As we’ve already come to learn, the BMW X3 M Competition is very, very fast. Thanks to its 3.0 liter turbocharged straight-six, the X3 M Competition makes 503 hp and 442 lb-ft of torque. That puts it in line with cars like the Mercedes-AMG GLC63 S and the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio. According to BMW, it can get from 0-60 mph in 4.0 seconds. However, according to Car and Driver, it’s even quicker still and, more impressively, fast even when moving laterally.
In C&D’s new instrumented testing, the BMW X3 M Competition rocketed from 0-60 mph in 3.3 seconds. That’s seriously fast and almost a full second faster than BMW claims. So that makes it among the fastest SUVs on the market, which is very impressive.
Even more impressive than that is just how quickly the X3 M can corner. Wearing sticky Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, which are enormous at 255/40ZR-21 up front and 265/40ZR-21 out back, the BMW X3 M Competition pulled 0.97 gs on the skidpad. That’s BMW M3 territory in an SUV with a back seat and a big trunk. So the X3 M can corner very hard and hold very impressive cornering speeds, making it one of the highest-performing SUVs on the road.
All of that just reinforces what we’ve already felt about the BMW X3 M. It’s such a brutally fast SUV and one that feels faster than its claimed numbers would suggest. Now we know that it actually is faster and that its lateral performance is equally as impressive. After having driven it, I claimed that the X3 M was one of the few cars in BMW’s lineup that genuinely felt special all the time, even at slow speeds. It’s a hilarious rocket-sled of an SUV and the numbers back up that notion. The X3 M is no straight-line bruiser — it’s the real deal.
[Source: Car and Driver]
