BMW iX3 review

When BMW launched the original BMW iX3 back in 2020, many other electric cars played on concept car design to stand out. The iX3 was the opposite, simply playing the part of an electric BMW X3 and giving people a more familiar option. 

It was a great car but, because it didn’t have many rivals back then, you could forgive its mediocre range and charging rates. Times change, though, and this new version is going up against some of the best electric cars on the market, including the Audi Q6 e-tron and Tesla Model Y. 

New BMW iX3 video review

To combat those, the new iX3 is completely different to every other current BMW, let alone the current X3, with brand new styling, the new ‘Neue Klasse’ EV platform, which is strengthened by a redesigned battery, and it debuts the latest version of iDrive. 

So, can the new iX3 live up to its predecessor and beat those rivals? That’s what we’re going to find out in this review. 

How fast is it and which motor is best?

There’s only one version of the BMW iX3 available and it’s badged the 50 xDrive. With 463bhp being fed to all four wheels, it’ll officially cover 0-62mph in 4.9sec, which is faster than any Audi Q6 e-tron but a little slower than the Tesla Model Y Long Range All-wheel drive. 

Not that you’ll really notice the difference, though. Indeed, when you put your foot down, it pulls away without hesitation and accelerates with ease. At motorway speeds, the front motor can be decoupled for more efficient driving but, even then, sudden bursts of power remain effortless.

Is it agile and is the ride comfortable?

Even on the optional 21in alloy wheels, the iX3 rides comfortably at both town and motorway speeds. It has a softer edge than the Model Y, allowing it to cushion drops with far greater ease and with less fidget as you drive along. Despite the supple suspension, the iX3 still has good body control over undulating country roads, preventing you from swaying side-to-side in your seat. 

Around town, the iX3 easily deals with potholes and expansion joints and doesn’t suffer from the same slow-speed brittleness that you feel in the Q6 e-tron. 

There’s no getting away from the fact that the iX3 is a heavy thing but, when you’re driving more dynamically, it still manages to control its body lean relatively well, even if it does lean slightly more than the firmer Model Y. 

Even so, it’s still fairly easy to thread the BMW down a winding road with confidence, thanks to it having plenty of grip and steering that builds weight better and is more feelsome than the Tesla’s. The Alpine A390 and Porsche Macan EV are both better handling electric SUVs, if that’s what you’re after.

Is it quiet and how easy is it to drive smoothly?

You have three different levels of brake regeneration – low, moderate and high – along with an adaptive option, which varies the amount of regeneration depending on other traffic and road elements, including corners and roundabouts. No matter which setting you’re in, it feels predictable, gradual and smooth as you release the accelerator pedal. 

When you do need to use the brake pedal, it feels natural in the way it responds to your inputs and has enough feel to make slowing a smooth affair. 

Wind and road noise are both better contained at motorway speeds than in the Model Y, while there’s no suspension noise around town. Put your foot down and there’s no motor whine, but you do get a synthetic soundtrack cooked up by BMW’s Sound Design Studio, to stir up some added drama.

What’s the range and efficiency like, and how quickly can it charge?

Every iX3 comes with a pretty massive 108.7kWh (usable capacity) battery, giving the entry-level iX3 an official range of up to almost 500 miles. Go for either M Sport or M Sport Pro trim and that figure drops to around 490 miles, but that’s still further than most rivals. 

In fact, no version of the Audi Q6 e-tron, MG IM6, Polestar 3 or Tesla Model Y can officially travel over 400 miles, in theory giving the iX3 a 100 mile buffer. 

The iX3 is the first electric BMW to be built on 800V architecture, meaning that it can charge at a maximum rate of 400kW. Providing you can find an 800V charger (they’re still quite rare in the UK) that’ll mean a 10-80% charge will take around 20 minutes. 

As you might expect, charging a battery as large as the iX3’s at home on a 7kW wallbox will take quite a long time, with a 0-100% charge taking upwards of 17 hours. 

“The iX3 is also the first BMW to get the new ‘soft stop’ feature, which uses the motors to remove that fore and aft rock you often feel as you come to a stop.” – Dan Jones, Senior reviewer 

What does the interior look like and is it well made?

Like the exterior, the BMW iX3’s interior has been completely redesigned and gives us our first taste of the design that we’ll see in future Neue Klasse models. There’s a new two-tiered dashboard, separated by the full width air vents, and a new floating centre console with a large storage cubby beneath it.

Arguably the biggest change, though, is the new Panoramic iDrive system, which comprises a huge 18in trapezoidal touchscreen in the middle of the dashboard and a massive new head-up display that sits in a recess between the top of the dashboard and bottom of the windscreen, spanning the entire width.

No matter which trim you go for, you’ll find plenty of soft-touch materials across the dashboard, doors and centre console. Indeed, while there are some hard plastics dotted around, they’re generally hidden down and out of sight. That is, except the buttons on either side of the redesigned steering wheel, which are covered in a clear plastic that looks and feels a bit cheap. 

We’re yet to try the cloth seats that come with the entry-level iX3 trim, but the upgraded seats in the mid-spec M Sport trim look great and are covered in a soft leather. Top-spec M Sport Pro gives you sportier bucket seats and they should give plenty of support.

Is the driving position comfortable and is it easy to see out?

While we’re on the topic of seats, the M Sport’s leather seats are comfortable and offer plenty of back and side support. It’s easy to tailor them to your liking, too, thanks to every iX3 coming getting electrically adjustable front seats and a handy memory feature. Given the iX3’s price tag, it seems a little stingy that you have to add lumbar support as an option or go for top M Sport Pro trim.

You sit high up in the iX3 and the front windscreen pillars are quite thin, both of which grant you a great view out at junctions. Your view out of the front is generally fine, but the new superwide head-up display does slightly obscure your view of the bonnet, making it hard to see where the corners of the car are. 

Meanwhile, rear visibility is helped by a large rear windscreen and the view over your shoulder is rather excellent, thanks to huge cut-outs in the rear pillars. Parking shouldn’t be an issue because every iX3 comes with front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera. 

For some extra assistance, you can also add the optional Parking Assistant Plus or Parking Assistant Professional packs, the first of which adding a 360-degree camera and the second giving the iX3 the ability to park itself even if you aren’t in the car, by using a mobile phone app.

Is the dashboard and infotainment system easy to use?

While the iX3 has a similar number of screens to the TV aisle at Currys, your main way of interacting with the infotainment system remains the large and highly stylised centre touchscreen. 

Naturally, it comes with the latest iDrive software, and it’s a definite step up from the last iteration. You see, while there are still loads of options within its menus, there are way less than before and they’re laid out in a much friendlier manner. Better still, the picture is particularly crisp and it responds really quickly to all of your prods. 

It’s a shame that the physical rotary controller that made iDrive so good is absent from the iX3, though. In fact, you won’t find any physical controls in the front of the iX3, meaning that you have to tap around to control pretty much everything, including the climate control. That’s far more distracting than just having some buttons and knobs. 

At first, the panoramic head up display seems like a bit of a gimmick, but it quickly becomes genuinely useful. You see, it’s made up of three screens – one of which is your digital driver display, while the other two can be split into smaller customisable chunks. That allows you to show things like the sat-nav high up and right in your eyeline.

You customise the screens by using the main touchscreen, but you can also cycle through and interact with some BMW presets by using the buttons on the right side of the steering wheel. 

You can add a traditional head-up display, which is projected directly onto the windscreen, as an option, but given you have the panoramic iDrive screens, we don’t think it’s really necessary.

“While you mainly adjust your seats using physical buttons on the door, it’s quite annoying that you have to delve into the touchscreen to use adjust your lumbar support (if you have it equipped).” – Will Nightingale, Reviews editor

How much space does it have for people?

As you might have guessed, given the size of the BMW iX3, there’s loads of space in the front, with a pair of six footers having loads of head, leg and shoulder room. 

There’s a good amount of storage in the front for all of your belongings, too, including door bins that’ll take a big bottle of water, a pair of cupholders, two slots for phones (one of which can be used for wireless phone charging), a cubby within the centre armrest and that large space beneath the centre console, that we mentioned earlier. 

Rear space is where the iX3 really comes into its own, with limo-like leg room even if you have someone measuring six-feet tall sitting behind someone equally as large. The space on offer is pretty much on a par with the Tesla Model Y and more generous than the Audi Q6 e-tron. 

Head room won’t be an issue either, with the iX3 offering plenty of space above even your tallest friends, even if you add the optional panoramic glass roof. 

The iX3 is plenty wide enough for three adults to get comfortable in the rear and the flat floor means that everyone will have plenty of foot space. Indeed, the only real issue is that the base of the middle seat is really firm and not particularly comfortable to sit on for a long time.

How much room does it have for luggage?

With a 520 litre boot, the iX3 shouldn’t struggle to swallow a family of five’s holiday luggage or a couple of buggies. Even so, the Q6 e-tron offers slightly more space, while the Model Y’s boot is even bigger.

You don’t get an adjustable boot floor with the iX3 but you do get a handy covered storage area beneath the rear part of its floor. Should you need to load taller items into the boot, the cover can be propped up, increasing the depth of the boot by a decent amount. 

As is the case with the Q6 e-tron and Model Y, you get 40/20/40 split folding rear seats in the iX3, allowing you to easily load long items through from the boot and without having to sacrifice one of the outer rear seats. 

There’s also a handy frunk beneath the iX3’s bonnet but, at 58 litres, it’s far smaller than the Model Y’s, which can swallow an entire carry-on sized suitcase. By contrast, the iX3’s is only really useful for storing small items or the charging cables, freeing up some more space in the boot. 

“I find it very useful that you get 40/20/40 split folding rear seats in the iX3. Even better, they fold flat with the boot floor and there’s no load lip, making it really easy to fold long items into the boot.” – Doug Revolta, Head of video

How much does it cost and what equipment do you get?

There are three different versions of the BMW iX3, with the entry-level being simply named ‘iX3’. As a cash purchase, it’ll cost you around the same as the Audi Q6 e-tron and more than all versions of the Tesla Model Y, except the most expensive one.

To help justify the price, the iX3 comes with a good amount of standard equipment, including 20in alloy wheels, an automatic tailgate, two-zone automatic air conditioning, keyless entry and start, front heated seats, LED headlights with automatic high beam and all the bits that we’ve already mentioned. 

Above that sits the M Sport. Going for that mid-spec trim gives you some sportier M Sport styling inside and out, an upgraded interior with leather seats and a sportier steering wheel. Then there’s the M Sport Pro, which adds some more sporty styling, including a special steering wheel, really sporty seats and bigger brakes. 

Is it reliable, and how long is the warranty?

The iX3 was too new to be included in the 2025 What Car? Reliability Survey, but BMW as a brand managed to place 6th out of the 30 included manufacturers. That places it just above Tesla and way above Audi. 

BMW’s warranty is pretty par for the course, though, offering you cover for three-years/unlimited mileage. The electric battery, meanwhile, is covered by a separate eight-year/100,000-mile warranty. 

How safe is it, and is it easy to steal?

The safety experts at EuroNCAP are yet to test the iX3, but you get plenty of standard safety equipment. 

That list includes automatic emergency braking (AEB), lane change and departure warning and steering intervention. M Sport and M Sport Pro add some extra safety technology too, including cross traffic alert. 

“While you get loads of standard equipment with the iX3, you can also add lots of options. I’d be tempted to add the Harman Kardon surround sound system, because it gives you great audio on long drives.” – Claire Evans, Consumer editor

Buy it if...

-You want an electric SUV with a really long range

-Practicality is important to you 

-You like tech 

Don’t buy it if…

-You want the sportiest electric SUV

-You’re after a cheap electric SUV

-Having physical controls is important to you

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