24 hours with BMW’s electric future

BMW iX3 40 M Sport: 24 hours with BMW’s electric future

There are some cars that you spend a few hours with and come away thinking they are very good, but after 24 hours you have barely scratched the surface and don’t exactly “get” them. Then there are cars that you spend a day with as a family, using them exactly as you would your own car, and by the time you hand the keys back you have a pretty good idea whether you could actually live with one. The new BMW iX3 falls very much into the latter category.

I was fortunate enough to recently spend 24 hours with an iX3 40 M Sport, kindly supplied by Josh at Vertu BMW Exeter. Rather than treating it as a conventional press loan, we decided to use it as our family car for the day. We went out, used it, had fun and properly tried it out!  On board were me, my wife and our eight year old son, and over the 24 hours we covered a mixture of Devon A roads, some of our rather more challenging country lanes, a trip to Sidmouth and a run down to Budleigh Salterton. There was also an important piece of scientific research to conduct along the way: the That Honest Car Guy paddleboard test, would they both fit comfortably in the boot?

The car itself was certainly not shy. Finished in Fire Red, our M Sport model was fitted with the 22 inch M Light Alloy wheels (with blue brake calipers no less – snazzy!) and the Technology Pack, which included the Harman Kardon sound system. It looks every bit the £62,000 car it was, too, because with around £7,000 of options fitted, that was the on-the-road price of this particular example.

Before getting into how it drives, I have to say that I rather like what BMW has done with the styling. The new iX3 is obviously a very different BMW to the cars we have become used to seeing over the last few years, but I think the new design is more successful from the outset than some of BMW's recent efforts. The kidney grilles in particular are a nice nod to BMW's heritage without becoming the enormous statement pieces (or piggy nose as my son calls them) that divided opinion on some of the company's previous models. They are still unmistakably BMW, but they are much more restrained and, to my eyes at least, considerably more tasteful.

BMW's new designs have a habit of growing on us. I can remember seeing some of the company's recent models for the first time and wondering what on earth they had done, only to find myself becoming increasingly fond of them a few months later. That especially goes for the current (soon to be previous) model M3M4! With the iX3, I didn't really have that problem. I liked it from the start, and seeing this one in Fire Red, with those big rims, certainly helped.

My eight year old son had a much simpler way of describing it when we first saw it.

“It looks like a spaceship.”

Having spent some time inside it, I think he may actually have been onto something.

The exterior is certainly futuristic, but it is the interior where BMW has really gone for the sci-fi effect. The iX3 is the first production model from BMW's Neue Klasse generation and, once you're sitting behind the wheel, it feels like a genuine change of direction rather than simply another new BMW with a slightly different dashboard.

The Panoramic Vision display is the obvious talking point. Information is projected across the lower part of the windscreen and sits directly in your field of vision, with the central touchscreen dealing with the main infotainment functions. I was initially wondering whether it might be one of those features that looks impressive in a showroom but becomes less useful once the novelty has worn off. Actually, I found it one of the best things about the car.

That was particularly noticeable on Devon's roads. When you're travelling along an A road and suddenly come across a junction, a tight bend, a cyclist, a tractor or some combination of all four, having navigation and key driving information sitting in your natural line of sight is genuinely useful. It means you can take in what you need to without constantly looking down towards the centre of the dashboard.

Interestingly, I didn't find that the Panoramic Vision made the conventional Head Up Display redundant either. Our car had the HUD as part of its equipment and I continued to use it throughout the day. The two systems actually work very well together, with the HUD providing the information I most wanted immediately in front of me while the Panoramic Vision gives you a much broader area for navigation and other information. Rather than one replacing the other, I found myself appreciating having both.

The technology didn't just impress me, either. My son quickly discovered the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant (which kept winking at him and generally keeping him entertained), which became one of his three favourite things about the car. The other two were the configurable ambient lighting (I liked blue, he liked sporty orange), which apparently made the interior extremely cool, and Sport mode, which I suspect tells you everything you need to know about an eight year old boy's priorities. The Sport mode noise sounded the same as what I recently experienced in the Mini e JCW aka go kart mode! Good fun, I like the silliness of it. 

Despite being a large family SUV, the iX3 40 is quick. With 320hp and 500Nm of torque, BMW quotes 0-62mph in 5.9 seconds, and you don't have to work particularly hard to access that performance. Put your foot down and it simply disappears down the road.

What I enjoyed more than the outright acceleration, though, was how effortless the car felt on Devon's roads. I deliberately took it away from the easier roads around Exeter and onto a mixture of A roads and lanes, including some of the narrow, twisty routes that really test the size and weight of a modern SUV.

The iX3 is a big and heavy car, but it doesn't feel cumbersome at all. The instant response from the electric motor makes joining an A road or making an overtake completely effortless, while the steering is accurate and the car feels surprisingly composed when you start asking it to change direction. It is not a sports car, nor is it trying to be one, but there is something very reassuring about the way it goes about making progress.

The ride on those 22 inch wheels can be a bit firm over some of Devon's less than perfect surfaces, and I'd be interested to see how they cope with a really rough winter of potholes and broken road surfaces, but the car remains very comfortable overall and does an excellent job of keeping the outside world at arm's length. The iX3 rides well overall. 

That comfort was particularly important to me because I'm 6'4" with a bit of a dodgy back, so finding a good driving position isn't always as straightforward as it should be. I also need good support and plenty of adjustment if I'm going to spend several hours behind the wheel. The iX3 was excellent in this respect. There is plenty of headroom, lots of adjustment and enough space that I could get comfortable without having to compromise the space available to my passengers.

The cabin feels genuinely spacious as well. My wife was comfortable in the front, my son had plenty of room in the back (and the front too when he tried it out) and, despite all the technology surrounding us, it never felt like we were sitting inside a giant computer. There is a calmness to the interior which I really liked, and the combination of the materials, lighting and huge displays gives it a very different ambience from the BMW interiors we have become accustomed to.

There is one part of the new interior that I am less convinced about, though, and that is the four spoke steering wheel. Visually, I actually like it. It fits the futuristic Neue Klasse interior perfectly and is another indication that BMW is prepared to do things differently. In use, however, it caught me out a couple of times.

When you're manoeuvring at low speed, you tend to use the shape and position of a conventional steering wheel almost subconsciously to work out where the wheels are pointing. With the odd four spoke design I occasionally found myself slightly confused about exactly where I was in relation to the wheel. I'm sure I'd get used to it with more time, but it was one of the few things during the 24 hours where I found the futuristic design slightly less intuitive than the conventional alternative. I note there is another option wheel, which might work better for me.

Eventually, we headed down to Budleigh Salterton, where my highly scientific family-car testing programme reached its most important stage.

Could two paddleboards, plus some beach gear fit in the boot?

I'm pleased to report that they could.

The iX3 has 520 litres of boot space, increasing to 1,750 litres with the rear seats folded, but there is another useful trick up its sleeve in the shape of a 58 litre storage area under the bonnet. A front boot, or as I think one calls it, the “froot”.

That turned out to be genuinely useful because we could put the various charging cables and other electrical paraphernalia in the front, leaving the main boot available for our bags and all the other things a family somehow manages to accumulate during a day out. It is one of those details that doesn't necessarily sound exciting when you read it on a specification sheet, but makes perfect sense once you're actually using the car.

The iX3 therefore officially passes the That Honest Car Guy family paddleboard test.

The other question I was keen to answer was whether the impressive range figures would translate into an equally relaxed experience in the real world. The iX3 40 has an 86.9kWh battery and a WLTP range of up to 395 miles, which is an impressive figure for what is effectively the entry point into the new iX3 range.

As ever with electric cars, you need to put the WLTP figure into context. Nobody should buy an iX3 expecting to see 395 miles every time they charge it. Weather, temperature, speed, tyres and how you drive it will all have a significant impact. In normal mixed driving, I would expect something in the region of 300 to 350 miles to be a realistic target, although a cold winter motorway journey at 70mph could reduce that considerably.

Even so, that is a very useful amount of range for a family SUV. It is enough to make most everyday journeys almost irrelevant in terms of charging and makes longer trips much easier to plan. BMW also offers the iX3 50 xDrive, which takes the concept even further with its larger battery and an official range of up to 500 miles. That is an extraordinary number and will certainly appeal to those who regularly cover very long distances, although after my time with the 40 I'm not convinced everyone needs to spend the extra money.

In fact, I think the 40 could be the sweet spot in the range. You get 320hp, rear wheel drive, a very substantial range and all of the new Neue Klasse technology, without necessarily paying for the larger battery and four wheel drive system of the 50.

Perhaps the best indication of how comfortable I felt with the range came from the fact that I didn't charge the car once during our 24 hours. We drove around Devon, went to Budleigh Salterton, headed to Sidmouth and spent time on A roads and country lanes, all while using it exactly as we would our own family car. At no point did I find myself thinking about where the next charger was.

Our particular car was also equipped with the optional 22kW AC charging capability, which is an interesting option for anyone who has access to a suitable three phase 22kW charger. It can significantly reduce charging times compared with a conventional 11kW AC connection, while the car can also accept up to 300kW DC charging for rapid charging on longer journeys.

I didn't actually need to use any of it during our test, which in itself felt like a pretty good endorsement of the range.

There is, of course, one rather large elephant in the room, and that is the price.

Our particular iX3 40 M Sport had around £7,000 of options fitted, taking the on-the-road price to approximately £62,000. That's a lot of money for a family car and it would be disingenuous to pretend otherwise. There are plenty of perfectly capable SUVs available for considerably less, and if your priority is simply getting the most car you can for your money, the iX3 isn't going to be the obvious choice.

But then, BMW isn't really competing on that basis.

This is a premium car and you are paying for the combination of the badge, the quality of the cabin, the technology, the performance, the range and the fact that it feels genuinely new. Having spent 24 hours with it, I think the more important question is whether it delivers enough to justify that premium.

For me, it does.

That doesn't mean I'd tell everyone to go and spend £62,000 on one. Quite the opposite. This clearly isn't a car for everyone, and nor should it be. But if you are in the fortunate position of being able to afford a £60,000-plus electric SUV, I think the iX3 40 would be very high on my list.

In fact, I'd go further and say it is a genuine front runner.

The reason is that it doesn't feel like you're making a series of compromises simply because you've decided to go electric. It is spacious enough for a family, comfortable enough for long journeys, practical enough for everyday life, has more than enough performance and offers a range that makes the whole question of charging considerably less stressful.

At the end of the 24 hours, we all agreed that we could quite happily live with one.

My son had fallen for the technology, particularly the voice assistant, ambient lighting and Sport mode. My wife liked the space and the fact that it felt like a proper family SUV rather than an electric car that happened to have room for the family. For me, the Panoramic Vision display was probably the standout feature, although I was pleased that the traditional Head Up Display remained useful alongside it. The comfort, driving position and general ambience also made a big difference, particularly given my height.

I liked the way it drove on Devon's roads, I liked the range, I liked having somewhere to put the charging cables and I liked the fact that two paddleboards fitted in the boot.

Most importantly, after a day of driving it, I wasn't thinking about the fact that it was an electric car.

I was simply thinking about it as a very good BMW.

Perhaps that's the biggest achievement of the new iX3. For years, the conversation around electric cars has been dominated by compromises: range, charging, practicality and whether they really work as a family car. After 24 hours with the iX3 40, I found myself asking a rather different question.

Could I actually see myself owning one?

Yes.

At £62,000, it is certainly not an impulse purchase, and the four spoke steering wheel will take some getting used to. Those 22 inch wheels aren't going to make Devon's potholes any more enjoyable either. But if you can afford it, I think the iX3 40 is one of the most compelling electric family SUVs I've driven.

It feels like BMW has taken a proper step forward rather than simply electrifying what it already had, and for once I think the company's brave new design works from the outset rather than needing six months for us to get used to it.

After 24 hours, I was genuinely reluctant to give the keys back. So much so my son and I "accidentally" left our beach hats in the back, which we'll have to come grab the keys and get out soon! Maybe a quick drive while we're there, it would be rude not to after all. Purely for research, obviously. 

Thanks again to Josh and the team at Vertu BMW Exeter for trusting me with BMW's most important car for a new era!