BMW’s new X3 – billed by its maker as a ‘sports activity vehicle (SAV) – is already semi-officially categorised by pundits as a ‘soft roader’ in the UK where it is just being launched now, about six months after its European debut and a few months behind the US, where it comes into the small SUV category.
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One could also categorise it as a ‘crossover’ across the pond because it blends the best of a station wagon with an SUV and tosses in some minivan features as well.
Call it a ‘soft roader’ in the UK and you risk damning the new Beemer as simply a tall estate car (British-speak for station wagon) with little more off-road ability than being able to slither across a wet, muddy field on the way to watch little Priscilla’s gymkhana. Yet, as a surprisingly treacherous off-road course laid out for the UK press launch in Scotland showed, it has far more off-road capability than you think, and most owners are ever likely to need.
That said, recent research cited by the maker showed that over 20% of owners of the original BMW SUV, the X5, use their cars’ off-road capabilities at least once a month and these figures are expected to be repeated for the X3 which is only slightly smaller than its ‘big brother’ though it looks far less bulky and feels much more compact from inside.
Coping with the sort of simple slippery stuff most owners will likely risk is a given, thanks to a new all-wheel drive system that replaces that which debuted with the X5, and used an open centre differential and relatively simple brake and throttle modulating traction control for a nominal 38% front/52% rear torque split. It could get you stuck by backing off the throttle and/or the brakes at just the wrong moment.
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By GlobalDataThat original X5 four wheel drive system didn’t always manage to send power to the wheel or wheels still in possession of a surface offering traction (while spinning the others uselessly). The new driveline, dubbed xDrive for launch in the X3 and also added to the recently updated X5 range, on the other hand offers infinitely variable power distribution between front and rear axles.
The xDrive system uses data from dynamic stability control (DSC) sensors to constantly monitor driving conditions and predict traction loss, enabling xDrive to act rather than react, improving stability and performance by constantly and instantly channelling appropriate drive forces from axle to axle.
On-road, traction and agility are improved, whilst the risk of over- or understeer is constantly monitored during cornering and off-road, and traction is significantly improved as xDrive channels drive forces to the axle with most grip rather than cutting engine power or braking troubled wheels. The whole idea behind xDrive is about predicting a loss of traction rather than reacting to it, which enables the car to use carefully distributed power and drive.
That means you can not only negotiate a slippery paddock but can even pick your way across some large boulders, a wide range of rough, rutted and uneven terrain, descend and ascend some fairly steep hills and even get out of the situation where, due to inattention on the part of yours truly, we got caught in an evil cambered dip between clay banks that left the car at a 30-degree angle with alternate wheels in the air. A combination of rocking the X3 out using first and reverse, plenty of engine torque and wheels biting the nanosecond they got some grip enabled us to clamber out of our predicament with little fuss and no obviously fried clutch. Impressive.
Relatively limited ground clearance (200mm max.; you can wade through water up to 500mm deep), a lack of a separate low range gearbox and a lengthy wheelbase will eventually see even the gamest X3 offroad driver concede defeat to the likes of a well driven short wheelbase Mitsubishi Pajero or Land Rover Defender but you can easily argue the game X3 does far better than expected. And it’ll tow 2,000kg.
The xDrive system has two key components – an electrically activated multiple-plate clutch which changes drive distribution from axle to axle, and the now familiar BMW DSC system that regulates power to each wheel. Responding in 100 milliseconds, xDrive is said to be far quicker than more conventional four-wheel-drive systems.
DSC data including individual wheel speed, steering angle, lateral acceleration and yaw rates is constantly processed so xDrive can detect situations in which traction loss is likely in an instant and can transfer the drive variably front to rear the exact moment that grip is lost. DSC can intervene but, because of xDrive’s ability to re-direct power and prevent traction loss, it does so far less frequently and only in extreme circumstances. Where traction loss is unavoidable, DSC cuts power and, if necessary, applies brakes to individual wheels allowing the car to regain a foothold, but not necessarily slowing its progress.
The system also uses DSC for a hill descent control system, first seen on rival (and one time BMW-owned) Land Rover’s Freelander, and now widely used by other SUV makers, which enables you to hurl the X3 over a precipice and simply steer in a straight line downhill while various bits of the anti-lock braking system reduce the rate of descent to a safe crawl. Brilliant.
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Launching in the UK with X3 2.5i (six-speed manual or five-speed automatic) and (auto-only) 3.0i petrol models with SE and Sport trim, BMW (GB) is already sitting on about 5,000 advance orders (that’s deposit-paid customers, not dealers) which should pretty well account for most of the 6,000 it hopes to get from the Canadian-owned company Magna Steyr’s factory in Graz, Austria this year – production rates were hiked from 300 to 400 a day in April after 11,000 were sold in left-hook markets in the first quarter of 2004 alone.
This is the first ‘outsourced’ BMW though that, like the South African-assembled 3-series cars sometimes sold here, goes pretty much unmentioned in press kits. Despite suggestions to the contrary, a BMW (GB)insider was adamant his firm did all the development and production engineering and only handed the X3 to Magna when it was production-ready.
Diesel two-litre models go on sale in the third quarter of 2004 but supply constraints at the Steyr engine factory mean the three-litre diesel that is still a waiting list item for the larger X5 line, won’t be on stream until Q3, 2005, a year that BMW hopes for 10,000 X3 sales in the UK.
“Diesel demand has caught us by surprise,” a spokesman told just-auto.com.
X3 sales are forecast to rise to 12,000 in 2006 with the full range on stream. For comparison, 5,650 X5s found UK homes in 2001, 6,665 in ’02 and 8,536 last year.
The X3 is, like the X5, being pitched as a premium product in its small segment where only the Freelander and Toyota’s Lexus RX300 are seen as credible competitors. BMW is claiming best-in-class performance and dynamics and (eventually) the broadest engine range in exchange for prices beginning at £28,715 for the 2.5i SE (£32,115 for the 3.0i SE).
On road performance is 3-series Touring (wagon)-like: top speed of 130mph (137 for the 3.0i Sport) with a 0 – 62 mph (100km/h) time of 8.1 seconds (3.0i SE). Handling and ride is also more like a Touring than a small SUV while trim and materials quality, standard equipment and fit and finish appear to justify both BMW’s faith in the Magna factory and the prices charged for an X3. As always with BMWs, a wide range of pretty steeply priced options allows a car to be tailored to individual taste.
BMW (GB) claims the X3 will appeal to both existing customers and a group of newcomers who have not previously found anything in their line-up to suit. The factory-owned importer expects the X3 to bring more women drivers and younger buyers overall to the brand and predicts the average age of owners at between 35 to 40 with particular appeal to couples with young families.
“It’s a key part of our growth strategy,” an insider said. “We’re going to have more and more of these niche products to minimise migration from other BMW models yet maximise migration from rival makers’ vehicles.”
Graeme Roberts
