Paradox mindset
£94,905
FOR Comfortable, fast, long range, good cabin. Sustainable
AGAINST Well, about as sustainable as a vast SUV can be
Just when you thought BMW couldn’t get any more controversial, here comes a really controversial BMW. It’s hyped as the flagship for technology, lightweight construction and sustainability through low CO2 resourcing and manufacturing. But did it have to be a hulking two-and-a-half tonne SUV? An independent audit by TUV shows its lifetime carbon footprint is 45 per cent less than an X5’s. Another hulking SUV isn’t the best point of comparison, guys.
Anyway that’s not the end of the controversy. Did it really need a whole new operating system that demands hours of learning? And did it have to look like... this?
To be fair, when you approach the thing in the street it’s actually less offensive than the pictures suggest.
Inside, it’s as distinctive as the i3’s cabin was (and remains) and aims for the same sort of atmosphere: to invoke a lounge, and a roomy one, not a car. Unusual materials include matte wood with lit graphics showing through, a glass iDrive knob, and even an optional denim-like recycled fabric, which is fun if hilariously hipster.
Since this is a new operating system and this is 2021, there has of course been a bonfire of the switchgear. Much control has been ceded to the screen. Or voice, provided you don’t mind being misunderstood one time in three. Fortunately the iDrive controller remains, and is a great way to do many tasks. Several of the remaining switches have three horizontal bars in their icon. With these, a long press will summon a relevant menu on the screen. Excellently there’s also one of those for the driver assist menu. Otherwise turning off the default-on lane assist steering interference system needs multiple jabs at the screen. Phone integration is superb: it’s the first car that can project your phone’s maps onto the HUD.
It’s really roomy, with a flat floor and one of those multi-level central storage consoles common to EVs. In the back three fit abreast easily, and the boot is a cavern. But open the bonnet and you’ll find no frunk.
The iX is a wholly bespoke structure. The cabin sits in a three-dimensional box-frame of carbon fibre. There’s a lot of aluminium too. But the electric bits are shared. The motors, battery design and high voltage electronics are modular versions of what’s used in the iX3 and i4. They’re critical to efficiency, smooth running and charging speed.
Both iX versions are twin-motor AWD. The xDrive 40 has 71kWh usable capacity, for a WLTP range of 257 miles. We tested the iX xDrive 50, which has 105kWh, for a range of 374 miles on the wheels mine used. Both iXs have the same motors, but the 50 releases more power because its bigger battery can deliver higher current. So it’s 523bhp, for a 0–62 time of 4.6secs. I got 310 miles of range, and I was
clattering along, including some wonderfully silly autobahn speeds. Kerbweight is 2,510kg.
Acceleration is ruddy forceful from a standstill and typically EV-precise in its answer to the right pedal. But unlike most of them, BMW’s magnet-free motors are able to sustain the shove in the back right up to any legal British speed and beyond. Traction of course is immense, but not so much that it can’t be overcome on a tightish corner even in the dry. Whereupon the traction control and front-rear torque vectoring keep you proceeding in the direction you’re steering.
The steering itself is surprisingly quick, presumably to make this behemoth feel agile. You soon get used to it. Cornering, like the accelerating and braking, is accurate. But it doesn’t have much feedback. It’s a car you direct, rather than engage with.
The ride is flat and well controlled, and reasonably supple with it. That said, I was on smooth German roads. It’s also extremely quiet. You can call up a synthesised sound that varies in pitch, tone and volume according to accelerator position and speed. That cue does help judge your approach to corners actually. But mostly you will be cruising with it turned off, in eerie silence.
In cold weather heat is recovered from the motors and electronics and used to warm the battery and people, so range shouldn’t collapse. For DC rapid stops, the iX 50 can take nearly 200kW, or just over half an hour from 10 to 80 per cent if you’ve found a charger that powerful. If the charger is your nav destination, the car gets the battery to its ideal temperature for max charge power just as you arrive. But on the more common 50kW posts, any battery this big takes two hours.
The iX is a big comfy home-on-wheels, and a vast amount of technology makes sure the driver is soothed while the passengers kick back. It’s efficient for a full-size e-SUV. The range is impressive, and it can recharge pretty rapidly too. Choose carefully from among the visual option packs, wheels and paint. Then you might find an iX you can like the look of. There’s a lot else to like.
“IN THE STREET IT’S ACTUALLY LESS OFFENSIVE THAN THE PICTURES SUGGEST”