Today I took my 2022 X3 M to my local dealership for some routine maintenance and to deal with a recall notice.  I was offered a 2025 Brooklyn Grey Metallic X3 M50 as a loaner.  Normally, I try to get an electric car from the dealership as a loaner so I don’t have to top off gas when I return it.  But I did have some curiosity about the latest generation of the X3 as I will likely trade cars in 2026.  So off  I went in the new X3.  Let me apologize up front about the photos in this article.  I wasn’t planning on reviewing my loaner car today so all I had with me to take photos was my iPhone 16 Pro.  In fact, I really wouldn’t call this a review.  Like the title says, it’s a “first impressions” article.

The X3 M50 is currently the top level offering for the X3 as BMW has not graced us with an actual M version of the G45 CLAR platform.  Given that I’m coming from a true M car and not the watered down version BMW slaps on so many undeserving cars (the dilution and devaluation of the M badge is real…) I tried to calibrate my expectations.  Still, first impressions were not good.  The interior both looks and feels cheap – particularly the door handle/locking control area.

Gone as the shift knob and in its place is a little rocker switch to select gears:

The entire I-Drive control area in the center console is shiny and will immediately show fingerprints anytime it’s touched – as you can see it’s a mess and I barely touched it.  Also gone is the big button which starts the vehicle, And in its place is the little start/stop engine button just above the gear selector.  Hit it and you’ll think you were in an electric vehicle because it’s so darn quiet the moment it turns on and off.

The dash looks like it’s made of some sort of soft touch material, but it’s considerably harder and less premium than what was found in the previous generation X3.

Clearly, the screen for both the gauges and Apple CarPlay are impressively, huge and bright.  But like everyone else, I’m hating the trend of getting rid of hard controls and buttons in favor of touchscreen controls that are buried in menus.  It’s a very spartan/minimalist interior.

Was there anything I liked?   The steering wheel wasn’t bad.  I could do without the red marker at the top that I assume is supposed to make me feel all racey.  The flat bottom is very practical but takes a bit of getting used to.   And the seats weren’t bad and not terribly different than the previous generation design:

The backseat area is similarly spartan but similar in spaciousness to the previous X3:

The cargo area is again quite similar to the previous X3, but throughout the vehicle one reoccurring theme kept ringing loudly – BMW cheaped out on the 2025 X3.  From both a design and a materials perspective, it seems like a step backward from what came before.  At least BMW is still putting a real spare (“donut”) tire in the cargo area:

So how was the driving experience?  As I pulled out of the dealership and on to the highway, I was able to test the performance of the 393HP 3.0 liter TwinPower turbo inline 6.  I started out in comfort mode and was really curious to see the difference between “comfort” mode and “sport” mode.  This is something the previous generation X3 received much criticism about – “comfort” mode was never very comfortable.  Particularly on the X3 M.  In the 2025 X3 M50, I reasonably sure BMW solved this particular dilemma by simply making comfort mode crappier.  The steering in particular was very “floaty” and imprecise.  The engine was completely blaise.  I couldn’t get into sport mode fast enough.  The steering tightened up to nearly the level on my X3M and the exhaust suddenly made noise (or was it fake sound piped in through the speakers?).  The engine “woke up” and performed competently, though with more turbo lag than I’m accustomed to in a BMW. Somehow this car has a 0-60 time just .3 slower than my 2022 X3 M, despite my car having about 80 more HP.  It sure didn’t feel that quick.  The X3 M50 has larger dimensions but is about 75 lbs. lighter in weight than my X3M – an impressive achievement.

Aesthetically speaking, I’m also not a fan of the exterior of the 2025 X3 M50.  Particularly the front end:

I’m just starting to come around to liking the beaver teeth on the M3…but this?  This is ugly.  The rear end isn’t as polarizing, but again a step backward from what came before in my opinion:

Even the new key fob design is a step backward.  It’s quite large…bigger than the last generation key fob…which was was also bigger than the previous generation before that.  It’s pretty…but I feel like that high gloss finish is readily going to show scratches:

I went on BMW’s website and did a build on an X3 M50 And I believe the vehicle that I was driving would sticker for right around $70,000.  My 2022 X3 M was closer to $80,000.00.  But the 2025 X3 M50 wasn’t half the vehicle my X3 M is.  I’m likely going to sell my X3 M next year and look for something else.  And something else definitely won’t be an X3 M50.  I’m still holding out hope that BMW will give us an X3 M next year.  I’m guessing it will be about 90k and will have many of the aesthetic characteristics I don’t like about the X3 M50.  Unless something changes, for the first time in 20 years I won’t be driving a BMW next year.  Right now I’m leaning toward the Porsche Macan.  Are you listening BMW?

I’ve spoken a lot about my 2022 X3 M in this article – you can read more about it as well as see my video review by clicking here.