Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

BMW X3

What it says about you

Opinion

You wanted the driving car and the life you actually have arrived first. This is the compromise, and honestly it is a good one, and you still look at the estate agent's 3 Series in the car park.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

22 model years on record, 3,598 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2015 (diesel), 2013 (timing chain), 2007 (transmission), 2006 (seat). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • seat 2005, 2006, 2012 peak 50% of that year's complaints
  • point 2005, 2018 peak 19.5% of that year's complaints
  • differential 2010, 2020 peak 18.3% of that year's complaints
  • lock 2006, 2007 peak 14.8% of that year's complaints
  • valve 2009, 2011, 2018 peak 11.4% of that year's complaints
  • became 2011, 2020 peak 9.2% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2026 1 recall 14 complaints
  2. 2025 8 recalls 35 complaints
  3. 2024 3 recalls 35 complaints
  4. 2023 4 recalls 11 complaints
  5. 2022 8 recalls 68 complaints
  6. 2021 11 recalls 208 complaints
  7. 2020 16 recalls 218 complaints
  8. 2019 10 recalls 166 complaints
  9. 2018 11 recalls 72 complaints
  10. 2017 6 recalls 92 complaints
  11. 2016 5 recalls 82 complaints
  12. 2015 diesel 420 complaints
  13. 2014 6 recalls 170 complaints
  14. 2013 timing chain 452 complaints
  15. 2012 2 recalls 96 complaints
  16. 2011 4 recalls 250 complaints
  17. 2010 4 recalls 85 complaints
  18. 2009 3 recalls 88 complaints
  19. 2008 3 recalls 190 complaints
  20. 2007 transmission 373 complaints
  21. 2006 seat 345 complaints
  22. 2005 2 recalls 128 complaints

What does a BMW X3 say about you?

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Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.