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SUVs BMW X3 & X5 BMW X3
3287 messages, Last post on Nov 14, 2009 at 6:14 PM
You are in the BMW X3 & X5 Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & tidester
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Looking at an Avalon now. Trucks/Crossovers do ride different than cars. Momma ain't skiing! Thats for darn sure. Thanks for the advice. I told her to either get a wagon (car) or just get another sedan. She is set in her mind in many ways. Just ain't gonna bend her. This is a second car. Her 1998 pristine S500 has spoiled her rotton. The "Bismark" just floats along. Double insulated glass and heavy as a brinks truck the ride is very smooth on that Sedan. On the Hummer. Outside of military use they are becoming joke. Just cuz gas is cheap does not mean we have to be pigs about it. And as a tool we are beholden to opec when we are so wasteful.
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Replying to: driver100 (May 29, 2006 3:36 pm) I am willing to bet you want an X3 sans manual transmission. We live in Cincinnati, too. The X3 3.0 with the current 5speed auto spends a lot of time hunting for the right gear here in the city of "7 hills." The mileage and performance of the auto version is lower than the stick shift version. This is both a realatively thirsty and dirty engine. It is, also, a very sweet engine to have underfoot. The 255HP 3.0 and the 6speed (and perhaps a hoped for 7 speed) automatic will improve every aspect of this car's power train -- especially if you are like the 99% who want automatics. To make the point: here in the city of 7 hills the 5 speed auto version is thirsty (below 20 around town easily) and somewhat unstatisfying if you like a car that feels nimble when you press on the accelerator. Our test drive experience was that every little press on the accelerator caused a downshift followed a few seconds later by an upshift followed by a down shift and so on. It needs a 6 speed transmission if you want the auto version. It is also peppier and more controllable with the stick shift, but I know I am more than likely speaking to an unreceptive audience. The upcoming X3 will have the new engine, the 6speed auto and a refreshed interior and one is led to believe an even more compliant ride tuning. This is a thirsty little dude. On the highway, it can and does, however, exceed 24.
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Replying to: markcincinnati (May 30, 2006 4:52 am) Thanks for the insight! So what is the best mileage you've ever gotten on it? (How far above 24)? Matt
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Replying to: mpereira123 (May 30, 2006 6:51 am) All of what I have said must also be said to include: "we love our X3." We test drove the 3.0 and the 2.5 with the automatic over a period of days. They had ONE 3.0 6speed manual and we tried the back to back to back thing too -- theses were two different cars. Now, perhaps, had we used the step mode of the steptronic we would have come away with a different opinion. My wife will NOT use the manumatic in manu mode, plain and simple. This was a disappointment (to me) to think this great little SAV (little, being not an exactly correct sentiment) was brought to market with such a lame transmission (and the thing seems to sell well despite the fact.) This is a great car with the stick, tho!
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Replying to: bargamon (May 29, 2006 7:47 pm) Please keep us posted on each car she tries out. It would be fun to know her impressions. If going the Avalon route, Lexus, Honda, Infinity or Accura might be worth a try.
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Replying to: driver100 (May 30, 2006 8:14 am) She harkens back to the 1950's when "daddy" had an imperial or the best of buicks and Olds. Was "too showy" back then for a Caddy! The thought the RX330 was gonna be great because it was a "lexus"! She is a pure thru and thru with no shame a true "nameplate slut"! I am wondering if a ride in an X3 for grins and giggles migh do. Why? "BMW"! Current 2nd car is a 1993 Volvo v70 turbo sport wagon which she claims drives "like a truck"! She hated the Honda pilot, Tribeca, infiiti FX and forsome reason they (with dad) drove an Audi A4 wagon which they never got off the lot. Duh!
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Replying to: bargamon (May 30, 2006 10:05 am) Yeh, a video would be great. They should have a reality show...watching people test drive cars. Have to agree about Volvo's of that vintage being like a truck. Soon after 93 Ford bought them and really ruined them...our 95 had more problems than any car I have owned, had to get out of the lease early. I think you are narrowing it down. Keep us posted. |
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Replying to: markcincinnati (May 30, 2006 8:06 am)
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Replying to: bodble2 (May 30, 2006 10:16 pm) The only other people I know who have openly and repeatedly been critical of the 5 speed step (in the X3) are the sales people at the dealership, the service advisors at the dealership, the wash techs at the dealership, the finance manager at the dealership -- and the owner of the dealership. He and several of the staff members have or have had both versions. Of course while we were in the discussion process they said little. Once we decided, it is as if we had taken the "right path" and we were welcomed into the club with the secret handshake. Drive -- long long drive -- the auto and the manual back to back, carving up some twisties, going on both flat and varying grades at around town speeds and at somewhat extra legal speeds. The character of the two X3's is different -- this does NOT make the step bad. It does what it is told by the combination of software instructions and capabilities it has within this application. On the other hand, you are correct, both my wife and I grew further and further apart from the advancing trend toward auto transmissions over the past 10+ years. With so many German cars (mostly Audis, in full disclosure) "under our belts" we came to know and loathe a trait that became known as "tip" lag then "step" lag, etc. It seemed that once Porsche (?) started down the manu-matic path, all the Germans seemed hell-bent to adopt clutchless manuals (not in the SMG or DSG sense, of course) and lo and behold the suppliers of the auto transmissions for many German (and other) automakers brought forth one generation after another of transmissions programmed to upshift early and downshift late (with respect to the engine's torque sweet spot(s)) -- all over the blogs here and elsewhere there have been (for years and years) complaints (some from me, some were defended by me) about the "lag" of this family of transmissions. Troubleshooting articles in non mfgr publications (from Audi and BMW, to name two) decried the emasculation of some of the cars equipped with these new manumatics. The makers did respond by adding an "S" (for sport) mode to the something tronic transmissions essentially a computer program that upshifted a bit later (100's of RPM's later) and returned to lower gears at rolling stops a bit earlier. Lag was masked and minimized thusly. Improved torque and horsepower continued in a normal fashion but these "dreadful" (an overstatement for effect) transmissions soldiered on. Then ZF (as I recall) in concert with Mercedes, BMW, Audi -- all the above perhaps -- moved down the path of "more better" auto transmissions. More forward speeds, lighter and faster and smoother weight and shifting characteristics ensued. Mercedes is now at 7 speeds, Audi has made the switch to 6 speeds and BMW largely has too. The X3 and X5 were notable in retaining the best of the last (not as good) generation of autotransmissions. The X3 is thirsty. Add the auto trans and it is thirstier still -- improve the responsiveness of the auto equipped version and it is thirstier and dirtier. We are at the "time between the parenthesis" as a famous author once wrote. Today with the 3.0 225HP engine and the 5 speed tiptronic the X3 (IMHO) is neither as economical, spirited, clean running or fun as it will soon be with the updated 255HP engine and hopefully a 6 or more speed automatic and the retention of the 6speed manual. Frankly with an ever growing appreciation for my own 6 speed tiptronic and multiple test drives of cars from several mfrgs (especially BMW) that have the 6 speed transmissions, I think I will be a fan of the new X3 so equipped with the new 3.0 and the new 6spd step. Mercedes stands out with its 7 speed transmission, but it is a virtual certainty that Audi and BMW will soon follow with their own take on the conventional auto transmissions and their own approach to the direct shift automatics (DSG and SMG from Audi and BMW respectively.) In the mean time, my opinion, my preference -- with nothing against YOUR choice -- remains the 6speed manual (at least until the 6speed step becomes an option.) Most folks at this juncture will NOT EVEN TEST drive the stick shift equipped versions. I submit they don't even know what they're missing. But it is your money, after all. Drive it like you live -- but the Emperor, to repeat, really doesn't have any clothes on. 
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Replying to: markcincinnati (May 31, 2006 4:05 am) I submit they don't even know what they're missing. But it is your money, after all. I have to agree with bodble2 on this one. I would love to have a stick shift, but it would make no sense for me with my driving patterns. Stick or auto....really depends on what suits you. I enjoy your comments Mark and your enthusiasm for the X3 and I wish that a stick would make sense for me....but I enjoy having an automatic. I think it changes gears a little more than necessary but I chalk it up to it's intelligence in seeking out the exact right gears. I find the X3 automatic is the ideal vehicle for me, and I don't think the idea that it is a totally inferior car because it is automatic is a fair comment. Also, applies to the fact I have a 2.5 by the way. I don't need a 3 litre and don't think it was worth an extra $4,000 to me! For some people a Malibu might suit them fine. Good basic transportation at a fair price. Not a whole lot of fun...but you have to allow for what actually suits the purchaser, not individual tastes.
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