Quote:
Originally Posted by zer0cool
I bought a lightly pre-owned (~3000 miles) X3M about a year ago. I moved from a hybrid Cayenne to the X3M because I felt the Cayenne hybrid was just too heavy and wanted a lighter, better driving SUV.
The X3M is of course much lighter and drives much better. Overall I would say it's a great car, has tremendous power and handles extremely well for an SUV. Technology wise, honestly after CarPlay came out, I rarely ever use a car's own OS, and both cars had ACC, so it's basically a wash. The big difference, and pretty much the reason I am saying goodbye to the car after just 1 year, is comfort. The Cayenne was just so much more comfortable compared to the X3M. I kind of could put up with the extremely stiff ride of the car (still found it to be annoying), but the wife absolutely hated it. She found the car extremely uncomfortable, to the point of painful and wanted me to sell it soon after we got it. She also felt the msports seats are way too hard. Moreover took a road trip late last year with my mom in the car and she threw-up due to car-sickness... so that was pretty much the last straw.
The fortunate thing is that due to the used-car market, selling the car is easy, but then buying is correspondingly hard. So after a long effort, we are back to a Cayenne... non-hybrid this time so it's only a little bit heavier.
In summary, I still think the X3M is a great driving SUV; however it's greatly lacking in the comfort area... basically very uncomfortable. If the suspension can be just a bit softer, like maybe to an Msport 3 series level at "comfort" setting, it would be one of the best cars around. But as of now, I ve had to say my goodbye.
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Thanks for posting. What did you think of the X3M exhaust?
I also have a Cayenne on the list for a next vehicle so this thread is helpful.
I am now in the middle of an X3M rental in Germany. 200kph is all I am good for. The car has more but I don’t have the nerve in Frankfurt-Cologne traffic. Speed differential vs slower traffic requires more trust than I am willing to grant in other drivers’ lane discipline.
The exhaust moans and drones at speed. Not a fan.
The suspension is bouncy, definitely bouncy. This is avoidable by BMW. The harshness is better than I expected. The car has 20” wheels, not plush 19”. Maybe the better quality surfaces of German roads is playing a role.
Brakes are great as expected and required for a car of this capability.
Seats are reasonable. If a person is not in the “healthy” BMI range I expect the seats would be objectionably hard. The leather is quite nice.
Overall: meh
I want more comfort and don’t need all of the performance. The Cayenne S seems like the right balance. I want to rent or test drive a Macan S to complete the comparison vs the G01 platform.