A very long time ago, BMW presented the first diesel car. Or rather, the rest of the world already presented diesel cars, but BMW hadn't.
It was 'the first diesel which drives like a BMW', as their slogan said. Good one. Then, this car. This is a EV which looks like a BMW.
That's because it looks like a regular BMW. I mean, the i3 from seven years ago, was purposely developed as an EV. This isn't, this is just a...
rebuilt X3. So we're curious. Is this desperation from BMW's part, or just a brilliant move.
You can recognize the electric iX3 by all of the blue accents on this car. However, you can change them to a Frozen Gray-color...
for free. And if you take a different body color than this car, it won't be as distinctive.
Besides that, you can recognize it by the wheels. It comes with 19-inch as standard, but this High Executive-version has 20-inch wheels.
And don't think it's got economical tires, because the rear still sports 275 mm. And it needs that, because this car is a rear-wheel drive car.
It almost weighs 2.300 kg, which is a lot. But that's logical, because it's longer and wider than the first BMW X5. Quite the car indeed.
When it comes to interior space, the iX3 is just as spacious as the regular X3. The boot is a tad smaller though, 510 litres instead of 550.
But when we move to the front, a lot of questions arise. Usually, there's space for a straight-six in here, and all kinds of aggregrates.
But if we look in here, there's just nothing. I don't understand why they didn't put a small storage compartment over here. Enough room for...
charging cables. Or rather, if they'd arranged everything a tad more efficient, you could get a suitcase in here. Missed opportunity.
When it comes to the interior, the iX3 doesn't really distinguish itself from other X3's besides the blue accents.
But the question was, will it be visible that this car is built in China. Will the factory in China provide the same quality?
Absolutely. It's a BMW like we know it. It's built very well and the finishing is very good.
You can't tell if it's built in China or in the USA. It's powered by a rear-mounted electric motor.
It's the fifth generation of BMW eDrive, which is even more efficient than its predecessor. It produces 286 horsepower and 400 Nm of torque,
which is more than enough. The power-unit itself is a very compact one, which means everything is close to each other.
The distributor, the transmission and motor itself. It can 'rev' up to 17.000 RPM and according to BMW,
it always produces peak torque. Something which you can feel very clearly, the car just seems to keep going, which is very comfortable.
The battery pack is incorporated into the floor. It's got a capacity of 80 kWh, 74 kWh of it being usable.
It's got an energy density which is tighter than that of the i3. That means it has more capacity with the same amount of batteries.
That's very nice, because the car can become lighter because of that. Not considering the huge amount of weight of this car of course.
A very important feature of electric cars is the regenerating it can do. Braking on the motor. This car is able to do that by putting it in 'B'.
The 'B' stands for brake, and it'll start regenerating the moment you let go of the throttle. You can do so in three modes.
However, I prefer to put it in Drive, because that way it'll regenerate adaptively. By setting the satnav, it'll anticipate on the route to regenerate.
and it can monitor traffic in front of you as well. That feels much more natural. If you let go, it sometimes barely brakes, but it sometimes does.
Whenever there's a corner, or a car in front of you. It will brake even when the cruise control is turned off.
You should go for that mode. Adaptive just feels very natural and it still means you don't have to brake yourself for 90 percent of the time.
You can just do that on the motor. According to BMW, 25 percent of the indicated WLTP-range is reached because of the regeneration.
So regenerating is a very important part in the consumption numbers.
One of the most important aspects besides the range, is charging the car. And especially quickcharging.
Theoretically, it can quickcharge up to 150 kW, whilst it can charge up to 11 kW at a regular charging station.
Right now, we've plugged it in at a Allego-quickcharger. It only had 26 percent left when we first plugged it in, and it started out charging slowly.
It ultimately went up to 130 kW, which is a very good speed. It held on to that for quite a long time as well, so that's very good.
Right now, the battery is at 84%, and the rate is still 45 kW. That's really good.
So even above 80%, it still charges quickly. Right, what prices are we talking about?
BMW has their own charging pass, which lets you charge pretty much anywhere. It costs €0,35 per kWh, but it comes with a starting fee.
At a regular charging station, that will be €0,50. At quickchargers, it's €2,50. You have to figure it out for yourself if that's good for you.
However, the €0,35 per kWh at the quickchargers is a very affordable price if you ask me.
Right, does it drive like a BMW? First of all, it's an SUV. And what does a BMW feel like? Like a low-driven roadster? Well, BMW...
has already proven they're able to make SUV's feel very good. This is much heavier than their other SUV's, but it doesn't feel like that.
I'd almost call it nimble. Cornering isn't a problem for this car. It doesn't feel bulky or too heavy.
Also, it's pretty quick. It does 0-100 km/h in 6,5 seconds. Flat out, it'll reach 180 km/h. It's limited, like most other electric cars.
The steering and suspension all check out in this car. Therefore, it offers more driving pleasure than an Audi e-tron for example.
Of course, it's not as sharp as a Tesla Model 3, but that's an entirely different car. We'll have to wait for the Model Y for a proper rival.
When you're driving, you're able to treat yourself to some music. Iconic Sounds, composed by composer Hans Zimmer.
It's something you have to like. It sounds very spacey. It's funny, but it's not more than that. I've turned it off. It's part of the High Executive-pack,
which isn't standard. The car itself is very quiet, as you'd expect from an electric car.
Rolling noises are minimal and you can't hear the engine at all. That's because it's all the way back there. Some EV's do have an...
audible electric motor. Not in here though, because it's thoroughly isolated. That's because it's buried in the boot.
You won't hear it. Also, these windows have layers, so there's not as much wind noise or noise when cars drive past. Like now.
Then, the energy consumption. We initially thought it wouldn't be very efficient, because it's just a converted petrol car.
However, we couldn't have been more wrong. Right now we're doing 18,9 kWh on 100 km. That's almost the same as a Peugeot e-208, which is...
a much smaller and lighter car. This iX3 is incredibly efficient. Because of that, if you're just driving on motorways, you'll easily reach 400 km.
Very neat. You won't reach 460 km, as the WLTP indicates, but 350 to 400 km is easily doable. And in the Netherlands,
you can get anywhere with that range. Even when you're on vacation, you can quickcharge at a very high rate. Also, stopping after 300 km...
is very nice to stretch your legs or for a sanitary stop. The range just is very good, lots of opportunities with it.
I do have to say, this car has surprised me in a very positive way. At first, it looked like a desperate conversion from BMW because they...
'had to build an EV to comply with the new emission standards'. Instead, it's a very efficient electric car with very quick charging.
It has good handling as well and the price is pretty competitive too. It costs €67.500, which is a lot of money, but compare it with...
a regular X3. Those start at €60.000, but you still have to get the High Executive-pack, and some other options to get the same amount...
of options you get in here. And if we compare the prices, a regular X3 with a 2.0-litre engine will cost more than this iX3.
And that makes this the better car with a higher residual value. So if you're in the market for one, forget the regular X3,
and take this one.