It’s been well over 20 years since the introduction of high-performance everyday vehicles. In the early 2000s it was high-performance sedans and wagons, and as the years have progressed and the markets have changed, we are now seeing a surge for enjoyable and exciting high-performance SUVs. Can you have your cake and eat it as they say? We drive the new 2025 BMW X3 M50 to find out.
This is the fourth generation of the BMW X3, which started way back in 2003. The first gen was smaller and looked like they had taken the design of the sedan and made it bigger. Now the X3 is its own beast, bigger than any previous generation, which shows it’s changing with our own ever-changing lifestyles. On top of offering a plug-in hybrid and diesel variants, the most interesting one is the new X3 M50, the M model.
I collected the X3 in Auckland, with plans to drive it back down the country to Wellington, to see if this X3 is really all BMW say it’s cracked up to be.
What We Like and Dislike About The 2025 BMW X3 M50 xDrive
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Driving experience Performance Sound Efficiency Practicality Interior styling and design Sporty exterior look | Infotainment system is a bit slow Lack of simple full performance button Lack of simple drive mode cycle button Review vehicle colour Front bumper styling |
What’s In The 2025 BMW X3 M50 xDrive Range?
The 2025 X3 range is available in three variants; Electric and petrol, diesel, and petrol. The diesel option is the BMW X3 20d xDrive, that starts at $111,900. The electric and petrol hybrid option is the BMW X3 30e xDrive that starts at $118,900. The straight-petrol option is the X3 M50 xDrive, that starts at $150,900. As you can imagine, there are a lot of differences between the three different drivetrains.
The X3 30e has a plug-in hybrid powertrain combining a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor, that creates 220kW of power and has a combined energy consumption of 22.9 kWh per 100km.
The X3 20d is a 2.0-litre Twin-Power Turbo inline four-cylinder diesel engine that creates 145kW of power and has a combined fuel consumption of 6.1 litres per 100km.
Last but not least, the X3 M50 which is currently the only Motorsport and/or M model X3 available. This has a 3.0-litre, turbocharged inline-six petrol engine with a 48-volt mild-hybrid system that creates 293kW of power and has a combined fuel consumption of 8.6 litres per 100km – surprisingly low for a high-performance vehicle.
2025 BMW X3 M50 xDrive Colour Range
- Alpine White – NCO
- Black Sapphire metallic – NCO
- Sophisto Grey brilliant effect metallic – NCO
- Arctic Race Blue metallic – NCO
- Fire Red metallic – NCO
- Dune Grey metallic – NCO
- M Brooklyn Grey metallic – NCO (our review vehicle)
- BMW Individual Tanzanite Blue metallic – $2,000
- BMW Individual Frozen Deep Grey metallic – $4,000
- BMW Individual Frozen Pure Grey metallic – $4,000
Our Review Vehicle’s Optional Equipment
There were no additional cost options selected on our review vehicle, which left its price at $150,900. For a full list of specs and options available for the BMW X3 M50, head on over to BMW New Zealand’s website.
How Does The 2025 BMW X3 M50 xDrive Compare To Its Competition?
The practical, efficient and sporty jack-of-all-trades is a funny market. It’s generally a mix of overpowered vehicles that were never meant to have that sort of power. So what you tend to end up with is a fast straight-line car that handles okay in the corners, but then becomes uncomfortable as it’s lost its everyday focus in search of performance. So what options do you have when you’re looking for this sort of thing? The three big Germans, of course, who all have something to offer in the same price bracket.
| Make/ Model | Engine | Power/ Torque kW/Nm | 0-100km/h, seconds | Fuel L/100km | Boot Space, litres | Price |
| Mercedes-Benz AMG GLC 43 | 2.0L twin turbo inline 4 petrol | 310 / 500 | 4.7 | 12.5 | 545 / 1,490 | $151,900 |
| BMW X3 M50 | 3.0L twin turbo inline 6 petrol | 280 / 540 | 4.6 | 8.4 | 570 / 1,700 | $150,900 |
| Lexus RX 500h F Sport | 2.4L Turbocharged inline 4 petrol | 273 / 460 | 6.2 | 7.2 | 612 / 1,678 | $150,100 |
| Audi SQ5 | 3.0L TDi V6 diesel | 251 / 700 | 5.1 | 8.6 | 510 / 1,510 | $147,490 |
Please note that DriveLife does its best to ensure the information above is correct at the time of publication, however, prices, specifications and models can change over time. Please bear that in mind when comparing models in the comparison table.
First Impressions Of The 2025 BMW X3 M50 xDrive
The design of the new X3 is clean and strong. It has a lot of features of the electric iX and the M add a subtle styling package that leaves the X3 more like a sleeper than a loud and proud M model BMW. The new front grille has a soft LED light that clearly signifies it as a BMW in the dark. Their whole focus with the X3 M50 is that it “drives like an M”, “looks like an M” and “feels like an M”.
The new X3 M50 is larger than I expected, as the X3 range has continued to grow over the years, which is a good thing. This X3 has a lot of design features from the iX, which I also liked, so it was nice to see the styling cues brought over. My main impression is that it’s a lot more of an old-school sleeper than a loud M-model vehicle. This I also liked as the older M models were a bit more like that, slightly everyday looking, but those in the know knew what was going on. The X3 M50 is the same, it has some nice sporty styling touches, but nothing too over the top.
The inside looks amazing, a lot of changes here, which are great, again with a lot of crossovers from the iX and other electric vehicle designs, to make a very modern and funky cabin space.
What’s The Interior Like In The 2025 BMW X3 M50 xDrive?
Inside the X3 M50 is where we see some big changes; the interior is clean and minimal, which is nice. It’s not for everyone, but I like it, and it’s functional. The big change for me was the light strip and the door card handles and how they are integrated into and around the lights. I will come back to that a bit later.
The front seats are great, they really feel nice and firm and sporty, but they don’t get uncomfortable over time. Many sports seats do this, and when you do long drives it really puts them to the test. The front seats in the X3 were so good, even my partner said they were the best BMW seats she has tested to date. Both front seats are 6-way adjustable with heating and cooling options. Both front seats also have a leg support cushion that is adjustable manually.
In the back, the seats reflect the same sports design, seating 3 across the back in comfort. The legroom is great, and both outer seats have heating as standard. The headroom in the back is great, even for a giant like myself.
The central infotainment system is great, at first glance. In typical fashion, BMW allow you access to all the options and features, some of which you will never need or want to know about. But they are there, and they clutter up the main apps page. Apart from that, the only other issue is the speed it works at, page changes are slow, so slow you feel like you need to press the button again. Not sure why this it, but it would be appreciated if BMW would sort it and speed it up.
Within the infotainment you have access to a lot of your normal features, phone connection with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, navigation, audio system, and drive modes, which are a bit more exciting as they are all linked into the LED light within the dash, and change colour when you change the drive modes.
For example, when you’re in Efficient, the dash lights go blue, and when you’re in sport they go red. But if you want some of the more funky modes, like Digital Art, they colour-change all over the cabin, which is really cool. The feeling of space in the cabin is nice, this latest X3 feels like a big vehicle, a long way off the more cramped older generations.
I have to go back to the doors; I thought the design around the door handles and side air vents was outside the box thinking. It was weird at first, but I loved it, and I also like how they have moved away from the vent dial, to a digital slider. You could argue that it wasn’t broken, but it does feel old, having a small plastic dial you have to use to open and close the vents. This design really helped to keep the cabin clean and clutter-free.
The overall fit and finish of the cabin is right up there. It does not feel cheap, there is a great mix of materials, which was nice to see – instead of the regular plastic and leather options. It really has made the inside of the X3 M50 a comfortable place to be.
The central console has an area for two phones, the left has a wireless charging pad, and the right is just a stand. This angled design has been in several other BMWs, but I feel this one works the best. It also has two USB-C ports, which are ideal for charging power banks or other mobile devices.
The X3 has a space-spacer spare wheel that is stored under the boot floor. The standard tools and wheel brace are under there too, so there is not much extra cargo space to use. It was nice to see it have a spare wheel, so many vehicles are moving to the gel kits, which is not always ideal in New Zealand, and the distances we cover between cities. It’s also not ideal as the tyre sizes are getting bigger and bigger and they don’t always have a lot of stock around, so a spare means you can keep on trucking.
Boot space is excellent, it’s nicely big and deep. We got a lot of our luggage in the back, one large case, one small one, her shopping and my camera bag. All fitted in the back and under the boot roller cover, which was brilliant. With the rear seats down, the boot goes from an ample 570 litres to a massive 1,700 litres. The rear seats do not go fully flat, but they almost get there.
What’s The 2025 BMW X3 M50 xDrive Like To Drive?
This is the important bit, what is the X3 M50 like to drive? BMW said themselves it drives and feels like an M, so I sure hoped that would be the case.
When you start up the X3 M50, it fires up and has a nice gurgle to it, nothing obnoxious, just a nice rumble in the background to say it’s not your normal mid-range BMW. Each time you start, it goes into the Personal drive mode, which can be customised as you like, with a raft of different settings. From here you have several other drive mode settings;Sport, Efficient, Expressive, Relax, Digital Art and Silent.
Over the course of my time in the X3, I used Efficient for the majority of the time, with a mixture of Sport and Personal for the rest of the time. One of the few issues I have with the car is how the driver can cycle through these modes. It’s a haptic button on the centre console, without any physical features on or around it. So you need to look at it if driving. Then it only brings up the menu, and you then have to use the touch screen to select the mode. It would be nice if there was a button on the steering wheel that allowed you to cycle through the modes quickly and make a selection from there.
The driver’s dash is fairly standard in terms of everything else in the vehicle, inline with the BMW’s standard driver displays. You can have a central speed displayed and rev counter and speed on each side, or you can customise the display to show a wide range of things like G-meter, map, fuel efficiency or trip logs. The heads-up display is nice, and this changes too with the different drive modes, a diamond in efficient mode, to a set of wings in sports mode, each display power and speed. I really like the Efficient mode, as it shows you a band to work in to get the most out of the vehicle. Great on long trips.
Visibility all around is good, excellent in fact. The driver’s side B pillar might be the only area that gave me some issues, due to my height, but the mirror filled in the gaps. The other thing I noticed when in tight car parks is that the front bonnet is rather straight and flat and can sometimes give you the impression you’re about to hit something. Thankfully, when you do come close to something, the parking system kicks in automatically so you can see via the cameras what’s around you. The BMW parking system is among the best on the market, with a system that predicts the cameras you will need to see you park. When you’re getting close to a car or bollard, it changes the angle of the camera so you can see it better, all on its own.
The steering wheel controls are simple and well laid out. Too many vehicles have too many buttons on the steering wheel, and Mercedes-Benz is guilty of this. But the X3 M50 kept it simple, audio and settings on the right and cruise control on the left.
The cruise control is super easy to use, it’s the same system I tested in the BMW i7, which is somewhat like having a second driver with another pair of eyes on the road. A lot of new cars have all the lane assist, radar cruise features, but the X3 has these on all the time. What is impressive is that it doesn’t feel intrusive at all. For example, if I was driving along and the car in front slowed down, without any feature being activated the car would slow down on its own. But it does it like I would do it, not like an emergency safety system. It won’t let you change lanes if there is a car in the next lane, again, not in a forceful way, but in an “I got you covered” kinda way. I thought this was amazing, and feel that this sort of system will be a lifesaver to so many in the future. Because no matter how good you think you are or how well you think you drive, it only takes a second for something to go wrong. If there is another set of eyes ensuring you are safe on the roads, without being overbearing, that’s a pretty impressive bit of technology.
When driving, the quickest way to go from the normal drive mode into an engine only performance mode is to pull back on the gear select toggle, which will go from D (Drive) to S (Sport). When you do this, two instantly noticeable changes take effect: The vehicle sounds get louder and more aggressive, and the gears drop down one, leaving you in higher revs for a quick torque response. This is the best way if you are going to overtake to get a bit of a boost in performance at a push of a button. I would have liked to see a quick way to select the drive mode for Sport and the gear toggle at the same time. Perhaps BMW could introduce a long hold on the gear toggle that would engage both and avoid the driver having to fluff around with the driver modes and gear modes to get it into the most sporty M setting. I hear some of you saying the M cars have an M button on the steering wheel, that would do it. I’m just not sure if there are some politics around putting that button on the M50 variant.
Once you’re in Sport mode, the X3 becomes a feisty, nimble vehicle, it does not seem heavy and with a quick push of the accelerator the X3 just fires up the road. Advertising a 0-100km per hour time of 4.6 seconds, which I fully believe, the X3 can get itself off the line more like a sports car than a sports SUV.
And when you’re on the power, the engine sounds great. Or I think it’s the engine, there could be some generated sound there, and if so, I am ok with it as it sounds just the way I like it. The inline 6, roars into life as you work up the rev range of each gear very quickly. Before you know it, you’re on the speed limit, and you can tell the vehicle has a lot more go left in it.
In the full Sport mode, the suspension feels firm and the steering becomes a bit sharper. Feeling in the steering wheel is good, as too is the overall feedback to the driver. The brakes are M Sport brakes and do the job nicely. The brakes don’t bite, and have good feel for slight adjusts as you’re taking tight corners on those favourite back roads.
BMW advertise that the X3 M50 gets a combined fuel consumption rating of 8.6 litres per 100km, which is pretty good for a mid-sized, high-performance SUV. I expected to get something in the region of 10 litres per 100km, which would be typical for this sort of vehicle and how it’s used. But my mind boggled after seeing a combined fuel consumption of 7.6 litres per 100km after a week of driving and covering over 1,000km of motorways and back road driving. I think that’s a first for me, in a performance vehicle, to get under the brand’s advertised fuel consumption figures. Well done, BMW.
It’s fair to say that BMW have this one nailed pretty well, and I can say without any hesitation that the X3 M50 does drive like an M, and it does feel like an M.
2025 BMW X3 M50 xDrive – Specifications
| Vehicle Type | SUV |
| Starting Price | $150,900 |
| Price as Tested | $150,900 |
| Engine | 3.0 litre Twin-Power Turbo inline 6 petrol |
| Power, Torque kW/Nm | 280 / 540 |
| Transmission | 8-speed, automatic |
| Spare Wheel | Space Saver |
| Kerb Weight, Kg | 2,055 |
| Length x Width x Height mm | 4755 x 1920 x 1660 |
| Boot Space / Cargo Capacity, Litres (seats up/seats down) | 570 / 1,700 |
| Fuel tank capacity, litres | 65 |
| Fuel Economy, L/100km | Advertised Spec – Combined – 8.4 Real-World Test – Combined – 7.6 Low Usage: 0-6 / Medium Usage 6-12 / High Usage 12+ |
| Towing Capacity Kg, unbraked/braked | 750 / 2,500 |
| Turning circle metres | 12.2Small: 6-10m / Medium 10-12m / Large 12m+ |
| Warranty | 5 Years or 100,000km |
| Safety information | ANCAP Rating – Unrated – Link Rightcar.govt.nz – 5 Stars – RBD301 |
Have you enjoyed this review? Be sure to join our monthly email newsletter list so you don’t miss a single car review!
