BMW X3 X3, E83
A raised 3 Series with permanent four-wheel drive and a firm ride that never quite settled. It's practical, quick enough and cheaper to buy than anything else wearing this badge.
Overview
The E83 is the SUV BMW X3, built 2003–2010 and facelifted in 2006. 2 standard engines are documented here, each with its own issue list, inspection sequence and price band. Asking prices across the standard range run €3,000–€13,100, and 0 of the 2 carry a risk level of 4 or 5; the facelift cars sit at a premium over otherwise identical pre-facelift ones. The 2.0d M47 is both the cheapest way in, from €4,000, and the lowest-risk engine of the range, which makes it the obvious starting point. Prices are illustrative placeholders rather than a sourced market sample. See the methodology.
BMW X3 SUV (E83) · photo 2005 BMW X3 2.0d, front left (Portugal) by Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
| Body style | SUV | Production | 2003–2010 |
| Platform siblings | sold in this body only | Facelift (LCI) | 2006 |
Engine matrix: pre-facelift, 2003–2005
The 1 variants sold before the 2006 facelift. Power and years come from the variant records; prices are illustrative, not sourced.
| Badge↕ | Engine | Fuel | Years↕ | Power↑ | Torque↕ | Risk↕ | Issues | Price band↕ | Good buy↕ | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0d | M47 | diesel | 2004–2005 | 150 PS | 330 Nm | R3 | 5 | €3,000–€8,000 | €4,000 | Buy w/ conditions |
Engine matrix: facelift / LCI, 2006–2010
The 2 variants sold from the facelift on, priced at a 9% premium over the pre-facelift car.
2 variants from the facelift on, carrying a real market premium of roughly 9% over an otherwise identical pre-facelift car. Variants appearing in both tables were sold either side of the changeover, the build month decides which one you're looking at, not the model year.
Market availability varied by country; check the engine code stamped on the block rather than the badge on the boot. · Compare every engine side by side →
Model-year availability
Which engines were on sale in which year, from the year ranges in the variant records. Availability varied by country.
Rating map, price against risk
Good-buy price plotted against risk level for every standard engine, so the value corner is visible at a glance.
Every standard engine in the chassis, plotted at its good-buy price against its risk level. Cheap and low-risk is the top-left; expensive and fragile is the bottom-right. M cars are excluded, they would stretch the price axis and tell you nothing about the rest.
Prices across the range
Where the money sits across the whole chassis. Every figure here is an illustrative placeholder, not a sourced market sample.
Every standard engine on one euro axis: the bar spans the 10th to 90th percentile of asking prices, the tick is the median and the green marker is the good-buy figure. M cars are excluded; they sit an order of magnitude above the rest.
Every standard engine · cheapest first · 3.0d M57 highlighted as best value
at or under the good buy · good buy · median · bar spans the 10th–90th percentile
Chassis-wide issues, every engine inherits these
Faults recorded against the bodyshell and running gear rather than one engine, so every variant on this page inherits them.
Written once against the chassis and shown on every variant page below, so nothing here is repeated 2 times: M cars included, since the bodyshell and electronics are shared.
Buying summary
Our read on the chassis, built on the records above rather than added to them.
Best value: 2.0d, though which diesel you're looking at matters more than the badge does. The M57 straight six is the engine to have and it's the one that will run to very high mileage. Check the transfer case and front propshaft for whine and vibration, because that's the fault this chassis is known for. So look at the tailgate and the rear arches for corrosion on early cars, and confirm the four-wheel-drive system doesn't bind on full lock.
Cheapest and dearest in this chassis
The ends of the range by good-buy price. Useful for sanity-checking anything you're quoted.