jwong77

It's simple, "Luxury", a term created by marketers to add profit margins to vehicles. Done!

Striker223

Luxury means the widest breadth of choice and the highest level of materials and outright unneeded excess that all enables the best emotional response and lowest possible user strain/effort.

That's why power is key, Lux means YOU get to dictate position in traffic and leave lesser cars behind

That's why materials must be high end, the rarer the better as that brings separation to your car vs the masses and caters to the ego

That's why seats and controls must be infinitely adjustable and automatic so you can have perfect fit and no effort to recall settings

That's why the design, tactile response, controls, lighting, sound all must stand above and alone from both common cars and other peers so that the car stands on its own and provides a unique experience


Luxury means to go beyond the reasonable and to abandon restraint and practicality. The word had been cheapened these days and is thrown around because at one point it was used to market to people who couldn't afford the real thing to make them think they had a fragment of the real thing.

Now we toss it around for an Acura lol! Most cars are premium nothing more, the 7 series is luxury personified as you can see it stands alone and is clearly separate from the rest of the line up. This X3 is a mainstream premium SUV that serves as an upgrade from mass market appliances but isn't anywhere near luxury.

RNM GS3

Completely disagree.

The X3 is a luxury vehicle 100% and is a Massive step up from FWD based SUVs like NX, RX, RDX, MDX etc. The dynamics and powertrain are un-matched and the build quality is much higher standard.
I was cross shopping with MDX and the plastics, door weight, how it closes are way more solid on X3. The Idrive system is also way ahead of what other brands offer.

The X5 is more luxurious with better seats, higher quality leather that is expensive option, and more features available like massage seats. My X3 M40i actually costs more than a X5 msport but we didn’t want the larger size and split tailgate.

Striker223

The X3/5 are just premium. You have also bought into the cheapening of words from marketing

Toys4RJill

‘for the exterior, will have to see his in person. The rear looks better than the outgoing model. Never was a fan of the lights out back.



this is pretty weird looking.

for luxury and BMW, I’ve never really thought BMW were a luxury brand in the modern era. . I would say BMW is more of a premium lifestyle brand. my brother has a three series diesel, 2014 model. I definitely would not say that is a luxury interior

arentz07

But then, BMW makes cars like the X5, X7, and 7-series that are genuinely luxurious on the inside. And, I'd even say the outgoing X3 has a touch of that luxury as well. I think it's more of BMW trying too hard to attract "younger buyers" or be on the bleeding edge of design.

Toys4RJill

I agree that the 7 series is luxurious. I was just looking at the overall brand and less at each model. BMW looks to me as sporty driving, lots of power, updated tech and a brand that fits in to a certain lifestyle. The Ultimate Driving Machine ( now Experience). I would say performance such as M and M Sport is the theme or appeal

I agree with you. Definitely looking for younger gen, far more trendy.

FrankReynoldsCPA

3 Series can be ordered pretty basic. My coworker had a 330e that was pretty stripped down. No proximity unlock, no heated or cooled seats, HUD, etc.

Once you get to the 5 and up things get a LOT nicer. It's part of what stopped me from going for a 340i or 440i. The interior quality and features step up big time once you get out of the entry level models. I imagine it's the same at Mercedes and Audi.

Margate330

Now I'm seeing X3's wherever I go.

Thinking I have red car syndrome again. Lol

LexBob2

They sell a lot of them. It had been BMW's best selling model until recently when the X5 moved ahead of it. Not sure how things are now though.

jwong77

As an X3 owner, it shocks me how often I see them driving around. Between our Model Y and X3, we have a lot of mistaken identity happening in parking lots. Once, a lady walked up and opened the driver door of my wife's Model Y while she was parking, thinking it was her car!

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

It's pretty ugly to me. It's not the worst looking car on the road or anything but the previous X3 looked really nice.

1111GS

It's obvious that the new one is an odd looking design, but you can't really use a 2014 model to make a statement about modern BMWs. Looks aside, these things drive nice.
I'm sure you have a point here and premium or not is subjective. I don't see you list X7 here but X5 and X7 are almost identical inside. Also a quick search on Hertz shows ... Q60 and XT5 as a luxury choice. So it's not really wrong to say X3 is as well.
Interesting. I personally think unless you have soft closing feature, BMW doors don't close as nice as same class Lexus. But you're definitely right about the drive quality and powertrain. It's sure more "luxury".

LexBob2

Our X3 is Mineral White Metallic and sometimes it's an adventure to find it in a busy parking lot. Not only among the X3's but with white CUV's too.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

bmw, mercedes and audi all do the same thing. fwd cheaper models with more basic trims / materials / features. rwd more expensive models with nicer trims / materials / features. M-sport, AMG-ine, S sporty trims, and M, AMG and RS for hard core performance vehicles.

in the past at least, bmw tended to tweak suspensions just a bit more controlled and firm, but they're all very comfortable now.

the cheaper fwd models simply allow the brands to have enough volume to keep shared parts prices sane. without people buying x1, x2, x3, cla, gla, glb, etc., the brands would have real problems.

but yes, the lower end stuff could be considered 'premium'.

yeah, 10 year old bmw... not relevant to today's line up.