[Riick]

I have a budget of around 22k before trade in/down payment.

What year should I buy? Anything specific that goes wrong with these to look out for?

My goal would be to find an M Sport package car as well.

[najnad]

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...&modelCode1=X3this

[dreamspeed]

So what is your total budget? 2015+ are LCI if that matters to you

[atarivers]

That looks to be market priced.

Originally Posted by najnad

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...&modelCode1=X3this

[Riick]

Originally Posted by dreamspeed

So what is your total budget? 2015+ are LCI if that matters to you

I'm looking for a 2014. I know '15 are LCI but don't they have drivetrain/frame changes that are worse off?

[ba ba boosh]

Originally Posted by Riick

I'm looking for a 2014. I know '15 are LCI but don't they have drivetrain/frame changes that are worse off?

The LCI is better, it has the faster iDrive system, much much faster. Also new climate controls, they took care of the creeking problems from the panoramic sunroof. I have a 2012 F25, and the iDrive is slow and dated. But I still enjoy mine and eagerly wait for a G01 CPO.

[Barbera335]

Originally Posted by ba ba boosh

The LCI is better, it has the faster iDrive system, much much faster. Also new climate controls, they took care of the creeking problems from the panoramic sunroof. I have a 2012 F25, and the iDrive is slow and dated. But I still enjoy mine and eagerly wait for a G01 CPO.

I don't know, I have a 2011 and have used all versions of BMW idrive quite extensively, and honestly, from CIC forward all the way to idrive 6 they aren't much different speed and layout wise. Even the idrive 6 in the G01 isn't that much improved over what is in my car.

[Peter_R]

Originally Posted by ba ba boosh

The LCI is better, it has the faster iDrive system, much much faster. Also new climate controls, they took care of the creeking problems from the panoramic sunroof. I have a 2012 F25, and the iDrive is slow and dated. But I still enjoy mine and eagerly wait for a G01 CPO.

I tried iDrives on both versions. Never found any difference. Mine is a late 2013 xDrive 30d MSport. Never had a problem on my sunroof, so do not know what a creaking one sounded like.

[PX3]

Originally Posted by ba ba boosh

The LCI is better, it has the faster iDrive system, much much faster. Also new climate controls, they took care of the creeking problems from the panoramic sunroof. I have a 2012 F25, and the iDrive is slow and dated. But I still enjoy mine and eagerly wait for a G01 CPO.

When I purchased my 2012 X3, I had the opportunity of test driving a 2013 model and that had the enhanced iDrive fitted (bigger hard drive etc) and that was definitely quicker than the 2012 I ended up with, although I couldn't say how much difference there is between the 2013 model vs the LCI.
I also understood that the sunroof issue wasn't resolved on the LCI, as someone on this forum confirmed. It is a very easy fix though, as I had to carry it out on mine.