[stelthy]

I wanted to put together a comprehensive review of how the X3 pulls a trailer. There are not a lot of people towing with these cars and I made some assumptions when I purchased it with a plan to tow close to max with it.

TL;DR: A 4 cyl X3 pulls a ~4000+ trailer just fine.

Before I get into the impressions, I think it’s important to note what I am pulling and what options my car has, as that can make a big difference.

The towed load is a 20-foot boat with 150 HP outboard on a tandem axle trailer with hydraulic surge brakes (typical on a boat trailer). No trailer brake controller needed and pretty aerodynamic. The total weight of the boat and trailer “wet” is about ~4100 lbs; 950 trailer, 2600 boat and motor, ~500 lbs of gear and fuel. Tongue weight is estimated at around 400 lbs (again, typical loading for a boat on a tandem). The overall trailer length is about 26 feet.

The car is a 2018 X3 30i, with M-Sport package, but no adaptive suspension or M-Sport brakes. It also has navigation, but no driving assistance features. I installed a stealth hitch and a BMW OEM wiring harness to take advantage of the BMW stability enhancements and automatic PDC disable, it was coded by my dealership as a “retrofit”. I use 93 octane premium all the time.

On to the review:
I setup the car in Sport Individual with steering, and trans in SPORT and the engine in SPORT PLUS. This helped keep the trans from up-shifting too quickly and gave the unloaded steering a little extra heft. In addition, I set the parking brake to “auto hold”, to engage the brake anytime the rig was stopped.

Power: The small turbo motor and 8 speed work nicely together to get the load off the line and keep the engine from lugging on up-shifts. Low rpm power is actually very good, the rig cruised on the highway at 70 (the speed limit around here) in 8th gear at 1800 rpm, downshifting only to tackle climbs for overpasses. Acceleration from 35 to 70 (merging) was acceptable at about 9 seconds on a slight incline. During the entire time towing, I never once felt the need to manually shift the car. I could have easily driven faster. As you would expect with all wheel drive, traction was never an issue. More power would be nice, but it did just fine.

Steering: The steering was excellent. I was expecting a lighter steering feel because of the load at the back, but it felt just the same without the trailer. Tracked dead straight, with good off-center feel even with heavy wind gusts.

Handling: There is some squat in the rear, but it isn’t overloaded (when I stepped on the trailer tongue to cross, the car drops another inch or two). The ride is firm but not rough, side to side motions are well controlled, but I would like a little more damping up and down. You do feel the trailer back there. It was VERY windy for part of it (20-30 mph headwind gusting), and there was some movement of the tow vehicle. The car also held 7th gear during this section. Without any wind, the handling is much better, however, big bumps and heaves in the pavement give the car some forward and back movement. This may be more pronounced because of the surge brakes engaging briefly during the forward and back movement. I have felt this same kind of thing when pulling trailers with larger tow vehicles. On smoother roads without heaves in the pavement, the car handled fine. I had a few higher speed turns and one faster-than-I-should-have lane change, and the trailer didn’t push the car around at all. Adaptive suspension might help here with more damping, I would try it in SPORT.

Brakes: The brakes are more than adequate. As with power, more is always better, so the M-Sport brakes would be nice. Although I will say a properly setup trailer with its own brakes won’t need the car to do much braking. I had two “hard braking applications”, both times the car tracked dead straight and slowed quickly. I wasn’t engaging abs or anything, but it did what I asked of it without drama.

Gas Mileage: Not bad, actually. I got 16 highway (no trailer it would be in the 30’s) at 70, and 13 or so around the city. I don’t have a boost gauge, but I promise I was in boost the whole highway trip…

A few notes:

The stealth hitch is a nice piece; there’s no play in the hitch ball, so that helps reduce the clunking around that is present with a trailer with surge brakes. It’s not a deal breaker, but I would like the ball to be about 1 inch taller, to help offset some squat, but you can’t replace it with an inch taller tow bar like you can with any other receiver. If you are going to tow a heaver travel trailer, get the OEM BMW hitch, you will need weight distribution in the hitch because of the heavy tongue weights with travel trailers. You can’t use weight distribution with the Stealth Hitch.

The BMW wiring is a must have in my opinion. There is extra piece of mind with the enhanced traction & sway control, and the tow ball camera is a great addition. While testing my wiring and the coding, I also noticed it will tell you if you have a burned-out trailer bulb. I’ve had trailer wiring come unplugged while towing once before and it would have been nice to be notified about it by the car…

To conclude a book of a post, the car performed as I hoped, just fine. I would have liked a little more power (though not as much as I was initially worried about…), and a little more damping of movement of the trailer. Adaptive suspension my help this. As with anything, your mileage may vary. Let me know if you have any questions.

[kevinkay]

GREAT write-up, thanks
Do you have blind spot warning?
Its my understanding that after wiring harness/coding for towing that gets shut off like PDC?

[prolix21]

Thanks for sharing this, a large reason we bought the X3 was for it's towing capabilities - which are pretty far ahead of most other vehicles in it's class. Our X3 is still on order, since we wanted the factory hitch/wiring setup. Our dealer didn't recommend doing it as a retrofit. I doubt we'll be towing much more than 2-3k lbs with ours.

[Bristle Hound]

Thanks for taking the time buddy
Interesting thoughts ...

I’m waiting delivery on a new 20d X3 with a factory tow bar which I intend using to tow a caravan

I opted for the Msport+ which in the Uk comes with Msport+ brakes, adaptive suspension as well as other bits & pieces

[Norman56uk]

hi folks
I have a x3 m40i with an removeable aftermarket towbar. towing a 1500kg caravan approx 27ft
It tows really well. vEry stable and could easily exceed the speed limit.
Even in poor conditions, heavy rain and cross winds it was stable.
Was a bit concerned about torque having previously had a 435D, but had on cause to worry.
suspension is not the active version and it sits fairly level. You only feel the weight of caravan upon initial movement. Once moving you tend to forget about the caravan.
just set the cruise control and sit back and enjoy the ride

[Dandle]

I tow a 1700kg (3700ish lbs) caravan with an M40i. The nose weight is set at just under the 100kg car and caravan limit and it tows really well, has loads of power and is really stable even at speed. It returns about 17-19 UK mpg while towing which is only just slightly lower than my average (albeit a bit slower). I find the best mode for towing is comfort which is a lot more relaxed and the car adapts knowing that its towing.
Its in a different league to my old BMW 530d F11 and is much more composed.

[stelthy]

Originally Posted by kevinkay

GREAT write-up, thanks
Do you have blind spot warning?
Its my understanding that after wiring harness/coding for towing that gets shut off like PDC?

I don't have Blind Spot monitoring. But I do believe it gets turned off completely...

I know newer Fords have enhanced blind spot monitoring to cover the trailer also, but you have to enter in the trailer's specs into the Infotainment so it knows how far back to monitor. BMW could do something like this, but probably won't...

[383vett]

Can you utilize a load distribution hitch to decrease the amount of weight (sag) over the rear wheels?

[stelthy]

Originally Posted by 383vett

Can you utilize a load distribution hitch to decrease the amount of weight (sag) over the rear wheels?

You can utilize load distribution with the OEM hitch. But not with the stealth hitch I am using.

Also, no trailer with surge brakes can utilize load distribution (that I know of), so even if I had the OEM hitch, it wouldn't help me.

The squat really isn't bad at all though, very reasonable...

[corn18]

Well, we went and looked at travel trailers this weekend and found the one we like.

Rockwood Mini Lite 2109S








Going to add a WDH (probably a ProPride 3P) and the Tekonsha wireless brake controller. It's at the limits, but I think we can manage it.

[GarLeonard88]

Hi all, I have just purchased a G01 M40d+ in grey. I currently owned a F16 X6 40d and tow a twin axle caravan, obviously with the X6 and air suspension the caravan sat perfectly level. Understanding the X3 does not have air suspension, how level does the trailer/caravan sit with the new G01 X3? keen to see some pictures.

Many Thanks

[Dandle]

It sits very well and drives much better on springs than my F11 did with airbags. In the picture above my car is fully loaded with the awning etc and 90kg on the ball. Doesn't matter if the caravan is double or single axle the nose weight will be about the same 90kg.

[kevinkay]

Originally Posted by stelthy

.

When do you get this message on the screen?
Do you get a "pop up" message when you plug the trailer plug into the hitch outlet?
I added a hitch, wiring, module and coded for hitch. Everything seems to work on my test lights (brake lights, blinker, tail lights) and when put into reverse I get a disclaimer about PDC and the option for zoom. I have not driven yet with a trailer plugged in.

attached image is from original poster.

THANKS

[Dandle]

Yes that message comes up when you first plug in, you can ok it but you will still have a status exclamation in the dash to show the vehicle is in trailer mode.

[GarLeonard88]

thankyou, this looks like it sits very well with a 1700kg van on the back and not much drop on the rear of the car seen as it was fully loaded also.

[vanbmw]

I towed my 3500lbs boat and trailer with my X3 M4.0 and it tows really well. Minimal rear squat. Plenty of power. Handling is still very good and it didn't seem to be at all unsettled with the boat in trail. The engine has plenty of power and it pulled it up a few large hills with no issues...never really had to push it all that hard either.

[g_bear]

i noticed that there is a M display on the instrument cluster, is this a default look for a 2018 X3?

[Jcbmally]

Originally Posted by g_bear

i noticed that there is a M display on the instrument cluster, is this a default look for a 2018 X3?

It is if its in Sport mode. Mine is a 2019 and is the same.

[Bristle Hound]

I have a Uk model 2020 model 20d M-Sport X3 & tow a MTPLM 1800kg Compass Camino 660

I spec'ed the M Sport plus back which among other things in the Uk market you get bigger brakes and adaptive suspension which I wanted for towing
Only other option I went for was the factory electric tow bar

Considering its 'only' a 20d it does tow surprisingly well
I get anywhere between 26-30mpg while towing seting the cruise control at 62mph (true 60mph)
I tow with sport individual with everything set at sport except the gearbox which I have at comfort. Seems to be happy towing with this gearbox setting as it makes the most of the 400nm of torque

Pic is car & van fully loaded

[brettl]

Originally Posted by Jcbmally

It is if its in Sport mode. Mine is a 2019 and is the same.

I have a 2019 30i x-line and everything is red if I’m in sport. I’d rather have the display shown here! Is it codeable with bimmercode?

[Admiral]

I'm on my third X3 with a 2.0D engine, I tow a 1600 KG caravan and found the X3 one of the best towcars that I have ever had ( and I have had quite a few over the years) and that is probably why I'm on my third. I get between 29 and 31 mpg depending on terrain so well pleased

[Jcbmally]

Originally Posted by brettl

I have a 2019 30i x-line and everything is red if I’m in sport. I’d rather have the display shown here! Is it codeable with bimmercode?

Not sure if it can be coded or not, it's just a standard screen when "Sport" is selected.