THEY say the devil is in the detail and in the case of the new BMW X3 that is certainly true.

I had hardly got settled in its luxurious leather interior when I noticed the fuel gauge had been enhanced by the word 'diesel' which goes a long way towards negating the possibility of filling up with the wrong fuel. That attention to detail gets a straight ten from me.

And that is not all, there was a handy mpg gauge located alongside which clearly indicates fuel usage and in turn tempts the driver into a more economical driving mode. Another ten for that.

Detail, detail, detail is part of the DNA of this new model.

Shod with winter tyres that substantially cut braking distances on wet or icy roads and with a highly technical and intelligent all wheel drive system which 'read's the road and keeps the vehicle stable, it adds up to an SUV which is a thoroughbred all weather vehicle.

Take the winter tyre programme currently being rolled out by BMW. This shows that at 60mph these specially developed tyres have a braking distance in wet conditions of 66.7m, some 4.8m better than regular tyres, and whilst braking at 20mph on ice, they stop the vehicle in 57m, which is 11m better.

BMW also has the all wheel drive system sorted yet despite its rough and tough off-road credentials, the X3 is still a top drawer luxury car for family use.

It glides along the motorway, its light touch steering and silky gearbox seems designed for the tight corners and steep inclines of Britain's rural lanes and in heavy town traffic it idles along.

The powerful 2.0-litre diesel is impressive. It has a top speed of 130mph, can sprint to 60mph in 8.5 seconds, return up to 50mpg and boasts a CO2 emission rating of 149g/km.

During my drive of the manual version I managed around 44.5mpg but I had a lot of town driving along my route.

This is definitely a medium sized SUV, despite being larger than the previous version.

It is available in manual or automatic formats and can swallow up to 1,600 litres of luggage making it very user friendly.

Priced at £30,490 for the manual and £30,605 for the automatic it is cheaper than the outgoing model and the tweaks and subtle body changes make it pleasing to look at and even more of a delight to drive.

Whilst it is undoubtedly a sophisticate, bursting with avantgarde electronics, it is a real mean machine with the ability to go anywhere and the capability to handle the most adverse weather conditions.