Pretty on the inside: the BMW X3 M50 is a characterful but confrontational SUV

Gaze upon the visage of this BMW X3 and remember it, for by the end of the year the current big and botoxy grille and body styling will be thoroughly usurped by the incoming Neue Klasse series of cars. We’ve already had a preview of the 2026 X5 in the shape of the BMW Neue Klasse X concept – the closely related X3 will no doubt get a similar frontal treatment when it follows on.

For now, we’re stuck with the legacy of ten years of grille-centric design, as the signature element of BMW car design since the 1950s has been pushed into a position of ever greater prominence. Behind that unforgiving front end there’s a pretty decent car, if a mid-size SUV is what you’re after, replete with the supple dynamics and excellent in-car tech that have become synonymous with the brand.

The interior is the X3’s strong point, bringing together the best elements of recent concepts and production cars into a cohesive whole that isn’t overwhelmed by jazzy angles or excessive ambient lighting effects. That’s not to say it’s remotely sober, but the sweep of the dashboard, bracketed by the illuminated door handles and cupholder/charging dock in the centre console, looks futuristic without being overly flash.

With the snappy, intuitive iDrive running on the widescreen information display, there a very few quibbles to be hand – some of the heating controls are a little obtuse, perhaps. The exterior isn’t so successful. The X3 gives the impression of an inflatable balloon - every time one area of bodywork is pushed back or refined, another lump pops out somewhere else. There’s no overall sense of balance, with the kicked-up shoulder line at the rear feeling disconnected from the chamfered bonnet edges that flow down from the A-pillars.

Perhaps it’s all a question of scale. The grille is undeniably dominant, like the flared nostrils of a particularly angry bull. At the turn of the decade, when the first X5 launched BMW’s SUV division (SAV, in the company’s own parlance, for Sport Activity Vehicle), it cloaked its bulk in a design language derived from the company’s saloon car line. The original idea for the X series came out of BMW’s Californian studios, where size and status were closely interlinked and there was a glaring gap in the market for a sportier, more premium machine to take advantage of the American love of scale.

That first X5, the E53, was 4.66m long. Today, the X5 is 4.93m long, while the X3 comes in at 4.75m. These days you can get an X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7, alongside the electric XM, iX1, iX2, iX3 and iX. The biggest of the lot is the 7-seater X7, nearly 5.2m of ‘full size’ SUV. Upscaling isn’t just limited to BMW, of course, but the deluge of X cars shows the enduring popularity of SUVs.

Today, the flagship X3 M50 starts at around £65,000. Throw in some options like the Technology Pack and a panoramic glass sunroof, and the car we tested was nudging £80,000. It’s a mild hybrid, which is to say that the twin-turbo straight six engine gets a little bit of electrical assistance to boost the performance. In Sport mode, the exhaust gets a bit rorty and overly dominant – there’s a similar stab of noise on start-up as well. Whilst the M50 is not a full-blown BMW M-honed model, it has nearly 400bhp. Power is sent to all four wheels via an 8-speed Steptronic transmission.

The X3 has been around since 2003, when the first E83 generation effectively created the market for ‘smaller’ SUVs. It wasn’t an especially competent machine, especially off-road, but it was successful, hence the expansion to X1, X2 et al. The survival of the model through to this fourth-generation machine implies that regardless of the SUV’s changing status, BMW isn’t about to abandon the sector any time soon.

BMW G45 X3 M50, as tested £79,939.99, BMW.co.uk, BMW-M.com