The BMW X3's biggest rival, the Mercedes-Benz GLC, has some serious competition. Which would you choose?
The 4th-gen X3 came to India just six months after it made its global debut, and that speaks volumes about how important the X3 is for BMW in India. And what better place to launch its global best-seller than at the 2025 Auto Expo? But Siddharth had already driven the car in Germany, so I took the opportunity to find out if it is any good in India.
The X3 in its fourth-gen looks much sleeker and it's good looking too. The design of the grille is a bit confusing, especially the criss-cross pattern that it gets. BMW has used optic fibre for the LED lights that light up around the kidney grilles, which is an interesting design choice.
Now, this Tanzanite Blue you have already seen in Siddharth’s review, and I just want to say what he said, "it looks like it is smashing in bright sunshine"! It kinda looks better than the Dune Grey that we saw at the Auto Expo, but to be fair, that wasn’t the best light for that colour because it looked more like an off-white than a sandy beige that it’s supposed to be. You also have a Black Sapphire Metallic and an Alpine White.
So if you get a darker exterior colour like the Tanzanite Blue or the Black Sapphire Metallic, you get a Calm Beige interior or if you choose the Dune Grey or Alpine White, you get the Espresso Brown interior. That’s what’s in store right now, but of course, things can be changed when you go the Individual route and customise your BMW. Most of the interior gets BMW’s vegan leather upholstery.
The design of the dashboard is a bit polarising, I feel. The bulge in front of the passenger feels odd, and BMW has gone for a modern, minimalist style. What’s odd but also unique is what BMW calls the “Special Function Island” which has the door handle, AC vents and buttons for the door locks, memory seats and changing the speed of that AC vent. You do get the curved display, which runs the BMW iDrive OS 9, and do you know which is the other car in BMW’s line-up in India that gets this? Hint: It also launched at the 2025 Auto Expo.
The rear seats are fine honestly. Ride quality in the back is decent, and the seats are slightly firmer. It’s good you can attach an iPad behind the front seats but not much tech here to talk about honestly.
The X3 gets eight airbags and the regular safety suite, like stability control, ISOFIX and all. What’s interesting is the ADAS works really well. It’s not very intrusive but still has your back in case things have a chance to go wrong. It steers itself too if lanes are marked properly, but it’s not really a hands-off driving experience, unfortunately.
So Siddharth drove the petrol X3 in Germany and I got to drive the diesel one here. This is the engine you want in a large luxury SUV primarily because of the good grunt and torque on offer. Well, the engine starts to become vocal from around 2,000 rpm onwards but it’s not too noisy inside because the cabin is insulated well.
| BMW X3 20 | BMW X3 20d | |
|---|---|---|
| Displacement | 1998 cc | 1995 cc |
| Max Power | 188 bhp @ 5000 rpm | 194 bhp @ 4000 rpm |
| Peak Torque | 310 Nm @ 1500 - 4000 rpm | 400 Nm @ 1500 - 2750 rpm |
| Transmission | 8-speed AT | 8-speed AT |
| Fuel Efficiency | 13.38 kmpl | 17.78 kmpl |
Unlike in India, where we only have two engines to choose from, the global lineup has many more. Let’s not get into that. Both the engines in India are 2.0-litre units with a 48v mild hybrid assist, an 8-speed auto and all-wheel drive. And like Siddharth said about the petrol X3 – a little more power would have been nice – that’s sorta true for the diesel X3 too. But hey, I’m nitpicking here. Fuel efficiency figures are borderline decent too. Could have been better? Well…
BMW said a lot of its customers complained about the run-flat tyres and how difficult it was to maintain them. So, with that feedback in mind, BMW doesn’t give run-flats on the X3 anymore. What you get are standard tubeless tyres which it says will be better for Indian road conditions too. That’s the biggest difference between the global X3 and the Indian X3. BMW also gives the new X3 adaptive suspension which alters the ride quality depending on which mode you’re in.
With the run-flat tyres gone and with the adaptive suspension, the ride quality in the X3 is good. It's a BMW so obviously the handling is sporty. The adaptive suspension has two modes - sport and comfort - and the driving characteristics change as per the mode you're in. Now in sport mode, as the suspension becomes stiffer, the ride becomes slightly tauter and in comfort, it’s more supple. But in both modes though, the suspension does a good job of handling out the bumps. But if you want to know more about how the handles and how the petrol one drives, watch Siddharth's review.
Even though the X3 is the latest car in the segment, it’s still not the most expensive. The Audi Q5 is the cheapest and the oldest with a new generation right around the corner. The Volvo XC60, too, is getting a new version but that’s just Volvo giving out free facelifts to all its ICE cars. So the real rival to the X3 is the Mercedes-Benz GLC, as it has always been, isn’t it? And while the GLC’s petrol variant is a ₹1 lakh more than the X3’s, both the diesels are priced identically.
So then that begs the question. The GLC or the X3? The Mercedes has always been the car that’s better if you’re in the back seat, but that kinda changed with the latest generation being a better driver than before. Not to forget that it comes absolutely packed to the brim with features. But the BMW still remains the more fun car to drive, and it’s not as feature loaded. The fight between these two will still be a close one.
