How the BMW X3 has evolved to become a modern marvel

Once upon a time in a land far, far, away came a BMW X3, a never-before-seen beast. The time was 2004 and the land was a mysterious place called Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape of South Africa.

We were witnessing the birth of the coming SUV boom, and our keeper for this trip was the most noble of kings, Sir Richard of Carter, a lawyer, an advisor to the President, and now the Director of Global Communications for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Breaking new ground

The BMW X3 was described as the first premium vehicle of its kind in the Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) segment below the X5, setting out in the market to conquer roads and tracks the world over. A time when X1, X2, X4, X5 and X7 did not exist and unpainted black bumpers on a premium SUV were allowed.

Your choice of powerplants at the local launch came in the form of a 170 kW naturally aspirated 3.0-litre straight-six and a 142 kW naturally aspirated 2.5-litre straight-six. Turbocharging was something reserved for the still-to-arrive 2.0-litre and 3.0-litre diesels.

When manual was king

The BMW X3 3.0i came standard with a five-speed automatic transmission, and the 2.5i variant was kitted with a six-speed manual gearbox, and if you wanted an auto here, you had to pay for this optional extra. M was a letter reserved for their fastest sedans and coupes only, and not for anything that could be called a family car.

Pricing at was R385 000 for the BMW X3 2.5i, R398 000 for the X3 2.5i Steptronic and R428 000 for X3 3.0i Steptronic. A Sport package would set you back R17 900 on the 2.5i and R17 000 on the 3.0i.

For some perspective, we were paying around R4.50 for a litre of fuel then. The prime lending rate was 11% down from a high of 25.5% in 1998, and the average house price was R573 000.

Times have changed

Today the BMW X3 M40i on review will set you back a cool before adding any of the options on a very long list. Naturally aspirated engines are long dead. M badges now sell best on SUVs. Fuel goes for R18.11 per litre. A house will cost you R1 349 337. And this new BMW X3 is made right here in South Africa. Times have changed.

Just look this X3 M40i now, it looks like it belongs on a racetrack. It features huge intake grills keeping everything cool, M Performance brakes, 21-inch wheels on sticky rubber, a lighting fast eight-speed Steptronic gearbox, and a state-of-the-art 285kW/500Nm turbocharged engine. The mill offers enough power and torque to break traction on tar, never mind dirt, if adequately provoked.

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I most certainly never went anywhere where the tried and tested xDrive all-wheel drive system would need to get down and dirty in the wild. In fact, I avoided anything even closely resembling a dirt road on those low-profile tyres.

I used the BMW X3 M40i like most owners would, and that was to blast around the suburbs and on the open road. This is one fast road car with some extra SUV space for the kids as a valid excuse to choose one over a normal sedan or hatch.

Tech fest

Getting inside the X3 is probably the part that would truly blow the mind of a much younger me. And anybody else that thought that adaptive corner lights and navigation were ground-breaking back in 2004.

BMW Laser Light is on offer now, and the likes of BMW Live Cockpit Professional that includes the iDrive operating system with a touch controller, Head-Up Display, smartphone integration, Amazon Alexa that makes it possible to use Amazon’s voice service inside the vehicle.

It also has a 3D environment visualisation called Assisted View, Parking Assistant Plus that includes the reverse assistant, which helps retrace a completed line in reverse. And there is BMW Drive Recorder, which takes videos around the vehicle to name just some of the tech available.

Back to the future

Driving Assistant Professional is available for the first time as an option along with the likes of Active Cruise Control with improved functionality in the city, junction warning with additional city brake function, emergency lane assistant and improved steering / lane guidance assistant.

These features complete the whole Back to the Future feeling I got when driving the X3 M40i.

To read more about the BMW X3 M40i, click here.