We have a 2018 X3 30i. Daily driver, 39k miles, purchased new. It replaced a 2015 X3 28i. Shares a garage with a ‘20 M340i.
It’s been a great car, but not perfect. We do like it enough that we will almost certainly buy another when the time comes.
It’s been reliable, but with only 39k miles that’s not a big surprise. No oil consumption. Great MPG. Plenty of power for normal driving. Wonderful daily driver and road trip vehicle. We will absolutely buy another X3.
Problems?
It has started occasionally (1 in 30?) making a strange moaning noise on warm auto-start restarts. Sounds like 1 second of rusty brake squeal just after the motor starts, but happens when the car isn’t moving. Can only hear it in the cabin. Dealer can’t reproduce it. That has us slightly worried with only 10k left on the warranty. Failing motor mount maybe? Stupid auto start.
The overhead console (sunroof controls) has had a bad rattle since 10k miles. Constant squeak on interstate bumps. It’s been back to the dealer 3 times, each time they fix it for 500 miles and it comes back. A folded-up business card jammed between the headliner keeps it rattle-free now except for the roughest washboard roads.
The infotainment has just randomly reboots itself about once a month. Always recovers in about 15 seconds. Dealer has applied updates but can’t reproduce or fix it. So trivial we don’t care, and every European car we’ve owned has similar electrical quirks.
Eats tires for dinner. 20k is all we’re getting on the 19” Bridgestone Dueller RFT. Third set of tires going on soon, and I’m switching to something else. I accept 20k miles on my RWD M340i with summer Pilot Sports, but ridiculous for all season “comfort” tires on an AWD SUV. Alignment is perfect, they just wear out. Our 2015 X3 went almost 40k on its OEM 19” RFT’s
Base stereo is just ok. H/K in my M340i is much, much better and worth every penny.
3D parking cameras & sensors are extremely handy; a must-have feature. But I find the self-parallel parking feature more gimmicky than useful. It does an ok job but too slow in a busy parking situation. With the 3d camera and sensors, it’s very easy to park quickly.
Paint quality is good. We live in the Midwest and like to explore lots of backroads, so we’ve driven many miles on gravel and farm roads. I’ve touched-up about a half dozen small chips in the last 3 years when doing my annual polish & reseal. No better or worse than other BMW’s or Audis I’ve owned, but much better than past Subarus, Fords, or GM products.