Amazing cabin; superb ride; bristling with new tech; 380-mile range
Polarising exterior design; iDrive still not a great UI; hefty price
There is no denying that the iX is the most important new BMW in a very long time. Since the i3, really. It has the brand’s fifth-generation electric motors, a new architecture developed for all the company’s EVs going forward, and then there is the fact that it has the very latest infotainment and driver-assistance systems, including all the necessary tech and hardware for Level 3 autonomous driving baked in, even if it can’t be turned on yet.
Let’s start with the BMW iX stats so we can get those out of the way and delve into the important issues, such as that controversial exterior design, the bristling tech (including a self-healing grille) and what the drive and overall experience is like.
There are two launch versions. Both are dual-motor AWD. The 71kWh xDrive 40 has a range of 257 miles WLTP. The xDrive 50 offers 105.2kWh and a more than respectable 380 miles on the standard 21-inch wheels. Performance in the iX 40 is 326bhp and 6.1 seconds to 62mph. In the iX 50, which we drove, this bumps up to a spirited 523bhp and 0-62 in 4.6 seconds. Top speed is limited to 124mph, and it gets there very easily. Overtaking in the iX is no issue.
If, bafflingly, this pace is somehow not enough for traditional BMW users, an M Performance version, the iX 60M, lands next year, and that will sail well beyond 600bhp – and crucially for the company its arrival will mark the first time its M, X and i offerings will have been unified in one vehicle.
The exterior of the iX has not garnered universal praise. And when one has to trot out phrases such as “you know, it’s really not as bad in the flesh”, as is definitely the case here, you know that something is not right – no matter how kindly you look upon the curves or how much you may favour the brand or how laudable this clear commitment to EVs is.
Many BMW SUV fans will want this to look like an X5, which it does not. The sloping rear roof and the sizeable grille seem a little at odds with each other, like the car is all bravado at the front, then gets bashful towards the rear. Strangely, the iX without the optional M-Sport package, which gives you those huge black gills below the headlamps either side of the huge grille, looks better than the pricier spec.
But in its defence the iX is by design unconventional. It is not trying to be like the X range, nor look like every other SUV. BMW wants it to look different. Here it has succeeded. As it has in another key area: lineage. If you look side-on at an i3, then do the same to an iX, you can clearly see the connection. The BMW design team intended this. This EV is intended to be the big brother to the superb i3, not an electric version of the X5. Once you get this in your head, the exterior, whether you like it or not, makes sense.
There are superb touches, too. In order to reduce the weight of the wheels, yet still make them as strong as is necessary, the decision was taken to make the alloys themselves unfussy and work a system whereby you can bolt on lighter plastic sections that look as if they are simply part of the original wheel. This reduces weight and has the added bonus of meaning you can mix and match between different plastic sections and effectively make your wheels bespoke. Smart.
As is the cover for that beaver-tooth grille. Most modern cars have spaces and holes in their front to let the various sensors do their respective jobs. BMW has decided to hide all of this, camera technology, radar and other sensors necessary for Level 3 autonomy (hands-free motorway driving), behind a facade.
This facade, which BMW is loftily calling the “intelligence panel”, could not be impenetrable metal, obviously, and so plastic it was. And because you can repair stones chips on paint easily, but not on a piece of conventional plastic, BMW has used a self-healing material that will remove small chips and scratches from its surface as if by magic. Indeed, if you take a hair dryer to a scratch on this plastic panel you can speed up this process and watch for yourself, according to Johann Kistler, the iX project leader, a BMW veteran whose past projects include the X5, X6 and X7.
Entirely opposed to the outside design quibbles, inside the iX, the new interior is an unmitigated success. Acres of space. No unsightly and completely unnecessary transmission tunnel, or the ghost of one packed with cables. You get a flat floor, plush seats, surprisingly good visibility and room in the back for three adults and a general air of quality throughout. Everything feels very well made, indeed.
The panoramic glass roof flicks between clear and opaque at the press of button – a tech first for BMW. And speaking of which, BMW has got rid of all the but the most essential buttons. The thinking is that you will lean more heavily on gesture control, which no one will use, or voice control, which you might indeed use. It understands most commands with ease, but once again car companies wishing to own the intellectual property of such UIs would do better to partner with a big tech firm to give the driver the best options (see Volvo and Google). One glaring omission here is that you have to say “Hey BMW” for every single interaction. It cannot chain commands or questions, nor does it learn directly from your responses. It’s good, but annoyingly your phone is better.
The latest iDrive 8 system is operated by a tactile thin piece of wood with the buttons hidden underneath and lit from below. However, the use of crystal for the main controller dial and seat adjusters is a bit OTT and smacks too much of what your dad thinks the future looks like.
BMW has shoehorned 20 times more computing power than any previous BMW into the iX. And yes it’s all here: one giant sweeping, curved display that houses a 14.9-inch infotainment screen alongside a 12.3-inch digital instrument panel hovers over the front dash; the graphics are clear and sharp, touch responsiveness is top notch, even if the whole system is still a little baffling to navigate; Digital Key Plus uses that UWB car key tech Apple was lauding last year, so the car knows you're approaching way before you get to the vehicle; 5G connectivity (even if it’s practically no better than 4G in reality in the UK); infrared panels in the cabin to warm you while not draining precious battery life.
The one concession to its EV nature is seen in the boot. The integrated drive unit on the rear axle means you get a higher boot floor. Capacity is 500 litres, which is still a perfectly decent amount, but it’s 150 litres less than the similarly sized X5.
If BMW was aiming for the performance of an X5 with the ride of an X7 with the new iX, then it hasn’t done a bad job at all. The car’s performance is genuinely impressive. No one needs to go faster than this, despite the arrival of the M version in 2022. Acceleration is immediate. The steering is precise and the chassis is superb. Aluminium and carbon-fibre combine to offer a rigid frame that with air suspension results in a ride that is, when you want it to be, the very definition of serene. Road noise is barely audible, despite the lack of any combustion engine clattering away. You can turn on fake engine noise, IconicSounds, in the iDrive settings, but despite some of these being crafted by Hans Zimmer, no less, they add little and can sometimes even detract. Going long distances in this car will be a breeze, so it’s fortunate that large battery can deliver the miles.
As for that battery performance, Frank Weber, Development CTO on the board at BMW, at the launch of the iX shows a picture he’s taken of the dashboard data on his fully specced iX company car. He has driven a total of 3,800km. “What do you think is my energy consumption?” he says. “It’s fully equipped, with the biggest wheels, so not set up for efficiency." The figure his iX gets after such a distance is 21.6kWh/100km. “The WLTP of that vehicle is 22.8. I’m just one and a half kilowatt hours below. This is something we don't know from combustion engines – it’s a different story.” That’s impressive. And we found a similar story regarding the iX battery. Even with careless driving and using the air-conditioning you will easily get over 300 miles in this SUV.
Charging can be speedy, too. The iX 40 will take in DC at 150kW – or 60 miles in a ten-minute charge. The iX 50 can take nearly 200kW, which means 90 miles in ten minutes. For both to go from ten to 80 per cent you’re looking at roughly half an hour. However, on 50kW chargers, which are far more common right now, you are likely looking at around two hours for a charge in the iX 50. All iXs have three-phase 11kW on-board AC chargers. Sadly, most of us don’t have three-phase at home and you’ll be limited to single-phase 7kW – and that would mean 14 hours from zero to 100 per cent.
The iX gets so much right. Just like its older i3 cousin it is obvious this car has been designed and built from the ground up to be a proper, uncompromising EV. This is the way it must be if a fully electric car is to even come close to realising its potential. Look beyond the polarising exterior – after all, you’re not going to be staring at it while driving – and relish the excellent ride and only a few will not thoroughly enjoy taking an iX on a long run.
There are missteps, such as the AR satnav system, which tries to be like that found in Audi’s Q4 e-tron, where the car camera feeds attempt to tell you, for example, which roundabout exit to take rather than have you try and second guess an old satnav that’s running on a five-second delay. The BMW version, instead of relaying the live AR directions on to the HUD like in the Audi, asks you to look down at the centre console screen to see the live guidance overlay on the route. This is precisely the wrong time to ask someone to take their eyes off the road, and certainly requires a redesign.
But it should be remembered that despite such things, the iX on the whole gets the details right. The panoramic roof that tints is a lovely touch, as are the asymmetric front seats that are more rounded on the door sides to make it easier to turn and chat in the front once they can turn on that Level 3 autonomous tech. And while the price is certainly steep, with the model we drove being more than £90,000, keep in mind that the range-topping xDrive50 will cost about £8,000 less than Tesla’s Model X Long Range.
That’s something for Elon Musk and all EV buyers to keep in mind when the iX goes on sale next month – the old guard are definitely getting their act together.
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
