58% of you voted for the AMG GT, and surprisingly no one voted for the White wagon. I get it – we have our preferences when it comes to performance. So let’s test them again with a car you might want, versus a car you might not. The BMW X4 M – same as the X3, right?
Flexibility has its benefits.
The 2022 BMW X4 M Competition vs the 2024 BMW X3 M Competition
I was on a shoot with a friend recently who’s really into the idea of getting an X3 M. But that was followed quickly by, “The prices have jumped up”.
Hmm, have they really?
BMW rarely releases production numbers, but they did for 2021. 4,418 X3 Ms, 2,555 X4 Ms. Extrapolate that over the life of production, and it’s a small fraction of M’s bread and butter combo of the M2 and M3. No wonder they don’t want to keep making these M SUVs.
So the X3 is dead, but the X4 lives on until the end of the 2025. That’s great for depreciation and keeping costs down (for now). If a low mileage X4 M comes up for sale, the price can’t approach a new one regardless of mileage. Both are quirky, the X4 a bit more so. I can see this going the way of the original BMW M Coupe, aka clown shoe. Underappreciated now, then suddenly someone points and says “Oh yea, that was a cool car!”, and they jump up $40k.
But I can also see these going the way of the G37, may those poor souls rest in peace.
Before we get into our examples, I should point out two things: LCI, and Competition. The LCI is self explanatory – it’s better looking with a full digital dash, so it’s worth more. But the Competition bit is tricky. For $7,000, you get bigger wheels, extended Merino leather, an “M Sport exhaust” system that isn’t any louder, extended Shadowline trim, M seat belts, and the seats out of an M3. Oh, and 30 more horsepower. Can you believe they put regular seats from a base X3 30i in these things?
I digress. The point here is to make sure you’re getting a real Competition, not one with the wheels and badge added on. Things you can’t get include carbon ceramic brakes, or an Individual color until the LCI debuted.
Are these even real M cars?
The 2022 BMW X4 M Competition
Believe it or not, only a handful of X4 M examples have been listed on Cars & Bids, and a big fat zero made it on Bring a Trailer. Here’s one:
- 26,000 miles
- Black Sapphire Metallic over Sakhir Orange leather
- Clean CarFax
- Mods, including an Active Autowerke equal-length midpipe, 21-inch Edelweiss LT3 wheels, and CF accents
- Some of these mods are too much for my taste, so check the extensive list. “Eyebrows” over the headlights? Come on, bro
- Chips in paint, on the windshield, and the passenger side grille has a broken clip.
- Sold for $55,000
A pretty simple example in a classic color. No red flags. If you zoom out, the only other LCI example I could find is this one. We don’t know how much it went for because it was sold after, but I can’t imagine it much more than that $53k. Non Comp, but better color and stock.
Want a non-LCI? Ones with mileage in the 60s goes for just $37,000, and even that might be too much. At the end of the day, that weird sloping back might just be too much for you. So…
The 2024 BMW X3 M Competition
Let’s keep it apples to apples. Low miles, Comp, LCI:
- 10,100 miles
- Dark Graphite Metallic over Black leather
- Stock
- Seats are creased, that’s all
- Clean CarFax
- Bid to $65,500
I’d argue that the color combo is bland, but the car itself clean and stock. It’s two years newer and as I said above, no longer produced. The amazing thing is that the sticker on the car is over $90,000, meaning this X3 M lost almost $30,000 of value in one year!
“Oh, it didn’t sell” – okay, but the buyers set the market, not the sellers. If this car went anywhere, it wasn’t for much more. I found a Sao Paulo Yellow one for $70k, fewer miles.
As for BMW X4 M values vs the X3 M – despite being more rare, the X4 is almost always worth less. See if you can live with the turtle shell.
The point of all this to let you know that now and over the next few years is the time to buy one of these cars, before they become cool again.
Which M SUV would you rather have?
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