BMW X3 M Competition (F97)

Scope of this guide

This guide is scoped to the BMW X3 M Competition (F97) in its original, pre-facelift form: the 3.0L Twin-turbo Inline-6 petrol car with 503 bhp, 600 Nm, an eight-speed automatic gearbox and all-wheel drive, built from 2019 until the 2021 update. It is not a guide to the plain X3 M with 480 PS, to the X4 M and X4 M Competition that share the same engine, or to the facelifted X3 M Competition that BMW announced in June 2021 and that has more torque and a quicker official sprint. It is also not about the G45 X3 generation that followed, which is a different car. Where those cars differ we say so below, because an advert that simply says "X3 M Competition" can describe either side of the 2021 update.

We have not driven this model for this article. Everything here comes from three cited sources: BMW Group's global newsroom release for the X3 M and X4 M (13 February 2019), PistonHeads' used buying guide to the X3 M (3 June 2023) and the government recall checker. We also read PistonHeads' June 2019 launch drive, the BMW UK press release of 8 June 2021, a Paul Tan report of the February 2019 reveal and two ADAC catalogue pages, and we flag every point that rests on them. Several pages were read through a text summary rather than line by line, so a person should re-check any figure that matters to a purchase. Prices are history, not valuations.

The figures at a glance

• Engine: 3.0L Twin-turbo Inline-6 petrol, a 2,993 cc unit that ADAC lists under the engine code S58B30A and PistonHeads calls the S58. BMW's release describes it as a High-Performance M TwinPower Turbo six-cylinder, and PistonHeads quotes boost of up to 2.3 bar.
• Power: 503 bhp. BMW states 375 kW and 510 hp, and ADAC prints 510 PS. The figure of 510 is a metric horsepower (PS) value, and our own conversion is 510 x 0.98632, which is about 503 bhp. PistonHeads' buying guide prints 503hp and its launch drive printed 510hp, so the two numbers describe the same engine in different units. We assume BMW's hp means metric horsepower. Peak power arrives at 6,250 rpm according to PistonHeads' launch drive.
• Torque: 600 Nm, from 2,600 to 5,950 rpm. BMW prints 600 Nm (442 lb-ft) and PistonHeads gave 443 lb ft over that range.
• 0-100 km/h: 4.1 seconds, printed by BMW for the Competition, against 4.2 seconds for the plain X3 M. PistonHeads' buying guide prints the same time as 0-62 mph, and its launch drive printed 4.1 seconds as 0-60 mph.
• Top speed: 285 km/h only with the optional M Driver's Package. Without it the car is limited to 250 km/h (155 mph), which is the figure ADAC prints and the one PistonHeads gives as limited. PistonHeads puts the unlocked speed at 177 mph, which is about 285 km/h. Paul Tan's reveal report also ties 285 km/h to the package.
• Drive: all-wheel drive, BMW's M xDrive with a rear-wheel bias and an active rear differential, with an eight-speed M Steptronic automatic gearbox with Drivelogic.
• Weight: ADAC lists 2,045 kg and PistonHeads' buying guide says the same. PistonHeads' launch drive printed 1,970 kg unladen on the DIN basis, and the gap of 75 kg is the usual allowance for a driver, though that is our inference and not a published explanation.

Power, PS and bhp

Buyers are often confused by the 510 and 503 figures, so it is worth being plain. British magazines historically print brake horsepower, while BMW and most continental sources print PS. One PS is 0.98632 bhp, so 510 PS is 503 bhp. The catalogue held 510 bhp for this car, which was the PS number under the wrong unit, and we have changed it to 503 bhp. Nothing about the engine differs. A UK advert that says 510hp and one that says 503bhp are usually describing the same car, and neither is a sign of a tuned or modified engine. A real warning sign is a figure well above 510 with no paperwork, since the S58 responds well to remaps and that is exactly what an unscrupulous seller might not mention.

Which year and which car

BMW revealed the F97 X3 M and the F98 X4 M on 13 February 2019, and PistonHeads drove the Competition in June 2019 at a UK price of 77,190 pounds. ADAC dates the pre-facelift Competition from September 2019 and lists the wider series as running until June 2021. BMW UK announced the updated cars on 8 June 2021, with UK customer deliveries beginning in September 2021 and a price from 85,100 pounds. Our catalogue previously said 2020 with no end year. We now give 2019 to 2021, which is a scope decision for the pre-facelift car and not a claim that the model stopped in 2021, because the updated car stayed on sale for several more years.

The update matters to a buyer. BMW UK says the facelifted car has 650 Nm, an increase of 50 Nm, and a 0-62 mph time of 3.8 seconds, which BMW UK describes as 0.3 seconds quicker than before. It adds new front and rear styling, the forged crankshaft from the M3 and M4 and a new interior with Live Cockpit Professional. BMW UK also gives the facelifted car a 155 mph limit, lifted to 180 mph with the M Driver's Package, which differs from the 177 mph PistonHeads gives for the earlier car. Power stayed at 510 hp. PistonHeads' buying guide mentions the torque increase but gives it as 34 lb ft to 479 lb ft, which does not reconcile with 443 lb ft, so we trust BMW's own 600 Nm and 650 Nm. One ADAC page for a car dated March to October 2024 prints 600 Nm alongside 3.8 seconds, which does not match BMW's 650 Nm, and we could not resolve that. None of the later figures apply to the car in this guide.

What the car is like

PistonHeads' June 2019 launch drive found the ride firm. It described the three adaptive damper settings as fairly firm, firm and jigglingly firm, and said the ride was borderline for daily family use, while it found the car still powerful and stable under braking and the eight-speed gearbox fast and slick. The buying guide adds that the suspension is steel and adaptive, not air, that owners have reported tyre wear at around 6,000 miles, and that some swapped to 20 inch wheels and different springs for a softer ride. The standard Competition wheels are 21 inch in polished black, according to BMW, and Paul Tan reports M compound brakes with 395 mm front and 370 mm rear discs. PistonHeads says the brakes cope with road use but can struggle on a track, and that carbon ceramics were never offered.

Running costs and ownership

We found no manufacturer service schedule, parts price list or reliable running-cost figure, so we give none. PistonHeads' guide says the car uses condition-based servicing and gave a Pay Monthly service plan at about 42 pounds a month in May 2023, which was a price at that time, not a promise. It quotes official combined economy of 26.9 mpg and CO2 of 239 g/km, but owners reported about 20 mpg and one reported 13.9 mpg after long warm-ups. ADAC prints 11.4 litres per 100 km on the WLTP cycle for the pre-facelift car. Treat all of these as a range, and expect high bills for tyres in particular. PistonHeads also noted used prices of about 45,000 pounds for an early car with 60,000 to 70,000 miles in mid-2023, which is a snapshot from a single guide and not a valuation.

What to check before buying

• Confirm the car is a pre-facelift Competition and not a facelifted one, and ask for the build sheet. The options list matters, especially the M Driver's Package, which decides whether the limiter is at 250 km/h or 285 km/h.
• Check tyres closely. PistonHeads reports early wear and recommends Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, so look at the age, brand and evenness of the fitted set.
• Listen for cabin rattles, and look at the paint. PistonHeads says some early cars had paint quality complaints and that rattles are likely and can worsen.
• Check the centre screen for scratches and the door mirrors for wind noise. PistonHeads reports both.
• Ask about engine history. PistonHeads mentions anecdotal reports of faulty connecting rods that it could not confirm, and says it found very little evidence of common faults. We would still want a service record and a specialist inspection.
• Test the gearbox from a coasting near-stop, since PistonHeads says it can be slow to respond when pulling away in that situation.
• Check for any unauthorised remap, since an S58 tune is common and affects warranty and insurance.
• Run the registration through the recall check described below.

Recalls and the government check

We did not run the government recall checker, because we are not looking at a specific car. The page says you can use a registration number on the MOT service to see safety recalls that have not been checked or fixed, or search by manufacturer, model and year if you do not have the number. It also says the manufacturer will tell you about recalls that are not safety related. ADAC's catalogue pages list several recalls for the X3 G01 and F97 range across different build periods, but they do not say whether the Competition is affected, so we cannot say which recalls apply to this car. We found no recall notice for this variant in our three cited sources, and absence from our sources is not a clean bill of health. Check the individual car.

About the photograph

The picture at the top of this page shows a 2019 X3 M Competition in silver photographed in Leamington Spa in January 2020 and posted to Wikimedia Commons by Vauxford under a CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. It is a pre-facelift car, which matches this guide. We cropped the image to a wide frame and resized it to 800 by 450 pixels. The front plate of the X3 was already blanked on Commons, and we blurred the number plate of a small car in the background.

Verdict

The pre-facelift X3 M Competition in this guide is 503 bhp, 600 Nm and a claimed 4.1 seconds to 100 km/h, with 285 km/h available only with the M Driver's Package, in an all-wheel drive, eight-speed automatic body that weighs around two tonnes. It is a very quick but firm and thirsty SUV whose main buying questions are the tyres, the paperwork and which side of the 2021 update the car sits on. If you are shopping for one, confirm the exact specification, ask for a full history, and treat every published figure as a claim with the caveats above. We have not driven it, so use the sources and a proper inspection to decide.