BMW IX3 Review: Did BMW Get It Right?

[Music] bmw have quite a funny history with electric vehicles back in 2013 they were one of the first big names to really embrace evs with a custom built from the ground up electric car in the form of the i3 it was very good but also very quirky and not a lot of people bought it but times have moved on and everybody and their grandmother is now selling an electric car so bmw knew they had to come back and make an even bigger splash and they've tried it with this the ix-3 which in case you hadn't noticed it's basically just an x3 with the oily bits removed and batteries and a motor crammed inside in fact you might not even be able to tell it's an electric car unless you look really closely and then you might spot the bmw badge has a little bit of blue accenting around it because blue signifies the planet and they're here to save the planet there's also a really smooth grille which looks a bit like some beavers teeth and at the side an eye logo plus smooth aerodynamically optimized wheels that don't hurt the air as you drive along or something plus at the back zero exhaust pipes and an ix3 logo but apart from that it's all very very normal it's worth pointing out that bmw is about to face lift this car from december 2021 so future versions will have a more aggressive less smooth bumper at the front and slightly more interesting and sculpted lights at the rear which are a neat improvement but underneath that version will be the same as this one let's have a quick look inside obviously the face lifted version will be tweaked as well so we'll have a slightly different infotainment screen slightly different leather materials and a tweaked center console but largely the two will be very very similar and that's a good thing because bmw do interiors very well one of the things i love is the fact that they still rely on physical buttons and knobs knob gang i know you're with me so you can turn the volume up and down with the physical volume knob and adjust the heating which makes it a lot easier and more intuitive when you're on the move interestingly bmw also provide gesture controls so you can move your fingers in the air to control the volume or move your thumb that way or that way to skip to the next track or the next radio station or if a call is coming in you can dismiss it by doing that which is a really nice touch as for the screens you get a nice big clear driver display which presents a lot of neat information and also a lovely infotainment system which is easily controlled using this idrive controller on the center console and you also get apple carplay and android auto which is a nice touch [Music] oh one more thing how could i forget bmw have partnered with the legendary composer han zimmer the guy responsible for so many really memorable film scores like gladiator or the lion king or interstellar to oh and also going for gold the tv show in the uk classic to produce the sounds for the ix3 so if i turn it on you get that sound and off stick around i'll play some more from mr han zimmer a bit later on as for rear space well it's not bad given that this is essentially a petrol car that's been converted to electric it's actually the same as its petrol cousins rear leg room is more than adequate for six footers as is headroom and you can expect all the usual creature comforts back there including usb ports rear climate control cup holders and all the rest the only downside is that it still has a transmission tunnel so there's an unsightly hump in the middle of the floor taking up space boot space is good though it's certainly smaller than one you get in the petrol or diesel x3 by 40 liters or so but the 510 liter total is more than adequate room for a couple of suitcases or a weekly family shop okay let me give you the main facts and stats for the bmw ix3 to try and put this thing into some kind of context there's only one version of this car although there are a couple of trim levels and a few options so it's actually quite easy to wrap your head around which one to buy because there's only one the price is around 61 000 pounds that's 5 000 pounds more than a tesla model y and 5 000 pounds less than a jaguar i-pace and around the same as what you'd pay for an audi e-tron so is it expensive yes but not as expensive as some of its rivals as for the battery well no choices there either you get an 80 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack although only 74 kilowatt hours of that is actual usable capacity because they like to keep some extra capacity spare in order to not use the entire battery and preserve battery health over the life of the vehicle the official range is 285 miles although i'll tell you my real world range a little bit later on stick around [Music] as for motor options again there's only one it's a single motor driving the rear wheels so yes it's rear-wheel drive which is kind of typical bmw really but in this part of the market i think all of its rivals do offer an all-wheel drive version so if you live in an area with a steep hill perhaps and you encounter the odd fierce winter that is worth bearing in mind that this might not have as much traction getting up a steep icy hill as some of its rivals in terms of traction even on a fairly damp day it's absolutely fine and in terms of power it's okay as well it makes 286 horsepower which isn't mind-blowing but it's enough for naught to 62 in 6.8 seconds and because it's got 400 newton meters of torque a fairly healthy amount when you accelerate from a reasonably low speed it does take off quite nicely you've got lots and lots of force for overtaking for example so what's it like to drive nice nice is probably the best way of summing it up it feels like a normal x3 but better because it's quieter and it's more refined and it's smoother and you haven't got the vibrations from a diesel engine making it feel a little bit sort of rickety so in that sense it's a lovely car to drive you sit a lot higher in this car than probably in any of its rivals and that gives you quite a lot of visibility everywhere you go which is actually very handy on roads like this for example where it's lined with hedgerows and you need a little bit of visibility around the bends to see who might be walking towards you or whether there's a car coming in your direction the refinement levels are actually quite good in this car you can hear a little bit of road noise but nothing too intrusive apart from that the main sound you hear is from that synthesized note created by mr hansa zimmer who made the sounds for this bimmer let me show you what you experience i'll put it in sport mode which is where it's at it's loudest i put my foot down it's yeah it's not amazing is it really it's it's just sort of one note that changes pitch depending on how long you keep your foot pinned and it's not it's not inspiring i think mr zimmer's probably laughing all the way to the bank with that one my favorite favorite synthesized electric engine note of all time is made by the mercedes eqs that sounds brilliant step hands game up [Music] the suspension is on the firm side as it is with most electric cars but it's more than tolerable and certainly smoother than you'll find in say a tesla model x it's a nice comfortable car to cruise around in with your family [Music] the steering is really lovely in this car it's got such a progressive feel to it it's light enough to be easy to maneuver around town in a car park for example but it also has enough weight to it to feel really confidence inspiring around these bends it probably is i think the best steering in an electric suv and that's that's saying something look at this i'm approaching a right-hander right now scrub off a little bit of speed throw it in and it gives you so much confidence there's so much grip so much traction on the exit that it's actually a very enjoyable car to drive bmw likes to bang on about being the ultimate driving machine and you can really see that they wanted this car to be fun it is a quick word now on the brakes which are fantastic in this car they're really strong really confidence inspiring but they also feel very consistent they feel like brakes on a normal car which isn't always the case in an electric vehicle you have several different levels of regeneration you can't control it using paddles behind the steering wheel because there aren't any but you can control it using a menu on the main infotainment screen so you can choose between high medium and low levels of regeneration and the more regen you get the more aggressively the car slows down when you lift off the accelerator there's also a one pedal driving mode if i knock the transmission stick into b then if i lift off completely the car should come to a complete standstill let me just test that theory yep completely static and then off you go again using only one pedal which can be quite useful but the important thing is that you have choice in how the brakes feel [Music] now in terms of range as i've mentioned the official wltp figure is 279. however in my hands on a mild winter's morning the car reported 3 miles per kilowatt hour on average which works out to be 222 miles of real world range not bad for this size of vehicle but equally not the best i've seen either as for charging the ix-3 will accept up to 150 kilowatts so it'll go from 10 to 80 percent in about half an hour not bad so in summary then how does the ix3 stack up against the very fierce competition on the market today well on paper maybe not very well because let's face it it's more expensive than the current king the tesla model y and it's nowhere near as fast or as spacious as the model y or indeed even the jaguar i-pace it's maybe not as technologically advanced as an audi e-tron doesn't even have all-wheel drive there's a lot that bmw didn't get right with the ix-3 and yet it's so good to drive that it probably does make up for all of those shortcomings if you're looking for a high riding electric suv that importantly looks normal and does pretty much everything you'll want of it without any fuss then the ix3 is definitely one to consider [Music] you

Channel: AutoTrader

Views: 202,037

Keywords: BMW IX3, BMW IX3 review, New BMW IX3, IX3 facelift, IX3 range, IX3 boot, IX3 rear seats, IX3 test

Id: Ik8LQkrajX0

Length: 12min 1sec (721 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 19 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/aspirationalsoul]

My biggest complaint and disappointment with this is that it's £60,000 for an EV that's not even on a dedicated platform.

[u/Ok-Efficiency1842]

Yes. The Ultimate Driving machine that has a curb weight of 4,817 pounds.