2011 BMW X3 First Drive Review by Motor Authority

MotorAuthority publishes their first drive impressions of the 2011 BMW X3. The verdict? The 2011 BMW X3 is sturdy in feel, amazingly quick on its feet, and finally un-punishing on everyday roads. Here is an excerpt of their review:

The 2011 BMW X3 is a newly minted citizen, and clearly, it went overboard studying for its naturalization exams. How else would it know offhand, the easy path to success blazed by other tailored-for-America products?

If you missed it in civics or marketing class, cheat off our paper. Make it bigger, make it faster, make it richer–but don’t make it too off-roady.

The new X3 ticks all those boxes, from its un-knobby tires to its gently curved roof. It’s grown in almost every dimension, and gained a great new interior with more second-row seat room. (It’s almost the size of the original X5, now.) It looks fantastic, inside and out. It’s fast enough to blur any memory of its stiff-riding, cheap-cabin ancestors. It has all the hallmarks of a big U.S. splash, down to the patriotic tug on the heartstrings, now that it’s assembled in South Carolina, alongside the X5 and X6 sport-utes.

But in its new incarnation as something more than a compact luxury crossover, with something more than casual off-road capability, is the X3 a real pole-vault ahead of a crowded class overstuffed with the Cadillac SRX, Audi Q5, Volvo XC60 and a slew of other multi-mission utes? Does it hit the luxury-crossover hot button more quickly, and accurately?

We set off to rural Georgia to deep-dive into the latest BMW blend for those answers, and some outstanding pecan pie niblets that strayed into their demise. An elaborate pavilion pinned down in strong winds by a wide range of BMW four-wheel-drive vehicles drove the off-road point home before we even laid hands on keyfobs–yes, the X3 still can stray off pavement. So did the handy farm trails carved into hundreds of surrounding acres.

But it was the winding backroads in the first death throes of autumn color, and slogs of Interstate 85 that underscored how much better it’s become in daily-drive duties. And how much more trouble the resurgent X3 can cause for those arrivistes.

If you consider that a major improvement–and we do, because the idea of a BMW SUV still strikes us as three letters too many–the X3’s interior will convince you that theis crossover’s an acceptable substitute for the rear-drive glory that the turbo 3-Series sedans muster. It’s so much more sophisticated in design and execution, that it renders the prior X3 generations into early used-car oblivion. Who would want dark, hard, plasticky controls in a two-year-old, off-lease X3 when this version’s innards are silky as pate? The dash arcs to envelop controls and angles them at the driver, adding to the more sedan-like air surrounding the new SUV.

BMW says it’s paid special attention to upgrading the interior materials, too, and it’s immediately obvious. Tough textures have gone soft, in the proper ways. A large LCD screen links into the connected-driving zeitgeist, and there’s a head-up display on offer that projects all the information essential to driving in a discreet section of the windshield.

It’s a calming influence at work. Whether it’s the big, clear dials in the instrument pod, the simplified audio and climate switches, or even the off-centered iDrive controller, the X3’s cabin seems more rested and at ease with its mission. Which, we think, is information first, comfort a close second–and clutter, never.

Source: MotorAuthority