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:

Sport program and manual mode M/S
Activating the sport program Activating the sport program Push the selector lever to the left out of transmission position D. The Sport program is activated and DS is displayed in the instrum ...

Status field symbols
The symbols are grouped as follows. Radio symbols Telephone symbols Entertainment symbols Additional symbols ...

Video playback
OverviewVideo playback possible via snap-in adapter. They can be operated via iDrive. Sound is output over the vehicle speakers. PlaybackFor your own safety, the video image is only displayed up to ...