We drove a $58,000 BMW X3 to see if it's worth the price tag — here's the verdict by Matthew DeBord on Feb 2, 2018, 10:17 AM Advertisement
 - The BMW X3 is new for its third-generation.
- The popular SUV has been selling well in SUV-mad America.
- We sampled the X3 xDrive 30i, which can get a bit pricey — and might be a little too bimmer for folks who just want a German luxury ute for the family.
BMW sold over 40,000 X3 compact crossover SUVs in the US last year and can look forward to similar numbers in 2018.
This is probably why the X3 is among the bestselling American-made German luxury crossovers: it's built in South Carolina, to be nice and close to its most important market. BMWs are BMWs — the ultimate driving machines. But while SUVs can be a joy to drive, that's not necessarily their core mission. Thanks to its scale and price-tag, the X3 is meant to satisfy a wide range of bimmer buyers, everybody from folks moving away from the legendary 3-Series sedans to people who don't quite want to jump into the larger X5. BMW does has the smaller X1 and recently introduced X2 to tempt entry-level customers who wouldn't look twice at a sedan. But the X3 is where many BMW owners and leasers will begin their journey with the Bavarian brand. We recently spent some time with a 2018 X3 xDrive 30i, in one of its natural environments: the northern New Jersey suburbs, just across the Hudson River from New York City. Here's how it went. FOLLOW US: On Facebook for more car and transportation content! SEE ALSO: We drove a $90,000 Lincoln Navigator for a week and saw why Ford can't build the SUV fast enough An unexpected snowstorm in the area added an early morning dusting of the white stuff to our "Dark Olive Metallic" BMW xDrive 30i.  The base xDrive 30i tips the cost scales at $42,450, but our well-optioned tester came it at $57,650 after several special packages were added. The xDrive 30i gets an inline, four-cylinder, twin-turbo mill that cranks out 248 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. Fuel economy is a respectable 22 mpg city/29 highway/25 combined for the vehicle.
What we have here is the third-generation of the X3. The design is bit more shapely and aggressive that the outgoing model — perhaps to distinguish the bimmer ute in a sea of compact SUVs.  Believe it or not, the X3 has been around since 2003. An SUV of this size, aimed at luxury buyers, wasn't really such a big deal back then. The luxury market still craved sedans. But BMW was somewhat ahead of the curve. Lucky for them, strong sales of the X3 have kept the brand going while sedan sales decline.
OK, so the snowy eyebrows make the whole front fascia look weird. But the fundamentals are sound.  Streamlined LED headlights? Check. BMW badge? Check. Bold, double-kidney grille? Check. Quietly bold contour lines sweeping back along the hood? Check. Personally, I think this car is sharp from the front.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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