Bmw New Car Prices:-
Starts at Rs. 41,86,814
BMW X3 2011 xDrive20d-Rs. 41,86,814
BMW X3 2011 xDrive30d-Rs. 48,42,212
This review begins with two observations. First, the best off-road vehicle I’ve ever driven was a Jeep Wrangler. Second, the worst on-road vehicle I’ve ever driven was a Jeep Wrangler. And that is the dilemma that manufacturers find themselves in when they create SUVs; which direction to tilt towards.
True off-roading requires locking diffs, no anti-sway bars, knobby tires, excess ground clearance, a real low range gear, and big approach and departure angles. And each of those features is nigh on worthless on any dry, paved road. So, as a manufacturer you can bias an SUV for an extreme or somewhere in between. I know of no combination of features that can excel at both off-road and on-road performance at the same time.
Subsequently, SUVs have always puzzled me. I know why Suburbans and their ilk are needed by ranchers, hunters, and other people that have to get lots of stuff to the remotest of locations (for example, surveyors). But they are truly out of their element on suburban residential streets and inter-urban freeways. A mini van is the best people/cargo hauler in that environment or if you really have to haul a lot of stuff, or people, or both, a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. (If I ever find myself hankering for an RV it’ll be Sprinter based, it is one helluva good vehicle!).
You have to ask why SUVs proliferated to the extent that minivans now have only a feeble whiff of their former market share. And one reason that comes up in talking to car guys is the notion that someone has convinced a generation of drivers that the world is a dangerous place, just watch local TV news if you don’t think it is.
Accordingly, you’ll need a rugged, all-wheel-drive sport utility to ensure you get to the mall in one piece! (I sat through a Chrysler styling preso years ago where the Pacifica was reviewed; the words used to encapsulate their efforts were, ‘handsome protector’.) All that scary nonsense is not a good reason to buy an SUV but people still do. And since everyone is building SUVs – and making good money off of them to boot – what’s a manufacturer to do. Build their own of course.
BMW joined the parade with the BMW X5 . They followed that with a sibling, the X3, in 2004. While these are good all-weather, all-road vehicles, they certainly are biased to the on-road end of the SUV spectrum. And that’s good. In the grand scheme of things, most buyers of SUVs never take their cars off road, let alone take them on gravel roads, they might get dirty, after all.
2011 BMW X3 offroad
BMW’s all wheel drive system is known as xDrive and it’s optionally available on a number of its vehicles and standard on the X3, X5, and X6. The system is biased towards the rear wheels under normal conditions and makes extensive use of data from the vehicle’s sensors – wheel speed sensors, steering angle sensor, throttle position sensor – and then manipulates the xDrive differential and other systems (braking and engine management, for example).
The extensive use of the information being gathered by the vehicle while underway allows the xDrive system to intervene earlier when a potential loss of traction on an axle or even an individual wheel is sensed. This has been shown in a video making the rounds of the intertubes, found here. The upshot is a a vehicle that can handle bad weather and bad roads with aplomb, while still feeling good when faced with a great road and sunny weather. And that’s a good compromise.
The X3 will initially be released in xDrive 35i form in the US, using the N55B30 turbocharged in-line six, with the xDrive28i to follow. In other markets there’s a choice between the xDrive35i and the xDrive20d (a fabulous engine that we wish the US market could partake of). The eight speed automatic is a Hobson’s choice since it’s the only transmission available. But it is a really good transmission and helps with fuel economy given its additional gear ratios.
Starts at Rs. 41,86,814
BMW X3 2011 xDrive20d-Rs. 41,86,814
BMW X3 2011 xDrive30d-Rs. 48,42,212
This review begins with two observations. First, the best off-road vehicle I’ve ever driven was a Jeep Wrangler. Second, the worst on-road vehicle I’ve ever driven was a Jeep Wrangler. And that is the dilemma that manufacturers find themselves in when they create SUVs; which direction to tilt towards.
True off-roading requires locking diffs, no anti-sway bars, knobby tires, excess ground clearance, a real low range gear, and big approach and departure angles. And each of those features is nigh on worthless on any dry, paved road. So, as a manufacturer you can bias an SUV for an extreme or somewhere in between. I know of no combination of features that can excel at both off-road and on-road performance at the same time.
Subsequently, SUVs have always puzzled me. I know why Suburbans and their ilk are needed by ranchers, hunters, and other people that have to get lots of stuff to the remotest of locations (for example, surveyors). But they are truly out of their element on suburban residential streets and inter-urban freeways. A mini van is the best people/cargo hauler in that environment or if you really have to haul a lot of stuff, or people, or both, a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. (If I ever find myself hankering for an RV it’ll be Sprinter based, it is one helluva good vehicle!).
You have to ask why SUVs proliferated to the extent that minivans now have only a feeble whiff of their former market share. And one reason that comes up in talking to car guys is the notion that someone has convinced a generation of drivers that the world is a dangerous place, just watch local TV news if you don’t think it is.
Accordingly, you’ll need a rugged, all-wheel-drive sport utility to ensure you get to the mall in one piece! (I sat through a Chrysler styling preso years ago where the Pacifica was reviewed; the words used to encapsulate their efforts were, ‘handsome protector’.) All that scary nonsense is not a good reason to buy an SUV but people still do. And since everyone is building SUVs – and making good money off of them to boot – what’s a manufacturer to do. Build their own of course.
BMW joined the parade with the BMW X5 . They followed that with a sibling, the X3, in 2004. While these are good all-weather, all-road vehicles, they certainly are biased to the on-road end of the SUV spectrum. And that’s good. In the grand scheme of things, most buyers of SUVs never take their cars off road, let alone take them on gravel roads, they might get dirty, after all.
2011 BMW X3 offroad
BMW’s all wheel drive system is known as xDrive and it’s optionally available on a number of its vehicles and standard on the X3, X5, and X6. The system is biased towards the rear wheels under normal conditions and makes extensive use of data from the vehicle’s sensors – wheel speed sensors, steering angle sensor, throttle position sensor – and then manipulates the xDrive differential and other systems (braking and engine management, for example).
The extensive use of the information being gathered by the vehicle while underway allows the xDrive system to intervene earlier when a potential loss of traction on an axle or even an individual wheel is sensed. This has been shown in a video making the rounds of the intertubes, found here. The upshot is a a vehicle that can handle bad weather and bad roads with aplomb, while still feeling good when faced with a great road and sunny weather. And that’s a good compromise.
The X3 will initially be released in xDrive 35i form in the US, using the N55B30 turbocharged in-line six, with the xDrive28i to follow. In other markets there’s a choice between the xDrive35i and the xDrive20d (a fabulous engine that we wish the US market could partake of). The eight speed automatic is a Hobson’s choice since it’s the only transmission available. But it is a really good transmission and helps with fuel economy given its additional gear ratios.
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