The 2006 BMW X3 gets a few new exterior touches. Most noticeable are the body-color front and rear bumpers. There's the traditional twin-kidney grille, of course, its chrome vertical slats complemented by a chrome strip along the base of the side windows.

From the front, the stance looks much the same as the X5, 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 is within 1.5 inches of the X5's track, which is the distance between the left and right wheels.

The X3 looks like the X5 in side view as well, though the cut line from the front wheel wells to the front doors was eliminated for a cleaner look. A mild character crease bridges the space between the fender blisters, and a relatively low beltline adds 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. (The wheelbase is the distance between front and rear wheels. Overall length comes up short of the X5's 183.7 inches by only 4 inches. The X5 is just 1.5 inches taller than the X3.

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