[GlazierGlaze]

My wife and I stopped over at Fields BMW Northfield for the M Town test drive event this past Saturday. We came to the event primarily to test the X3M Competition, as we are considering replacing my wife's current 2014 X3 MSport with one in the near future. As part of the event, we drove the X3M (1st drive) an M5 Competition (2nd drive) and an M850I convertible (3rd drive). I am kicking around the idea of replacing my M4 with an M5 Comp. but that's not what this thread is about.

First Impressions - The X3M on site for the event was a X3M Competition package in Donington Grey. It had black extended leather with beige inserts, gloss carbon fiber dash inserts, and an alcantara headliner. The seats had some alcantara inserts in them as well. Visually from the exterior the car looks very similar in my opinion to an X3 M40i - however, most notably the front lower air dams bulge out a bit more, and the rear quarter panels appear a bit more flared. One bit which I particularly liked is the rear lift gate spoiler - thought it looked great in person. The rear diffuser is your standard M car expectation, quad exhaust spaced out to the ends. To be honest, the diffuser leaves a little bit to be desired and I could see how on a dark paint it would get lost in the overall body of the car. It will be interesting to see what companies like 3Ddesign and others offer for this car's aero bits. The interior is very similar to the existing X3 lineup but looks and feels higher quality. Seating position is good and the seats feel nice and snug, such that you would probably stay planted at speed.

Driving impressions - I am just going to get this out of the way. The S58 engine has a noticeable amount of turbo lag. Even my wife noticed it immediately. I am not sure if this is intentional via how the car is geared, or if the engine is just prone to lag. The car we drove had 8K miles on it, break in service had been performed. During our test drive, we had the steering, suspension, and throttle response set to sport +. I found this very disappointing and frankly it does not bode well for the next generation M3/M4 in my opinion. Once the turbos spool, the car is a rocket. It definitely gets up and moves. The suspension is very firm (more on that later) and the car seems to sit very flat through turns at speed. Our test drive route was setup such that we had a few twisties to go through at speed - I took both sets of turns at between 70 and 80mph with limited body roll. The suspension settings are a bit firm - you can feel pretty much everything. My wife was not thrilled with the ride comfort in sport + to the point where she asked that we switch to comfort. In Comfort mode the car is quite a bit more compliant on your ass/back. The thing I found interesting is that my wife rides in my track prepped M4 in sport+ almost everywhere we go and has never complained about the ride quality. Take that as you will. Steering feel is good but a bit light in my opinion. I would expect that most of these cars will see more mall crawling than spirited driving, so perhaps that is intentional as well. The S58 exhaust note is a substantial improvement over the S55 in my opinion - quite a bit better. Throatier, angrier, its is plain and simple better sounding. That said, the X3M we drove apparently was having issues with one of the charge pipes not seating correctly and subsequently popping off enough times previously that they popped the hood and checked it after each person's test drive. Again take that as you will. Brakes seem to bite nicely and the car stops very fast for being a mid-size SUV moving at speed. I was most impressed by the handling of the car.

Overall, I found the car pretty quick. The turbo lag is disappointing and the ride quality may be a bit too racy feeling for some of the typical SUV owners. In general I thought it was a mixed bag. We will likely still end up buying one but the fact that both my wife and I left the event feeling kind of "meh" was not what we were expecting. It is definitely a solid attempt by BMW and I will be interested to see how they improve upon the platform in the coming years.

[onfireX5]

If they were having charge pipe issues, that could easily cause turbo lag.

[Kief]

Originally Posted by GlazierGlaze

Overall, I found the car pretty quick. The turbo lag is disappointing In general I thought it was a mixed bag. We will likely still end up buying one but the fact that both my wife and I left the event feeling kind of "meh" was not what we were expecting. It is definitely a solid attempt by BMW and I will be interested to see how they improve upon the platform in the coming years.

Funny how this sums up my impression too. And the interior wasn't anything special IMO. But that damn BMW kool-aid, and maybe getting one after all!! The more I thought about the turbo lag after my test drive, I thought perhaps it was as a result of all the various test drives and the auto not being able to adapt??

[Ilyam5]

You guys should drive the x5 50 M sport or the new 2020 x5 M50 when it hits the delaers in 3 weeks.

523HP v8 - no lag - under 4 sec to 60 -comfy ride - best suited for SUV

[onfireX5]

Originally Posted by Ilyam5

You guys should drive the x5 50 M sport or the new 2020 x5 M50 when it hits the delaers in 3 weeks.

523HP v8 - no lag - under 4 sec to 60 -comfy ride - best suited for SUV

Ok for comfort. 800lbs too heavy for my handling goal.

[Kief]

Originally Posted by Ilyam5

You guys should drive the x5 50 M sport or the new 2020 x5 M50 when it hits the delaers in 3 weeks.

523HP v8 - no lag - under 4 sec to 60 -comfy ride - best suited for SUV

I'm looking forward to the X5 M50i w/DHP. This would be to replace my wife's '18 X5M, which is complete overkill for her! Haha

[-JLT-]

Originally Posted by Kief

I'm looking forward to the X5 M50i w/DHP. This would be to replace my wife's '18 X5M, which is complete overkill for her! Haha

new X5 M50i will be overkill for her also

[Kief]

Originally Posted by -JLT-

new X5 M50i will be overkill for her also

Probably...but I drive it too, so can't give up my man card!

[Day Laborer]

After I drove the X3MC from the M town tour (as a X3m40i owner) the OP pretty much summarizes the same thoughts I had about the disappointing turbo lag and the interior.
I was really hoping that the S58 would be a large step up from the B58 in terms of raw feeling and overall power delivery. I too felt that the rush of power did not come on until after 4000 RPM- even so did not give me the "oh shit" surprise factor once it starts going. Overall I think its a testimony on how good the B58 already is; as I confirmed when driving the M340I as well.