Just be sure you're OK with the NVH moving down from luxury/premium to Subaru. They're good cars, but road noise and wind noise is going to be more pronounced, especially at highway speeds, even for their top Outback Touring trim.

 

My move down to Acura wasn't what I had hoped for. I understand your concern for Subaru and that is why I initially ignored the brand (I also read about the CVT being noisy). I would have to be blown away on the test drive to overcome current misgivings.

My wife is voting for MB but that's my "default" choice for now. I've already driven the GLC so it's a known quantity by me and the industry.

 

Miss my MB, but not the maintenance (it ate tires pretty quickly in normal DD duty), sport pkg C300 on staggered 19s.

 

Did you ever scratch the front bumper/bottom against taller parking stops/blocks? I never liked the ground clearance on my 2012 C300 4MATIC.

 

It would, but 4 years of working for dealerships, I rarely pull forward enough to touch them. Mine was also a sport pkg car, which IIRC was 15mm/.5in lower, or something like that.
That said, my C300 was a 2015 & the bottom of the front bumper was pretty roughed up from the prior owner. Not visible unless you were under it.

 

So two things: The CVT in a Subaru is not noisy. I have a 2.5i, which is a very weak engine so I like to get on it. The CVT just does it's thing. Now my 2006 with the 5EAT, that was a bad transmission. I'll say Subaru did get the CVT right. Hell, they put it in the WRX (which means you should be banished from driving a car if you get a WRX with the CVT. I digress).

The other issue is wind noise. They have improved. It's not a Lexus, or an MB. Take a look at Car and Driver. They reviewed the new Legacy and Outback. The 260HP Turbo is the way to go. The outback review can be seen at the bottom of the page.

2023 Subaru Legacy

 

BMW dealer:

Dealer wanted MSRP+$2500 on a '22 X3 (despite '23s sitting in the lot). The good news was they were willing to give me nearly the full value of the lease buyout. The bad news was since I never owned the car, I would not get the sales tax credit that would have essentially made the ADM a wash. The HUD that would have normally been part of the package was delisted but they kept the same price. I guess it's "take it or leave it" these days!

Mercedes dealer:

Had an offer for a '22 GLC that would be straight MSRP via email from a dealer I've gotten cars from in the past. The only issue was 2 of the packages were called "Lite" because they removed some features. One of them was the "Hands Free Access" that allows you to open up the liftgate by waving your foot. This was a dealbreaker for me so I'm waiting until April for the '23s to come out and possibly with a full complement of electronics.

It's starting to look like I won't be getting out of this lease early. All signs are pointing to "sit tight until next April".

My only other option would be to return the car to Acura and hope they buy out the car without me getting a new Acura. Has anyone done this recently?

 

I've got a deal in place for a '23 X3 xDrive30i. I managed to get the ADM down to $1k over MSRP and they're buying out my TLX. I'm ok with the ADM because I qualify for a new grad rebate of $1k bringing it back down to MSRP.

I have no inkling of the BMW market and whether ADM is justified for something as common as an X3. Anyone have any idea?

 

I get being in a pinch with a lease ending & the current car market, I'd just have a hard time paying anything over MSRP.
Then again, I've only ever bought 1 new car, so have always had more haggle power on pre-owned.

 

Are you leasing again? If yes, the ADM is stupid and I wouldn't pay it.

 

No. This car will break my leasing cycle.

 

Then you're probably not going to do a whole lot better, especially with the lease buyout.

You can call up other BMW dealerships around the area or even the country and see what they have to say. Some might beat the price, most probably won't. Sucks but in this day and age it seems like even getting MSRP is a good deal. No more 10% under anymore. Or at least not for a while longer.

 

Update:

I took delivery of an X3 last night and finally got rid of the TLX. Here are some details:

2023 X3 - Agreed price was MSRP and I used my New Grad discount to bring it to $1k below MSRP. Financed for 60 months at 5.59% (highest rate I've ever had since my first car)

2021 TLX - Dealer agreed to buy it outright (no strings attached!)

All things considered, I think this was the best deal I could have hoped for.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I really didn't want to second guess myself if I had gone Mazda or Subaru.

 

Congrats.
Yeah, auto rates suck right now, I think our Expedition was in the low 5s, compared to my F150 & Mercedes, through the same CU at 1.99 & 2.9 respectively.

 

 

I will make this thread worthy now!

(Not sure why some preview pics are upside down)

 

Aussie spec

 

Nice job. Now get that thing with tints and we're good

 

Congratulations!

 

 

So I finally got my first gas tank refill after well over a week of ownership (TLX would have been less than a week). The fuel economy was slightly better than the departed TLX and I'll continue to baby it during this break-in period.

It's too bad I didn't make the switch to BMW 2 years ago as it would have been a less expensive car and would have included the HUD!

 

^^^ sorry to whiz on your parade but you haven't been hit with a bill for service/repairs yet at BMW.

 

Congrats! Have heard a lot of good things about the new X3.

 

I think you missed the point that I came from the Germans, was disappointed by Acura, and now back to the Germans. My last service on my GL450 was ~$1500. If you're trying to scare me with scary service/repair bills, it's not working.

Who knows? BMW may even be cheaper than Mercedes! LOL.

 

^^ that may be true but your post said nothing about MBZ and only spoke in reference to Acura, presumably gas mileage differential being the game changer.

 

That's fair. I can't expect everyone to be familiar with 2 years' worth of posts from the TLX Owner's thread I started.

Speaking of gas mileage, I'm currently getting fairly close to 30 mpg on the X3 over mixed driving. This was what I wanted from the TLX all along!
To add insult to injury, my X3 is also 167 lb heavier than the TLX A-Spec SHAWD I gave up! I've always heard BMW makes great engines but now I have first hand experience!

 

Now that your dilemma of figuring out what vehicle you want has been solved, thinking this thread should be closed.

 

I have no issue with that.