Bimmer up, Scotty!
The Hindu : Bimmer up, Scotty!The BMW X3 might feel like half-saloon, half-SUV on the inside, but the drive experience is pure, unadulterated sports car, says HORMAZD SORABJEEThe BMW X3 is not the typical SUV one is used to. It is powered by petrol, not diesel, is not too spacious and you can forget about a third row of seats. In fact, it is even a size smaller than many luxury saloons. This SUV was not made to be big orpractical. What makes this SUV special is its sporty character and the pure focus on the driver; a typical BMW trait. So if you want a big SUV to travel with the entire family and carry luggage this isn’t the car for you.As with all BMWs, even a short drive in the car becomes memorable and a trip to Mahabaleshwar, six hours from Mumbai, reasserted this fact. The missus, my son and small bags were all I took on this trip and I am glad I didn’t do the whole holiday payload, which could have corrupted the handling. Clambering up into the firmly-padded driver’s seat gives the first sense that the X3 is part-SUV and part-saloon, simply because you don’t sit as high up as in the former or as low down as in the latter. But, while the seating gives the impression of SUV and saloon, the drive experience leaves no place for ambiguity – it is sports car all the way.The 2.5-litre straight six that powers the 325i saloon will also power the X3. And, like the 325i, this too has the same linear power delivery and the same eagerness to rev. However, the X3 is different in the fact that it weighs 370 kilos more than the 325i and so performance isn’t as brilliant. In addition, the thick slug of mid-range torque that a typical modern common-rail diesel belts out was also missing, but that…More
