BMW X3 (2004 - 2010) 2.0i Sport 5d Owner Review

After a year's ownership, I am really pleased with this motor. I bought it cheap from a trade seller as a high-mileage vehicle (145,000) with little documented history. But it has turned out good. My one has been very badly treated in the past (seats badly scuffed, evidence of an interior which was never cleaned, all the tools in the boot rusty -- must have sloshed sea-water all over the back of the car on a regular basis!). And yet the motor runs very well, drives and handles keenly. The 4-wheel-drive made me a little nervous for the first couple of months, cos if it goes wrong it's expensive to fix, but despite a tiny bit of transmission 'shunt' that is noticeable sometimes at very low speed (e.g. manoeuvring in a tight car-park) the drivetrain seems fine. My local BMW agent reckoned it's all functioning OK. A great workhorse car: load it with family, or sailing gear, tow the boat, add on the 2-bike rack, put a top-box on the roof-rails and it happily cruises along at illegal speeds on the motorway or hustles through the winding country lanes. Yes, the ride is very hard, joggly, stiff -- but I like it that way and would hate a car that wallows. I think the non-Sport version might be preferable: Sport has silly very-low-profile tyres on larger rims, when for off-road the fatter tyres on the bog standard SE would probably be better. MPG is rather disappointing, but then again it is a permanent 4WD. All the electrics and interior gismos still work perfectly after 12 years and 150k miles.