[3s-a-charm]

Originally Posted by WJGreer

To each his own, and I'm glad you are happy with your car. No doubt, the X3 is the best performing small SUV on the market.

Here's why I think it looks "cute". Most of it concerns the front end:

• The hood line looks a little short to me, in proportion to the height of the cabin.
• The nose looks a little short, vertically. IMO, BMW could fix this by enlarging the kidneys just a bit and reducing the slope of the hood.
• The windshield is too vertical, given the slope of the hood.

Now, to be fair, most small SUVs have all of these problems. Another great example is the Acura RDX, which looks proportionally disastrous when placed next to an MDX.

One that isn't too bad, though, is the Volvo XC60:



This is a picture of an R-Type, so it does have larger wheels which make any car look better. Still, notice that the proportion of the front end harmonizes better with the cabin. I will say that there's a little too much sheet metal between the top of the rear fender flare and the character line, but the XC60 is generally a better looking vehicle than the XC90, IMO.

All that said, neither of them drive like an X3, so enjoy yours!

Better compare Apples-Apples. Here's a better X3 to compare the Volvo to in my opinion: