car's surroundings from an app
09:10work just as well on iDrive 7 well okay maybe saved parking space feature came in OS 8 but the
09:18other features
09:18were available before that there are two large phone slots under the screen with only one of them charging
09:26wirelessly and it doesn't like phones and protective cases but even without a case charging is often
09:32interrupted because the phone slides about while the car is moving
09:36there are also two usb-c ports down there running a cable from them to the phone doesn't look good
09:43the cup holders are very good there is a decent size storage compartment under the armrest and a
09:48small glove box the door pockets are average size
10:06at the beginning i said something came up and i had to swap the m50 for the 20 variant
10:11at the last minute and that's actually a very good thing because while i have no doubt the 3 liter
10:19inline
10:206 x3 with almost 400 horsepower would be brilliant fun i was more interested in the updated 2 liter petrol
10:29variant yes it's now a mild hybrid but other than that most of the other parameters seem to be the
10:38same
10:38as in the g01 there's been a power hike from 184 to 208 horsepower and torque is up from 300
10:48to 310
10:49newton meters the new x3 20 x drive is 120 kilograms heavier than the previous generation x drive 20i and
10:57it now weighs 1855 kilograms however according to the manufacturer's figures it should use about
11:04one liter per 100 kilometers less in the combined cycle that's like low sevens now and the time from
11:12zero to 100 kilometers per hour should be half a second better at 7.8 seconds
11:20the best fuel economy figure i saw on my test drive was in the high sevens
11:25but eight or more liters per 100 kilometers seems closer to reality
11:30on the other hand the time from zero to 100 kilometers per hour was 7.9 seconds in sport mode
11:36with launch control and 8.6 seconds in normal mode the temperature was around freezing and the asphalt was
11:43slightly damp but i doubt this had a significant impact on the result as the car took off without
11:49hesitation the 18 inch winter tires may have been a factor though in sport mode the transmission shifts
11:56gears very aggressively in normal mode on the other hand you feel something like clutch slipping regardless
12:02of the results of the acceleration test the x3 20 x drive gives the impression of being much faster than
12:08it really is i only wish the brakes were powerful enough this test example is equipped with the m pro
12:17sport package which also includes a sport brake system i don't know how weak the regular brakes must be
12:24but i was surprised by the m pro pack poor performance well at least steering is excellent on my test
12:33route i have
12:34several stretches of road with a series of turns which the x3 took as if it's on rails the steering
12:43ratio has been reduced from just under 17 to just under 16 to 1 meaning less steering input achieves the
12:51same
12:52front wheel steering angle bmw boasts increased stiffness of the body and mounts on top of that
13:01there's the improved suspension which masks the weight of the vehicle quite well on winding roads the x3 just
13:10drives a size smaller that's great
13:17however the turning circle is up 20 centimeters to 12.2 meters while it doesn't seem much it turns out
13:25it makes a difference when i'm reversing into my driveway no matter after all there is a system
13:30that saves the parking space and a series of maneuvers leading to it well as it turned out the x3
13:37is so
13:37big that it can't always perform the stored series of maneuvers i have to trick it by deliberately slowing down
13:43before the ramp and then letting off the brake so that the car will roll up the driveway at a
13:49higher
13:49speed if i have to learn tricks to get the system working properly i might just as well learn how
13:54to
13:54park myself but there are certainly places where the parking assistant will do just fine a feature
14:02that's been in bmw cars since at least 2009 is a reversing assistant which does an excellent job for
14:08example backing out of a narrow street it now records the last 200 meters and the car reverses
14:15in its tracks the driver only needs to control the brake as the speed of the car can affect
14:19whether it takes a particular turn tighter or wider
14:28the soundproofing is excellent i even wondered if bmw didn't use active noise cancellation but
14:33i couldn't find information about it in the press release and trust me if they would they would have
14:40boasted about it so simply put great soundproofing it's great to know that the extra kilograms went
14:47to more than just the mild hybrid visibility is so-so the a pillars are thick and they start rather
14:53high i
14:53had to raise the seat to see properly and i usually like to sit low by the way the seats
15:01are comfortable
15:02you can order real leather but i don't like the color options sustainable leather which has more
15:08color options in the long run it can prove less durable than leather and thus not be so ecological
15:15its main advantage over cloth upholstery is that it's relatively easier to clean
15:24driver aids are great i really enjoy using the adaptive cruise control and active lane keeping assist in
15:29bmw's thanks to them long drives are less tiresome the systems are well calibrated i never encountered
15:36instances where the system would get lost start breaking for no reason or go left or right between
15:42lanes i only wish the traffic sign recognition was better around where i live i have several places
15:48where all cars no matter which brand or how expensive get lost either they read signs from parallel roads
15:54or display some old speed limits which are stored on the maps which the road authority clearly hasn't
16:00updated in years as you may have noticed bmw has tweaked its naming scheme so the old x drive 20i
16:13is now
16:14called 20 x drive petrol engines no longer have the i suffix meanwhile evs will continue to get the i
16:22prefix like the i x3 for example and then there's going to be a number for the power output and
16:31the x drive
16:32if the car is equipped with all-wheel drive the x3 comes in 20 20d 30e 40d and 50m versions
16:41m50 actually
16:43all of them have all-wheel drive all of them have eight speed steptronic transmission with the plug-in hybrid
16:49having an electric motor integrated into the transmission
17:19prices of the bmw x3 start at 59 400 euro for the 20x drive the base diesel will set you
17:26back 62 grand
17:27the ph ev starts at 66 000 the big diesel at 70 000 and the m50 at 84 500. this
17:35test car with options cost 75
17:37000 740 euro the bmw x3 is still a great to drive suv i'm pleased that even the basis engine
17:49variant
17:49rides and handles great if the leasing on your current x3 is coming to an end the new one is
17:55worth
17:56checking out and what do you think about the bmw x3 g45 let me know in a comment section below
18:05if you like my sarcastic down-to-earth and possibly mildly amusing car reviews join me every friday at
18:123pm central european time and don't forget to subscribe and like this video as it helps me
18:18with the youtube algorithm thanks for watching and i will see you in the next one