Fully-electric iX3 still looks like a Bimmer – Part I

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By EWAN KENNEDY, Marque Motoring

BMW iX3 is the full electric version of German marque’s mid-sized X3. It has no internal combustion engine to provide extra range if its batteries run out of power.

It’s sold in Australia with quite a few features that are frequently extra cost options; these include metallic paint and the M Sport package with 20-inch M aerodynamic wheels.

STYLING

Very BMW. While other makers of electric vehicles like to go for a different perhaps futuristic look, the iX3 looks instantly like a Bimmer from any angle. There are some blue highlights on the outer edges of the lower sections of the front and at each corner of the lower panel at the rear.

There are also blue colours on the BMW “radiator grille”. Obviously, it doesn’t have a grille because there is no water being cooled there. BMW and other EV, makers do include a grille because buyers feel that a plain front end just looks wrong. Mind you Elon Musk’s Teslas don’t have a grille either and are selling faster than the factory can produce them…

Also standard is a panoramic sunroof that covers most of the roof area.

INTERIOR

The dashboard area is divided into three distinct areas. That in front of the driver has a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster.

There’s another 12.3-inch digital screen in the centre of the dash area. It’s wide, but rather too low which means the view ahead on the screen if our using it for navigation isn’t as far ahead as we like.

On the other hand, the width of the screen means you can see a lot of the things that you are missing out to the side of your road. Which may mean that you see things that you hadn’t realised were there, and perhaps decide to visit if you’re on a sightseeing trip.

Comfort and space in the front seats is good, with a wide range of electric adjustments. It has under-thigh cushion extenders, which I really enjoy as I have long legs and these add further ways of getting comfortable. In their own way these cushion extenders probably add to the safety on long trips because drivers are safer if they aren’t wriggling about to stay relaxed.

INFOTAINMENT

Our iX3 had the BMW Connected Package Professional which has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a Harman/Kardon 16-speaker surround sound system.

There’s wireless smartphone charging which saves having to wrestle with cables. Just put your phone in its spot and you’re getting more juice into it.

POWERTRAIN

eDrive is the new drive technology found in all BMW i models and plug-in hybrids, and is essentially comprised of an electric motor, high-voltage lithium-ion battery and an intelligent energy management system.

The integrated drive unit brings the electric motor, power electronics and transmission together within a single housing, and generates 210kW and 400Nm.

All eDrive-equipped vehicles rely on a special performance li-ion battery to store energy, and utilise a built-in cooling device to constantly keep the unit at the ideal operating temperature, helping increase output and maintain service life.

A five-year Chargefox subscription is included in the price of the BMW iX3 sold in Australia.

SAFETY

The BMW X3 has a five-star ANCAP safety rating from for the xDrive20d and xDrive30i variants. However, the iX3 has not been tested at this stage.

Ways of avoiding a crash are strongly featured in this electric Bimmer. It has automatic emergency with crossroads warning, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, front and rear cross-traffic alert, evasion assistant, speed limit assist, as well as Steering + Lane Control Assistant (Level 2 autonomous mode).