Car and Driver's review is out and it's mostly rosy w/the claim that you get more car for the same money!

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a62921790/2025-bmw-x3-drive/

Not covered by the review:

- nicer seats compared to G01
- more comfortable suspension in M50 vs M40i
- any acoustic isolation (even compared to outgoing model)
- tires are now "get flat" instead of "run flat"
- inclusion of spare tire due to above change

Seems like the review was rushed. What do you think?

I thought it was a good article and glad to see constructive viewpoints rather than pointless hate but the article did feel more like a hands-on preview than a proper review.

i’m not sure if get flat tires are an upgrade or downgrade, i feel it is a downgrade

Soooo much vague. Literally just a recitation of the spec sheet with zero (or little) interpretation, critique, impression, or insight. Feels like a hostage-written review.

Nabil_sinukrot wrote

i’m not sure if get flat tires are an upgrade or downgrade, i feel it is a downgrade

Get flats gotta be a downgrade, for sure.

I mean they’re not wrong. Relative to dollar value, you do get a lot in terms of raw numbers for the price vs. the G01 X3. Same could be said about the M5.

What it means as a BMW X3 overall or as a whole? Not quite sure, but the M50 is a blast to drive despite the disappointing interior.

car looks like a 6 year old drew it with crayons.

this design language sucks. big time. and sales in asia are showing im not alone in this thought

I think they made some good points on the cost comparison and the m50 is a great bang for your buck for performance. That being said i still like the looks of 2024 better and not having the buttons in interior is a loss. What about no shifter is an m lite car? That could have been mentioned as well.

Nabil_sinukrot wrote

i’m not sure if get flat tires are an upgrade or downgrade, i feel it is a downgrade

snowbimmer wrote

Get flats gotta be a downgrade, for sure.

Supposed to make for a more comfortable ride and less road noise entering the cabin! A lot of folks want the security of a spare tire anyway!

imc43 wrote

car looks like a 6 year old drew it with crayons.

this design language sucks. big time. and sales in asia are showing im not alone in this thought

That's surprising if the Asia sales are true. Wasn't the exterior design and minimalistic interior supposed to appeal to China (their biggest market)?

Damn that thing is strange looking.

Besides the awkward bulbousness, what the hell is up with the crosshatch grille?

The shape of the headlights as well being curvy with very little angularity doesn’t help.

Don’t understand who BMW is trying to appeal with this design. Almost like they were aiming for as inoffensive as possible. Doesn’t at all scream, “I gotta have that!” Best work I can use would be “meh”.

EWL5 wrote

That's surprising if the Asia sales are true. Wasn't the exterior design and minimalistic interior supposed to appeal to China (their biggest market)?

It’s true.

https://bernama.com/en/news.php?id=2339327

learning today that there’s a segment of the population that prefers runflats. incredible stuff happening in the X3 forums…

imc43 wrote

It’s true.

https://bernama.com/en/news.php?id=2339327

Ok. It's BMW overall not doing well in China, not just the new G45!

Must be all the cheap EV cars like BYD lowering demand for German luxury!

EWL5 wrote

Ok. It's BMW overall not doing well in China, not just the new G45!

Must be all the cheap EV cars like BYD lowering demand for German luxury!

I agree. there is definitely more nuance to the article than “they’re not buying it because it looks like shit”.

as you mentioned, it’s more everyone getting their hands on dirt cheap EVs over there now.

however, slumping sales in a major region (regardless of reason), will almost always drive big change, including design, as it has become known it’s a controversial point for all new BMW models.

Maybe I missed it, but he didn’t say anything about the interior being a downgrade from the previous gen. Im not sure how anyone can miss the plastic door pull handle.

I didn’t realize how much the 4 cyl and 6 cyl engines were redesigned. I thought they were slightly tweaked, but it sounds like they were tweaked a lot.

imc43 wrote

… as you mentioned, it’s more everyone getting their hands on dirt cheap EVs over there

Years ago, luxury options for Chinese consumers were basically limited to the European German brands.

But since then, many new Chinese companies have arrived on the scene, and they offer very good luxury options. I think Chinese consumers are learning they don’t need to go European to get luxury.

Drove to the X3 M50i during the BMW driving event in Houston. Am I the only one person that thinks this car is not that fast? I got into it a few times and the response was not impressive at all, it felt laggy and underpowered. Perhaps my mistake was driving the Z4 first, now.. that… was fun drive.

JoeyO wrote

Maybe I missed it, but he didn’t say anything about the interior being a downgrade from the previous gen. Im not sure how anyone can miss the plastic door pull handle.

I didn’t realize how much the 4 cyl and 6 cyl engines were redesigned. I thought they were slightly tweaked, but it sounds like they were tweaked a lot.

Yeah, the article was written w/extreme "BMW glasses" on! LOL!

It was cool learning about the switch from the Otto to the Miller-cycle engine and that's why the G45 gets about 4 mpg better fuel economy than the G01!

jmack123 wrote

Making a desirable BMW shouldn’t be rocket science.

The article also failed to mention BMW's "monolithic design" direction. To me, they're making the newer cars look more like a Japanese/Korean car!

Nice infomercial

That grill… goodness. What is the deal.