Margate330

Looks so good, I'm happy for you.

The wait would kill me.
When I'm ready to pull the trigger on something, I want it now. lol

If Arentz's new car above is the Phytonic Blue, I am a big fan.

Blue and black are my favorite colors.
I keep coming back to look at it.

arentz07

Thanks. Yes, it is Phytonic Blue. It is a nice color. I miss Portimao Blue... but I think this slightly subtler blue suits the X3 nicely.

arentz07

I finally got to drive this thing last night. It was running a little low on fuel, so I used that as an excuse to finally get a first impression of what it was like. To be clear, I've driven multiple X3s before - a non-M-Sport pre-LCI model, an M-Sport LCI, and an M40i pre-LCI - just, not this particular non-M-Sport LCI.

Holy moly, it feels completely and utterly different from the 330i in nearly every way. The steering is super light and has a fairly progressive response - none of this heavy, darty nonsense like you'd get in an M Sport model. The throttle pedal is a little bit sensitive, if I am honest, but the brakes are firm and linear. I always found the brakes in our 330i to be a little touchy. The ride is pretty soft - I can still feel minor cracks and such in the road, but it is a bit floaty overall. In a slalom-type situation, the back end feels like it takes a good second to react to the motions up front, which is pretty hilarious. I can see this being amazing on a road trip.

Oh, and there seems to be no fake engine sound. The turbo I-4 (B48) is still quite good, though it doesn't feel as mighty as in the 330i due to the added weight of the X3. Even without fake engine noises, it has a pleasing sound - it sort of reminds me of how my GTI sounded, but more muted. When the fans are blowing, it's hard to hear much of the engine at all unless I am giving it the beans.

The infotainment screen we have is the 12.3-inch unit - it is huge and clear. It's hard to imagine having the smaller screen now. By the way, the Harmon Kardon audio is very flat and clear. It's a good starting point to tune with EQ, but out of respect for my wife's preferences I've left everything in a neutral state.

If you're wondering, in my wife's mixed driving, it's been averaging about 26 MPG so far.

I like it a lot.

arentz07

Recently, some fellow members of a couple different car clubs planned to meet up to run up Burnt Mountain in north Georgia. I had to join. After all, my IS 500 had not been on a proper mountain run yet. I'd messed around on a few local roads, but none of them are really great for spirited driving... Too many houses, too-low speed limits, too few turns, or too busy during the day. Up in the hills, however, things are a bit more twisty, more empty, and more open.



We had a couple Fiata (124 Spiders) in the group, one of which was an Abarth, along with an IS 250 AWD, another IS 500 (@DLPTony 's), and a Lotus Evora GT. One of these things is not like the other. All in all, I'd say it was a good-looking set of cars for a mountain run. We organized from fastest to slowest - so, naturally, that meant the Lotus, the two V-8 Lexus, then the Abarth, then the standard 124 Spider, and finally, the IS 250.

We started out in some tight stuff. This was a pretty gnarly, yet very fun section of road. It was far from smooth, with lots of little bumps and a few off-camber, awkward corners, and we barely had room to accelerate between turns. I had the IS 500 in its sportiest Sport S+ setting, and even then, the car felt pretty weighty in these tight turns. However, given the dusty, rough pavement, it handled better than I expected. I felt nary a tire slipping, though the TC light did illuminate out of the tightest of turns. It was a little intimidating trying to keep up with a more-seasoned IS 500 driver who was also trying to keep up with an Evora, but it honestly was pretty much a non-event for the IS. The road itself was fun, eliciting a little "Woo" from me when we were done.



After that, we continued up the mountain, getting to some roads that were still twisty, but more open and smoother than the tiny back road from whence we came. Now this is what the IS 500 was made for. The car felt very precise and easy-to-place on the larger sweepers, and it eagerly pulled itself out of every turn. Moreover, the power seems to never end as the revs climb... that's something that's more difficult to appreciate when there's nothing but straight road in front of you. When the next turn is approaching rapidly, I notice the power just a little bit more!



I don't really feel like sitting here and dissecting how it drove, but the fact that we can keep pace with an Evora at "slightly above intermediate" pace, according to the driver, is impressive to me. The sleeper factor is real - maybe even I, an owner, sleep on my own car. It's great on a back road. Even if it feels soft and not super sharp, it's capable. As Tedward says, "It'll do the thing."

arentz07

After just a few weeks with this X3, it was time for a bath this evening. So, I hand-washed it for the first time. It is a more difficult proposition to wash this car compared with our departed 330i, but hey, we knew what we'd signed up for. I will have to get a device that allows me to better reach the hood, as I was having to lean up against the wet doors to reach the roof. Just SUV things.

So, what do I think about it? It's something almost entirely alien to the 330i M Sport we had before. The steering is light, VERY light, and the ride is soft. It really wafts over most imperfections, with only some smaller cracks causing unwanted jiggles in the cabin. The car is silent - minimal wind and road noise along with a hushed engine sound inside the car. Even in Sport mode, it's pretty quiet inside. This car is comfy first.

Still, it's a car that makes me confident when I am behind the wheel. The seats and seating position are excellent, giving me a commanding view of the road while still allowing me to sit in the car, rather than on it. The blind-spot monitoring and surround-view camera systems work well, so I never feel like the car's size has outgrown my depth perception. It's a much wider, taller car than the 3-series was, but I often forget about the size increase while on the move. This car just feels right to drive.

Sure, it's not a sport sedan. If I do a slalom, the rear end of the car feels loose, and it takes ages to catch up to what the front end of the car is doing. It's funny, because initial turn-in, while somewhat numb to the fingertips, is snappy. However, the overall suspension tune is soft enough that it feels like the rear and front of the car don't talk to each other. However, if I am being practical, this is a non-issue. On the few twisty bits I can find near our home, it handles well. As long as I am gentle with my steering inputs, it feels right at home around a bend. Is it ultra-grippy? No, of course not. Does it corner flat like a sports car? Not even close. But, that's okay, because I actually feel like I could drive it around all day and feel pretty okay at the end.

It's got tons of room, by the way. My mother-in-law immediately made use of this by having us load it up with what looked like a mountain of items we'd been procrastinating moving to her place after agreeing to temporarily house them here. It was... easy. There was room to spare. In the 330i, we might've had to not only fold down the rear seats but also make multiple trips due to some bulkier, awkward items. The X3 merely needed one side of its folding rear seats to go down and the removal of the cargo cover in the back. Bing, boom, done. That's the real reason you get this over a 3-series.

However, I think what BMW has made here is honestly just about perfect. Aside from the stellar ZF 8-speed's calibration for this car, which feels almost the same as it did in our 330i, the X3 drives almost nothing like the 330i did. The 330i felt like its mission was to remind us at every opportunity that it is the M Sport, it's the 3-series, the benchmark of sport-sedandom. The steering was a bit heavy and yet also felt artificial and vague. Here, it's still vague, but it's refreshingly light and precise. The brakes in our 330i were also touchy - in fact, they were probably my least-liked aspect of the way it drove, particularly when I was a passenger. In the X3, this problem simply doesn't exist; the brakes feel normal. It's just a better-tuned car for everyday driving.

I love this thing. I really do. I can see why past-Alex was considering an X3 M40i. When we decided my wife would be the one driving the SUV, that plan changed. But, it takes something really good (Macan, for example...) to make me even look at a CUV or SUV. The bones of that goodness are still here in the base-model X3.

Oh, yeah, and just for the record, we have the Harmon Kardon audio system and the Vernasca leather seats in black, along with the Premium Package incl. the panoramic sunroof and Surround View Camera. When we custom-ordered the X3, we hand-picked those options. Believe it or not, an X3 with the M Sport package would have cost the same as ours and had none of these features. M Sport tax is real. I'd recommend thinking really hard about whether you need it. It's still a BMW, after all.

mmarshall

Have you taken GA 180 up Brasstown Bald Mountain...Georgia's highest point? It's got a number of curves, including a couple of hairpins....and from the parking lot, you can walk or bike to the summit.

Now, if you REALLY want curves LOL.............Tail of the Dragon, but you have to drive further north into NC.

arentz07

I have not - I've been saving that one for when I actually visit Brasstown Bald. This one was to Burnt Mountain, which had some nice curves! Brasstown Bald is still on the list.

The twistiest we've been on was probably Wolf Pen Gap Road. That was very tight indeed.

DLPTony

Agreed, I think thus far the twistiness rankings are:

Blood Mountain
Burnt Mountain
Wolf Pen.

Didn’t know about Brasstown, will have to check it out!

LexBob2

Good to hear that you're enjoying your X3 so far. It looks great. Your observations pretty closely mirror mine with our 2019 X3 (Black Sapphire Met./Canberra Beige Vernasca). It's been rock solid for the 4+ years we've had it. In fact, I'm in the process of shopping around for a replacement and so far, haven't been able to find anything we'd prefer over buying another one.

Looking forward to future updates.

arentz07

Yeah Blood Mountain is great, but I thought Wolf Pen was a little tighter, perhaps? I think we need to do a Brasstown Bald run sometime and perhaps actually go up the mountain and whatnot. At least, I personally want to do that because it feels like it'd be a cool achievement to say I've been to the highest point in my home state.

Thanks! Oooh, the beige Vernasca sounds nice. My wife was originally looking at one with the Cognac SensaTec, but she hated the color. It was too dark/too rich in her opinion. The beige is probably a better compromise. But I do think the black Vernasca leather will age well, and the white stitching on the bolsters (which we don't get with SensaTec) looks cool to me.

But yeah the new X3 feels more modern to me than the pre-LCI's I've driven, but just slightly. The larger screen is particularly notable. It's very crisp. Outside, I don't know whether I like the taillights and whatnot, but I like the new front end better. The overall looks of the car are less bland than before. It was never bad-looking, but now it has a few more crisp lines and looks slightly more aggressive. I also prefer the satin silver finish to the front grille as compared with chrome.

DLPTony

Ah crap…I wasn’t clear. My ranking was from the easiest to the most challenging. Agreed, Wolf Pen is the twistiest of the three. BB mountain is 100 miles from me, so that one will definitely take some planning. Then again, Wolf Pen is 85 miles, so maybe not. 😎

arentz07

A good use of the miles.

LexBob2

My wife dislikes Cognac too even though she does like saddle tan leather. Too orange she says. We bought ours from dealer inventory and it has a couple of options we probably wouldn't have ordered but have enjoyed. Ventilated seats, spare tire and adaptive cruise control. I think you lose a little comfort and bolstering with the ventilated seats but for our needs they are OK.

I like all of the tweaks with the LCI and agree the changes were needed and really freshened up the looks. The new taillights aren't my favorite thing, but they aren't deal breakers. iDrive7 would be a nice upgrade for me. I've been tempted to wait for the 2024's which are right around the corner and offer additional updates. 2024's may also have iDrive 8 but I'm not sure about that.

arentz07

I hope they don't add iDrive 8 to the LCI X3, if I am honest. I've seen people say things like "It's more modern", and I just... don't care. iDrive 7 is so usable and easy to navigate. Not that I am messing with it a lot anyway, but I really like the favorite buttons. I have one preset to Sport Displays and another to the tire pressure monitoring display. Very handy things to check. The others are for radio stations (you know, for when I am driving without my wife in the car... she typically plays music through her phone, but I don't want to unpair her phone in order to use mine). It seems that stuff has gone away in iDrive 8, which is sad. I think you can still have favorites, but nothing beats having an actual button for accessing them.

arentz07

Road trip in the books!

First of all, I went up to the mountains and brought one of my former coworkers and friends along. He happened to be in town and is somewhat of a car nerd - mostly a BMW guy, but hey... - and let him drive the IS 500 a bit on the twisty bits. It was a lot of fun, and it was my first time being driven in my car, which is always a nice feeling. The car is a blast to run on the twisties, especially the roads where we were, which were not overly tight and were very smooth. It handled well and always felt very strong - particularly from the passenger seat! I am going to be coming up here often, I can tell.



After that, I went down to South GA to visit family this past weekend, which was a 250-mile trip each way. Suffice it to say, the IS 500 did great. The only complaint I have, which seems inherent to the IS by now, is that the rougher farm roads down in southern GA caused quite a bit of road noise. But, this car is a beast on the highway. It gets reasonable fuel economy - I averaged about 27 over the entire trip (25.5 if you include the mountain-road driving), and it feels effortless to pass other motorists.


This was just outside of Colquitt, GA.




Though I don't like the idea of piling miles onto the IS 500, I do like the idea of using it how it was intended. To me, this car seems like a bit of junior grand tourer - though it isn't a big luxury coupe, it's got the engine and the overall personality of one. To do some grand-touring driving in it felt really satisfying.