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TheCarConnection.com' editors have driven the latest BMW X3, and have written this road test from that hands-on experience. Reviewers have compared the 2010 X3 to competitive crossover vehicles from luxury brands as well. Finally, editors have written a full review of opinions from other Web sites to provide you with the most comprehensive BMW X3 information available.
Likes:
- Swift and agile
- Manual transmission option
- All-wheel drive is standard
- Enough ground clearance for off-roading
Dislikes:
- Dated look
- Stark interior
- Cramped backseat
- Poor fuel economy
- High base price
The 2010 BMW X3 is a compact crossover vehicle with luxury features, the most important of which may be the BMW badge on its nose. A four-door with tight backseat space, the tall-bodied X3 has some traditional BMW handling zest infused into its all-wheel-drive body. Priced from about $40,000, the 2010 X3 takes on the likes of the Cadillac SRX, Acura RDX, Infiniti EX35, Land Rover LR2, Audi Q5, Mercedes-Benz GLK, and Volvo XC60.
There's nothing wrong with the 2010 X3's exterior or interior styling, except that newer crossovers like the Audi Q5 and Volvo XC60 have made its clean, flat body panels and dash look dated. It doesn't help that the X3 shares many cues with the larger, more staid-looking BMW X5 and with the new small 2011 BMW X1. What it lacks in distinction, the X3 makes up in balance: The side view is neat and tidy, there's little wrong on the rear end, and even the smallish grilles on the nose don't disrupt its look It's simply in a no-ute's-land, flanked by the bluff-looking Benz GLK and Land Rover LR2 on one side and the sleek Audi and Volvo on the other. Inside, the BMW X3's stark black dash frames big dials and is punctuated by small rectangular buttons, in the old BMW idiom that's being revamped in the newer vehicles coming from the company.
