X-tending the brand: BMW puts another "X" in the SUV column with hopes of bringing more converts to the brand

Automotive Industries, Dec, 2003 by John Peter

Tom Purves, BMW's chairman and CEO has plenty to crow about. Enjoying a renaissance as of late, BMW is on track to end 2003 with record sales in North America and with three new models launching in the last three months it doesn't look like the tide will be ebbing too soon.

"We deliver quality to people who see it and understand it," says Purves. "BMW, in its heart of hearts, understands that it's in the premium car business ,and it can't please everyone."

But Purves is looking to expand on those that BMW can please, looking to conquer 1.5 percent of the U.S. market and he sees products like the new X3 Sport Activity Vehicle as a catalyst to help BMW do just that.

BMW entry to the burgeoning North American luxury SUV market four years ago met with skepticism, not just from the automotive press, but from Purves himself.

"We were afraid," Purves says, "that we were going to sell a lot of X5s to 5 Series owners."

But X5 proved them all wrong. BMW's self-professed "Ultimate Driving Machine" of luxury SUVs has posted six-figure production numbers in its four year run, requiring BMW to expand capacity at its Spartanburg, S.C., assembly plant, but most importantly bringing new customers to the BMW brand.

The lessons learned from X5 have been applied to X3. BMW sees X3 as filling a niche, complimenting the portfolio and, most o[ all, bringing even more converts to BMW. In fact, Purves goes as tar to say that the X3, "will bring us more new customers than any other BMW."

X3's SAV acronym pretty much sums it up. BMW says that it's an SUV for young, athletic people with an active lifestyle, the kind who will throw their skis or bike in the back and head out for the day.

X3 resembles a tall five-door on stilts and fits well into the crossover SUV genre created by competitors like the Acura MDX and Lexus RX330. The vehicle, designed in Germany, bears a close resemblance to the X5.

A crisp line runs the length of the vehicle from bulging front fenders to bulging rear fenders, even dissecting the fuel filler cover. There are plenty of quality cues like the tail-lights, mounted on the tailgate that wrap around into the fenders. Fit and finish is what's expected from a luxury-brand manufacturer like BMW.

The X3 is not that much smaller than XS, giving up only 1.1 inches in wheelbase at 110.1 to the X5's 111. The X3 is 0.7 inches narrower, 1.5 inches shorter and weighs 628 pounds less. Though it loses 1.5 cu.-ft, of interior volume to X5 it picks up two more cu.-ft. of cargo volume.

The X3 has, what BMW calls, an essentially new chassis. While the unibody structure is unique to the vehicle it does utilize some floor pan stampings from the 3 series.

The front suspension is an X3-only version of the same double-pivot strut-type layout found on the 7 series, 5 series and X5. X3 adds a front thrust plate that reinforces the front suspension and acts as a skid plate.

The rear suspension borrows its concept from the Z4 and 3 series. The multi-link system, which BMW refers to as Central Link, adds dual diagonal bracing and other specific reinforcements to help beef up the underbody area where the suspension attaches.

The suspension utilizes aluminum forward lower links on the front and upper transverse links on the rear as well as stabilizer bars both front and rear and txx4n-tube gas-pressure shock absorbers.

Bert Holland, product manager for the X3, says that in initial discussions with the chief suspension engineer it was decided that the components would be made robust enough so that no compromises would have to be made to either off-road ruggedness or sports car-like handling.

"These vehicles are driven like trucks in countries like Russia," says Holland, "so the suspension system had to be able to handle that kind of driving."

Power-assist rack and pinion steering is standard on X3 with BMWs Servotronic vehicle-speed-sensitive assist as a stand-alone option.

17-inch H-rated all-season radials mounted on 17-inch alloy wheels are standard. BMW offers five wheel options for the X3. Four-wheel ventilated disc brakes are standard. Front rotors are 12.8-inch with 12.6inch rotors at the rear.

The X3 is powered by two versions of BMW's DOHC, 24-valve reline six. The 2.5L is rated at 184 hp at 6,000 rpm and 175 lb.-ft. of torque at 3,500 rpm. The 3.0L makes 225 hp at 5,900 rpm and 214 lb.-ft, of torque at 3,500 rpm. Both engines share BMW's M45 architecture that features aluminum block and cylinder heads, double VANOS steplessly variable intake- and exhaust-valve timing and a dual resonance intake system.

The engines bolt to either a ZF Type H six-speed manual of five-speed automatic with STEPTRONIC, with both sport and manual modes.

The X3 and the 2004 X5 feature BMWs new xDrive four-wheel-drive system. The system, designed to aid in vehicle dynamics as well as traction, variably transmits torque from front to rear as driving conditions demand (see sidebar).

The sporty theme is carried on into the interior, which borrows the radio, navigation system and instrument cluster layout from the Z4, though the graphics on the cluster have been redesigned specific to X3.