The new X3 ticks all those boxes, from its low-profile tires to its gently curved roof. It's grown in almost every dimension, and gained a great new interior with more second-row seat room. (It's almost the size of the original X5, now.) It looks fantastic, inside and out. It's fast enough to blur any memory of its stiff-riding, cheap-cabin ancestors.

The 2011 X3 doesn't need much explanation in its differences and distinctions from the outgoing model. It's visibly, physically larger, and it's much more attractive in a car-like way. Forget the trending to rugged, blocky SUV shapes you've seen at other brands, on other vehicles-the X3 swoops it up now with a character line delivered like the same cues on a 3-Series wagon.