BMW X3 TOUR - xPlore the beloved country!

By Farzana Chaumoo

Oh, the places we go! We recently toured South Africa with BMW in the new, locally built X3s, having made stops in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, before returning to Gauteng. We visited two of BMW’s plants and went sight-seeing at The Rondavels. Here’s the story of our adventure:

We recently embarked on a road trip, named the BMW xPlore Tour, to essentially explore South Africa while testing a new, locally produced model. Pulling up to the meeting point and seeing a line of the new third-generation X3s, we knew it was going to be an adventure.

An adventure that required a vehicle not confined to tar also meant there was loads of enjoyment in store. Our convoy of branded X3s drew in a lot of attention as we paraded through small towns, ate dinner by the light of a full moon and bonfire, getting to go behind-the-scenes with the brand, and socializing with some of motoring’s favourite journos.

Places we visited

BMW’s X vehicles, an “X” that won’t haunt you, are known to be refined and rugged all at the same time. They’ve proven their ability to soldier over all kinds of terrain despite physics, reason and sense. Very soon, you’ll be able to take your X-vehicle to an upcoming play-park called the BMW X Lifestyle Park in Midrand. It’s opening in November, here’s why you’re going to want an X vehicle if you don’t already have one https://www.autotrader.co.za/car-news/bmw/x5/aa4e3e0b-6733-4a20-a43e-0e19ad04bf3f-upcoming-bmw-x-lifestyle-park

Our X3s took us around Gauteng, into Limpopo, and also Mpumalanga. We travelled as much off-road as we did on-road, to which we enjoyed making our mates in the X3 behind us “eat our dust”, but this was after eating dust from the X3 in front of us. Convoys are awesome, it’s all fun and games. You would know what I mean if you’ve ever attended a breakfast run or done a convoy drive with friends.

We took the X3s on a brief game drive as we entered our hotel, the Makalali Private Game Lodge, one evening. We got to see a rhino, a zebra, some bucks or deers, a baby giraffe – or maybe a teenager giraffe? I’m going to blame the light of day and say it was almost dark and hard to tell. The next morning I got distracted by monkeys at the pool area that I was literally two seconds away from getting left behind, as the journos were being taken back to our vehicles. At Makalali, your vehicle is left at the reception entrance, and you are taken on a safari van to the hotel, which is a little further in.

We shared several sunrises and sunsets with our sand-covered X3s, travelled through valleys, tunnels and up beautiful mountain passes. Road holding of the X3 was excellent through these winding roads, although we (my co-driver and I) felt the 2.0-litre held slightly-better road composure than the 3.0-litre. This could well be due to the different tyre profiles.

Sweet tooth problems

We were delighted to stop for waffles in Dullstroom, we had coffee in Haenertsburg, went sight-seeing at the Three Rondawels, and had fruit sticks and peppermint crisp tarts at the Legend Golf & Safari Resort. Let me not even get to the desserts we stuffed our faces with on the first night at Irene Country Lodge. More pictures of the trip can be found on our social media pages. We also passed by God’s Window and MacMac Falls and drove into Tzaneen.

Power of the X3

The SUV was ultimately the main player in our tour without which our trip would not have been as amazing had we been travelling in something that was weak or uncomfortable.

We drove around in two derivatives of which included the 3.0-litre straight-six diesel xDrive30d and the 2.0-litre X3 xDrive20d. Power output sits at 195 kW/620 Nm and 140 kW/400 Nm respectively. While claimed fuel consumption figures are rated at 5.7 L/100 km and 5.5 L/100 km, our drives measured 9.3 L/100 km and 7.3 L/100 km respectively.

The X3 ticks all the right boxes in terms of efficiency, performance, style, and sufficient space. You can read more about what’s new on the third generation X3 here: https://www.autotrader.co.za/car-news/bmw/x3/209fd5b7-69cb-4102-9d4e-9d46c1e95f96-bmw%E2%80%99s-new-x3-%E2%80%93-driving-the-future-of-rosslyn

Alternatively, visit this link to find all our X3 news and reviews as we’ve compared it against Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Audi.

Touring production plants

We not only toured the country but also two of BMW's manufacturing plants in SA to which a recent total of R6,27 billion was invested in. In efforts of obtaining a 100% electricity supply from renewable sources, BMW SA produces their own clean energy that powers the Rosslyn plant. You can read about the new renovations made to the Rosslyn plant for the X3 production and how BMW is using cows to producing electricity here: https://www.autotrader.co.za/car-news/bmw/x1/dacf671c-c339-4b2f-bdb9-a792c9b4901c-bmw-group-investment-in-africa

Conclusion

It was an incredible journey, one of which requires a capable vehicle that can keep up, maneuver easily, all the while providing comfort and practicality. The X3 feels at home on South African roads and we should be proud that it is being built here.