Dear Friends, need your expert advice.
Have shifted to Gurgaon a year back. Sudden family shift to Gurgaon from Kolkata has started an itch of upgrading from 3 GT.
I just don’t want to spend 5 lakhs + on existing diesel 3GT for re-registration at Haryana, and not to mention the hassles with it. I simply don’t have so much spare time to run around. Hence planned for an early departure with my beloved GT. My GT is almost sold in Kolkata, Gurgaon dealers will not exchange WB registered car here.
Time to buy the new car: - Nov 2018.
Planning a long trip this year end with the new car. Since I work in Merchant Navy, if I miss a time frame, I will be delayed by another 8 months or so for the next window. So, my time frame is almost fixed for now. As a result, I need to plan well ahead to purchase a luxury car.
Requirement of the new car: -
- I will be staying in Gurgaon for next 6-7 years. Then return back to Kolkata for good. So, the new car in question will be kept for that duration.
- I did lots of highway touring with my 3GT. However, any unknown destination had put fear in my mind due to the ground clearance of GT, which is sufficient but not for unknown territory / mountain roads due to long wheel base. So, the next car should be a SUV.
- Wife don’t want to depart from at least one Luxury brand in our garage.
- Mostly I will be driving that car and I would love to be in the BMW family.
- It should be fresh in the market, (I did not like that 3GT got an LCI with-in one year of my purchase).
- Ex showroom price strictly between 55-58 lakhs.
- As I do highway / interstate travel a lot with these cars, dealers network, ASS & RSA are vital.
Had good ownership experience with BMW, customer support. Hence, zeroed down & done test drive of new X3 20d, and 6 GT to get 30i feel. Here are my takes in short: -
The X3: The goods:- A fantastic interior update, looks refreshing. You do feel special when sitting in any seat of the car.
- Good view from driver’s seat (it is my first SUV test drive).
- Diesel growl well contained, seems BMW’s sound dampening windshield working.
- Excellent ride comfort – I could drive at higher speeds over same road patches compared to my GT.
- 600 watts HK music system, just awesome
- Updated i-Drive 6 - excellent
- Perfect balance of ride & Handling
The bad:- Missing gesture control on i-drive
- Steering feel – its accurate & precise, but no weight and little thin to my liking.
- Certain plastic parts, for example, indicator stalks feels flimsy compared to my GT.
- Lastly, I did not like same 20d engine – something is wrong with this 190- hp engine, compared to my 184-hp. Engine response felt sluggish till I switch over to sport mode. I need little more power. Overall the car felt under powered with this 20d engine compared to my GT.
6GT with 30i Engine: -
I don’t want to go for 6 GT for its sheer size & GC but tested it to get the feel of 30i engine (X3 30i is newly launched & TD car was not available yet). Here are my observations on the engine: -
The engine felt dead from 0-20 kmph, after that it comes to life. However, this short-coming gives very comfortable city drive in bumper to bumper traffic. In comfort cruising, no engine noise at all. However as soon as you drive enthusiastically, engine noise is audible in a sporty manner but not like the diesel growl of 20d. Unlike diesel cars, where speed builds up on its own, here you need to build up the speed or else car will be lethargic. IMHO torque plays a vital role here.
I am somewhat happy / unhappy with both the engines and can’t decide now. You can notice here that I have zeroed down to X3 but stuck between 20d & 30i view my requirements.
Point to be noted here, all Delhi NCR Diesel cars are registered only for 10 years. Petrol versions are still with 15 years. Re-sale opportunity of diesel/petrol after 6-7 years?
Below cars tinkled in my mind, but before I could do some TDs, I had to leave India on my tour of duty. I will be returning in Oct & purchase the new car in Nov.
- A super discounted X5? Maybe I will not be present at the right moment of discount. Also, a phasing out diesel car will depreciate quickly, will have sad feelings in my mind every time I will see the X5 upgrades on the roads very soon. Also, present X3 interiors are far ahead when compared with present X5.
- XC-60: Not sure about handling, I think not a very good handler. Service network / ASS / RSA?
- GLC-300: Exterior looks dated now (at least for me). Almost ready for an update? Not sure. Low in features? No real leather at this price point?
- F-Pace: I think its too big car for a 20d diesel. Reliability? Service network?Also, I would prefer to stay away from JLR for the time being.
Appreciate your inputs / opinions on X3 and engine selection. And if anyone test drove any above listed car will be very help-full.
Thanks in advance
Cheers
Sail