A new diesel engine family will be the highlight of BMW’s facelifted X3, due for its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The Bavarian maker’s mid-sized SUV will be the first model to use BMW’s new 2.0-litre turbodiesel, four-cylinder engine family, which is claimed to increase refinement while reducing noise and vibration and lowering fuel consumption by up to 7 per cent.
The new diesel will be part of a line-up of four diesel and three petrol engines that range in economy from 4.7 to 8.3 litres/100km and in emissions from 124 to 193g/km.
The latest iteration of the X3 is essentially a facelift of the all-new, second-generation model that made its debut in 2010. Externally, it does little more than stretch the brand’s existing design language via a new grille, more aggressive-looking bumpers, redesigned air intakes at the front and new side mirrors, complete with integrated indicators. The car’s more expensive sheet metal parts remain largely unchanged.
While the move to the new X3 has seen model weights climb by between zero and 30kg over the existing car, BMW justifies this with a more extensive range of interior equipment, from radar cruise control to a full-colour head-up display and a lane-departure warning system. Cabin materials include new leather seat trims, a new high-gloss black panel to hide the climate-control air conditioning system, and a touchpad controller to manage the multi-media functions via the BMW iDrive module.
In spite of new netting arrangements and a 40:20:40 split-fold in the rear seats, the X3 retains the 550-litre capacity of the outgoing model and still retains its 1,600-litre capacity with the seats folded flat. That’s largely because the chassis architecture is unchanged, riding on the same 2,810mm wheelbase with the same 1,881mm width and identical track widths to the outgoing model. It retains the current car’s five-link rear suspension and strut front end.
The car will be sold in Ireland in June with 18d, 20d, 30d and 35d diesel variants and rear-drive versions of the 18d and the 20d. The headline act for the family is the new diesel motor, with the 1995cc four-cylinder engine boasting 2000 bar of injection pressure; in its 20d form it now has 143bhp of power at 4,000rpm and 400Nm of torque from just 1,750rpm. That's enough to push the X3 20d to 100km/h in a respectable 8.1 seconds and on to a 210km/h top speed.
Prices in Ireland start at €45,830 for the 18d SE, rising to €51,130 for the 20d SE and €64,950 for the 30d SE.