Is the BMW iX3 Worth It? 5 Best and 5 Worst Features

It's time to tell the truth about the electric BMW IX3. Let's have a look at the top 5 features and 5 worst features of the SUV.

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#bmw
#bmwix3
#bmwix
#electriccar
#electricvehicle

[jensbindesbll]

The radiostation buttons are actually a real genius thing. They can be stored as shortcut buttons for different actions, GPS destinations, phone numbers or, as mentioned, radiostations. So they are one of my top 5 features in the iX3.

[qpqp]

I don’t agree with your bad list. I’m driving a iX3 now for several months and previously owned a BMW 5 Series. I don’t miss a frunk. (I never had one before and the car has a spacious trunk.) Same for the all-wheel drive. That is probably relevant in countries with much snow but not in the Netherlands. Rearwheel drive only makes the car more energy efficient than many of its competitors. I like buttons. You can use them intuitively without taking your eyes off the road unlike when having to scroll through menus to for example turn up the heater. The only thing I miss is that the trunk cover doesn’t automatically lifts when you open the trunk. All in all a great car.

[pqvid]

1. The buttons you called "stereo channels" are Shortcut Buttons and the best feature of iDrive! You can set them to GPS targets, phone numbers, and whatever feature you can select in the menu — and yes, stereo channels too.

Buttons around the iDrive selector can switch quickly between contexts — I have an overview map, clock and car info on home, and you get detailed map when you click "Map". It's just soooo convenient!

Generally, buttons are there because people wanted them. So if you're stuck in the snow and need to disable ESP quickly to get moving — what do you do? Dig down in the menu and search for a proper setting? While others honk on you and get mad? I don't see a single button there that's not useful. Well, maybe the Start/Stop, I would agree with you on this one.

For the rest of the buttons — I don't know, don't take it as an offense, but I believe people who don't like buttons are also those who never read the manual. They don't need a car, they need a driver 😜

2. The AWD does not come for free. It means more resources, additional weight, thus higher consumption, more parts to fail — and if you don't use it a lot, it's all completely unnecessary. With the weight distribution 43 / 57 on the iX3 it's heavily biased to the back and should be optimal even in snowy/ icy conditions. That's also what I hear from iX3 drivers in Switzerland and Austria, who are used to mountains and lots of snow.

3. Frunk: as you said, there's an easily available and solid 3rd party solution for under 300€ — so not really a problem, just buy it if you need it. Lots of people have no use for it. I put there stuff that I very seldom use — but to be honest, that's stupid of me. Better just leave the stuff home if you're not going to use it. I'm just super lazy 🦥

3. The refinement of starting and stopping is indeed a bothering thing to me, too. Maybe if you've been driving an ICE car that would be kind of "standard", but after you've driven Tesla and you know how they can manage the motor modulation and brake application to perfectly come to a stop — then BMW start/stop is kinda weird. I'm pretty sure that there are simply different controllers for the motor and for the brakes, and that BMW were not able to get them perfectly synchronized. In Tesla, there's only one central computer doing all the work, so it's much easier there (which can be a huge advantage for Tesla in the future).

Strangely for me you didn't mention the app at all. Is it your car or just a test drive? If yours, do you charge at home every day and very seldom at chargers? That could be the reason why it's not high on your list. For everyone who's depending on public charging for travel or because he just doesn't have a personal driveway, the app is just key! You have to see the charge level, you should be able to pre-condition the car (heat it up or cool it down), etc. The BMW app is second only to Tesla, and in some points even second to none. Most other competitors just have some basic apps that mostly don't deliver even this basic functionality, and that's not something you can design or redesign very quickly. BMW had their Connected Drive before Tesla did, and they also had their "Features on Demand" first and still offer a much greater portfolio of upgrades.

Furthermore, included with BMW is a 3-years subscription for Concierge Services — which is an assistant, a real person, not Siri ;) — who can help you plan the route, finding (and booking!) proper hotels, restaurants AND even charging stops! So while BMW's onboard routing with charging stops is not really a star-winning solution, their Concierge Services can easily make up for that!

[AhmadAfify]

When u put the car on P without pulling the Handbrakes puts the car load on the Gearbox (which is bad on the long run) and that's why u have that small movement. Correct Approach is you put the car on N >> Pull ((P)) Handbrakes button >> Press P. Now the car load/weight is held by the brakes and not the Gearbox and u won't have that small movement. Hope that helps

[saminiskanen]

Test drove one, thinking of getting it. Moving from PHEV with real buttons (start button, real keys you actually need to turn to start the car, etc.) to an EV with some buttons (and the gesture controls) is a smooth way to move into the EV world. I like buttons and knobs. And having owned a BMW previously it felt good to sit into a very familiar setting. Everything was where I would expect it to be. Also, being a BMW the buttons and knobs are well made, sturdy and durable, unlike some I cars I have tested.

[maxdobb]

Seems some of your comments "pushed the buttons" of you viewers - personally I like your review, you were careful enough to say that these are your opinions and will not be the same for all. In general terms the iX3 has; no genuine design bad points, just taste preferences, but actually some really good assistive practical design elements.

[coopy]

You didn’t mention the foot gesture tailgate opener, swipe your foot under the rear bumper and the tailgate opens.. awesome when you have your hands full so you can just open the tailgate with your foot.

[danielnorberg]

Great summery! Agree with your list. Coming from X3 the Adaptive setting of recuperation is lovely, I feel more relaxed than keeping my foot in a certain way. But I guess coming from Tesla it will feel weird. 😅

I have to disagree with you about the radio buttons. They acts as shortcuts (like Tesla sexy buttons) If you go to the preheat battery option in the menu and long press "9" then that button will act as preheat battery. You can do it to everything, navigate to Home etc etx. To bad that they removed them from IX, IX1 and i7, it's BMW DNA and very convenient in button free vehicles. 😅

[rhsinberg]

You don´t have to push the stop bottom when leaving the car, you can make a stoprule in the settings when opening driverdoor to "stop". The same use is for autohold this puts the car automatically in P when it goes off.

[Rowtheboat]

I’ve been driving a Tesla model 3 long range AWD for just over 4 years now and thinking of ordering the iX3 as I want an SUV. Firstly the lack of a frunk won’t bother me as I’ve never used it once in the Tesla in over 4 years, not even to store the charge cables! It stores the first aid kit and warning triangle that I’ve never used! Only time I’ve opened it was to refil the screen wash. The lack of AWD may bother me but again I can’t think of a scenario where I was glad I had AWD on the Tesla as in the south of the U.K. we get very little snow, black ice sometimes but not snow and when we do I just don’t go driving in it as it only lasts a day or two if it does snow. My other choice of car is the Tesla Model Y LR and the only thing keeping me engaged with Tesla is the supercharger network. I’m now finding the touchscreen on the Tesla more of a distraction not only because you have to look, and reach, and sometimes go through 2 touches to get what you want but also as someone else has said you have to let your eyes adjust from long sight to short sight to see what you’re selecting and I’m finding that just too dangerous lately, so I’m happy to go back to buttons and dials that are more intuitive. I’ve had demos of many EV’s these last few months and most are heading the tesla direction with touchscreens (apart from Audi Q4 E-tron) but I keep coming back to the iX3 because of the ride and build quality and the infotainment system making it feel safer to drive. Plus the Driving Assistance on the M-Sport Pro seemed to be much better than Teslas Autopilot with ACC as that can be very temperamental with phantom braking. My main arguments not to go with the iX3 are will I be happy going back to 2WD? And will I miss the Supercharger network (which I do use regularly as I can do long journeys of 250+ miles)? But even a LR Tesla with a claimed 301 mile range from new has to charge on a 250 mile trip, especially if you want miles in the battery at your destination. And so I’m starting to look at real world miles/kWh rather than battery range as a more meaningful measure. I’ve been getting about 3.1 to 3.5 m/kWh in the Tesla and the iX3 is stated to be 3.4 to 3.5 m/kWh and the battery recuperation on the iX3 seems to do better than the Tesla. I think my mind is made up. I did also consider the iX1 as that is AWD but it’s gone the touchscreen route and has a more twitchy ride than the iX3.

[dannyai]

Having buttons is actually a good thing. i hate all the touch nonsense.. nothing is better than real buttons. you can operate buttons without looking at them. With a touch system you need to look first before touching

[drewster]

I have one and the adaptive recuperation is good until you approach a parked car to drive round it. It will without warning turn on fully to almost stop. I have mine on low all the time and any breaking with increase recuperation to full manually without the worry of the car taking over.

[Robb-]

it is amazing thing to keep all the buttons, please BMW never remove it

[ntinospis]

for the "bad" no 5:
You have to keep your foot on brake pedal, when you remove the "gear" from D to P, and you should you pull also the (P)
The only bad think is that it is not AWD

[mtumasz]

From the perspective of 14 months of ownership only your first BAD matters. AWD would be nice but tests show that all these cars get a huge range hit. Almost 100kWh in an AWD Mustang gets lower real-life range than this iX3

[michaelehiem]

I guess BMW listened to you when they made mine, I have mine just for 3 months now and it’s completely different from your review, but when I stop and park, I don’t need to stop it, I just walk away and it’s already off once I park.

[eyalbenisty]

- You don't need to press STOP when you're parked... Just open the door and it stops.
- if you activate Auto Hold, you won't have any movement when in P

[HaidarJd]

Tack för en riktigt bra video. Jag har en fråga. Är alla ix3 utrustade med M-paket? Jag hade en X3 innan och där va bilarna antigen med M-power paket eller utan och då såg man tydlig skillnad på bilen. På ix3 så ser alla likadana ut

[MB-uweh]

The 2 standout criticisms- bothered about no AWD option and that space under the bonnet is an absolute waste. It would have been easy for BMW to mould a bucket container to achieve max utilisation of the space for storing extra luggage, water, toolkits shopping bags. Weird.

[gergelyprandler]

Buttons are needed especially the volume everywhere as it provides easily reachable and fast controls for the passanger also. I would not prefer one button and a hierarchical menu on a touchscreen instead of them.