There is the BMW iX3 which as its name would suggest is a fully electric x3. a big selling conventional SUV that just happens to be powered by a battery. now although the i3 does have a bit of a cult following. BMW is rather sensibly offering something a little less progressive. for its slightly more conservative customers. but before I give you the lowdown on BMW’s first all-electric car for an incredible seven years. please don’t forget to subscribe to the channel then you get a lovely little notification when our latest video has landed
inside this is a rather lovely place to be. BMW is building all ix3s in china. which is the biggest market for electric cars in the world. so it makes sense. but if you’re worried that the legendary german build quality might have suffered along the way. you can rest easy .this looks and feels beautifully put together. after all, we all love our iPhones and guess what they’re made in china’s home. now there’s also a pretty generous amount of kit in here with this lovely familiar infotainment system and a panoramic sunroof. I don’t know how to get this across really but it feels kind of dense weighty. in a good way like it’s built properly.
It’s just the kind of feeling that I expect from a premium manufacturer, and BMW nail this every time. and yes it does drive like you’d expect BMW to drive. though not how you expect it to sound. okay, BMW has worked with legendary film composer Hans Zimmer. and its in-house sound designer Lorenzo Vitale to create this startup sound. now I’m no music critic. but I’m not sure that’s their best work. let’s hear that one again shall. we no it’s not going to be Christmas number one.
That is it the black and silver 20-inch alloy wheels are exclusive to the ix-3. and have what BMW describes as an aerodynamic design. now usually we take this kind of description with a generous pinch of salt. but according to BMW, these wheels add an extra six miles to the overall range. you know I love that sort of attention to detail. I also think that the wheels look pretty gorgeous too but overall I mean you can’t say that the ix3 is particularly wow. but that my friends are the whole point of it. it’s about not scaring people off. now there are some compromises for full-electric motivation. although the standard x3 comes with a four-wheel drive. the iX3 is rear-wheel drive only which may be a problem if your commute is a muddy field or for that couple of days a year when it snows. but for those of us who stick to something firmer it’s not going to be a deal-breaker. it’ll do naught to 62 in just under seven seconds.
Like all-electric cars, it feels a lot quicker than those official figures suggest. look it might not have the net twanging acceleration of some of its twin-motor high horsepower rivals. but you know I think it just makes more sense as an all-round package. it’s fast but it’s not silly it’s got enough power there when you need it on faster roads. or for overtaking. but the suspension setup is spot-on for these dreadful British roads. it’s slightly lower than the standard x3.
BMW thinks that the ix3 has a far better front to rear weight distribution than the traditional version. and I have to agree with them on that. the only teeny tiny issue I have with it is that this artificial sound changes according to whether you’re accelerating or breaking it’s just a bit silly. look it might be that customers can’t handle the silence after years of driving petrol or diesel cars. but piping in a synthesized droning noise it just seems a bit odd. I think the joy of electric cars isn’t that silence. it’s a nicer experience. Mazda also doing it with the mx30. and I’m not a fan of it at all. but come on what do you think let us know in the comments below. tell us what you think about electric cars having artificial engine noises pumped in. silly on the way to go a far more.e
a useful feature that’s fitted as standard on the ix-3 is what BMW calls adaptive recuperation. now like all-electric cars you can manually choose the level of brake regeneration depending on how much you want to recycle the energy when you slow down back into the battery. you can also choose between three levels of recuperation to fine-tune the way the car behaves. and if you select adaptively. the car itself works out the best mode to be in to maximize the range. it sounds a bit too good to be true doesn’t it but it’s an incredibly clever system. it uses a network of cameras along with the car’s GPS to work out the speed and distance of the other cars around you. whether you’re going downhill whether you’re going to Tesco measure to get a bag of doughnut.
Okay maybe it’s not that clever but it does do a fantastic job of juggling the regen to give you the maximum possible range. shut up BMW engineering folk. it’s ace. so we’ve established that the ix3 will keep the driver happy what about the rest of the family. well, the boots can hold 510 liters of luggage with the seats up and a whopping 1 560 liters with them folded flat. I know I know liters who knows what that means. plenty of room for a ginny in here. room for a couple of journeys. and here in the back, it’s all good too it’s roomy. it’s comfortable it’s practical. loads of spaces for me to store my constant supply of coffee.
Charge upon the go .there’s very little that the kids will find to complain about in here although they will of course complain. because it’s just what kids do isn’t it. under the floor is an 80-kilowatt-hour battery that gives the ix-3 a range of 286 miles. that’s very good mileage per kilowatt-hour for an SUV. it can be rapidly charged at speeds of up to 150 kilowatts on a dc charger and up to 11 kilowatts on an ac charger. should I translate that I think I probably should. and what it means is that you can charge to 80 one of those super-fast 150-kilowatt chargers in just under half an hour. a more typical 50-kilowatt charger will take around an hour and if you’re plugging in at home or work on a seven kilowatt it’s going to take around 12 hours. one thing I want to show you that I like though is this look little flippy buttons there I don’t know why but that fills me with joy and it’s just so much nicer than having to mess around pulling sort of socket tops off. I’m easily amused. and if you’re comparing it to rivals the ix-3’s credentials look pretty good. it’s nearly 7000 pounds cheaper than a Mercedes EQC. more than 10 000 pounds less than an Audi E-Tron 55. both of which have bigger battery packs but don’t go as far on a single charge. something to think about. but if you want to be one of the first to get your hands on an ix3 you can’t be too fussy with your spec. because BMW is only offering it in premiere edition and premiere edition pro.
With the first of these models starting at 58,850 pounds. there will be less expensive versions to follow through. and those are expected to be the really big sellers. you’ll get the same hardware just different levels of kit. now you could look at the ix3 and think that perhaps it’s a bit of a compromise. it’s effectively a battery and motor shoehorned into a car that was originally designed to have a petrol or diesel engine under the bonnet. it doesn’t have a four-wheel drive. and you don’t get any of the big interior space advantages that you normally get with an electric-only car. most of the purpose-built stuff has a four-wheel drive. bigger battery packs and more space-efficient. they also have things like frunks and a bit more legroom.
But actually, none of this matters here. you know it’s not a redefining car in the way that the i3 was. and still is but look at it rationally it’s a practical comfortable and beautifully made family car that just happens to be electric. it’s also efficient which matters it will save company car drivers thousands of pounds in tax every year without looking out of place in the office car park and for a huge amount of buyers. that’s all the persuasion they will need to switch. conservative electric. that’s the ix-3 all over and I’m voting for it. the good news is that BMW hasn’t run out of brave pills just yet. the all-new all-electric ix is coming in 2022 and is the very definition of different. and the bosses have told us they’ll continue to build cars that will appeal to those of us who don’t like to follow the crowd.
Video Credit Goes to Electrifying
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