BMW iX review: 0-60mph, Autobahn and range test!

This is the new BMW iX and it's a bit like the Apple iPhone 13 event because it's BMW Revealing its technology flagship to the world now in this video I'm going to tell you all about this car, which is a built from the ground up EV SUV to take on the Tesla Model X I'm going to talk you through the exterior design the interior design practicality of this car. I'm going to take it for a drive I'm going to test out some of its tech see how well it really works I'm also going a bit of a range test on it to see what kind of range you can expect from this car in the Real world and of course, I'm gonna launch it because I'm at Watson when you're watching car Wow buying a new car then head to car Wow, and my team will help you find your next car at a fair price car Wow your one-stop car buying comparison site Let's start this video by talking about the most controversial thing about this car now I'm not gonna lie first time. I saw the iX I thought what an ugly However, it is starting to grow on me a little bit. I like the sleek lights. These are the laser lights I like the air vents the fact they're real. I even like the kidney grill. That's not a grill It's just a stuck-on plaque But the design is interesting and I like the way that they've integrated the car sensors into that panel You can't see them not so sure about this bit though the way the kidney grill not a grill hangs down over the rest of the air intake here, it's sort of like a Muffin top now the export model gets a more aggressive front end with bigger air intakes to make it look sportier Moving down the sides you get wheels starting at 21 inches, which also helps make it look sporty. These are the 22s However, because they have these black rim to it The wheels look smaller than they actually are now. There's no fake vents or plastic add-ons at the side It's all very clean and Chris in terms of the design and the door handles. They're just electrically operated like Which I quite like However, the rest of the side design I'm not so sure about it just looks a bit blobby doesn't it? Let's just move around the back. Come on. See I like the back better. I love the design of these taillights I was like the fact that BMW's integrated the reversing camera into the BMW badge I'm not so sure about this that they're doing at BMW at the moment where they're putting little diffusers where exhaust pipes will go I know they need to add some form of texture and shape to the rear bumper otherwise, it just looked like a big expanse of plastic, but hmm, I wonder if this car is just plain hideous or the design is a bit like the i3 in the way that it will Eventually grow on you. Is it a big horrible facial mole or a beauty spot? Let me know in the comments while the exterior design of this car may be polarizing. I've got to say this interior is Absolutely gorgeous. Well done BMW. You have knocked out of the park with the inside of the ix I just love the minimalist look of it this huge screen here Just looks super high-tech again test out in a moment the textures and the feeling of the leather Although if you're a vegan darling, you can of course have you went to made out of recycled materials But anyway, this leather it's sustainably made. Well, unless you're a cow Because they use olive oil or whatever in the was it tanning process or something? Anyway sustainable And that's a big thing of BMW right now Sustainability and I'm gonna sustain talking about how I love the design such as these air vents are so cool They really are got a hexagonal steering wheel. Not so sure about that. But I like the fact it's two-spoke They should have just done it round really like on the old i3. I love that steering wheel But this car has some upgrades on it. So it's got this crystal effect for the iDrive controller here You got crystal glass for the volume control crystal glass for the rocker switch for the gear selector And then there's this walnut panel here, which has your shortcut buttons integrated in it for the infotainment system. It's absolutely fabulous Now here's a cutaway of what the center console looks like in the standard car. It's not quite as nice as it Anyway, we've also got some crystal glass here for the seat controls and here as well Obviously optional you have to pay extra thing is this particular car. I've here to test is fully loaded You're looking around ninety five thousand pounds for this one with all the bells and whistles However, the starting price for the ix range is about seventy thousand pounds though already you can save around 1,700 pounds off an ix through car while and if you want to see how much money you can save on a new car just click On the pop-out banner up there or for the link in the description to go to car Alternatively simply Google help me car wow and my team and I'll help you choose the right car for you and get it for a Fair price from one of our trusted dealers, but let's continue with the interior of this car So being electric and built on a bespoke electric platform means you have loads of space in here Look, I can put my feet here and there's this nice center console with space for charging your mobile phone down the charging pad You've got two cup holders down there. You've got a deep central cubby here All very lovely huge door bins, which I wish I had a bottle to test it In fact, I'm gonna get two bottles to test it. Look two bottles in there Lovely glove box though. Where's the opening? It's there. It's not the biggest but it's not the smallest Oh, I quite like the fact they've got this different textured material here on the lower part of the dash all very good However, there is a way that this car is less practical by the fact that they've made it minimalistic So there's hardly any buttons which means that looks clean the design But it does make things a bit more of a faff to use for instance climate control You have to operate it through the screen. Fortunately, you have some temperature quick access buttons here that are always on the screen But if you want to go and do things like fan speed you then need to go into the climate control menu and there's lots Of different functions here and this brings on to the infotainment system So it's BMW's latest iDrive 8 and there's so many different things you can do with it And at first glance it is rather confusing because there's loads of different apps different menus But it's very customizable so you can move the apps around have whichever ones you want on Shortcuts and once you get used to it, it's quite easy to swipe between the different tiles and lay out just as you want it It also has various intelligent features So with the climate menu for instance It all works together in terms of the seat heating the steering wheel heating The general climate to get the car to the exact temperature you want it then you got the navigation system Which is really nice and crisp really nice fast responsive system. It's intelligent as well So do traffic routing for you There's so many cool features about it And of course if you don't want to use BMW system You can just connect your Apple or Android phone wirelessly and run Apple CarPlay or Android Auto And if you have Apple CarPlay not only can it show the mapping there from Google You can also show you mapping here on the digital driver's display now. You can't do that yet with Android Auto Typically, however, there will be an over-the-air update which will enable that feature later on now Let's just look at this digital driver's display because in the past BMW's system was a little bit kind of basic It didn't have so many features, but they've really upgraded it here so you can change between different views You can have lots of different information Displayed there and it's nice and crisp and when you go into the different driving modes as well Which you do by pressing the button down here. You can actually change the look of the display itself as for the seating position Well, we've got an electrically operated steering column and I went to the seat down there because that's how it's always been in BMWs But they've got Mercedes style in there by having up here on the doors And yeah, you can get a good view out of this car I think if I was buying this car, I wouldn't have this black trim though I would go with a lighter color. In fact, this is what it looks like with a cream interior Here in the back of the iX it's really really comfy There's loads of room so plenty of headroom, even though you've got a glass roof doesn't eat into headspace at all There's loads of knee room. You can really stretch out your feet as well Because it's an electric car and your batteries underneath the floor and there's no prop shaft I'd have an internal combustion engine car. You don't have an annoying lump on the floor instead. There's loads of foot space Look, so if you need to carry three people Yeah, everyone's got room for their feet and the cars really wide so you can carry three adults in the back of this car No problem at all. That's awesome I also like this feature so the ISO fix anchor points for a child seat are covered and you just reveal them by pulling this Up, that's a really nice solution I love that feature also, there's no annoying cupholders in the armor So you can comfortably lean on it because the cupholders are hidden within the armrest itself I like that by the fact that you get through loading there so you can carry your skis and two people when you're off to the Alps and then other practical features these nice expensive feeling pockets on the seat backs You've also got two USB C charging points on the back of the seats as well So you don't have to traipse cables over people's legs So they're normally in the center console and other cars speaking of which you've got four zone climate control here big door bins and quality Here in the back is lovely as well. I am impressed. Now. Let's look at the IX's boot So electrically operated tailgate obviously wide as well it is though when you open it up the opening isn't quite as wide because you have these extra safety lights when you're opening the Tailgate in the dark at the roadside. So the capacity is 500 litres which is reasonably big but small when you compare it to some other electric SUVs for instance a Mercedes EQC has a big capacity of 660 litres and if you want to see my full in-depth video review of that car click on the pop-up banner up there or follow The link below the video. However, you do have a completely flat floor, which is really good So it makes it easy sliding items in and out Plus look at this you have some underfloor storage for all your cables and I even like the way There's a little section there for your net so that you can actually put that in the car if you're carrying a dog in the back So it doesn't slobber over your back seats or come flying through into the front of the car If you suddenly have to break I also like this feature You can lower the rear seats not electrically by pulling these buttons And if you look there, you can see you've got a smooth continuous boot floor What's not so good though is that while this low cover looks posh because it's solid It's not as practical as one of the folding tonneau covers you get in most SUVs because when you want to remove it all to Fit loads of stuff in your car. There's no place to store it So you end up on it there and if you put heavy things on it It might damage this parcel cover and that brings on to five annoying things about the ix While visibility through this part of the windscreen is really good because you've got a low dash unfortunately in the very center of the windscreen it's not so good because you've got a huge pod with all the forward-facing cameras for the drivers aids and The rearview mirror actually blocking some of you view through here Look at this parts of this car and made out of carbon fiber. Therefore. It's gonna be lightweight, right? No This x50 version actually comes in at two and a half tons When you're maneuvering at lower speeds the brakes make this weird squeaky noise like you've just run over a family of mice Sorry, Mickey. You can get some nice accessories for this car such as a roof box and a cool bike rack Also, you've got this little hole here where you can mount a table for your laptop or iPad though this just feels Horrendously cheap and nasty. It's really fiddly to use so that holds down like that and it's all a bit floppy so you have to extend this bit and it's He's not in keeping with a car that costs as much as this I'm sure they could come up with a better solution It's an absolute bugger to remove because I want to show you another one. We've got look There's the coat hanger, that's the wrong way obviously Matthew. Yes, so hard to remove this It's clearly not been built by the same people who actually built the car Seeing as this is an electric car with no huge internal combustion engine up front You've obviously got some extra storage space underneath the bonnet like on a Tesla Model X Actually, I forgot this BMW ix has a body you cannot open So how the heck would you go about filling up the windscreen washer fluid? I've no idea. Oh Look the BMW badge opens and it appears to come off. I'll be keeping that. Anyway, look you fill it up here It's dead simple. You just put your washer fluid in there like that And that brings on to five cool things about this car, oh dear now looks like I've had a bit of an accident Thankfully the ix is fitted with something called radiant surface heating So there's infrared panels in the doors and this part of the dash which exude extra heat So as I'm driving along it should help warm my loins. So I dry out quicker Seeing as all the car sensors are beneath this panel. You might be wondering what happens if we get a stone chip or scratch it They're not gonna work anymore Well, actually this plastic has special self-healing properties when you apply heat to them any scratches or chips should magically disappear You might be wondering where the heck is the blind for the panoramic glass roof? What happens if it gets really sunny or I've got bored of dogging now, and I don't want people to look in anymore It's easy. You just press a button and the glass blacks out It also does it when you park as well so you can hide the interior away from prying eyes. I Really like how this car has cool Frameless windows and soft clothes like a luxury limousine if you can't be asked to shut the door properly yourself The ix has an amazing Surround-view camera system really high definition. Obviously, you can look all the way around the car. You can change the views as well and It has that BMW 3d effect where you could just look all the way around the car like it's a graphic and obviously the car is The same color as the one you've bought then check this out You have camera cleaning So if they get dirty it doesn't matter you don't have to get out and clean them. So cool It's time to drive the ix as part of this. I'm gonna do a range test So we're starting off with 94% battery I'm gonna drive for 200 kilometers and see how much battery I have left to work out What the real-world range will be so BMW says the maximum will be 600 kilometers But what kind of energy efficiency will I get out of it? I'm actually gonna start out on a twisty road I'm getting downhill. So that should help the range. Oh, wow. You've got plenty of performance from the dual motors. This thing actually has 536 horsepower if you have the lower power ix 40 you only have 326 horsepower that should be enough. Oh, it really does put its power down very well Obviously you got four-wheel drive now. I'm gonna put the car into sports mode. It's a bit of a fast I've got to press this button here Then get it up on the screen and there we go sports mode and now I can't see where the heck My map is I can see where I'm going again So this is a heavy car two and a half tons But it actually disguises its weight pretty well because a big battery pack is low down in the floor You have a low center of gravity for a high riding cars The brakes are actually fairly progressive for an electric car Sometimes electric car brakes can be grabby but not these which is good when you're trying to control The car down a steep and twisty road such as this. Whoo Actually grips really well. It doesn't lean too much in the bends for a tall vehicle Obviously, it's no sports car, but it handles as well as many other SUVs One of the good things about it is that as I'm braking I know that I'm putting energy back into the batteries So maybe I'll actually end up with more battery when I get down this road than I started with In fact, I'm gonna put the car into braking mode now So when I lift off the accelerator it automatically slows and it will actually bring you to a complete stop I don't actually want that at the moment. I do quite like one pedal driving though However, until you get used to it can make it feel a bit jerky. So it's not great for your passenger. Is it Jack? Whoa Don't off shift though this thing So you can have a bit of fun in it. Oh my gosh is quite quick down here Whoo, and so after all that driving down the twisty road, I've still got the same 94% of battery left I haven't used any energy. That's good. Well, we're coming into a German town and the directions I'm a little bit confused as to where to go Thankfully this car has augmented reality sat now using it saying I've got to go around here. Okay, I get that What's the next bit though? I'm not lost help me out Technology. Oh, I've got to go up there Right doing those kind of manoeuvres around tight towns in a car this big would be problematic But it does have rear-wheel steering which makes it able to make tighter turns than you'd think possible Another thing that I've noticed in this car is that the view forward to the center part is really good because that low dash Also, the heads-up display is Absolutely brilliant. It's so clean. It's really projected on the road in front of you. I like that another good thing about this car It's a suspension You've got adaptive suspension as standard and it can alter the stiffness depending on which driving mode you're in I'm in the comfy setting at the moment and over bumps, which I'm seeking out Yes, there we go to Tesla suspension. It's really good. This car is super super comfy It's actually easier and more comfortable to drive around town than you would imagine Thing like this though does need to be good in town doesn't it? It's gonna be used on the school run a lot Finally, we're on the Autobahn. So it's giving me a chance to test this car at higher speed I've got the adaptive cruise control on and it's doing that thing where it can be safe distance from the car in front steer to Keep me in lane. So it's all very easy and you control it using this single button on the steering wheel Now I'm poodling along. I say poodling. I'm actually doing 120 kilometers an hour But it doesn't seem that way because it's just so quiet in here You see this big SUV is actually quite aerodynamic It has a drag coefficient of 0.25 CD if that means anything to you What it translates to is very very little wind noise at all Just a little bit of fluttering from around the door mirrors, but that is it There's hardly any tire noise either. All I'm hearing is the other vehicles around me as they whiz past in the opposite direction It's so quiet in here That's a lorry going past by the way If you can hear that seats are comfy as well And I could if I wanted to enjoy some music because this car is an amazing Baz and Wilkins upgraded stereo I love the way the speakers are integrated into the door panels And you've also got speakers in the headrest here as well for a full immersive experience Now that the sat-nav doing its thing taking me on my way Thankfully, I've got more than enough charge to get to where I want to go However, if I didn't the satellite navigation would automatically plot me a route to take into account charging locations And it would precondition the battery to make sure that it's gonna charge at the optimal rate when I get to my charging station Another thing the satellite navigation can do let's say it's the morning you're gonna go to work It actually learns the routes that you do regularly and if it can spot that there's traffic on one of the routes that you'd be Doing that day it will actually send a text to your mobile phone to warn you that you need to leave earlier That's really clever Another feature it's got is that it can use the surround view cameras and it's 5g Connectivity to send you video clips if someone's trying to steal your car One other thing that you need to know about this car is its towing capability So electric cars aren't great for towing normally, but this one's fine It's got a towing capacity of two and a half tons Now you might be thinking gosh Matt So this car's got some amazing technology on it and it has but of course you have to pay for it And if a BMW ix is a little bit expensive for you I've actually found it a good deal on another electric SUV And if you want to see what that is click on the pop-up banner up there or follow the link in the description below To get a car while now I've just noticed on the dash that I'm in a de-restricted part of the Autobahn so I can put my foot down And see what that does to the remaining charge in the battery So the top speed of this is only 200 kilometers an hour So 124 miles an hour, which is slower than most other BMWs not a problem in England But if you're German and you have a de-restricted Autobahn like I'm on now could be a bit frustrating Or maybe it won't be that frustrating because that de-restricted section lasted for all of about two kilometers back to 120 kilometers an hour now at least that's good for the battery Speaking of the battery, let's talk about charging So if you have the ix40 you can charge it from a 7 kilowatt wall box fully in about 11 hours However with this bigger battery i50 it's gonna take you 16 hours to fully charge on a 7 kilowatt wall box I think you're gonna want to use some DC fast charging Thankfully this ix50 can charge at 200 kilowatts So it'll go from 10% to 80% full in just 30 minutes. It's the same for the ix40 though It only has 150 kilowatt charging capacity, but then it's got a smaller battery So it just doesn't take as long to charge. The ix50 is supposed to do 0-60 in 4.6 seconds But I'm gonna see for myself using my specialist timing gear up here. I'm gonna launch it. Oh Christ Almighty Tell you what goes well for a big thing 0-60 in 4.4 seconds So this ix does the numbers when it comes to acceleration, but what about the range? Well, I've driven today for a total of 223 kilometers And I've got 53% of the battery remaining, but remember I started with 94% of the battery So I've used 41% and when I do the maths to work that out For if I'd started with 100% and used all the battery. I reckon I would have been able to do 544 kilometers so not too far off the maximum claimed range of this car around 600 kilometers And if you want my real-world range in old money, then it works out to 340 miles which is pretty good So then what's my final verdict on the BMW ix should you avoid it consider it shortlist it or just go right ahead and buy? It well I reckon you should just go right ahead and buy the ix. It's a brilliant electric SUV I hope you enjoyed the video if you did, please give it a like Let me know what you think of the ix in the comments below click on those windows there for more videos and click on that Box there to get a car where to see how much money you can save on your next car