We left Bombay at 1pm on a rainy Saturday afternoon in September. Being a weekend, the traffic was marginally better than the chaos of Monday through Friday. Still, the initial progress was painfully slow. Our aim was to cover the 500 kilometers to Ahmedabad in 8 hours, which would roughly equate to a modest average of 60 kilometers an hour. Our 1st hour average, however, was a tortoise-like 27km/h, which improved only marginally to 32km/h in 2 hours. This lack of pace can be directly attributed to the fact that the roads leaving Bombay are miserable, and while they do improve about 60 kilometers out of the city, this stretch of the Golden Quadrilateral at least was more like a work-in-progress rather than a finished highway. We were hampered further by the incessant rain that followed us all the way into Gujrat.

The X3, on the other hand, was proving very adept to the conditions. Its 2.5 liter straight-six heart was turbine smooth in signature BMW fashion. The interior is nicely appointed with very comfortable seats and excellent quality materials – there are certainly worse places in which to spend the better part of two days. While the ride is slightly on the firm side, it means that the X3 communicates well with the driver and feels well planted on road. I personally would compromise ride for handling to the extent of loosening a few measly fillings any day of the week, but most Indian buyers would likely prefer the exact opposite. And BMW has responded by further softening the ride on the 3 series for the Indian market. In the X3, they seem to have found a good compromise.

We did find a few niggles however. For instance, the rear view mirror has an automatic anti-glare function. The side view mirrors as well appear to have a bluish film to reduce headlight glare at night. Throw in some rain and a road that’s more ‘construction site’ as opposed to ‘highway,’ and you have a recipe for very little visibility indeed. What’s more, your 40-plus lakhs for the X3 don’t buy you xenon lights as standard.



The lack of visibility and multiple traffic jams meant that our 9pm target to reach Ahmedabad had now come and gone, and we still had some way to go before reaching our overnight destination. Hopes of a nice dinner all but disappeared after it became clear that we weren’t about to find a nice roadside ‘dhaba’ on this stretch. One important tip if you’re planning to drive from Bombay to Ahmedabad – buy some snacks before you leave, since even the chips and biscuits you’ll find on route are local impersonations of the real thing.

Our fatigue and hunger quickly gave way to the slightly more pressing concern of finding a petrol pump as we realized that every pump we passed on the highway was already closed. Just as things appeared to be going from bad to worse, however, the road was transformed into a beautiful dual carriageway about 50 kilometers from Ahmedabad. We also found an exit where we could get fuel, as well as directions to the city. The X3 averaged a little under 7.5 km/l, as it would do for the entire duration of the journey. Now that we had enough petrol, we finally got the chance to stretch the BMW’s legs on the dual carriageway. Despite the rain, the X3 was perfectly stable at speed, as a result of which we quickly found ourselves at the Taj near Ahmedabad airport, exactly 12 hours after leaving Bombay – not stellar progress to say the least. And while the Taj was good for two meals, at 1 and 8am respectively, a room at an astronomical rate for the sole purpose of 6 hours of sleep didn’t exactly seem like money well spent – luckily there was also a Best Western across the street.



We left for Udaipur just before 9am the next morning. Luckily the rain that followed us all the way from Bombay had given way to beautiful sunshine that filled the cabin very generously indeed courtesy of the X3’s optional panorama roof. The stretch from Ahmedabad to Udaipur, which consists primarily of a two-lane dual-carriageway that snakes its way through low lying hills, was definitely the highlight of the entire drive. The X3 seemed to come into its own on these fast and winding roads. It was surprisingly agile and fun to drive – certainly more so than its bigger brother, the X5. You do, however, need to put the gear lever in ‘M’ and work the six-speed automatic gearbox manually to keep the engine in its powerband. Peak torque kicks in at 4,000rpm, so at low revs it can feel decidedly unresponsive as the engine attempts to propel the considerable girth (almost 2 tonnes) of this mini SUV. On the whole though, it does feel more ‘3 series’ rather than ‘SUV’ – the steering isn’t as sharp as a 3 series, but at the same time it’s not as heavy at low speeds either. Body roll is minimal, and while you do feel that you’re sitting higher than a conventional car, you don’t get the corresponding, and sometimes unnerving, sense that you’re in a vehicle with a high center of gravity. Moreover, the drivers’ seat has a wide range of adjustment, so you can set the seat low if you want to fool yourself into believing you’re in a sports sedan, or set it high if you prefer to look down at mere mortals in their lesser vehicles. Dune bashing in Rajasthan (not that we found any dunes mind you) was out of the question because the X3 doesn’t have a low range gearbox. It does, of course, have four-wheel drive, and also hill descent control, but it’s still very much tuned largely for tarmac. Playing in a little bit of dirt would probably be acceptable, but it would likely be out of its depth if you attempted some serious mud plugging.

The BMW’s odometer indicated that we covered 1,488 kms, whereas the GPS said 1,465. This difference can probably be attributed to the GPS having lost signal somewhere over the course of the journey

We crossed Udaipur at about 12:30pm and hardly noticed the 3 hours which had passed since we left Ahmedabad. Past Udaipur, we were surprised to find the road turn back into a single lane highway. We had been spoiled by the stretch between Ahmedabad and Udaipur and expected more of the same all the way till Jaipur, but it wasn’t to be. The road connecting Udaipur and Jaipur isn’t actually bad in terms of traffic or road surface, but not ideal either for what we were told would be a 7 hour stretch. Luckily we found good food at ‘Maharaja Motel’ in tourist friendly Rajasthan. In fact, we only spotted it because of how enthusiastically we were waived in from the edge of the highway.



We crossed Jaipur roughly around 8pm, and expected to make swift progress towards Delhi. Being Sunday evening however, all attempts at a last stretch dash were consistently thwarted by truck traffic that was both unruly and plentiful. Unlike the night before however, visibility was not an issue and the roof lived up to its name and gave us a panoramic view of a bright full moon night. We reached Delhi at half-past midnight with considerably less change in our pockets after stopping to pay toll no less than 17 times – amounting to over Rs. 500 all told. The cost of fuel totaled about Rs. 11,000. The entire journey had taken us a very considerable 36 hours – 28 of which were spent on the road. There were several factors that hindered our progress, not least of which was the condition of roads themselves. If NH8 is counted as being amongst the completed sections of the Golden Quadrilateral, I dread to think of what the rest of the project looks like. In addition, the weather gods played their part in slowing traffic on route to Ahmedabad. We also made a fair number of stops for photographs, which you perhaps wouldn’t ordinarily do. Door-to-door, the BMW’s odometer indicated that we had covered 1,488 kilometers, whereas the GPS said 1,465. Typically, there shouldn’t be such a large difference in the two readings. However, in this instance, it’s possible that the GPS lost signal somewhere over the course of the journey.

NH8, which connects Bombay and Delhi, was disappointing to say the least. We’ve clearly got a long way to go before India can claim to have anything that resembles a world class highway network – I expected more after the hype surrounding the Golden Quadrilateral. Nevertheless, the road is easy to follow and, other than certain stretches where construction is ongoing, relatively trouble free. A commercial aircraft would be a much more rational mode of transport between the two cities, but where’s the fun in that? At least on road you get to see and explore the country. It’s definitely recommended – perhaps not as a weekly commute however.

While some of the roads may have been surprisingly bad, the X3, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. It may have its shortcomings, especially if you want to go off-road, and it’s not exactly pretty in the conventional sense either, but it could well be the ideal vehicle for our roads. Anything that was thrown its way was handled with perfect poise and absolute aplomb. It’s both very comfortable and extremely capable. And while typically very little compares to a BMW straight-six engine, in this case it’s slightly lacking in low end torque – perhaps the diesel from the 320d, which is available in some markets but not India, would be a better power unit for city use.

At the end of the day though, I can’t think of any other car that would have been better suited to this journey. The X3’s ride height meant that none of the roads, or lack thereof in some places, posed a problem. It’s also nimble and spirited enough to make good progress when need be, and, importantly in this case, unassuming enough to be able to drive across the country without feeling as thought you’re in something as other worldly as a Mars Exploration Rover. In many ways, this could well be the ideal car for Indian roads