It’s not hard to explain what the iX3 is. In fact, it’s quite simple: the iX3 is the world’s most advanced vehicle on four wheels. At this moment in time, no other car for sale is as technologically capable as this new, purely electric SUV from Bavaria.
The iX3 is the first of a new kind of BMW to reach the market, one that was created following a new engineering and design language called Neue Klasse. The name is a homage to the Neue Klasse models that existed between 1962 and 1972, arguably the cars that made BMW what it is today at the eyes of the public and that make up a great deal of the brand’s past.
The new Neue Klasse is supposed to do the same today: to bring BMW into a new era. This is the first model of a generation of cars that embody the breakthrough that electric cars have been said to need for at least a decade to be a realistic alternative to a combustion-powered car. This is what electric cars were meant to be.
The Neue Klasse platform is a real revolution and represents the BMW Group’s biggest technological advancement in the last 50 years, setting new standards for energy efficiency, digital experience, connectivity and sustainability.
Crucially, Portugal will play a key role in BMW’s future. CTW Critical TechWorks, the largest software development hub of the BMW Group in Europe, and the creative force behind the iX3’s software, is a joint venture between the BMW Group and Portuguese company Critical Software.
With over 3,300 employees working from Lisbon, Porto and Braga, CTW is responsible for such important developments like the new BMW Panoramic iDrive, advanced driver assistance systems with continuous learning capabilities and real-time data reprocessing, the new generation of the MyBMW App, and the infrastructure that enables software updates to keep vehicles technologically up to date throughout their lifecycle.
The iX3 also debuts a new generation of batteries, called Gen6, four supercomputers and a revolutionary new operating system, the BMW Operating System X. The cylindrical high-voltage batteries are a structural part of the body, reducing weight and increasing torsional rigidity, while the 800V electrical system, with charging up to 400 kW, allows for much greater energy efficiency and charging speed. Everything is built in-house, for a complete vertical integration.
A very significant novelty of the iX3 is what BMW calls the Heart of Joy, which is one very powerful ECU that connects every function of what would previously have been separate units for everything from acceleration and braking, vehicle stabilisation, dynamic steering functions, to charging management. Because they are all processed in one place, response times are much faster.
I drove the iX3 50 xDrive, with 469 hp (345 kW) of power and 645 Nm of torque. Capable of 0-100km/h in just 4.9 seconds, it offers a claimed range of 805 km, but – and I may never have written a bigger ‘but’ in these pages – after I had used 10% of the battery, the board computer was telling me I had 1080km left. Yes, you read that right: 1080km! And from what I could see from my driving style and how it was draining the battery, that was a realistic number.
In all its capability, the iX3 doesn’t feel massively different from other electric cars from behind the wheel though. It feels very solid, very capable and you can quickly tell the systems integration is magnificent. You feel this car is one step ahead of the competition but, for all its revolutionary solutions, it also feels pretty normal pootling along city streets.
Inside, it’s a brave and interesting new world. Apart from the steering wheel, which I find too odd for my liking, the cabin is on a different level to any other mainstream EV. Only the column stalks can be found in other BMWs – everything else is completely new.
The central 17.9in touchscreen houses most of the functions but, thankfully, does not dominate the whole cabin. The main instruments are projected onto a fully customisable band below the windscreen, called Panoramic Vision Display, a solution I really liked. It makes the head-up display redundant and I, for one, just turned it off completely after 10 minutes.
The driving position is great, the cabin is nicely appointed with tasteful materials and trims (most of them are recycled and recyclable) and a general sense of quality abounds.
BMW began delivering the iX3 to European customers in March and, according to figures from market researcher Dataforce, it had sold 10,299 examples by the end of April. Wow. Earlier in the year, BMW had revealed it had accepted more than 50,000 orders for the iX3 and that more than 30% of buyers were new to the brand.
The range starts at €64,500 for the iX3 40, whereas for ‘my’ iX3 50 xDrive you need at least €72,900. Looking at the market and what this car represents, I think it looks like excellent value.
Read more from Guilherme Marques about motoring: The Aygo X – Small but perfectly formed
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