Our BMW X3's Interior Is Good, Not Great

• The BMW X3 is one of the better luxury SUVs you can buy.
• But living with one for several months now, we're not too fond of the interior.
• The cabin looks nice, but dig deeper and there are way too many cheap plastics inside.

Editor-in-Chief Alistair Weaver puts the X3's interior into context.

"It's tough being a luxury brand right now. In days gone by you'd expect a level of technology that differentiated the truly posh from the mainstream. A BMW or a Mercedes offered features you wouldn't find on a Ford or Chevy. But that's no longer the case. Today, legislative standards and consumer demand have made safety kit all but universal, while Apple CarPlay and Google integration have democratized how we listen to music or navigate to the shops." 

"Today, a luxury vehicle is distinguished less by what it has than by how it feels, which is where the X3 falls down. The interior design is handsome enough, the seats are comfy and the screen has a nice resolution, but some of the plastics feel decidedly mainstream. They're not terrible, but BMW has sought to save money in areas that are seen and felt by the owner. My family's Genesis GV60 is at a similar price point and size to the BMW but feels like a more premium product."

Consumer advice manager Ron Montoya brings up a point that resonates with many of our editors. 

"I'm a bit torn about the interior design of our BMW X3. On the one hand, the dual screens merging into a single curved display looks impressive and futuristic. But on the other hand, it's part of a growing trend of automakers slapping on a couple of screens on a dashboard and calling it day."

Big screens do not equal big luxury. This isn't a trend unique to BMW, mind you — Audi, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz and plenty of other automakers are sacrificing good interior design for the sake of digital real estate.

But it's not all bad news inside our BMW X3.

"This isn't an exciting interior, but it is perfectly functional without much to complain about," writes editor Jake Sundstrom. "The X3 retained one of my favorite features from the last generation: giant door pockets for water bottles. BMW is one of the few companies that consistently provides door pockets big enough for the oversized water bottles that millennials like me can't get enough of."

Still, these nitpicks aren't enough to diminish the X3's appeal. We stand by its place as the top pick against the Audi Q3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC, and therefore the most deserving of your dollars.

Photos by Keith Buglewicz