SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the stories.
Pic by author
Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday January 27th, 2010
Just a thought: instead of laughing off the X3 and its sisters as “softroaders” without hard-core 4x4 ability, why not look on them as spacious family station wagons with full-time all-wheel drive, like Subarus?
Now that fans of both makes of car are choking on their beer, take the thought to its logical conclusion as both have all-wheel drive, bags of space and reasonable ground clearance to deal with the occasional bit of nasty goat track? Both also boast not-too-shabby approach, departure and ramp-over angles and can wade up to a depth of half a metre.
The X3 as you all know, is based on traditional 3-series underpinnings and has been around since 2004. Early versions were criticised for being harsh and uncomfortable, leading to a revamp of suspension settings and a mild facelift in 2007. The result is a car that rides firmly and surely, like a BMW should, without shaking your fillings out. It’s showing its age a bit though, so it’s due for replacement later this year.
The one we drove recently was fitted with a 3-litre turbocharged diesel, automatic transmission and an optional “Exclusive” package priced at R25 800. This added a tow hitch, sports leather steering wheel with remote control buttons, an almost full-length glass sunroof and a six-CD shuttle for the sound system.
It also came with R57 100-worth of extras, including two additional airbags for the rear passengers, running boards, extra demisters, anti-dazzle and folding mirrors, electrically adjustable front seats with three memory settings for the driver’s side, Isofix baby seat fixings in front, satnav, 18” wheels, Bluetooth cell phone kit, sun protection glazing in the rear, dark headlining and acoustic seat belt warning. This is evidently just there to satisfy the do-gooders as it shuts off after a while. The X3 also lacks the autolocking found on most cars at this price level. Not wearing seat belts and keeping doors unlocked, seems to be a feature of hard-core dirt machinery. I’m sure someone will explain it to me sometime.
The X family of BMWs’ big selling point is xDrive, an all-wheel drive system that distributes drive power to the wheels that need it the most and in the proportions needed at any given millisecond. For general driving on hard, dry surfaces, it defaults to 60 percent rear and 40 percent front.
Let things get a little hairy, like in slushy mud or snow, for example and power is redistributed to the wheels enjoying most traction. In extreme conditions, 100 percent of available power can be applied to just one wheel. If a wheel starts spinning, braking is applied in just the right amount to bring it back under control.
In conditions of impending over- or understeer, the car does the mathematics for you and feeds in power while braking individual wheels judiciously, so that the situation is corrected within milliseconds, or well before you even have a clue that you were being just a tad reckless. And in the spirit of BMW-ness, the wet-road braking program kicks in as soon as you turn on the wipers. It’s all quite scary to think about, actually.
So what is it like to drive? The 3,0 litre diesel with variable turbine turbocharger puts out 160 kW at 4 000 rpm and 480 Nm of torque at 1 750 rpm. Put plainly; you hoof it, it delivers. 100 km/h comes up in about 8,7 seconds and top speed is given as 210 km/h. Speaking of hoofing it – the auto ‘box does not appreciate being driven as though someone’s granny is at the wheel. If you drive indecisively, the box will hunt and lurch and be generally unhappy. Treat it like a BMW and it will thank you.
The ‘box naturally has Tiptronic manual shift mode and a “sport” setting on full auto that is altogether most satisfying to use when there’s serious driving work to be done. Try it.
Just a couple of niggles: the back seat is a bit too firm for skinny people and its backrest is a touch too upright. And for reasons I haven’t worked out, only back seat passengers are allowed to plug in and use their music player. The auxiliary input is in a drop-down hatch along with the cigarette lighter. Mum still controls the volume from the front, however.
Not having difflock or a low ratio to the gearbox, X3 will never be an ultimate bundu basher. Call it a spacious family bus with full-time all-wheel drive, and you will be spot on.
The numbers
Basic price: R537 500
Price as tested: R620 400
Engine: 2 993 cc inline 6 cylinder turbodiesel
Power: 160 kW at 4 000 rpm
Torque: 480 Nm between 1 750 and 2 750 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: about 8,7 seconds
Maximum speed: 210 km/h
Real life average fuel consumption over about 200 km: 10,6 l/100 km
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8