A lease is a great way to sample a new car without making a true commitment. You get to live with the thing for 12 or 24 or 36 months and, no matter how many problems it has, no matter how badly it depreciates, you’re never going to be out more than you expected. You won’t have to worry about selling the thing, either.
That was partly my mindset in engaging 36 months of non-committal partnership with a 2024 BMW iX xDrive50. If you haven’t followed along with the updates, my wife and I got a sweet lease deal back when there was still a federal rebate to be enjoyed, and I figured that in three years the market would be ripe enough to move on to something even sweeter.
Little did I know that we would become so enamored of the thing we’d decide to keep it.
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Current Competition
As predicted, there is indeed no shortage of choice EVs on the market these days, not the least of which being BMW’s own iX3. With over 400 miles on a charge and a starting price at around $60,000, it’s an extremely compelling alternative to a lightly used iX. Doubly so because we really don’t need the extra room of BMW’s bigger and now sadly discontinued SUV.
Why, then, are we keeping the iX? For starters, we’ve had it for three years now, covered 29,301 miles (coming dangerously close to our 30,000-mile lease cap), and had exactly zero serious problems other than a lone tire puncture—something we can’t really blame the car for. I’m certainly not expecting the iX3 to be a lemon, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if a wholly new machine on a wholly new platform has a few teething problems.
Photo by: Radu Chindriș/BMW Romania
Secondly, we’ve never found our iX lacking in range. Now that we’re in the temperate part of the year here in New York, it routinely shows over 300 miles of estimated range when charged at 80 percent, which is as high as we typically juice it. BMW’s in-car range estimates continue to be remarkably accurate, and according to BMW’s data report, the car still has 99 kWh of capacity out of 105 kWh usable when the SUV was new. That’s only around 5% degradation, which is solid for a three-year-old vehicle.
That means north of 350 miles on a full charge in the summer, easily out-pacing our SUV’s 307-mile EPA rating three full years after it first hit the road. We’re averaging an efficiency of 3.4 mi/kWh this month, still above the official 2.9 rating.
This past winter, that efficiency went as low as 2.0 mi/kWh in January, but as anyone in the Northeast will tell you, this was a cold one, with extended periods well below freezing. By March, when temperatures started normalizing, our efficiency was already up to 2.6 mi/kWh.
Beyond all that, though our iX does without adaptive suspension, we’re still quite happy with the ride quality on the 20-inch tires. And while I appreciate the tech-focused interior reboot of the iX3, it’s definitely a step down from an overall design standpoint from the iX.
Finally, while we don’t necessarily need the extra room of the iX, now that our puppy is over 70 pounds, the extra volume to haul all his toys and accessories around is certainly appreciated.
I still love the interior of our iX.
Dislikes
What haven’t we liked about the iX? There hasn’t been much. Again, we’ve had no real mechanical issues, and we haven’t had to worry about bringing it in for recalls, either. It’s been almost entirely trouble-free.
We do wish that BMW had added some sort of equivalent for a Dog Mode or camping mode or the like. Our SUV continues to turn itself off the second the driver steps out of the door, an annoyance if you’re just jumping out to grab the mail at the end of the driveway, and the rear windows only go down about halfway, which means even our decidedly lanky pooch has to strain to put his snoot in the breeze.
Photo by: Tim Stevens/InsideEVs
The most unfortunate thing, though, is how tire-hungry it’s proven. In late 2024, after a little over a year, we swapped the stock tires out for a set of all-weather Remedy WRG5 tires from Nokian. They were a huge improvement over the stock rubber in inclement conditions. But, 20 months and roughly 20,000 miles later, the rear tire tread depth measured just 2/32, while the fronts were down to 4/32.
The Nokians were flagged as inadequate as part of the Certified Pre-Owned inspection we went through in buying our iX out of lease. While I probably could have gotten a few more months out of them had I been more proactive about rotating them, they still wouldn’t have passed that inspection, which requires BMW star-stamped tires to be capital-C Certified.
The relatively porky iX really needs proper snow tires during our winters.
Photo by: Tim Stevens/InsideEVs
Thankfully, I found a set of Bridgestone Alenza tires on sale that have the necessary mark and will do well for the summer months, leaving me now to figure out a new cold-weather solution for the coming winter. The iX, as heavy as it is, really needs something more grippy than your average all-season when driving in even light snow.
Future Plans
Now that the car is officially ours, not just temporarily, we’re actually looking forward to using it even more. We knew we’d be very close on that lease mileage cap, so we’ve been treading somewhat lightly this year. With fears of prohibitive per-mile fees behind us, we’ll be doing even more road tripping.
I’m also hoping to put a trailer hitch on the back of the thing, something that’s only been intermittently available on the American iX, and wasn’t installed on ours. Thankfully, there are plenty of non-BMW options on the market now. Even a basic option should do just fine for carrying my bike rack and pulling our little utility trailer.
Photo by: Tim Stevens/InsideEVs
We’ve also been toying with the idea of getting a vinyl wrap to give us a break from the stormtrooper look, but given the sheer size of this thing I fear that may be a bit more cash than we’re willing to drop for aesthetics.
I’m sure we’ll have to pay up for a NACS adapter eventually too, but beyond that, we’ll see where it takes us. I’ve been hugely impressed by both the iX3 and the upcoming i3, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of those two isn’t in our future, especially on the second-hand market. But whenever you buy a used car, you always have to wonder just how well the previous owner treated it.
In this case, we were lucky to know exactly how the previous owners managed this iX. They loved it, and with any luck we’ll continue doing the same.
Tim Stevens is a veteran editor, analyst, and expert in the tech and automotive industries. He helmed CNET’s automotive coverage for nine years and acted as Vice President of Content. Prior to that, Tim served as Editor-in-Chief at Engadget and even led a previous life as an Enterprise Software Architect. Follow Tim on X at @tim_stevens and catch his Substack.
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