You actually do not know the way a automotive drives till you run it in each good climate and unhealthy. Sunday cruises are enjoyable, however motoring to the airport at 3:58 am the next Monday is commonly extra academic. And nothing beats loading it up with a trunk filled with groceries or wheeling it round with a hatch filled with canine to find out simply how sensible it truly is.
That is the place the worth of a long-term check is available in, and that I am glad to say is what I am embarking on with the 2024 BMW iX xDrive50 that you simply see right here. I will be chiming in each few weeks to replace you on the way it’s treating me. And, in contrast to many long-term exams on the market that you simply learn on numerous automotive-themed shops, this one’s slightly completely different.
I truly went out and purchased the factor. With my very own cash.
Hopefully, that assuages any fears that this collection of articles will gloss over something. I’ve no incentive to do something aside from name it completely straight. All through all the following updates to come back, which we hope to run roughly with the change in seasons, I will be providing you with the great and the unhealthy, the highlights and lowlights of dwelling with BMW’s top-shelf electrical SUV.
I will present the compulsory vary updates, element how the BMW is delivering on its 307 miles of EPA-assured vary, and provides the obtain on software program updates whereas elevating any flags about reliability woes—which hopefully gained’t be the case for my very own sake—alongside the best way.
Why The BMW iX?
The iX you see right here got here into my life in September of final yr, the substitute for a Tesla Mannequin Y that had lengthy since outstayed its welcome. My spouse and I wished a wagon or crossover SUV to switch it, and although we checked out a couple of plug-in hybrids, finally, we determined to stay with an EV.
27 Pictures
Once we began buying round final summer season, the refreshed 2024 Volvo XC40 Recharge was on its technique to market. After infinite choices and permutations, we determined that was the rig for us. I might spent loads of time driving XC40s and XC60s round up to now and at all times loved the packaging and the model. Its pricing was proper, and the battery updates for 2024 meant the vary was about what we wished, so we approached a neighborhood vendor to order one.
They usually utterly dropped the ball. After weeks of largely ignoring us it turned painfully apparent that if we did not need one of many 2023s they already had in inventory, they weren’t involved in serving to us.
I began listening to that Mercedes-Benz sellers had been providing some astonishing reductions on EQE SUVs, after which I acquired wind of BMW’s sturdy incentives on the iX. After my spouse drove each she determined she appreciated the vary and roominess of the iX slightly higher. After slightly strategic back-and-forth between the 2 dealerships, we secured what I thought-about to be a tremendous deal.
The iX you see right here has the Driving Help Professional and Premium Packages, plus entrance ventilated seats and all-season flooring mats, amounting to what would have been an MSRP of $94,845 after the $995 vacation spot cost. Nonetheless, we acquired a considerable low cost on prime of that, and since we leased, we additionally acquired the total federal rebate, which the iX is in any other case ineligible for.
Our closing lease fee truly got here out about $50 much less per thirty days than what we had been paying for the Mannequin Y. To be honest to the Tesla, that is a 36-month time period vs. 24 on the Mannequin Y, however the iX is so significantly better in each respect that we’re grateful for the additional time. Up to now, a minimum of.
There’s one caveat, although. We needed to choose an iX on the vendor lot to get that deal. This one got here with an admittedly restricted choices set, however it has every part I might have picked apart from one factor: the colour.
About That Design
I nonetheless bear in mind the primary time I noticed photos of the BMW iX. It was earlier than the embargo lifted. I sat there BMW’s media website, wide-eyed, questioning what their designers had been considering. I discovered it to be virtually bodily revolting.
It would be a good few months earlier than I acquired an opportunity to drive one. When it rolled into my driveway in late 2022, I confess that I used to be no extra impressed. However by the point I might pushed it to one in all my native photograph spots, I might already fallen in love. The iX was so snug, so clean, and full of an inside so very contemporary that it utterly and instantly gained me over.
That was an iX M60, with 610 horsepower and 749 pound-feet of torque, virtually 100 extra ponies, and almost 200 extra torques than mine. The additional velocity helped, however by the top of that week with that automotive, I truly discovered myself liking the way it regarded.
Actually. Significantly. Should you’re turned off by the appears, go check drive one. You would be amazed what a couple of minutes behind the wheel can do to alter your tolerance for questionable aesthetics.
Now, in terms of colour, white over black is about as fundamental as you may get, and given my druthers, I might have gone for the Phytonic Blue Metallic. Once more, although, it did not take me lengthy to get used to the Stormtrooper colour scheme, and now I form of prefer it.
On the within, I might have gone with Mocha, however even in black, I like the inside of the iX. The oddly angular sprint, the best way the built-in gauge cluster and infotainment system float above it with an architectural brace, and simply the sheer openness of the area are in contrast to anything on the highway. The gold highlights are an additional candy contact.
Despite the fact that our spec is comparatively fundamental, it is nonetheless a snug, luxurious area and a sensible one, too. It is a a lot greater SUV than we essentially wished or wanted, however we have definitely put that whopping 77.9 cubic toes of cargo area to good use hauling items, pets, and even a 1993 Road Fighter II pinball machine.
A Vary Champion
So why did we get such an enormous SUV after initially aiming for a extra compact one?. In the end, the massive deciding issue was the vary. The BMW iX xDrive50 with 20-inch wheels is rated for 307 miles by the EPA. That is an equal of two.4 miles per kWh.
Out of the gate, as is frequent with box-fresh EVs, we readily exceeded these vary estimates. Within the six months and 5,000 miles since then, our general common is 2.9 miles per kWh. However, the majority of these months and miles have been spent in winter circumstances in upstate New York, and a good bit of that on the freeway. As everyone knows, these aren’t best circumstances for EVs.
However on a latest winter journey to Vermont, I averaged 2.6 miles per kWh. That meant an efficient vary of 273 miles from the 105.2 kWh pack, greater than sufficient to drive to the best state within the union and again with electrons to spare.
The vary is reassuring, and so too is the accuracy of BMW’s vary prediction algorithms. Considered one of our first journeys within the iX was a protracted freeway jaunt to Watertown, NY, from our residence outdoors of Albany. That is a 180-mile journey one-way, better than three hours, a very good portion of that at excessive velocity on the freeway. Regardless of all that and dynamic climate, once we arrived BMW’s preliminary vary prediction was off by just one p.c.
EVs generally blow their vary estimates by 10 or 20 p.c or extra. I’ve seen them miss the mark by greater than 50 p.c in difficult circumstances. A delta of only a few p.c like that’s astonishing, and the iX has delivered comparable accuracy on each journey since.
‘Winter’ Driving Efficiency
Our winter is drawing to a detailed in New York, such because it was this yr. And whereas the iX survived what little snow we obtained this yr, it did not precisely thrive. After a single, eye-opening snowy commute within the Mannequin Y on its underwhelming all-season tires, I rapidly swapped on a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta EV studded snow tires. They made a world of distinction on the Tesla.
With the iX, we determined to attempt to survive with out winter rubber, and I need to confess that wasn’t the correct name. On its 20-inch Goodyear Eagle Touring all-season tires, the iX is passably driveable in mild snow and slush, the form of stuff we typically see loads of. It wasn’t so nice in deeper snow or ice.
In low-grip circumstances, the iX accelerated and turned predictably. BMW’s stability and traction management techniques do an ideal job of maximizing the out there grip. That grip, although, was at all times at a premium due to the modest tread and low rolling resistance of these tires. The hefty weight of the iX did not assist, both.
Subsequent winter we’ll attempt one thing with slightly extra tread. Extra particulars on that in a later replace.
Subsequent Time…
In our first six months of possession, the iX has been an unmitigated delight. When I’ve to go away for the airport hours earlier than the solar lights the horizon, or once I’m returning residence lengthy after dusk, I am unable to inform you how good it’s to slide into my preconditioned cocoon and cruise.
Within the subsequent replace, I will dig slightly deeper into the tech aspect of the equation, together with the hands-off Freeway Assistant system, plus all of the highs and lows of BMW’s smartphone app controls.