Close to the concept car announced , the BMW iX is today the technical and technological face of the German firm and steals this main role from the BMW 7Series, which was for a long time the unquestioned ruler in the same way as the Class. Sat Mercedes.
An SUV as a front runner is hardly surprising, especially when you know that almost one in two BMWs sold is an SUV.
The iX is three centimeters longer than an X5 and measures 4.95 meters long, 1.97 meters wide and 1.70 meters high. The Bavarian SUV scores well in the wind tunnel, with a Cd of 0.25. It’s almost as good as a Tesla Model X.
The grille, which has caused a lot of ink to flow, has a particularly interesting technology since it can repair itself thanks to an additional polyurethane coating. Engineers have integrated resistors that allow it to maintain a temperature to automatically repair minor scratches after 24 hours at room temperature.
The BMW iX has a sense of welcoming thanks to its gigantic wheelbase of three meters. Inside, we have a feeling of space thanks to the smooth furniture and a flat floor between the two seats. The significant curved horizontal slab accentuates this impression, freeing the dashboard of many physical controls. The 14.9-inch touchscreen is responsive, suffers no delay, and the have quite pleasant graphics.
BMW pushes the concept of purification quite far, with in particular the bottom of the dashboard which is heated and without aerators, for better heat distribution.
The iX is welcoming in the back seats with a very satisfactory legroom. In five-seater configuration, BMW announces 500 liters of trunk capacity. By folding the seats, the capacity increases to 1750 liters.
The iX xDrive50, our test model, has two electric motors resulting in a total of 523 horsepower and 765 Nm. It benefits from a 111.5 kWh battery (105.2 useful kWh), and 205 kW of maximum load power, enough to go from 10 to 80% in 35 minutes on a fast terminal. The autonomy reaches between 549 and 629 kilometers.
On the roads, we notece around 22 kWh, without really practicing eco-driving. Rather high figures overall, but they go hand by hand with the power and the weight of our machine, which while working easily exceeds 2.6 tons.
On board, the iX emphasizes well-being, an element that goes rather well with the electric motorization of our car, even if, as we will see, it is overflowing with torque and horsepower. The weight does not necessarily encourage a dynamic driving, but since it is a BMW, we are entitled to have some dynamic claims either way.
With a power peak of 523 horsepower and 765 Nm for our xDrive50 test version, the iX has an excellent capability and acceleration with a 0 to 100 km/h announced in 4.6 seconds, and a maximum speed of 200 km/h.
At a steady pace, the iX comes out on top, with an air suspension that manages to stem the movements, while the rear-wheel steering gives it a notable agility, all in remarkable comfort.
On deceleration, the IX offers four levels of energy recovery: low, medium, high and adaptive, modulating regeneration according to the circumstance. The conduct is excellent and will take you all the way to the stop. In terms of driving aids, we find assistance such as adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, lane centering, 360-degree camera, blind spot monitoring and even automatic emergency braking.
Regarding prices, the iX xDrive50 starts from 103,500 euros, and scales up to 126,905 euros for our test drive version filled with options. Among the German trio, BMW is now leading the competition in the 100% electric high-end SUVs landscape. The Mercedes EQC and other Audi e-trons are now older and their autonomy is lower than the Bavarian SUV.
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