BMW X3 20 XDRIVE

Fourth generation of brand's best-seller arrives with base petrol engine

- MATT SAUNDERS

Premium car brands can't afford to hang around when it comes to reinventing their big-selling models. BMW certainly hasn't. Three years ago, it introduced the iX electric luxury SUV, which boldly leapt into a new era for both exterior and interior design language, and now the fourth-generation X3 is following suit.

This mid-sized upmarket SUV has become a car quite different than the one it replaces. The old X3 felt like an expert in middle-market versatility; a car finally comfortable with its place in the showroom, with notes of old-school, 1990s BMW maturity about its apparent quality and sophistication. But the fourth-generation X3 has, quite apparently, had its priorities shifted. It's a slightly lower, wider and longer car, but only by an inch or so here and there. It offers a slightly lighter and stiffer chassis, overhauled axles with a wider rear track and an evidently more sporting dynamic agenda.

A familiar range of engines is offered, the highlights of which being more power for the rangetopping six-cylinder M50 petrol version and more electric range for the fleet-targeted 30e model. Both petrol and diesel four-cylinder mildhybrid engines are offered besides (badged 20 and 20d). All come with four-wheel drive (badged xDrive).

Cars in M Sport trim (still by far BMW's biggest-selling) tend to get lowered M Sport suspension, 19in wheels and pacier 'variable sport' steering as standard, with adaptive damping an option. It all makes for quite a familiar-feeling picture technically if not in other ways.