It's hard to believe the 2012 BMW X3 is almost here. The BMW X3 is the Euro-premium soft-roader that got the Europeans thinking crossover instead of sport-utility all the way back in 2003, and we have now arrived at the second iteration. They grow up so fast, don't they?
For the second-generation X3 known internally as "F25," BMW brought us out to a patch of rural Bavaria to thrash around a preproduction vehicle. We were to negotiate some mild off-road stuff, do some splashy stuff and then drive several glass-smooth stretches of two-lane pavement where we would apparently be permitted to gun it while keeping an eye peeled for chickens and horses wearing lederhosen. Of the preproduction units present, we jumped at the new top-of-the-line 2012 BMW X3 xDrive35i.
The first-gen X3 (known as the "E83") stops its build in early August of this year at the Magna Steyr plant in Graz, Austria, and by then, the model will have sold over 600,000 units worldwide, making it the global sales king in its segment. A new production line at BMW's plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, is already ramping up for the 2012 BMW X3.
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