[TankerFlight]

Hello everyone! Just joined the forums, so forgive me as I'm sure many of my questions have probably been answered before.

I'm an Audi enthusiast by trade (had 3x S4s), now drive a Subaru (family), and I think it's time to start looking at German cars again. I'm in love (I think) with the X3M (non-competition), so looking for all your expert insight. Non-competition due to the harsh ride and negligible performance increase for the money.

1. How has reliability been on your X3M?
2. Should I buy or lease? This would be the "fun" car while I keep the Subaru.
3. Seems like these cars depreciate pretty significantly with sub-30k miles. Is that normal? If I buy, I would get a used one somewhere.
4. If you had to pick, have later model years fixed any issues from when the car came out?
5. When is the refresh? 2025, I think?
6. Any must-haves in options?
7. Is the X3M that much "better" than the M40i?

I appreciate everyone's help as I look into the X3M. Biggest thing will be convincing the wife....

[HeatJoey]

I’m In a similar boat, expect I have wife approval already lol. I can’t speak for the m as I don’t have it yet but I do have a 23 x3m40 and it’s been great so far. My only complaint is the seats are terrible but that’s not an issue with the m.

I too am looking for a slightly preowned .they are hard to find around here. I want a 22 as I like the updated tail lights etc and need as much warranty as I can get . Sorry I can’t add real value here lol but I’m curious to see answers from current owners.

Agreed they depreciate , I had one in my hands that I should have bought last month, it was a 22 with 8k, cpo, asking 67k. I don’t recall its original msrp but it had comp package so I assume it was just about it over 80k. I guess it’s a pay to play kind of deal lol. It’s not any worse than my current m40 that I paid 63k for and now it seems it’s worth about 48-49 so basically same depreciation as an M? Mine is only 7 months old lol

[M4Lou]

GF has a 2021 M40i. Great vehicle. Pretty fast/sporty and still very utilitarian. My biggest single complaint about that vehicle is that you have to fumble around for sport mode on the console. No "M" button on steering wheel.

I just bought a 2024 X3Mc - it's a car you shouldn't "talk" yourself into. Very fast. Burns plenty of gas. If you want a sports car/muscle car that subs as a utilitarian vehicle. That is the one. Super practical or even practical?? No not really.

You need to drive both.

[JABCAT]

My wife has a '22 X3M Competition currently 22k miles. She purchased it used with 15k miles.

1. Only regular maintenance so far, no issues.

2. I've never leased a vehicle, so I can't comment.

3. Yes they do. My wife paid right at $20k less than it would've cost to purchase the same optioned vehicle brand new. That's a pretty big hit for 1 year old and 15k miles, imo.

4. I much prefer iDrive 7 in her X3MC to the iDrive 8 in my new '23 M2. It's much more user friendly & intuitive. I also prefer actual buttons for certain things like heated/ventilated seats vs having to scroll through the screen to turn those things on/off. iDrive 8 has so many useless apps to scroll through to simply try to find vehicle settings. I don't need a Dominos Pizza app in my car, for example.

6. Personal preference. All my vehicles have Head Up Display, so I now hate driving vehicles without it. Some people have to have the adaptive cruise control, whereas I don't like it at all. My wife's X3MC has the Executive Pkg which is nice tho we turn off the gesture control feature. She has front ventilated seats, which I don't think work that great compared to other vehicles we've had with that feature. I wouldn't pay the $500 for it. I also wouldn't pay for the wireless charging pad as it basically just overheats your phone.

7. My wife drove the M40i first and was not impressed at all. If she didn't see the MC, she would've left and looked for an X5. The clueless sales guy kept trying to convince her to buy the M40i for the cushier ride, less power, etc. He clearly didn't know who he was talking to

I can't compare the ride quality between the X3M and X3MC, but I'll say the tires make a difference. Her MC had summer high-performance ZP tires on it, and I recently replaced them with Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4s. The ride is noticeably better in all suspension settings.

[HeatJoey]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

My wife has a '22 X3M Competition currently 22k miles. She purchased it used with 15k miles.

1. Only regular maintenance so far, no issues.

2. I've never leased a vehicle, so I can't comment.

3. Yes they do. My wife paid right at $20k less than it would've cost to purchase the same optioned vehicle brand new. That's a pretty big hit for 1 year old and 15k miles, imo.

4. I much prefer iDrive 7 in her X3MC to the iDrive 8 in my new '23 M2. It's much more user friendly & intuitive. I also prefer actual buttons for certain things like heated/ventilated seats vs having to scroll through the screen to turn those things on/off. iDrive 8 has so many useless apps to scroll through to simply try to find vehicle settings. I don't need a Dominos Pizza app in my car, for example.

6. Personal preference. All my vehicles have Head Up Display, so I now hate driving vehicles without it. Some people have to have the adaptive cruise control, whereas I don't like it at all. My wife's X3MC has the Executive Pkg which is nice tho we turn off the gesture control feature. She has front ventilated seats, which I don't think work that great compared to other vehicles we've had with that feature. I wouldn't pay the $500 for it. I also wouldn't pay for the wireless charging pad as it basically just overheats your phone.

7. My wife drove the M40i first and was not impressed at all. If she didn't see the MC, she would've left and looked for an X5. The clueless sales guy kept trying to convince her to buy the M40i for the cushier ride, less power, etc. He clearly didn't know who he [...]

This is what I’m looking for ! Now that I’ve made up my mind to get the m, I see none Availabke , which is fine as I’ll be patient and wait. Thanks for the info

[JABCAT]

I'll also add, my wife changes vehicles every 2-3 years, but puts a lot of miles on them due to work, thus no lease. We purchased this used because of the large depreciation and no real "deals" on new.

Her previous 4 vehicles we purchased brand new because we were able to get significant $$ off that allowed us to not lose much when we trade in. We also trade in because we get a nice sales tax break.

For the X3MC she traded a '23 Grand Cherokee L Summit 4x4 that was only 11 months old. We ordered it for 4% below invoice and with the trade-in of her previous vehicle plus sales tax savings we actually came out ahead with $ in our pocket.

Like I mentioned above, the MSRP of my wife's vehicle now is $88,695 and she paid $67,995 I think. I wouldn't buy one of these brand new unless you were planning to keep it for some time.

[HeatJoey]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

I'll also add, my wife changes vehicles every 2-3 years, but puts a lot of miles on them due to work, thus no lease. We purchased this used because of the large depreciation and no real "deals" on new.

Her previous 4 vehicles we purchased brand new because we were able to get significant $$ off that allowed us to not lose much when we trade in. We also trade in because we get a nice sales tax break.

For the X3MC she traded a '23 Grand Cherokee L Summit 4x4 that was only 11 months old. We ordered it for 4% below invoice and with the trade-in of her previous vehicle plus sales tax savings we actually came out ahead with $ in our pocket.

Like I mentioned above, the MSRP of my wife's vehicle now is $88,695 and she paid $67,995 I think. I wouldn't buy one of these brand new unless you were planning to keep it for some time.

Yes sounds about right. I’m in a situation too where I use it for business and personal so it gets lots of miles. There is an x4m that I just found my dealer has, might go see it even though I like the x3 shape much better, it’s also yellow which scares me a little lol, but it does do a good job of being bold and not looking like every other suv around here lol.

[TankerFlight]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm definitely leaning the X3M and pretty surprised on the depreciation. A 2022 coming off lease is at least $20k off MSRP. Why is that?

I don't see other performance SUVs dropping like this. The GLE AMG is still up close to $100k and the RS5 sedans hold their value pretty well. I'm not complaining as it helps me and to convince the wife (lol), but curious why this is the case.

[Potatohead-M2]

A GLE AMG competes with an X5M, so yes it’s going to be more expensive. The X3/4M competes with the GLC63s. AMG typically depreciate like bombs too. RS’s aren’t usually as bad because they don’t produce as many.

[cardtables]

Regarding depreciation, I bought a 2022 in February of 2023, with 7000 miles on it, for $15K under MSRP. Their loss is your gain if you go the lightly used route. Absolutely love mine, still get giddy everytime I hop in.

[Potatohead-M2]

Mine was 108k new (Canada) and I got it at 2.75 years old and 44k km for 74k.

[TankerFlight]

Originally Posted by cardtables

Regarding depreciation, I bought a 2022 in February of 2023, with 7000 miles on it, for $15K under MSRP. Their loss is your gain if you go the lightly used route. Absolutely love mine, still get giddy everytime I hop in.

Yea, that's what I'm hoping for. I think it would be better to do this than lease a new one for $15-20k more overall.

My main concern is maintenance and reliability. How hard are y'all driving the car? That will have an effect over long-term. How was a potential used car treated? Obviously you want to have fun. I see threads here with oil leaks, and that's not good. I've only had Audis and they've been solid, but I also have them since near new. I've never had a BMW.

[TankerFlight]

Hey all, so I'm now seriously looking to spec out an X3MC. Here's what I came up with based on the BMW website. What do you guys think? Add/delete anything? I feel like I just clicked everything, lol.


Exterior/Interior
Alpine White
Tartufo Extended Merino Leather
Carbon Fiber trim
21" V-Spoke bi-color jet black wheels, style 765M with performance non run-flat tires

Options
Driving Assistance Professional Package
Executive Package
M Compound Brakes with Red Calipers
—
Drive Recorder (does this record your 360 camera?)
Front ventilated seats
Wireless Charging

Questions I couldn't 100% confirm on the website:
1. Any air suspension options?
2. Adaptive vs "normal" cruise control?
3. Power folding mirrors when you lock the car?
3. Memory seats also keep position of side mirrors?
4. Can you unlock the car from the rear doors with the keyless remote?
5. Does it have the 360 camera and parking assist that it can parallel park or park into spots by itself (not needed, but kinda cool).
6. Is it only CarPlay or is there also Android Auto?

Thanks for all your insight!

[565565]

Originally Posted by TankerFlight

Hey all, so I'm now seriously looking to spec out an X3MC. Here's what I came up with based on the BMW website. What do you guys think? Add/delete anything? I feel like I just clicked everything, lol.


Exterior/Interior
Alpine White
Tartufo Extended Merino Leather
Carbon Fiber trim
21" V-Spoke bi-color jet black wheels, style 765M with performance non run-flat tires

Options
Driving Assistance Professional Package
Executive Package
M Compound Brakes with Red Calipers
—
Drive Recorder (does this record your 360 camera?)
Front ventilated seats
Wireless Charging

Questions I couldn't 100% confirm on the website:
1. Any air suspension options?
No
2. Adaptive vs "normal" cruise control?
Driving assistant pro gets you adaptive cruise

3. Power folding mirrors when you lock the car?
Yes

3. Memory seats also keep position of side mirrors?
Yes

4. Can you unlock the car from the rear doors with the keyless remote?
Yes

5. Does it have the 360 camera and parking assist that it can parallel park or park into spots by itself (not needed, but kinda cool).
Yes I believe it's in the exe package

6. Is it only CarPlay or is there also Android Auto?
Both

Thanks for all your insight!

Answered above

[M3Pilot09]

Get the 892 rims so much nicer.

[TankerFlight]

Thanks! How has reliability been for y'all? I test drove an X5 M60i and loved that V8 sound, but seems V8s are BMWs nemesis (?). The I6 in the X3M and M340i seem pretty stout and super reliable.

[BlownLSX]

Originally Posted by TankerFlight

Thanks! How has reliability been for y'all? I test drove an X5 M60i and loved that V8 sound, but seems V8s are BMWs nemesis (?). The I6 in the X3M and M340i seem pretty stout and super reliable.

Everything is pretty reliable if you take care of it and treat it correctly. And no, treating a car like a infant will not make it more reliable. Drive the car in a way it was intended and it will be fine. Regular and preventive maintenance goes a long way.

[Th3Walrus]

Originally Posted by TankerFlight

The I6 in the X3M and M340i seem pretty stout and super reliable.

Two different engines. The X3 M40i and M340i get the B58. X3M and M3 get the S58 (which is based off the B58).

[pmark837]

I also came from 20+ years in the Audi world, i still have my 2013 S5.

1. How has reliability been on your X3M?
Just regular maintenance

2. Should I buy or lease? This would be the "fun" car while I keep the Subaru.
I think you should lease just to see how you like this car, you can always buy it out after possibly with positive equity.

3. Seems like these cars depreciate pretty significantly with sub-30k miles. Is that normal? If I buy, I would get a used one somewhere.
I seem to see 30k range still up in the 60-70k range, after a lease you should be around 45-50k.

4. If you had to pick, have later model years fixed any issues from when the car came out?
i bought my 22 X3MC brand new, from what i know the same rear diff and driveshaft issues still exist across pre-lci and lci models.

5. When is the refresh? 2025, I think?
In europe, US may not get it until 26 maybe?

6. Any must-haves in options?
I have all the options, but Remote Start, and Driver assist package for my commute and all the bits in the executive package are things i use daily. I would avoid the wireless charging as that doesn't seem to be much more than a phone warmer, and cooled seats don't seem to be for everybody though i like mine. Exec pkg has the top down surround camera which is very useful.

7. Is the X3M that much "better" than the M40i?
It's a different feeling vehicle, the M40i is more like a regular X3 with a bigger motor upgrade. The seats in the M40 give me back pain while the M seats seem perfectly fine, i've got a few friends with m40's that i sit in regularly. Also the M suspension is often said to be too harsh for many, especially pre-lci. Coming from a S5 with 20" wheels and KW V3's it was perfectly fine to me, my wife hasn't complained and my son loves it. The LCI M40 seems to have better initial off the line acceleration due to the mild hybrid but beyond that is where the M's extra turbo and HP take over.


I hope this helps.

[TankerFlight]

2. Should I buy or lease? This would be the "fun" car while I keep the Subaru.
I think you should lease just to see how you like this car, you can always buy it out after possibly with positive equity.

-> What kind of lease terms would you need to have in order to get positive equity? You also mentioned below that a lease buyout (#3) would probably be cheaper.

3. Seems like these cars depreciate pretty significantly with sub-30k miles. Is that normal? If I buy, I would get a used one somewhere.
I seem to see 30k range still up in the 60-70k range, after a lease you should be around 45-50k.

4. If you had to pick, have later model years fixed any issues from when the car came out?
i bought my 22 X3MC brand new, from what i know the same rear diff and driveshaft issues still exist across pre-lci and lci models.

-> what are these issues? Can’t say I’ve seen posts about this yet, but I’m probably just missing them.

Thanks for the insight!

[pyo]

FYI, if you get an LCI ('22+) and it doesn't have Remote Start, you can always purchase it from the Connected Drive online store after you create a bmw account.

[TankerFlight]

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