A quick guide to car launches, chapter one; if they say they're taking it "to the next level", there won't actually be much of great substance done to the car. Well that's the way it seemed with BMW's third-generation X3. This family-sized SUV crossover competes in a sector, Premium SUVs, which vies as the fastest growing in the UK and has recently been gingered up with arrival of the expensive-but-lovely Range Rover Velar.

So while the brochure for this new 3-series-based soft-roader is heavy with phrases such as "building on our reputation" and "using well-established drivelines", you'll search in vain for "brand-new" and “cutting-edge innovation". Don't scoff, though; the X3 has been quite a success for BMW for exactly those reputational and well-established reasons.

Originally launched in 2003, it was a small sister to the X5, which was arguably the original SUV crossover. The first-generation X3 was built by Magna Steyr in Austria and while it wasn't much to drive, it sold well, tapping into a burgeoning market for high-riding crossovers. But BMW rested on its laurels to the extent that sales were plummeting by the time it was replaced by a very similar Mk2 in 2010. It was almost bigger than the original X5 and was built in the company's Spartenburg plant in South Carolina. Despite initial strong sales growth, BMW rode the crest of the wave and numbers have plateaued in recent years, although they've held up in the UK, which seems to like the X3 very much - last year was its best ever, with 9,638 sales.