I’m trying hard to figure out who would buy the $51k ($64k as tested) 2025 BMW X3 xDrive30i M Sport. By its dimensions and capability, the X3 xDrive30i appears to be a practical hauler of young kids and their crud, but when fit with the M Sport options, the SUV transforms into a hard-riding performance five-door. Is the X3 M Sport the SUV reincarnation of BMW’s dearly departed sports wagons? Or maybe it’s BMW’s offering for pregnant M2 owners who are forced to trade in their prized sports cars for compact SUVs? That must be it, because the X3’s M Sport suspension feels M2 hardcore.
Okay, let’s back up a step.
I am at a BMW test drive event in Silicon Valley. I just hopped out of the supremely comfortable 2025 BMW X5 50e, and, although the X5 is the X3’s big brother, it makes a bad point of reference for the X3 M Sport. Why? Well, the midsize X5 is one of BMW’s most luxurious offerings—it has four-wheel air suspension, a leather-clad interior, and a rear bench that comfortably accommodates three adults. The compact X3, on the other hand, is filled with reams of interior plastic and vinyl, has a non-adjustable sports suspension that bests granite for hardness, and it has a rear bench that leaves three adults cramped. Basically, the X3 M Sport is as hardcore as the X5 is comfortable.
BMW seems to offer all the strokes for different folks. Assuming a race-ready compact SUV is your cup of tea, is the X3 for you?
Well, do you like angry styling? For 2025, BMW refreshed the X3 inside and out, and the exterior styling is harder edged than before. Its face now has squintier eyes and larger nostrils. (Curiously, the enlarged, illuminated kidney grilles haven’t grown to funnel more air into the engine bay. Only 25% of their surface area is open to the atmosphere; the rest is cosmetic and hides the parking and cruise control hardware.) The new design strikes me as futuristic, muscular and mean.
I find the new interior styling harder to love, but maybe you like streamlined interiors with touch-panel controls? I hope so, because the cancerous capacitive-touch ambient lighting from the 5 Series had metastasized in the X3. Yes, there are now ambient lighting strips spanning the dashboard’s width. Hidden in the lights are the touch “buttons” for the hazard lights, defrosters and the air vent flow. Now that X3 has hidden air vents—just like Tesla!—BMW has tucked little rubberized four-way switches on the lower dashboard to control the airflow directions. It seems overly complicated when manually-adjusted vents work so well!
BMW’s recent obsession with touch panels continues onto the steering wheel and doors. Next to the door handles are bulbous control pods with touch buttons for locking, seat memory, and air vent flow control. The control pods are plastic and are as unappealing to touch as they are to look at.
My final niggle is with the phone tray, which is centrally located and in my face. I like how the rubberized tray tilts towards me, allowing me to see my phone while driving, but its crisscross pattern looks like it was built for a work truck. It’s an eyesore that should be hidden in a drawer.
Thankfully for driving enthusiasts like me, the best interior features are the driving interfaces. The seats are plush, heated and cooled. The M Sport steering wheel is girthy and wrapped in soft leather. Metal paddle shifters peek around the wheel’s edge and are accented with red-rimmed minus and plus signs to indicate each paddle’s job.
I miss analog instruments, but they are long dead. The X3’s digital dashboard with iDrive9 infotainment system is bright, responsive, and easy to understand.
Parents, like me, will appreciate the X3’s competitively capacious trunk. It is ready to haul your family of four’s luggage to the airport for Christmas vacation. Amazingly, the X3 even hides a spare tire in the trunk, too!
All the above are traditional X3 strengths that have been sustained in the redesign. Of course, at Mike’s Steering Column, the key measure of a car is how well it drives.
Initially, I’m impressed with the X3’s eager responses to my throttle inputs. The SUV pulls away from the stop signs with such urgency that I check to see if I’m in Sport mode. I’m not, and Sport mode is even punchier.
As I steer through San Mateo’s neighborhoods, the girthy M Sport steering wheel offers heavy resistance to my inputs, giving the X3 a heft that matches its firm suspension.
The seriousness of the M Sport suspension becomes clear within a block or two.
Imagine you are in a dark corner of Central Park, gazing up at the night sky. “Look at the stars!” you say as you drink dozens of pricks of light. (Many of them are planets or satellites, but never mind.) This is the X5, offering you a filtered, softened view of the road.
Now imagine the same night sky from Joshua Tree, CA, where the stars are uncountably numerous. This is the X3 with the M Sport suspension, abusively showing you every underfoot road defect.
Do you want to know about every crack and pothole? Lotus Elise and BMW M2 expatriates may enjoy the X3 M Sport, but I’d recommend everyone else try the X3 in its base suspenders.
There is no opportunity among the ranch houses and school zones to test the X3’s handling. However, the SUV’s tight movements and steamroller rubber—255/45R20 front and 285/40R20 rear Pirelli P Zero all seasons—suggest that the little beasty has the dance moves to best Laguna Seca. (That was certainly true of the 2020 BMW X3 M40i, which rode with equal aggression and was powered by an athletic I6.)
Driving block to block, I can appreciate the bitey brakes. They are slightly touchy, but very reassuring, and sure to temper with wear.
The test route turns on a broad boulevard, offering me an irresistible opportunity to sprint to 45 mph. My flat-footed flog reveals BMW’s throttle mapping tricks. The pull at full throttle is only slightly stronger than my earlier ones at 50% throttle, suggesting that BMW has tweaked the map to make the X3 feel faster than it is. The X3’s 2.0L turbocharged engine puts out 255 hp and 295 lbs-ft of torque, which the company says can push the 4,176 lb SUV from 0 to 60 mph in 6.0 seconds. But from a roll, the X3 feels slower, and destined to be beaten in stoplight drags by Tesla Model Ys and their EV brethren.
And that is where the daydream of lashing Laguna Seca in the X3 xDrive30i M Sport falls apart. The lackluster acceleration and the bland I4 song are uninspiring; this engine isn’t eager to rage at high RPM. No, BMW has married a vanilla engine to a deviant suspension, and I think an annulment is advisable. (This was true for the Mercedes C300 with AMG Sport suspension, too.)
So my advice is this: When purchasing an X3 xDrive30i, skip the M Sport options and spend the cash on interior upgrades. Then you’ll have a family-friendly SUV that is comfortable and upscale.
Mike's Steering Column 