WILL YOU ACT ON IMPULSE?

Chris Knapman tries out BMW’s freshly face-lifted X3

Regular readers of this column (hi, Dad!) might remember that I recently tried and failed to review the new BMW M4 Cabriolet. The problem wasn’t the car, but the rain, which was coming down at a rate that would’ve made Noah twitchy. How pleased I was, therefore, when BMW laid on a day this week for journalists to come and drive a few of its new cars in the Cotswolds, including another chance to try the M4 Cabriolet. Naturally, it rained. Not just a few drops, but cats, dogs, the lot. So while a few other brave souls tested their mettle in the M4, I chickened out and instead climbed aboard a nice, big, safe SUV, namely the BMW X3, to revel in the security of the four-wheel drive it turned out not to have. The subject of a recent LCI, the X3 is worth revisiting, Price (as tested): £30,995 Power: 185bhp/266lb ft 0-62 mph: 9.5sec Top speed: 121mph Average fuel consumption: 60.1mpg (EU Combined) CO2 emissions: 124g/km Star rating: Fashionable 4x4s Range Rover Evoque For: Big on style Against: Small in boot Rating: Porsche Macan For: Speed and handling Against: It’ll cost you Rating: here in 18d SE guise. How’s that for a sentence? To clarify – and I feel we might need to – an LCI is BMW speak for a “Life Cycle Impulse”. This is another way of saying “midlife facelift”, a term BMW avoids because, it says, it implies little more than new headlights and bumpers, plus a few small changes to spec that most would fail to notice. For the X3’s LCI, BMW has fitted new headlights and bumpers, plus made a few small changes to spec that most would fail to notice. The “18d” bit refers to the engine, which in this case is a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder diesel. What’s clever here is that BMW is now constructing these engines in a modular way. So it builds lots of 50cc cylinders and then bolts however many of them together that it needs for a particular car. For a Mini it might be only three. For an X3 Looks familiar: the changes to the X3 are pretty subtle, but it’s still one of the best SUVs around it’s four. Think of it like Lego, but with more oil and less chance of losing a piece under the sofa. The 18d also happens to be the cheapest X3, which is one of the reasons it doesn’t feature the more costly option of four-wheel drive. Another is to reduce CO2 emissions and make it more attractive to company car drivers. The standard spec now includes heated seats, satnav and an automatically opening boot, which is good, but prices have also been bumped up across the range by about £1,100, which isn’t. Even so, this remains a lovely vehicle, solid and with that coveted driving position from which you can look down at the paupers in their hatchbacks, but also not too big to guide down country roads. The steering is reassuringly weighty, and the ride is just about the right side of jittery, although we’d be tempted by the option of adaptive dampers to smooth things out a little more. The new engine is powerful enough for most situations, although there’s a bit of diesel grumble to contend with when pulling away. While even in very wet weather I can’t say I really missed having four-wheel drive, if I was going to buy an X3, I’d still follow the herd and join the 75 per cent of customers who choose the Xdrive20d version. This uses the same engine as the 18d but with more power, plus has all-wheel drive as standard. The only real downside is that the X3’s popularity has resulted in a six-month delay for a new one. While you wait you could always ask to take an M4 Cabriolet for a spin. I hear it’s meant to be very good.