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      04-25-2011, 08:20 AM   #1
lateshow
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Drives: 2011 BMW X3 35i Space Gray
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Chicago, IL

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2011 BMW X3  [0.00]
Impressions after 1 week - Yes, another owner X3 review....

As some of you who have seen my pictures from last week know, I just took delivery on a space gray 35i with all options aside from heads up display and BMW Apps. Yes, I opted for the 19" 309's as well. I've had the car for about a week now (roughly 200 miles of driving) and as all of my friends and family know.....yes, I've got opinions.

I'm no car expert, but I would consider myself a car enthusiast. My previous car was a 2009 Acura RDX, and before that (and before I was married) a 2002 Honda S2000. Both cars were reliable and enjoyable. The problem with the RDX was the ride on rough pavement. Even the S2000 was more forgiving over bumps. I got to the point with the Acura that I was always complaining to myself about the harsh ride, which I understand they made huge improvements on for the 2010 and up. I still have a great deal of respect for Honda and all of their products. The S2000 was one of the best cars they've ever made. The Acura's have great technology and they are slick and reliable, but they have gone in a horrible styling direction that I can't stand to look at. So....on to the X3.

Styling: I can't get enough of it. It's a beautiful redesign. I have received a lot of compliments on the car. 1 or 2 people have asked if I like my new X5, which I take as a compliment because I do like it's look. I think the best view of the car is from the driver side rear end with the exhaust and the fat 309's.

Interior: This is the first BMW that I've owned personally. I had a 320d as a company car when I lived in the UK for a couple of years around 2006, but it was fairly stripped down. The climate controls, radio, preset buttons, wiper and turn stalks, are unchanged from my 2006 3-series in the UK. They are all functional and tasteful. The sports seats are a HUGE upgrade from the standard. The white stitching on the black leather looks very classy with a sporty kick....I just hope it stays white, which is my only worry. I opted for the brushed aluminum trim over the wood. I think it's unfortunate that BMW doesn't offer more wood choices than the fineline and the wave. I think the fineline was too light and the wave looked too "stripey" for me. If you're in the market, make sure you physically see each trim selection before ordering. I ended up changing my order to the aluminum after I saw the wave trim in person.

Drive: It's not fair to talk too much about this yet as I'm still breaking in the car. I'm dying to turn it loose. I know from my test drive how much power is ready to be unleashsed. The handling is an elevated 3-series to me. It's tight, but not harsh. It provides me with just enough feedback in Normal mode to make me smile. The switch to Sport suspension is not a dramatic change, but I can certainly feel it. The higher rev's before shifting is quickly apparent as well. I'm really glad I went with the dynamic suspension with the 19's. I think if I stayed with the 18's I would have it in Sport mode, for the suspension at least, nearly all the time.

What do I love?:
1) The technology is fantastic and useful. The birds-eye camera is great for curb parking in cities and for avoiding objects around the car. The premium stereo sounds amazing. The 8.8" screen looks phenominal and the split screen funtion is very useful. I really like that it displays my ipod album art on the side. If you live in a large city, the horizon view of the navigation screen shows realistic, block images of buildings when in 400 ft or less view....so freaking cool. The wife loves the heated steering wheel. The 8 preset functions are fanstastic. You can even have a button be a preset for a Nav location.
2) It's a beautiful car. I can't stop staring at it. You know you've got a problem when you park somewhere and turn back around to look at it when you're walking into a store.
3) Interior fit and finish far exceeds my expectations based on what I saw on the old X3 models.
4) The grunt. I love the V6 grunt after having the 4 cylinder RDX turbo. The car's exhaust note sounds really good.
5) The drive quality is unmatched for an SUV.

What would I change?:
Note: Please guys, I know everyone here is a BMW fanatic, but let me communicate what I would change about the car and what annoys me without the haters coming out to tell me why I'm wrong for having my opinions. If you know a way to help me correct the settings to fix my annoyances, that's great, but please don't tell me to just get on life and enjoy my car. I do enjoy it, quite clearly, but as I've stated....I've got opinions.

1) Let's say you're dropping your kids off at school, or you want directions to a place, then you intend to drive past the destinations for one reason or another. The Nav arrows on the instrument cluster do not go away once you've reached your destination. I find that really annoying. I take my wife to work quite often because we share the car. When I drop her off the main Nav screen knows I've reached my destination because the guidance stops. If I don't turn the car off, which I don't, and start to drive somewhere else, the arrows keep telling he how to get back to her office. You can't make them go away. You can't "stop guidance" because it's already stopped. The only way to make the arrows on the instrument panel go away is to turn the car off or select another destination and then stop that guidance. I think it's a glitch, but it needs fixing.

2) The doors require more force to close than I'm used to. I have to shut the driver door more than once on occasion. Yes, it's probably made that way, but it requires more umph than I'm used to.

3) There is no idrive setting to have the doors all unlock when you put the car in park. Yes, you can tell it not to lock the doors when you put in in drive, but I do like that feature. My RDX had a setting when they would all unlock when in park. I miss that.

4) I would rather have a physical shift selector than the electronic one. That's just a personal preference. I'm sure I'll get over it.

Hope you enjoy this read if you're waiting on your car. I sure enjoyd reading all of your reviews. Let me know if you've got questions and I'll see what I can do to answer them. This is my first BMW, which has always been a dream of mine. I don't think I'm ever going back.
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