Car of the Year Awards 2026: Premium Electric SUV of the Year
It's not merely enough for a premium electric SUV to provide fast charging and a long range, because they must offer an upmarket experience in all the key areas, plus deliver that intangible driv...
BMW iX3 50 xDrive M Sport
From Socrates to Einstein, the world’s great thinkers have always opined on the need to question everything, and it’s a lesson that BMW has taken to heart with its new iX3.
The looks, the battery, the brakes, the infotainment system… pretty much everywhere you look, BMW has had a complete rethink, with the resulting car essentially a template for the Bavarian brand’s next generation of models. So, it’s just as well it’s good. Damned good.
For starters, the single version available right now – the BMW iX3 50 xDrive – can officially travel for up to 500 miles between charges (or 492 miles in our preferred M Sport trim). That’s farther than any other electric vehicle (EV) on sale today can manage, and gives the iX3 a buffer of around 100 miles over key rivals such as the Audi Q6 e-tron and Tesla Model Y.
True, the sheer size of the battery (108.7kWh usable) is mostly to thank. But it’s not just big; it’s also clever, with a maximum charging speed of 400kW, which means it’s possible to add around 215 miles of range in just 10 minutes.
As for the other sort of speed, the iX3’s two electric motors (one on each axle for four-wheel drive) combine to produce 463bhp, which is enough to make it feel properly fast when you put your foot down. Yet, if anything, it’s even more impressive when it’s time to slow down.
You see, like rivals, it has both regular friction brakes and regenerative braking to put energy back into the battery on the move, but here the former are only used in an emergency stop or to improve stability and agility by nipping at individual wheels. As a result, there’s no sign of the awkward transition between the two forms of braking that so many EVs suffer from, and it’s easy to drive the iX3 smoothly.
You can have fun in it, too, thanks to sharp steering and surprisingly playful handling. Meanwhile, the well-judged ride avoids the low-speed brittleness of the Q6 e-tron and ensures your head isn’t tossed from side to side, as can happen in the Mercedes EQE SUV and Model Y.
The interior is another area of the car where BMW started with a clean sheet of paper, allowing it to come up with an all-new control and display layout.
This includes a trapezoidal central touchscreen that leans towards the driver to bring it within easier reach, and which responds instantly to prods. Meanwhile, instead of a traditional instrument cluster, information is projected onto a dark panel that runs below the base of the windscreen, allowing you to glance at it without taking your eyes off the road for long.
On top of all this, build quality feels like a step up from that of the Q6 e-tron and EQE SUV. And the iX3 is a practical car, with generous space for five, a large boot and space for the charging cables beneath its bonnet. BMW really has thought of everything.
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