NEW BMW iX3 – 500 mile electric SUV driven | What Car?
When BMW launched the original EX-3 back in 2020, many electric cars were playing on concept car styling to stand out. The IX3 didn’t. It was just an electric version of the X3. It was the same inside and out. That made it very familiar, very easy to live with and a very popular electric car. Times changed though, and that car back then didn’t really have any rivals. This one, however, goes up against some of the best electric SUVs on the market. So, does it have what it takes to live up to its predecessor and also beat those rivals? That’s what we’re going to find out in this video. [Music] As you can see, while the old version looked just like the X3, this one looks significantly different to the current generation X3. In fact, it looks more like the Noi Class A concept that we saw very recently with these same twin LED headlights and this much smaller light at the kidney grill. [Music] The interior is very different to the current X3 as well, and that isn’t a bad thing cuz we found the interior of that car a bit disappointing, especially for the money. This is much better. You’ve got nice fabric on the dash here, and everything else is covered in these lovely leathers. There are some harder materials, but they’re all hidden down and out of the way, so they’re not a problem. One of the biggest changes in here is the new panoramic iDrive system which is made up of this 18in touchscreen in the center of the dashboard and this huge panoramic head-up display which runs the width of the windscreen. Starting with that one, it’s made up of three different screens. The first one is your digital driver display and the other two can be split up into smaller customizable sections. At first, it does seem a little bit gimmicky, but I’ve genuinely found it really useful to have the satnav screen in the middle. So, I don’t have to look too far away from the road and not as far as I would if I was looking at this screen. Speaking of which, this center touch screen has the latest iDrive software on it, and it’s far more intuitive than the previous version. True, there are still a lot of options in the menus, but the way they’re set out just makes everything a lot easier. It’s really quick as you tap around as well. And all of these screens are really clear and easy to read. The only real demerit is that the rotary controller that made iDrive so good is no more. So, you have to interact with the touchcreen to make changes. That is with the exception of these small buttons on the redesigned steering wheel. They let you tap around inside the panoramic head-up display. It’s still not ideal though because everything else you’re tapping around the screen and that can be quite distracting. While we’re on the subject of the steering wheel, you now look over it like you do in a Peugeot to see your driver display. But where in those cars the steering wheel gets right in the way, in this the display is nice and high, so you don’t have any of the same issues. The driving position itself as well, you sit nice and high in the car and it’s really easy to get comfortable thanks to electric seats as standard. Again, the only issue with that is that lumbar support is hidden within the screen, which when you’re driving along just isn’t ideal. What’s more, while you do sit quite high within the car, the view out the front is slightly impeded by that panoramic display which comes quite high up the windscreen. Rear visibility is much better thanks to huge cutouts in those rear pillars and a huge back window. Parking’s easy, too, thanks to front and rear parking sensors as standard and a 360 camera. There’s even an optional system that will park the car itself from your mobile phone, so you don’t even have to be in the car. When it comes to practicality, a pair of sixfooters will have no worries sat in the front with loads of headroom, loads of leg room, and also loads of shoulder room. There’s plenty of space for all your belongings as well with these decentsized door bins, wireless phone charging as standard, a space within the center armrest, and also this large cubby underneath the center console. Overall, this is a very different interior to the old iix3 and even the current X3, but it’s a really nice place to be. So, what is it like in the back? Well, I am about 5′ 11 and behind my driving position, as you can see, I’ve got loads of leg room, plenty of foot room, and a good amount of headroom. There’s also a lot of shoulder room, so three adults should be able to fit back here quite comfortably. The only issue is that this middle seat is quite firm, so it’s not the most comfortable thing to sit on. You do at least get a completely flat floor, so there’s loads of foot space. And you also get these climate controls in the back, two USBC, some generous door bins, and a pair of cup holders in the center armrest. The seats themselves can be reclined as well, so you can lean them forwards if you want a bit of extra boot space, or you can lean them back where they’re nice and comfortable. The I3 has a 520 L boot, so you’ll have no issues fitting a family of five’s luggage in there or a couple of buggies. Loading heavy items in is easy thanks to there being absolutely no lip to the boot floor. And while you don’t get an adjustable boot floor, you do have this large cubby underneath which you can store small items in. If you need to put long items in the car, you’ve got 40 20 40 splitting rear seats. So you can fold down the middle seat, load long items in, not have to sacrifice one of the outer seats. On top of all of that, you also get a 58 L frunk, which gives you somewhere to put the cables and just frees up some extra space back here in the boot. There’s only one battery available with the IX3, but it has a usable capacity of 108.7 kwatt hours. That’s pretty massive, and so is the range that this car affords you. Officially, it will do over 490 mi, no matter which version you go for. When you consider that the Audi Q6 Ron Sport quattro and Tesla Model Y longrange allhe drive don’t even break 400 m, that’s really impressive. When you do need to refill that battery, the i3 can charge a maximum rate of 400 kW. Providing you can find a charger fast enough, it will go from 10 to 80% in around 21 minutes. Charging this massive battery at home will take you quite a long time though with 0 to 100% on a 7 kW wall box taking around 17 and 1/2 hours. So, what is it like to drive? Well, there’s only one version of the EX-3, and that is the 50X drive. Comes with 463 brake horsepower fed to all four wheels. And when you put your foot down, that’s more than enough power. In fact, the official 0 to62 time just 4.9 seconds. When it comes to the ride, the IX3 has a softer edge over dips and crest, so it cushions imperfections really nicely. It also doesn’t thud through potholes. When you’re driving more dynamically, it does handle quite nicely. You can tell it’s a heavy car. There’s a bit of lean through the corners. The steering though gives you plenty of feedback and it adds weight in a really linear fashion. When it comes to the brakes, there are three different regen settings, low, moderate, and high, and also an adaptive setting, which basically varies the amount of brake regeneration depending on the traffic in front of you, whether you’re approaching a corner or a roundabout. They’re all really well judged and they slow the car down in a very natural fashion. There’s also a soft stop feature which is a first on the EX-3. What it does is it removes that for and aft movement when you slow to a complete stop. It’s refined in other ways as well. There’s very little wind and road noise at 70. And even on these quite potholey slow roads, there’s very little suspension noise and there’s also no motor wine. There are three trim levels to choose from. The first of which is quite simply called EX-3. Comes with plenty of standard equipment including 20-in alloy wheels, keyless entry and start, front heated seats, and all of those screens that we’ve already shown you. Next in the list is M Sport. That adds some different styling on the outside, a different wheel design, and some more premium materials inside. At the top of the piles, it’s M Sport Pro. That again adds a different alloy wheel design, bigger brakes, an M Sport steering wheel, and M Sport seats. As for costs, the EX3 starts at £58,755, while the M Sport and M Sport Pro push that price above £61,000. That makes it quite expensive in comparison to the Model Y, which starts at £44,990, but similar to the Q6ON, which starts at just over £60,000. The iix3 is too new to have been tested by the safety experts at Euro Encap. Even so, it comes with plenty of standard safety equipment, including lane change assist, lane keep assist, and automatic emergency braking. As you might imagine, it’s also too new to be included in our latest reliability survey. BMW, as a brand, was included, though, and it managed to claim sixth place out of 30 manufacturers. So, the new EX-3 is very different to its predecessor, but that isn’t a bad thing indeed. With its really long range, keen performance, smooth ride, and its good interior, seems to be a very tempting electric SUV. Thank you for watching this video. If you enjoyed it, make sure to like and subscribe. If you’d like to watch another one, click up here. Or if you’d like to know more about the iix3 or any other new or used car, make sure to head to whatcar.com just
In this new BMW iX3 review, we get behind the wheel of the BMW’s latest electric SUV for the first time. With an electric range of almost 500 miles and all of BMW’s latest technology, does the iX3 do enough to beat the likes of the Tesla Model Y?
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