[brissim]

Earlier this week we returned from a 1,900 km Brisbane-Newcastle round trip in our 1 month old X3 30d and have finally found the time to put some notes together. Was a bit nervous about the trip with only 1,500 km on the clock at the beginning. Overall we had no problems with the car apart from a slight rattle that was developing towards the end in the drivers-side door trim or maybe the B-pillar area. Nothing too serious – I’ll get it looked at my convenience. My thoughts on the run :-

Fuel economy
Overall we averaged 6.9 l/100km (34.0 miles/USgal ; 40.9 miles/Impgal) over the 1,900 km which included around 1,700 km of highway driving. On the highway we were averaging around 6.5 l/100km (36.2 miles/USgal ; 43.5 miles/Impgal). Keeping in mind most of this “highway” driving was on two-lane highways (the New England Highway for those Aussies who know it), I would expect better economy on multilane motorways. Overall however, I’m very happy with this result which can only get better as the engine loosens up.

Based on these results, for the 67 litre tank on the X3, this gives a highway range of about 950-1,000km. For the first time in 30 years of Brisbane-Newcastle runs, I was able to complete the drive on a single tank of fuel and still had 150km of range left.

Ride Comfort and the handling/steering tradeoff
With the amount of long distance country driving I do, much of it on badly maintained secondary roads and gravel roads, ride comfort is a major issue with me – more so than say handling or steering. Our previous long distance drive was a 2005 Volvo XC70 which had superb ride comfort particularly on rough roads (but pretty shithouse driving dynamics). After this drive – which deliberately included around 80km of dirt/gravel road – I would say the ride quality on the X3 is even better than our previous XC70. However two “qualifications” on this observation :-
1. I’m running 17” 306-style wheels (18” 307 wheels are standard on Aussie-spec 30d).
2. On taking delivery, I immediately replaced the OEM runflat tyres with conventional tyres.

In spite of these changes to wheels and tyres and within the limits of my driving style, I can’t pick any loss of handling or steering finesse. Our other “city” car is a Volvo C30 T5 which isn’t entirely shabby in the handling/steering department and again I would say the X3 certainly out-handles the C30 (despite the X3’s greater weight and higher centre of gravity) and is at least equal in steering precision and feedback. And all this with standard suspension and power steering. Certainly glad I didn’t tick the option boxes for the dynamic damper control and variable sports steering.

Performance
Goes pretty much without saying the 30d engine is a cracker. So glad we decided to spend the extra over the 20d. The availability of the 30d engine for the Australian market was pretty much the reason we even seriously looked at the X3 over Volvo’s XC60. If the comparison had been with the 20d, we’d be driving a XC60 D5.

Highway performance – particularly for overtaking – is breathtaking. Only possible note of contention is there is a bit of turbo-lag there. Not too serious and you soon learn to pre-empt when you need the surge in power – and when it comes – hold on and enjoy the ride. This turbo-lag perhaps would be the only reason you might consider the twin-turbo 35d over the 30d.

Dirt road driving
As mentioned above, did do about 80km of driving on a gravel road. The road was wet (but not muddy) from recent rain. To be honest I didn’t feel as secure on the gravel particularly in the corners as I would have in the XC70. Maybe a bit more experience in the X3 is required. One thing I did notice was that the rear window got dirty very quickly.

Night Driving
The runs included all up about 5-6 hours of night driving. The xenon headlights are absolutely brilliant – particularly the low beam. The really great thing about the xenons are their side-to-side spread. It probably illuminates 30-40 metres either side of the road which is great for driving in kangaroo country. While the xenons on my previous XC70 were very good at illuminating the road, they had very tight cut-off at the edge of the road. The high beam is a little disappointing. I’ve driven Aussie-built cars with better high-beams then the X3. Might have to consider some driving lights.

Interior comfort
As I would expect of a vehicle of this cost inside the car is a very pleasant place to be. It is very quiet and only at idle with a cold engine are you aware you have a diesel engine. A bit of wind noise around the driver’s side wing mirror at 60-80 km/h which disappears at higher speeds.

The seats (we have standard seats) are very comfortable although probably not as good as the XC70. However still more than satisfactory over the 10-11 hrs of driving - I did all the driving as my wife doesn’t like highway driving (her loss!!!).

The sat-nav (professional) did all that was expected of it. Appears to have good map coverage at least along the route we travelled. I’m not a heavy user of sat-navs but I do like to have up the distance-to-destination and distance-to-empty on these long distance trips. Seemed very slow to recalculate routes – I’ve had portable GPS units which do it much faster. The expected time-of-arrival calculation was crap – way too conservative. But to be fair I’ve also found this on other sat-nav systems – maybe I drive too fast.

Luggage space
There were the two of us plus two small dogs on the back seat. All of our luggage (two medium-sized suitcases, plus 2-3 other bags and other assorted “things”) fitted in the back comfortably. Keep in mind there was also a full-size spare tyre (because as mentioned above I’d replaced the runflats with conventional tyres) lashed down in the back. The luggage space was almost filled to the roof but thanks to the pull-up safety net and the reversing camera (both standard on Aussie-spec X3s) this was not an issue.

This pretty much sums up our experience. Hope some of you can find it useful.

Tony

[Bustofa]

Very useful insights, Tony. Many thanks for posting.

[Dukat]

Thanks for the detailed review Brissim. Sounds like you had a great trip.

I'm disappointed that the nav takes a long time to recalculate, something I haven't experienced in my IS250.

You mentioned you're glad you didn't choose DHP. Is that because you feel the stock handling/response is good enough?

[OOOSQ]

Thanks for the effort in putting that together Tony. Would have liked to have ordered the 3.0d, but was quite content with the deal I got on the 2.0d.

[troggy1969]

Great report, I just wish mine would turn up soon

[Dantroy]

Just wanted to note our 30d calculates almost straight away on nav pro and I must either have a heavy foot or experiencing bad fuel economy cause I can't get it under 8.9 litres per 100 km and have nearly 3 k on the clock

[brissim]

Originally Posted by Dukat

You mentioned you're glad you didn't choose DHP. Is that because you feel the stock handling/response is good enough?

In a nutshell - yes. Certainly within my driving experience, even with the 17" wheels and conventional tyres (tires), I was more than happy with the standard suspension/steering setup. But then having most recently come from driving Volvos maybe my expectations weren't that high. I would venture to suggest that a significant number of "average" drivers would also be happy with the standard setup.

Tony

[brissim]

Originally Posted by Dantroy

Just wanted to note our 30d calculates almost straight away on nav pro and I must either have a heavy foot or experiencing bad fuel economy cause I can't get it under 8.9 litres per 100 km and have nearly 3 k on the clock

Dantroy - on the fuel economy I found the type of traffic you are in makes a big difference. While I got down to 6.4-6.5 l/100km on this highway trip, on my usual daily commute to work I'm typically getting 7.8-8.2 l/100km in what is fairly free flowing traffic. On the odd occasions I'm in stop/start heavy traffic, yes the economy probably gets up over 9-10. I have got used to the auto stop/start and now leave it on and judging on my before-and-after observations with this, the stop/start does have a significant impact on fuel economy in stop/start traffic.

Tony

[sparoz]

Thanks for the review Tony, it is definitely very helpful . I am looking forward to mine coming early next month. I ticked the sport suspension box and performance control as I am so used to the driving dynamics of BMWs, and any excessive body roll drives me mad. We will be driving on tarmac most of the time, and I am sure the ride would be adequate compare to other cars that I had. As my wife will be driving the X3 most of the time so definitely won't swap out her RFTs.

How was the finishing quality of your car? The demo I was driving (and the X5s) doesn't seem to have the same quality as the German build cars.

[sparoz]

Originally Posted by OOOSQ

Thanks for the effort in putting that together Tony. Would have liked to have ordered the 3.0d, but was quite content with the deal I got on the 2.0d.

When are you getting yours Sam? Richard also wondering if you are going to be making it to the dyno day on the other thread.

[brissim]

Originally Posted by sparoz

How was the finishing quality of your car? The demo I was driving (and the X5s) doesn't seem to have the same quality as the German build cars.

Soon after I got the car I spent some time going over it for any build quality issues - I couldn't find any. The panels all seemed to be well fitted with consistent gaps which all lined up as required in corners etc. Unlike some posts here, I couldn't fault the paint finish. Trim pieces looked well set in place and after our trip are still hanging in there. So overall, no quality issues that I could identify. My understanding is while the X3 comes out of the same assembly plant as the X5 (and X6), the X3 is assembled on a new purpose-built assembly line.

Tony

[clivem2]

After a week with my new car I haven't found any build quality issues. My South African BMWs were fine too. Yes the plant needs to be well run to achieve quality but a lot of the quality comes from how well designed parts are to fit together properly in the first place.

[OOOSQ]

Originally Posted by sparoz

When are you getting yours Sam? Richard also wondering if you are going to be making it to the dyno day on the other thread.

Hey mate, don't have an ETA as of yet - actual factory order was actually made about a fortnight ago.

The verbal was 6 months, however it may come earlier. Big lead time for the 2.0d's apparently? Not in immediate need for the car, so it didn't bother us.

Re: the dyno day - I'm actually having my bucks that day/night so unless between now and then I manage to acquire half a dozen supercars to run on the dyno, I'd say I'll have other plans. That orignal thread is like... 12 months old or something now isn't it!??!

I was at Orlins place tonight, he mentioned it to me today - can't say I remembered what he was talking about off the bat....

[ppduck]

thanks for your sharing, Tony..... your trip report is so detailed that giving me lots of hints for my end of year trip rounds trip from sydney to brisbane....
hopefully, my x3 will be arrived at that time, but i have bought the X3 20d version..... so won't be as powerful as yours.....
any other things that i need to be aware of?
how is the run-flat tires? as i have some concerns running on run-flat on a long distance trip? any recommendation and comments here?
pls advise
cheers

ppduck

[JordanWindebank]

Thanks Tony. I am taking my 20d on a trip from Melbourne to Noosa and back in January - can't wait.

[Bustofa]

Originally Posted by JordanWindebank

Thanks Tony. I am taking my 20d on a trip from Melbourne to Noosa and back in January - can't wait.

Now that is a fair hike!

[brissim]

Originally Posted by ppduck

how is the run-flat tires? as i have some concerns running on run-flat on a long distance trip? any recommendation and comments here?
pls advise
cheers

ppduck

ppduck - I really can't answer how the run was/is on the runflats - as I said in my original post on delivery I immediately changed out the runflats for conventional tyres (and a spare!). I'm also not going to get into a big discussion about the merit of runflats - I think there's been more than enough discussion about the pro/cons of runflats not just on this forum, but perhaps every other BMW forum as well.

However I will just explain my situation. While I live in Brisbane (and before that Newcastle) I cover around 30-35,000 km a year with probably 60-70% of that being what I call country driving with a fair part of that being on secondary roads and unsealed roads. I (and my wife) are the type of drivers that if we have got to go from A to B and we are not in a hurry and there's a route by way of secondary roads/gravel roads, we'll take this option. Simply because we have now bought a BMW is not going to stop as from continuing to do this. Over my 30+ years of motoring, I've probably had maybe 10-12 puntures - and all but a few have occurred on these roads. The issue for me with runflats, is that pretty much as soon as you leave any of the capital cities or major regional cities, there is next to no support for the repair of runflats and even less support for their replacement. And if the tyre cannot be repaired and has to be replaced, you could be waiting 2-3 days for a replacement tyre to be trucked in from where ever.

However in your situation, travelling on the sealed main highways you should be OK. First the chances of you getting a punture are remote and the chances of getting an unrepairable punture is even less likely (provided you don't have to travel too far - at a maximum of 80 km/h - to find a place that is willing to repair the runflat).

Just one final note of caution to those Aussies with their F25 X3s who are happy with their runflats. Contact your local BMW dealer and/or Dunlop/Goodyear and just ask them do they have your size tyre in stock - and if so - how long it will take to bring from the opposite side of the country (or even from overseas). When I took off my OEM runflats (which were Goodyear Excellence 245/55/17s) the original intention was the tyre dealer was going to buy them off me. However in the end he could not get a price out of Goodyear Australia because they were not even listed in their stock and were not going to stock them until later this year. My understanding is that the four 245/55/17s that came off my car (and I still have) are the only four (spare) tyres in the country.

Tony

[Dr Stig 2]

Tony,

What sort of change over price did you get?

And which tyre retailer was willing to do this for you?

[brissim]

Originally Posted by Dr Stig 2

Tony,

What sort of change over price did you get?

And which tyre retailer was willing to do this for you?

Thats perhaps the issue I was trying to get across at the end of my last post. While it was the original intention that the tyre retailer was going to give me a "trade-in" value for the runflats, at the time the retailer could not get a wholesale/retail price out of Goodyear Australia because they hadn't got the tyres listed and were not intending to do so until later this year. As a result, I ended up keeping the four OEM tyres with a promise from the tyre retailer to "buy" them off me if and when he could get a price out of Goodyear. As I say, this was the situation with my tyres, not sure about other sizes which I understand are largely Dunlop Sport Max TT.

The tyre retailer was Bridgestone Select/Vitanza's at Doggett St Fortitude Valley here in Brisbane. I was referred to them by my salesman at Brisbane BMW and they apparently do all the "tyre" work for the dealership.

This in itself I find interesting - the BMW dealers themselves don't apparently keep stock of the runflat tyres - its done by tyre retailers. So when your local BMW dealer says they have spare runflats in stock - press them specifically about whether they (the dealers) have the spares or whether it is outside tyre retailers that have them (and therefore outside the control of BMW Australia and any promises they may make).

Tony

[Dr Stig 2]

Hmmm. Not good.
I was hoping there was a precedent set to do a change out of the tyres when new...

I ended up waiting with the Z4 until the backs were trashed but then I still had 60%+ of the tread on the fronts - which was sacrificed by changing all four to non-RFT at the same time (to get the Goodyear buy three get one free deal - which made great sense on $800+ tyres).

On BMW keeping stock - if you go to Westside BMW, if you stand at the spare parts counter you can see about 10-20 tyres up on the racks out the back room. They all look like X5 20" and 21" tyres though, so maybe there is a need for them to keep that type in stock.
They may have others out of sight - they are just the ones you can see easily in the warehouse from the sales counter.
They have had tyres on those racks every time I have gone in - so they must keep stock for at least some sizes.

[brissim]

Originally Posted by Dr Stig 2

On BMW keeping stock - if you go to Westside BMW, if you stand at the spare parts counter you can see about 10-20 tyres up on the racks out the back room. They all look like X5 20" and 21" tyres though, so maybe there is a need for them to keep that type in stock.
They may have others out of sight - they are just the ones you can see easily in the warehouse from the sales counter.
They have had tyres on those racks every time I have gone in - so they must keep stock for at least some sizes.

I'm sure BMW dealers keep some stock of RF tyres. But when you consider the range of BMWs and the variation in tyre size that this results in, each dealer can't possibly keep a full stock of RF tyres for every BMW. So just imagine what the situation is for your local Bob Jane.

What I suspect compounds the situation specifically for owners of F25 X3s is that the tyre size on the F25 is - for Australia - a very odd tyre size. This doesn't apply in the US or Europe/UK. It doesn't matter what size wheels you have - 17", 18", 19" - because of the variations in tread width and profile, all tyres for the F25 X3 have an overall tyre diameter of 702-704mm. For Australia, this is pretty much an "orphan" size of tyre - irrespective of whether you talking about runflats or conventional tyres. Spend a bit of time on Aussie tyre manufacturers websites and you will see what I mean.

So I suspect the range and stock of replacement tyres in Australia for the F25 is not going to be that large and probably not distributed that well around the country.

Tony

[ppduck]

wow tony,
you are so detail with regards to the R-F tyres..... very good analysis....
i probably reconsider to replace all 4 R-F with normal tyres when they arrive in Nov 11.
how much you paid for your new non R-F tyres?
cheers....

btw, i realise there is another customer like you that replacing the 18" tyres on X3 30d with the 17" tyres..... in sydney...
now i probably understand why he changed....