Vehicle: 2004 BMW X3 3.0i with Steptronic, Premium pkg, Sport pkg, Activity pkg, metallic paint, ambience leather, rear side airbags, Panorama sunroof, Light Birch wood trim, electric seats with memory, PDC and privacy glass
Price as tested: CDN$70090

Performance: The familiar straight 6 3.0 DOHC with double VANOS bumps out 225hp and 214 lb/ft of torque. While it feels very responsive and has turbine-like refinement underneath the hoods of 3 and 5-Series, it feels sluggish in an X3. It just doesn’t have the fast and aggressive pulling feel as its silibings. While the throttle response still responsive enough for most drivers, it doesn’t have the raw feel as in the 330i. To some extent, it feels pretty sluggish when pushed. The biggest downfall is it feels noisy when driven hard. That’s pretty disappointed considered its the same proven straight 6 as in 330i and 530i. The Steptronic, on the other hand, feels as good as ever. Its shifts are smooth and crisp. The beauty of Steptronic is it allows you to rev pass redline before upshifting. It also has decent set of ratios to match with the engine.

Handling: Combine BMW’s new X-Drive AWD system with one stiff chassis, you got a dynamic package that is really good to drive. The DSC-3 doesn’t feel instrusive even when pushed into the limit. Steering provides excellent weight and feedback, with sharpness and responsiveness to boost. The whole vehicle feels balanced when pushed. With the optional sports pkg, X3 handles even sharper thanks to stiffer suspension and springs. However, it comes with a drawback. X3 with sports pkg has to be considered as one of the roughest riding soft-roaders on the market. Its roughness is about on par with Cayenne without air suspension and FX45. Going through washboard pavements and expansion joints, you feel more like riding an unloaden heavy duty full-size truck than a German soft-roader. That’s definitely not the kind of ride quality you expect from BMW.

Brakes: X3′s brakes continue BMW’s tradition of designing excellent pedal feel and modulation. Not only does the stopping distance is short, its pedal also feels balanced and linear.

Interior: X3′s interior is truly a mix review. While it still got a great set of instrumentation, ergonomically placed stereo and auto climate control; as well as great set of supportive yet supple leather sports seats. You have to wonder why for 70 large grand, BMW is able to give us an interior as cheaply made as this. The bottom 2/3 of the center console is made of cheap, shiny and hard plastic that don’t look out place in an Altima (cheapest interior I haver ever experienced, regardless of price ). At the same time, the top storage bin also made of cheap black plastic. The beige and black don’t seem to coordinate each others well. If X3′s interior is any indication of future 3-Series, the cockpit feel that defines BMW interiors for last couple of decades have become a thing of history.

However, the back seats have more leg and headroom than an X5, same as cargo space.

Conclusion: From the info I gathered from inside a BMW dealer, the introduction of X3 could meant the discontinue of 3-Series Touring in near future. Ironically, the Touring handles better, rides better, has far better interior quality and appointments and, even with 2.5L, it feels quicker and smoother than X3 with 3.0L. If I am shopping for a Touring at this time, I would RUN, not walk, to a local dealer and order a 325i Touring before it died.

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2004 BMW X3 3.0i
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Performance: 2.75/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 3.75/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 3.75/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 2/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 3/5
Value-for-money: 1/5

Overall rating: 2.25/5