2011 BMW X3 Review by Mike Hanley

The BMW X3 may have been a pioneer among compact luxury crossovers, but a number of competitors — including the Audi Q5, Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class and Volvo XC60 — have entered the fray since its debut as a 2004 model. Now, with the second-generation X3, BMW has new metal to take them on.

The 2011 BMW X3 is still the small luxury crossover of choice for driving enthusiasts, but its substantially more forgiving suspension tuning should make the new version far more appealing.

I tested the base xDrive28i, which starts at $36,750; with options, our test car's sticker price was $43,875. For a side-by-side comparison with the competitors mentioned above, click here.

See also:

Automatic climate control with enhanced features
1 Vent settings 2 Temperature, left 3 Maximum cooling 4 AUTO program 5 Air volume, AUTO intensity 6 Interior temperature sensor — always keep clear 7 Display 8 Automatic recirculated-air con ...

Operating concept
Various functions can be called up by pressing the control button with a pointed object, such as the tip of a ballpoint pen or similar object. The following setting options are displayed in succ ...

Timeshift
Approx. one hour of the program being broadcast on the channel currently being listened to is stored in a buffer. Prerequisite: the signal must be available. The stored audio track can be playe ...