For example, Americans aren't as obsessive about fit, finish and trim textures as we Europeans are. That means they won't mind the wavy panel gaps, the acreage of black bumper plastic, the flimsy interior door handles, the hard surfaces where soft might be expected. But here in the UK the X3 will sell for around ΂£30,000, placing it in the premium sector. Is BMW, then, being just a little bit cynical here? Does it rely too much on people's brand obsession?

Not so, says BMW boss Helmut Panke. He claims there is a new take on designer-designed goods, a move away from softness and luxury to starkness and simplicity. How convenient for the car makers that is. The X3 isn't cheapened at all, it just reflects the new utilitarianism. Convinced? Nor am I.

The X3 contains some good stuff, though. Most important is xDrive, the four-wheel-drive system. Some recent 4x4s, the larger X5 included, have used a viscous centre differential and selective wheel braking, controlled by ESP-type systems, to distribute torque where it's needed most. But xDrive is more elegant because it acts faster and doesn't wait for spinning wheels to trigger it. Central to the system is a multiplate clutch en route to the front axle, doing a similar job to a Volvo's or a VAG car's Haldex clutch except that they, being based on front-wheel-drive designs, modulate torque to the rear wheels instead.

Effectively, xDrive tries to ensure all wheels are turning at the speed required by the passage of the road beneath, and apportions torque to make this happen. So if the rear wheels encounter sheet ice, the clutch solidifies and all effort goes frontwards. The clutch is locked at every standing start, anyway, so even on snow you get a quick getaway.

This quick torque redistribution, hastened by inputs from the ESP sensors, helps make the X3 a very tidy handler and an unexpectedly rapid cornerer. You can pile into a bend on a trailing throttle, feel the tail edge out, accelerate and feel the front wheels pull the X3 straight. That little trick is probably the closest we'll ever get to experiencing a front-drive BMW-badged car. The steering is quick and crisp, aside from a springy dead patch around the centre, and roll angles are minimal despite the high stance.

Sounds good? Only if the road is ultra-smooth. Like the 6-Series, the X3 was launched near Malaga. But unlike the
6-Series, its tail is forever heaving about even on seemingly smooth motorway. The ride got worse and worse as we reached winding mountain backroads, to the point where the taut handling seemed to have exacted too high a price.

We enjoyed the engine, though; BMW's 3-litre six-pot is especially mellifluous in the X3, even if the weight blunts its urge. The five-speed auto does a smooth job except when you manually downshift from third to second, whereupon it tries to skid the rear wheels. The throttle-blip needed to avoid this must be very carefully timed.

On to a tame off-road course, which the X3 and its Hill Descent Control handled well, and then into a manual Sport. This too was a 3.0; a 2.5 petrol X3 is also offered, but we must wait a year for 2.0 and 3.0 turbodiesels thanks to a demand prediction blunder by BMW GB.

The X3 has a couple of other drawbacks. Problem one: climbing steeply uphill out of the offroad venue, this X3 is wound up in a positive feedback loop as torque oscillates from one end to the other and alternate wheel-pairs spin. Problem two: the stiffened-up Sport has even less suspension than the other one, and the ride is frankly intolerable. Do not buy this version.

And the looks? It's kind of BMW-meets-military, and not unattractive. The X3 also has one big advantage over the xActivity concept car, shown at Detroit, which previewed the shape. This time, it gets a full set of side windows.