That was radically different from any BMW that had come before the design totally went against the grain of what youd expect from a BMW. It was pretty niche in terms of the target consumer base. I believe that, somewhere in the darkest depths of a basement in Bavaria, the team behind this car spent the past seven years pacing around contemplating the catastrophe. That was the I3 and then finally decided I need my get back. Hence, BMW IX was born Music, oh foreign Music. So this is the second electric BMW that we reviewed on the channel and if you havent watched our I4 review definitely check that out because its a banger. But this is different because, while the I4 was basically just a 4 Series with an electric motor swapped in this is a brand new vehicle with an entirely original design, thats built in conjunction with their EV architecture, as opposed to the I4 that just had an electric Motor swapped into a gas cars design and I think, thats very apparent in the way the interior of this car is laid out, but I think we should talk about the exterior first. Shall we, if I were to describe the BMW, ixs design in one word, it would be flat just like its ancestor, the I3. The BMW IX goes against the grain compared to all the other SUVs in the lineup. The only truly familiar design element is this massive Grille up front, not something Im a fan of, but Im pretty much used to it.

At this point, and for whatever reason, its a lot less offensive to me with the overall design language of the car compared to like the I4, which you know kind of, looks off putting at first. This is also the first B BMW Ive, seen with these concave door, handles which, unlike a lot of other EVS doesnt, require an adjustment period for me to get used to them. And then, when taking a look at the back thats, where we get the most familiar. Bmw design language with these slim tail lights and weve also got these split diffusers on the bottom end, to give it a little sporty Edge. Also, in terms of the size of this thing, this barely constitutes as an SUV, its really not big at all its a crossover at absolute best and while its not a problem in and of itself, this car definitely has full size, SUV, pricing, the starting price point Of this car is higher than all the BMW SUVs outside of the Ms and when comparing this to something like a Macan thats, a much better bang for the buck. If you take the ice or EV aspect out of the equation. Honestly, when you hop inside this thing, pretty much, the only familiar aspect of this car is the display in your iDrive controller, knob and thats. If youve gotten to see the 2022 and 23 BMW models, the interior is a completely new thing for BMWs and there are a few things here that are breaking tradition of what you typically find in one of these.

The first thing is the seat controls theyre now on the door handles, and this is something that Im kind of torn on, because within the German sphere of luxury Vehicles, thats always been a Mercedes thing, but now its a BMW thing too, and at first I was Like this is kind of weird, but after a few days, Ive hopped on board so to speak, but the seats themselves feel very comfortable. This isnt, the typical styling nor material that BMW normally uses with their seats. But despite the lack of like extreme bolstering, I dont have anything bad to say about the seats. Quite honestly, even when throwing the car around some bends, I always felt nice and secure in the seat, unlike the I4 and i7 that are compromised from a design standpoint. Due to them sharing a body with the gas powered variants, The IX takes some Liberties in terms of storage and space in the car. As you can see in the front, youve got this bridge of space from the left to the right side of the car. So, when Im driving to the studio every morning, I just tuck my bag in this little middle Gap, where it typically fly around between each side of the car, which definitely has nothing to do with the way I drive. But when taking a look at everything else. In the front, you can see that your cup holders are down below beside a wireless charger, and I like, having a nice little snug space to store and charge my phone, but because of where its placed Im constantly forgetting to grab my phone.

When I get out of the car just because its not in my direct line of sight, when its down there but thats, really just a nitpick instead of going with a plain, Jane sunroof, The IX comes with a panoramic eclipse. Moon roof that basically spans the entire top half of the car and youve got a button that can basically fog up the moon roof. If perhaps the sun is coming in a bit too harshly or you dont want any birds up there, knowing what youre getting up to in there? Unfortunately, it was pretty dull outside for the entirety of my time with a car. So this feature really didnt come into play that much for me, but Im sure there are situations where it would AKA if you live somewhere, thats, nice and sunny most the time this car comes equipped. The Harman Kardon sound system, which is the base trim. You can actually upgrade to an even better Bowers and wilken sound system that I have yet to hear from my own ears, but its probably the best sound system, Ive gotten to test in a sub 100, 000 EV. So far, quite honestly, Im not sure if there are any hardware or tuning differences between this and whats in the iPhone 50, which I drove. But the sound profile on here just feels a tad bit. Fuller Youve Got Crystal Clear, mids and highs and pretty much no matter how far you crank this thing up youve got little to no base Distortion.

Ive honestly got zero complaints with the sound system in here, and I dont think you will either my biggest problem with this car. For sure is I drive and not because of the way I drive is designed or laid out, but purely because of the performance. The first issue I had is the same one I had with the I4 when playing music in the car and interacting with the UI like adjusting my climate controls. For example, itll cut the music out with every like click and interaction, and just like with the I4. It would just magically stop that behavior as soon as I whip the camera out to record it and capture it its almost as if I drive knows when its being filmed its kind of weird. There were times when I wasnt filming in this issue. Didnt occur, but the fact that it isnt consistent with any identifiable triggers for it is weird as well so yeah I dont, know man. I hope this works itself out Im, not sure what this thing is. Also, there are a handful of times when iDrive was just straight up laggy. For me, it was happening a lot more in the beginning of my loan and it was pretty much Rock Solid in the last couple of days that I had the car. But it is something that I noticed and if this car were a thirty thousand dollar car thatd be one thing, but when experiencing something that feels like stutter and lag on whats, basically in a hundred thousand dollar vehicle.

As expect it just feels wrong, like pineapples on pizza, but, like I said it, wasnt really happening much towards the end of my time with the car, but lag was never an issue I experienced with the I4. So it was surprising to see this and theyre more expensive Eevee. As far as iDrive features. There are definitely some nice ones, some gimmicky ones and some that are just there. As far as the gimmicky features, weve got gesture based music Control, you can do a rotating finger motion to turn up the volume and gesture your thumb left or right to change music tracks. It does work and it is a pretty cool trick to show off to friends, but Id say theres about a 75 ish percent success rate. As far as when itll actually work. I think the change track. Gesture Works more than the volume one but theyre both very Hit or Miss at times. In my experience as far as good features, Apple, carplay and Android auto they worked perfectly in this car. I never had any issues getting them to set up, never had any random disconnects like I have in other cars lately it just works as it should, and I definitely appreciate that the feature thats just there is the assisted driving mode. There really hasnt been any improvements to this since I tested the I4 and I wasnt really expecting any but testing. It again reminded me how far behind BMW is compared to like Tesla, for example, when it comes to automated driving features, and in case you arent aware of what assisted driving can actually do its basically a button you hit on the steering wheel and in situations like Being in traffic on the freeway, you can hit this button on the steering wheel and itll, essentially take over the steering and stop and go of the car it detects Lanes.

So it knows when youre in one lane or another, so itll keep you Center and straight in your lane and its really good for basically stop and go freeway traffic situations using this on the street is basically useless. Like Ive said with my I4 review, there are times where, if you turn it on and just let it do its thing, it may throw you into a car thats parked on the side of the street, depending on where you are in the situation. So its really really only a feature thats good for like a very few specific scenarios as far as actually being good at doing stuff on its own. I think the Driving Experience of this car is what surprised me the most. Quite honestly, my expectations for the non m versions of cars in terms of driving feel and fun Factor are usually pretty minimal, especially for an electric version, but I got a blast driving this car around. We got around 510 horsepower from a dual motor setup. So 0 60 is done in around 4 seconds whenever youre ready to punch it. It constantly gives you that same, throw you back in the seat feeling the acceleration is more than satisfactory. If you ask me – and there are two versions of this IX – youve got the 50i trim which Im driving right now and then theres the M60 version, which has even more power than this, and because I was getting the lower end version.

I was expecting to not be that impressed with the speed the performance, the instantaneous torque – you, of course get with electric vehicles compared to the M60 I got ta say I am quite surprised with how quick this thing is. I dont know if its just because I havent daily driven any in a while, but I feel like this feels just as fast as the I4 M50 that I drove, if not maybe a little bit quicker. I think something about how this design is a lot like. More compact than the I4 makes it feel a lot more like you know, giddy up, ish experience in the eye 4 and other EVS Ive been testing lately that comes at a cost in terms of range, just as it would as far as fuel in a nice Powered car but hows the range and range anxiety, well thats, also been one area where this car surprised me a lot. I had this car in sport mode driving around about 60 percent of the time, and I did a lot of acceleration testing to say the least, and I pretty much got my full estimated range of about 310 miles on a full charge. I didnt have any super long drives with this car, but throughout the week of me testing it, I didnt have to visit any level 3 charging stations just because the car rarely dropped below 40 percent. We have these little level 2 chargers at the studio that I was basically able to use for the entirety of the week and just trickle charge throughout that week and keep me going and even on the colder days having to blast the AC.

To keep me warm. I didnt see any significant drops in range, which was great. The suspension and handling of the car is honestly great too. It isnt too stiff, but firm enough to feel confident when doing somewhat tight turns at higher speeds. The car nearly weighs 5700 pounds, and it honestly feel, is like half of that, maybe thats because of how much power you have to compensate for the weight. But when moving this thing around, I never felt like. I was driving a boat and 5700 pounds is definitely boat territory. This car spec with the dynamic handling package which grants you two axle air suspension, which not only allows you to be super comfortable when doing normal driving, but have fun when youre driving like a maniac too, and all this is great, because I think a lot of Hardcore BMW fans are scared that EVS arent going to be fun to drive when compared to the Legacy vehicles. But after having driven this and the iPhone 50, I can safely say that if BMW stays on the path theyre on thats, certainly not going to be the case. I think these vehicles are going to be fun to drive its just going to be a different experience. That youll have to get used to if you come from the naturally aspirated V8s, the turbocharged V8s, the turbo v12s, all those Legacy great engines that have been in BMWs in the past its going to be different, but I still think itll be fun if you, if You will out this car is expensive.

Yes, its nearly a hundred grand aspect which pits this against cars. Like the Mercedes eqs, the Audi e tron, I guess you could throw the rivian r1s in there as well. I think this car is less practical than all of them in terms of size and utility, but I think its easily the most fun to drive out of the bunch, and I think its got the most character I feel like. I can confidently say that this is BMWs best EV, yet and thats, because its uncompromised by being a standalone car not having to share a body with any other gas powered variants. I think thats allowed the BMW designers to really roam free and do what they want with this car and allow it to be something that just works as an electric car altogether. Its designed with practicality in mind its hella fun to drive honestly and its not as ugly to look at in person. If you ask me its not a pretty car, definitely not, but after a few days I got used to it quite honestly and a lot of people that walk by the car. When I was filming it at parks – or you know walking back to it at the grocery store the gym whatever you know, I would get a lot of looks so its clearly from a design standpoint, something that people are intrigued by AI, maybe not attracted to, like. Maybe like the Honda, ionic, 5 or cars like that, but you know its definitely got a look to it that I think draws people in in some sort of way.

The IX is a stray off the path as far as BMWs go but thats exactly what the I3 was and although itll cost you substantially more than an I3 did, I think BMW finally did it right, because this just works so well, not only as just a Car, but as an EV, I think, somewhere up in the clouds. The I3 is looking down on this vehicle with a large grilled smile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AfqoFexEnM