As I settle into the black and mustard yellow driver’s seat of the 2020 BMW X3 M Competition, I recognize how much of a BMW aficionado I’ve become. Six years of BMW M3 ownership, countless dealership loaner vehicles, BMW drive events, Turo rentals and BMW Performance School classes have all made the brand as familiar to me as the back of my own hand. Thus the X3 M’s comfortable, smart and luxurious cabin feels like home. BMW is my standard for sports luxury.
The X3 M’s cabin is nearly identical to that of the X3 M40i I drove in July, just with finer finishes. The steering wheel is full M, which means better leather is stitched with M tricolor threads, and a split third spoke. The seats are a new design, snugger fitting, more sportily styled, but still very comfortable. A little more money has been spent on the door and dash coverings, too.
Somehow, even though this is the same compact SUV format as the Stelvio I drove just an hour before, I don’t feel like the X3 M is an Alice in Wonderland sports car. The Stelvio’s cabin felt like a Giulia’s cabin that’d been vertically stretched; the X3 M’s does not feel like a stretched 3er’s.
In the tenth of a mile drive out the country club gate and onto the road, the X3 M’s goodness is immediately noticed. It drives with a sports sedan’s level composure and also buzzes with a sports sedan’s feedback. BMW continues to refine its EPAS steering, and the X3 M’s is my favorite example so far. Nuanced feedback, like road grain and tire impacts, has returned. (Like a good sports sedan, the same road communication is in the X3 M’s floorboards.) My only remaining quibble is the slightly rubbery resistance to my steering inputs; the wheel is a little too eager to return to center.
The X3 has pleased me before in the middle-brother X3 M40i variant. The M40i is wicked quick in first gear, then delivers a sustained—but less manic—rush as it climbs through the gears. In contrast, the X3 M Competition produces crazy power in every gear. The only thing holding me back from boundless acceleration is the rev limiter. When I’m driving in manual mode, the revs climb so quickly, and the power is so well sustained that I never have any hint that it’s time for an upshift.
The hearty new engine in the X3 M is destined for the upcoming M3. Color me excited! While obviously turbocharged, it has gobs of power and a commendable throttle response. And it sounds good too! The sound is somewhat synthetic and obviously piped into the cabin, but it’s emotionally engaging and true to the I6 layout. I also love the upshift cracks and overrun burbles that are engineered into the X3 M.
Over Laurales Grade’s twists and bumps, I am very impressed with the X3 M’s handling. I don’t feel any of the tippiness I expect out of an SUV; the X3 M corners as flat as an M340i sedan and rides no more harshly than an M3. In the waiting part of a corner, those seconds between the initial turn-in and the apex, the X3 M feels neutral, balanced and very adjustable on the gas. If I deliberately lift my right foot, the X3 M’s nose points down hard towards the apex. Powering out of the corners, the X3 M drives neutrally, without a hint of understeer or oversteer. (Boo! Can I oversteer if I disable the stability control?)
In the X3 M40i, the performance and handling seemed compromised by the vehicle’s high ride height and large dimensions. The X3 M Competition drives so well that I don’t feel like it’s making dynamic compromises. Kudos BMW! Of all the fast SUVs I’ve driven, the X3 M is my favorite. If I owned one, you’d find me out in the canyons every Sunday morning, ludicrously grinning and mixing it up with the sports cars as the sun crests the horizon.
Mike's Steering Column 