Quote:
Originally Posted by robg
My mom had a facelift 1st gen x3. I was a bit disdainful of it at the time but ended up buying it from her when it was 10 years old and keeping it a year. In retrospect, it was one of the overall best Bmws that myself or family have owned. Solidly built with no rattles, sweet n52 3.0 engine that was an improvement over the m54, super comfortable, classic bmw steeerubg feel, boxy practicality and solid reliability. The facelift also addressed the black plastic bumpers. I think the fact that it was based on the e46 helped - by the time this car rolled off the line bmw had over 10 years experience refining that platform. The looks grew on me over time.
I replaced it with a second gen x3 35i. While built by bmw, the quality was atrocious with rubber maid plastics and lots of rattles. The drivetrain abd steering also weren’t as good as the 1st gen. I should’ve just kept that 1st gen and run it into the ground.
I actually think magna does a better job of assembling cars than some of the manufacturers do. The current jaguar I-pace and e-pace are both built by magna and have higher jd power scores than their jlr built brethren. Plus they build the g wagen which is reknowned for its build quality. Any Mercedes built car I’ve sat in recently is a creaky squeaky mess in comparison.
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My parents had a couple of first-gen X3s. A very early 2004 model with the rubbermaid bumpers and a later 2009/2010 facelift (honestly can’t remember which?). They bought the 2nd one off lease and kept it for around 9 years, longest they’ve owned any of their late model BMWs (other than their Z4) and it was really reliable. The interior plastics were cheap but slightly better w/ facelift vs. the first one. I agree though - I think it was the E46 roots that kept things fairly simple. No idrive, etc.