Auto News 5

Nineteen-ninety-nine wasn't so long ago that we've forgotten the hullabaloo over the prospect of BMW building a sport-utility vehicle -- and building it in America, no less. But the original X5 was a real BMW after all, a 5-series-based charmer that heroically set up the 3-series-based X3 that followed a few years later. Unfortunately, the X3 proved somewhat less than worthy of its BMW roundel. It wasn't bad to look at and it was difficult to fault in the powertrain department, but road manners were on the iffy side and its lackluster interior was a serious downer. The package improved with a top-to-bottom refresh for 2007, but let's just say there'll be few tears shed over the passing of the first-generation X3.