There's the traditional twin-kidney grille, of course. From the front, the stance looks much the same, with fenders tautly blistered over wide and widely spaced tires, giving the X3 a BMW-like, road-grabbing face. This is no real surprise, as the X3 is but 0.7 inches narrower than the X5; its track, too, is within an inch and a half of the X5's.

Much the same goes for the side view, with a mild character crease bridging the space between the fender blisters and a relatively low beltline adding openness to the side windows. The trademark dogleg in the rear quarter window has been stretched a bit, however. Physical measurements support the visual similarities. The X3's 110-inch wheelbase is less than 1 inch shy of the X5's, and its overall length comes up short of the X5's 183.7 inches by only 4 inches. The X5 is also but 1.5 inches taller.

From the rear, the only marked difference is the single, double-tipped exhaust exiting on the left side where the X5 sports dual exhausts exiting at the corners.