The Latest Car reviews

Time to check the charge. It's been charging for just over an hour since 13% of battery in 34 miles. That's 12 miles. Not bad for an hour. Just means that even with a home charger, you can still put a small chunk on. That's perfect for going for, say, a weekly shop because the fact is, with this vehicle, there's no way it's going to use that 12 miles of just put on even going on, say, a 50 mile journey as long as it out, floor it and hold it down and coast.

 

And it'll easily make that distance. If I use the coasting in drive and I've got the one pedal system if I need it. But I think it's probably going to be better using drive mode and coast to remove merely press and lock. That light will go under and you can remove the cable. We'll we'll turn right here and go to set not ventilated seats.

 

Relaxed is not the word. Everything so clear and simple to see. So you've got your digital cluster and you've got your infotainment screen here and it can do things like wash the cameras. Everything's just well laid out. I mean, you expect a certain level with BMW anyway that this surpasses it.

 

Steep hills are no problem for this, it pulls like a train quite literally. I think it's well over 600nm torque, if you go for the M60, well that's closer to 1100.

 

The xDrive system works well. It feels well planted at all times and it's obviously helped by the lane keep assist system and the pure weight of this thing.

 

With it's regen and safety sysyems I don't need to back off or even brake and when it gets to a point which the BMW thinks it is safe. It will allow you to coast so it's not permanently heavy braking. It's quite a clever system.

 

I like the way this isn't excessively using range, which is nice change especially as i'm hardly driving slowly.

 

Cornering just isn't a problem with this. It's like a tank, but it still corners like a finely tuned train or a rollercoaster.

 

Pulling up hills, which is not a problem, I put my foot down and I still accelerate like I would on the flat. Plus, it is nice and straightforward to read the digital Speedo. You can see where B mode is on the shifter. The E power is clearly visible on the cluster and easy to decipher. You can see quite easily any how little or much you're using.

 

Now, with it being an SUV and it being heavy, it leans. It's not excessive body roll, but it's big old SUV. It's going to be that makes it comfortable for the driver and the passenger. But it's still remarkably agile.

 

It's very luxurious in the and the cabin is just high end, finishes etc etc.

 

It's full of premium materials, refined luxury, and there's no wind noise whatsoever, not even a tire noise can you know, that's saying something especially with 22" wheels.

 

It also utilises a decent profile tire, comfortable yet looks sporty. You don't need to go for 22" you could choose 20" wheels, but it's one of those vehicles I think look better with 22"s they don't look oversized, they just suit.

 

It's all very well proportioned.

 

It's interesting. B mode is actually braking still on this steep hill, it would be interesting to see kind the of steep angles it can handle. Many times it'll override it because invariably electric vehicles, when they get to a certain level, the regen just can't hold them and they slowly accelerate.

 

It's a bit narrow around here, mind you none of the sensors are going crazy yet, it's not overzealous in that way.

 

We've done around 20 miles according to readings. We set off with 109m, but the BMW iX wasn't used to my driving style, when it got used to that, it dropped to 97 and that was probably 50 miles ago. It's now showing 89, if you remember, three or four miles ago, it was 87. So it's recouping. 

 

Even though we're going up and down like a rollercoaster, 44% of battery.

it's very good at economising, well the SAV has taken over is steering wheel. It's doing all of it. I'm doing no steering. It also realises when you're not holding the steering wheel hard enough, it will show it's displeasure with bongs and warning light, yeah fun. 

 

Now, you might think I'm taking pretty wide turns etc, but the bottom line is, I do not want to damage a set 22"s and it is a big car.

 

It's very big, I think realistically it could be a seven seater.

 

Hawes bound, Wensleydale, cracking cheese Gromit. 

 

"Okay, quick trivia. How many miles run you do you reckon our range is now", I asked.

"You said it was all 88. So is it now up to say, 90, maybe 91?"

"So you think it's gone up?"

"Yeah. Traveling through the village. It was going up."

"Yeah, but it only goes up when you go down the hill."

"Okay. Well it's stayed the same at 88?."

 

"No, it's 89, so it's gone up?"

 

"Yes. But it really shouldn't have done any about it. We've just navigated all the way through a small village and it just accelerated. But predominantly, that's not what an electric car does. The more you're on and off of the accelerator and the more range it's going to use."

 

Now, I was a bit wary to see if we'd actually get to Ripon on this range.

 

However no, it's using range very sparingly. This is the way that I went to Grenadier and I had a D-Max and I think this is probably similar to its width, maybe just less. It's got to be a similar size, and it is.

 

And so I've come off adaptive now I'm going to use one pedal driving. It's far more satisfying to visibility in here. Big windscreen, big side windows. B-Pillar not so bad, but you've got blind spot detection anyway. Now when we had up here on the bow will recognize this look. Oh we're going up hills. No, I 87 miles of range.

 

So effortless. Red squirrels. Wow. Excellent.

 

How relaxing did I mention that? My seat has a massage. Sorry, passenger. For some reason yours doesn't interest and says as an option. I think I'm running something like lumbar training. Heated, ventilated and massage with lumbar activation and training programmes.

 

These vehicles have some of the biggest batteries on the market. This one's around 76.

 

I think the BMW iX xDrive 50 has close to 100.

 

Bear in mind a vehicle like this weighs around two and a half ton as it's got a few batteries. This utilises a completely new platform, developed specifically for electrication.

 

As for it's construction material. It's actually made of, well to start with it doesn't use conventional metal, rather it's a carbon composite build.

 

Like you find in the BMW i8 and i3,  meaning it's rigid and strong and it flexes to a point, considering it's a massive SUV or SAV and rather astonishly only a five seater, it's remarkably agile and that doesn't really go with the territory. A vehicle like this you expect the opposite.

 

 

Range update 74 miles and 37%, 32m remaining.

 

It's amazing what's on your doorstep when you venture, say, 20 or 30 miles. 

 

Safety wise, AEB Collision detection, things like collision mitigation, blind spot detection, traffic sign recognition and assisted parking. I know that's more of a convenience though and of course a 360 camera and parking sensors an excellent HD setup easy to use too. 

 

It's kitted out with exactly what it needs, 326 brake horsepower and not a 69. You expect it to be a lumbering beast and it just isn't. I mean, yes, you get body roll, but that comes with the territory with something of this size. Arguably, this could be a seven seater and it's only a five. Not to put this in context, it's the same length.

 

 

It's just over the width of a pickup say a Ssangyong Musso. and it's just I think it's a touch wider too, put that in context for a moment, strangely though it feels very manageable, very strange but very welcome when think that it's an SUV that's wider than a pickup.

 

I mean, you can attest to yourself how well it handles. It's amazing, isn't it? Answer this once you've driven one.- trust us when we say  it's very good considering its size. It is very good.

 

Great visibility, higher driving position and no blind spots to speak of, easy to see out of the back window too. 

 

The range doesn't really seem to drain much no matter what you do or how you drive.

It's coasting system is amazing, chnage to B for heavier regen braking.

 

The iX is rammed including HUD display and a substantial overwatch sysyem which is pretty unbelievable. I mean, for a start, this vehicle's got to use 20 times more computing power than any other BMW ever made, now that says something.

 

Quiet as well as well refined. It's easy to drive. It's intuitive, If you put it in D which is coast and the electric SUV thinks you're going too fast into a bend, it will scrub off some of the speed, it's the same with if it detects a vehicle in front, but other than that it is quite lenient. Now in other electric vehicles some of these systems do kick in and say, nope, sorry, you're going far too fast. 

 

Saying that it knows its onions, for example it scrubbed a fair bit off then. I'm not surprised. It's a 90 degree angle.

 

We're in the Yorkshire dales now, Hawes - £1.79 a liter. Oh Gosh, well we don't have that challenge with SAV.

 

Straight on ahead to Wensleydale pantry, where's the cheese factory, Cheese place if you will.

 

It's not invasive on a rainy. No, it's not. Tangy. It kind of eats them up. Yeah, well, we knew the suspension was good 

 

Pizzas and pieces, watch the BMW iX video review for context, well kind of.

 

Need to chill a seat quickly? You can go to the home button and scroll through, I'm going to go to the drivers setup and I'm going to go to climate and I'm going to turn down I'll turn it off. In this case, i'll increase my ventilated seats, mine.

 

I am getting more and more mesmerized by the range, as you'll see.

 

There's 73 miles left. Now, when this first came, I saw 50 mile range is it actually enough for what we need to do and it. It does far more miles than you actually give it credit for because it can recoup left, right and center, 34% of battery remaining and 23 miles to go. 

 

 

Horseby Apple fair, yes I actually said this, there's no hope.

 

73 miles of range,we've been traveling for about four or five miles, and the range has altered, this has exceeded all expectations.

In every way. I know it's seamless and it eliminates range anxiety.

 

The BMW iX utilises I think it's about the fifth generation of the technology that we first saw in the i3 and i8, the tech has certainly evolved.

 

It staggers us that an SUV that weighs well over two ton is so stable, it just doesn't move and way less body roll than you would expect for a road SUV of this size especially at 50 ish.

 

Anyone for a classic garage in the middle of them thar hills? MG's, Austin Healey as well, followed by the forbidden corner. We'll get there one day.

 

73 miles of range and 12m to go, rolling, rolling, rolling Rawhide when you accelerate for a little bit and back off it'll just keep going with the momentum for...quite a while, economy is 99.5. I'm still rolling since when? I accelerated. 

It coasts, now It may just be freewheeling. If so, wow. I reckon there's some kind of sorcery there, as I don't think you would have rolled quite this far in say a Ford.

 

Yeah. I reckon we've used maybe 4550 at the most. But what is it about these bridges? British, North Yorkshire County.

 

Just sails along effortlessly. Yeah. Coasting is remarkable. When you've got no foot on the accelerator in adaptive it just sails silently.

 

The iX doesn't mollycoddle you, unless you're going far too fast. I likelyt knows or it's calculated somehow by using satellite navigation or whatever magickery it possesses which includes I think it's nine cameras and a shedload of sensors. 

 

 

It continues to monitor the roads and even if it's a bit too steep, it'll pop up in your heads up display and warn you, navigation is good to. It's the same with the cluster, simple, clear and you can choose what display you'd like on the cluster. 

 

Driving modes, well you've got Sport, Efficient, and Personalised, it's a nippy beast. you can pull onto a motorway in absolutely next to no time. The steering's nice and weighty and it gets heavier depending on which mode you're in.

 

Now this is electric therefore for some EV stats may be helpful

 

80% charge in 35 minutes @150 kWh

higher models like the M60 and take a 200 kWh charge.

 

This is the future of BMW. It's so effortless, from the memory electrically adjusted steering wheel which remembers 2 peoples settings fancy that to its memory reversing upto 500yds, you could safely say we're rather fond of this.

 

Well it's a great place to experience for the night, a rather beautiful building that architecture.

 

It's time to meet the neighbors. Hello, Swinton Estate, this has more context with the BMW iX road test and review video.

 

After a good night's sleep it's time to head out to Twisted Automotive for Annabelle and I, well Sutton Bank looks to be the place to head.

 

We'll see you in Part 2