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By
EWAN KENNEDY
19 December 2005
When the new BMW X3 was launched in Australia midway through 2004 there
was a surprising omission from the range – a turbo-diesel option.
Though the price of fuel was considerably less then than today, many
felt it would still have been worthwhile to have a diesel.
Now BMW's reasoning has been revealed. A
new-generation engine was sitting on the drawing board and the
Australian importer decided to wait for it. That engine is now on
sale in this country and it’s a real beauty.
A 3.0-litre straight-six in the BMW tradition,
it has an impressive 160kW of power. Even more importantly,
there's 480Nm of torque all the way from 1750 rpm to 2750 rpm. In
other words most drivers will have the engine at its torque peak
virtually all the time.
It shows on the road, we’ve only had a short
introductory drive at this stage so can’t make full comments on
it, but this engine has performance that’s as good as a petrol
engine of the same capacity. BMW claims a zero to 100km/h time of
just 7.9 seconds and we see no reason to doubt that. The figure
quoted for the 3.0-litre petrol engine is 8.1 seconds. Not quite a
fair comparison as the diesel is strongly assisted by a
turbocharger whereas the petrol is naturally aspirated.
Turbo lag has all but been eliminated in this
new engine due to its variable-vane technology and the latest in
engine management computers. Any lag that is there is pretty well
masked by a fast-acting six-speed automatic transmission that
seems to be down to the required gear almost from the moment you
hit the accelerator.
At the same time as it provides all this grunt
and acceleration, the new BMW X3 turbo-diesel is as economical as
a four-cylinder petrol unit. At idle there's still a definite
diesel rattle, though it’s much more noticeable from outside the
car than inside. Once on the move it’s all but impossible to
distinguish the turbo-diesel’s sound from that of a good petrol
engine.
Interestingly, the X3 leaps ahead of its big
brother the X5 in the mechanical stakes by its use of this new
turbo-diesel engine. Undoubtedly the same engine will eventually
appear in the X5, in the meantime if you want the latest and
greatest in a BMW SUV, the X3 is the one you need,
Styling of the X3 is unmistakably new-generation
BMW. The X3 has complex shaping of the headlights, the traditional
BMW grille and that distinctive forward kink at the base of the
rear pillars.
Interestingly, the rear end of the X3 is much
squarer in appearance than that of the X5. This not only gives it
a definite character of its own, but also provides decent luggage
space. The X3 has almost the same wheelbase as the X5, giving it
decent legroom in all five seats.
Ride comfort from the X3 on normal roads is good
and this wagon sounds and feels nice and solid in on-road running
conditions. Off-road it has excellent traction by courtesy of
BMW's iDrive 4WD system.
BMW continues to use the acronym SAV (Sports
Activity Vehicle) for it’s 4WD models, feeling that an SUV
(Sports Utility Vehicle) has too many truck connotations. Were not
sure the generally public is going for the BMW nomenclature, but
who knows, it may be accepted in the long term.
Priced at $75,400, the BMW X3 3.0d comes into
Australia at only $3000 more than its petrol brother the X3 3.0i,
however at this stage the petrol engine comes with a five-speed
automatic, not the six-speed unit as used in the turbo-diesel.
There's no manual option in either of the 3.0-litre engines, that
being reserved for the smaller 2.5 petrol powerplant.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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