help decide which car to buy - BMW 3 series Estate or X3? Or save money and just buy 3 series

skuml · 2025-07-02T17:02:23+00:00

Hi all, We are thinking to replace our "very old" BMW 3 series. It is give us issues and I dont feel safe to drive it anymore! We do like BMW as our this car didnt any issues for so many years. Hence we are thinking to replace it with another BMW. However - which should we go for? We are family of four. happy with 3 series however, when we go on holidays we do feel boot space is bit less ! however we do manage somehow! Your opinion on - 3 series estate vs X3 hybrid - vs 3 series petrol ( which is quite cheaper than above two) wondering Is it worth spending so much money on car (when we only drive on weekends and holidays)? This money can be used in investing rather than in a depreciating asset. Dilemma is whether to just settle for 3 series instead of estate or X3 and save money ! How do you all think about it? my DH has shortlisted cars which have lot of features such as driving assistant professional! I do like such features! but not willing to pay premium for it ! ps: we are not going the car financing route - will just pay car upfront.

Dearg · 02/07/2025 18:57

I have had both, currently have an estate. In my case it’s because I have dogs. Now elderly so the X3 is too high.

The X3 is roomy, the roof is higher and so the volume of the boot is greater. But the handling of the estate is better; both have been x-drive, and have the same engine .

I loves the height and visibility of the X3; the estate is neater, easier to park, very nice handling. The estate is also a little bit better for petrol consumption, but the X3 MHEV is surprisingly economical.

If you can, drive both . See what you like.

Ilikewinter · 05/07/2025 20:01

DH loved his 3 series cars, especially the estate, as PP we have a dog so the extra space was brill. Would love an X3 but he's gone electric instead!

Work9to5 · 05/07/2025 20:09

We have a 3 series estate, nearly 10 years old, top of the range with most of the bells and whistles. To date it's behaved for its age (potholes notwithstanding, the suspension was not cheap) but budget permitting, it'll be a straightforward replacement. I'm thinking of future proofing so an X is unlikely to be suitable.

Original poster

skuml · 08/07/2025 09:36

Work9to5 · 05/07/2025 20:09

We have a 3 series estate, nearly 10 years old, top of the range with most of the bells and whistles. To date it's behaved for its age (potholes notwithstanding, the suspension was not cheap) but budget permitting, it'll be a straightforward replacement. I'm thinking of future proofing so an X is unlikely to be suitable.

Edited

many thanks! That's great to know!

OP posts:

Original poster

skuml · 08/07/2025 09:44

Dearg · 02/07/2025 18:57

I have had both, currently have an estate. In my case it’s because I have dogs. Now elderly so the X3 is too high.

The X3 is roomy, the roof is higher and so the volume of the boot is greater. But the handling of the estate is better; both have been x-drive, and have the same engine .

I loves the height and visibility of the X3; the estate is neater, easier to park, very nice handling. The estate is also a little bit better for petrol consumption, but the X3 MHEV is surprisingly economical.

If you can, drive both . See what you like.

Many thanks, yes both are good! X3's are bit more on expensive side!

How do they compare maintenance, insurance cost wise?

We have shortlisted a 2021 3 series estate plug in hybrid (based on our budget and features that we want).
Any opinion on plug in hybrid? Also feedback on maintenance, longevity of battery wise ? we mostly do short drives such as picking up kids from school etc) during the week. so think it might be good to save bit on petrol cost plus we get bigger boot space than normal 3 series petrol (which we have).

Bigger boot space will be good when we go on self catering holidays, also, thinking to trying camping this summer!

OP posts:

Aguinnessplease · 08/07/2025 09:59

Personally, I’ve always loved owning and driving the 3 series estate. Simply a flawless car - the perfect balance between drivability, performance and family utility. Mine’s a diesel, which has great fuel economy, but I think BMW pulled the diesel option last year.

Ilikewinter · 08/07/2025 14:39

@skuml , we had the plug in ( and normal petrol before that) , honestly unless it's cheaper to buy or the spec you really want don't bother! The milage you get is pittance, and unless you have a proper EV charger, charging it from a 3 pin plug at home takes hours and hours. Whilst it was a gimmic at first, DH soon got sick of it and just drove it as a normal petrol car. You still get some EV because it regenerates so gave him more acceleration etc! ..... also just double check the boot size, I'm sure it was smaller than the normal estate because of the battery storage

Dearg · 08/07/2025 16:55

Hi Op, for me the X3 was more expensive to insure than the 3 series by some margin. I was averaging 30 mpg in the X3 (M40i) and get about 34 in the estate ( M340i) so same engine,

Maintenance - again X3 is more expensive. It will likely be harder on front brakes due to nose weight and the large run flat tyres cost a chunk each.

Have not had to shop for tyres yet for the estate thankfully.

Test drove a plug in hybrid estate but the roof clearance was too low for the dogs and they would have been sitting on the batteries which is not ideal, so it was a no.

We just got back from a weekend away in the estate car and as pp said, it was flawless . Love it.

Glittertwins · 08/07/2025 17:34

Have you compared the boot sizes on the specs? My 2 series has a surprisingly large boot space and definitely feels more of size of the 3 series I had 12 years ago.

Original poster

skuml · 09/07/2025 10:54

Ilikewinter · 08/07/2025 14:39

@skuml , we had the plug in ( and normal petrol before that) , honestly unless it's cheaper to buy or the spec you really want don't bother! The milage you get is pittance, and unless you have a proper EV charger, charging it from a 3 pin plug at home takes hours and hours. Whilst it was a gimmic at first, DH soon got sick of it and just drove it as a normal petrol car. You still get some EV because it regenerates so gave him more acceleration etc! ..... also just double check the boot size, I'm sure it was smaller than the normal estate because of the battery storage

Edited

hmmm ! Good point ! I didnt think about charging speed from home earlier ! many thanks !
We will mostly do it from home 3 pin!

Will check out how many hours does it take !

OP posts:

Original poster

skuml · 09/07/2025 10:59

Dearg · 08/07/2025 16:55

Hi Op, for me the X3 was more expensive to insure than the 3 series by some margin. I was averaging 30 mpg in the X3 (M40i) and get about 34 in the estate ( M340i) so same engine,

Maintenance - again X3 is more expensive. It will likely be harder on front brakes due to nose weight and the large run flat tyres cost a chunk each.

Have not had to shop for tyres yet for the estate thankfully.

Test drove a plug in hybrid estate but the roof clearance was too low for the dogs and they would have been sitting on the batteries which is not ideal, so it was a no.

We just got back from a weekend away in the estate car and as pp said, it was flawless . Love it.

Thanks for your reply.

Yes boot will be smaller than petrol estate. However currently we have 3 series sedan so thinking estate's boot will be definitely bigger than it !!

We love our 3 series sedan however unable to find features in petrol version! all new 3 series sedans are hybrid and have very small boot ! Hence we are going to 3 series hybrid estate so that we can get bit bigger boot space!

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Glittertwins · 09/07/2025 13:10

We have a new 3 series saloon and the boot is not small at all