3.0i Sport

A 3-Series Touring Allroad?

Never looked at an X3 but after selling my Discovery 4 (best car I've ever owned) a good friend offered me his wife's X3. He's a bit of a BMW nut so it was in excellent order, has been pampered and has every extra going. Everything works. My only gripe with the car, if it is a gripe, is the following: It's the paradox of the sensible family SUV with one of BMWs greatest (normal) petrol engines and a chassis that encourages you to get a move on. It's the exact opposite of the grunty, laid back, wafty Disco. And yet, oddly, I've fallen a little bit in love with the X3. The way it drives and the noise it makes satisfies the petrolhead I keep locked away. 23mpg doesn't matter for 3000 miles a year. It has comfy seats, firm suspension, a reasonable boot and a banging stereo. So I'm told by the kids, anyway. Also, I've driven it up and down the Cat and Fiddle in the snow, and it coped just fine even on the fat Dunlop SP Sport tyres.

I'm quite tempted to let the wife run this one into the ground and look for a late model 3.0sd for me. I should imagine that the big 286bhp diesel does the chassis more justice and doesn't need working quite as hard!

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