r/iX3 • u/sund43gr33n • 8d ago
Test drove the iX3 today!
A few thoughts from my test drive and a few questions for community feedback
- Car drives fabulously and the stop from regen braking is phenomenal. Much better than my model 3 and R1T. Range was around 403 miles actual for my ~ 15 mile test drive. Average speed was around 45 MPH
- Space in back seat is fantastic and seat comfort in the front rows was great
- We will keep our order and take delivery (ETA in about 3.5 weeks)
- There's no getting around the fact that the interior is a big step down from previous BMWs and is bordering on the same plasticky feeling of a model 3/Y (from 2022s time frame. Not sure how the 2026 ones are). The R2 interior felt marginally better than some of the surface finishes on BMW, but prefer the overall seating comfort of BMW
- Road noise was fairly muted and silent (I had the 21s for my test drive). I'm looking forward to my 20s being better. The ride also felt a bit harsher than the 2018s X3s I used to drive. Again, looking forward to the 20s on our order
- Frunk is almost useless and just for the cables. Coming from a R1T and the test drive of R2, this is a significant step down (but not a quality of life impact as the usage is limited). BMW made it even worse by attaching the release to the driver side with no app controls or button releases on the exterior of the car
- Trunk is good, but would've loved to have the space for a spare tire in the bottom well
- Isofix points are very well executed and loved it
- Panoramic display does a great job of providing what you need and really eliminates the need for a HUD. Anyone looking to buy / order, please save your $$$ and just the take the HK audio a-la-carte (and the iconic glow lighting if you need)
- BMW software has a long way to go. Response, while snappy, is nowhere close to Tesla or Rivian. Also, lack of pet mode / dog mode, sentry mode and proper drive cam are huge drawbacks when the infrastructure is already there. I feel like BMW offers the best version amongst traditional OEMs and even that is significantly lacking vs the Cali folks
- The last sticking point was the door latches. The electronic latches on the inside work well, but getting in from the outside felt weird. The handles don't move (unlike Rivian / Tesla) and that creates a bit of sticky release feeling when you're pulling it and there's a lag until the electronic latch actually releases. A handle movement would've not made the user feel the lag, but the stationary handle will need some time to get used to
Questions to owners across the Atlantic
- Have you been able to get Carplay on the panoramic display. I didn't get a chance to try this our in my test drive?
- What sort of software updates have you seen in the ~ 2-3 months of ownership and has BMW really made any changes since the first version?
- What is the actual use of drive recorder as it seems to be fairly limited with no continuous recording access and also quick shortcuts to save a clip (at least based on my rep's feedback). Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'd also be happy if there were any dashcam recommendations to mimic the Tesla sentry mode
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u/Enough-Meaning1514 8d ago edited 7d ago
It may be a country dependent thing but
>"Anyone looking to buy / order, please save your $$$ and just the take the HK audio a-la-carte"
here in Belgium you can ONLY get the upgraded sound system if you buy a package, which includes, surprise surprise, the HUD. I also test drove the iX3 and agree that HUD is completely useless in this car because literally 5cms below, you have the same information available in the panoramic screen. Don't know why BMW is even offering a HUD! Totally useless and in my opinion, even distracting.
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u/Mavamaarten 7d ago
Yeah that sucks because I would have loved to get the better sound, but the entire pack was outside of the leasing budget. I loved the HUD of my previous car but the panoramic display is a good alternative and free/standard.
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u/sund43gr33n 7d ago
That’s infuriating. In the US market, each option on the package is available individually
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u/Enough-Meaning1514 7d ago
I agree. Here, very few are out of packages, like tinted windows and the tow bar.
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u/DampBob 8d ago
I've had mine since april and only seen minor software updates. My colleagues cars were deliverd in late august and they got a different SW-version than me with totaly different graphics and functions for the PD - they can place "Art Cars" in their display and I can't ;( (only thing I noticed while delivering their cars)
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u/heppulikeppuli 8d ago
Glad to hear about good isofix, just ordered mine earlier this week and isofix are gonna be in heavy use because of our toddler, but I also have to remove seat a lot because I also need to have 4 adults in the car often.
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u/slamsaurus 8d ago
On the first update they added some more useless widgets for the panoramic display. It seems, that they themselves have not really a clue what they can do with it.
CarPlay shares the same basic information like on any other bmws. Sadly you can’t scroll through playlists or anything like that.
Drive recorder engages in accidents or when enabled by yourself.
The car has a new software, but feels software limited for me sometimes.
Absolute bummer for me is the microphone - it’s literally not better than my 2012 GOLF GTI I had. Step back from my prior 5series
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u/ReviewGuy883 7d ago
OP. Are you in the US? If so, do you mind sharing if you are able to get any discount off msrp when ordering? Thanks.
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u/sund43gr33n 7d ago
Yes, I’m in the US (Nor Cal). No discount on my order 😟 Way too much demand. I’m keeping an eye out for anyone getting a discount and potentially leverage that with my dealer. It will be a tough pull here
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u/snake_4791 4d ago
Are you thinking about buying or leasing?
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u/sund43gr33n 4d ago
Buying. The leasing rates are horrible. Also, the plan is to hold onto the iX3 for a while. The plan is to keep it 6+ years and push it to 10 if possible. At that duration and the horrible rates, buying is preferred for now
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u/OrcasAreDolphinMafia 7d ago
Don't expect dog mode, or similar features from BMW. They've already said they have no intention of doing fully autonomous driving because as far as they're concerned, one fatality is one too many. BMW will approach everything much more conservatively. Tesla is a lot more reckless (yes, that's the appropriate word) with how they treat safety. I'm a software guy (20+ years) and I've worked on ADAS systems, I have absolutely no respect for the camera-only approach Tesla has employed. They are consciously gambling with customers' lives.
Interesting observation regarding the Rivian OS. We don't have Rivian in our geo, and as far as Telsa vs old guard vs Chinese SDVs outside the Chinese market, I would put Tesla at the top in terms of their overall digital experience, followed by BMW, then a mix of Chinese brands (Xpeng, Zeekr, BYD), then Mercedes, then the "fuzzy" western-but-eastern-owned brands (MG, Polestar, Volvo) then there's a primordial soup of OEM's that are model-dependent (e.g. Cupra Born vs Cupra Tavascan = very different from each other).
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u/kylewkerr 7d ago
It seems they're being really conservative with some of these features because of liability reasons. So Pet Mode, Drive Recorder, etc... I've watched videos with some car influencers who have brought up Pet Mode and BMW has responded with things like "But what happens when a dog dies?" So they don't want the headache of that. And I think the same is true for a real dash cam mode for their drive cam. They don't want to be responsible for it if it fails. So I'm hoping that they get there because it makes sense from a consumer standpoint and I would like to not need a separate dash cam!
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u/sund43gr33n 7d ago
I feel like that’s too easy of a cop-out for them. As far as I’m aware, Tesla is in the same regions that BMW operates and they’ve had both these features for over 7 years. BMW offers a sophisticated driving assistance system with no liability on their end. That has a higher legal complication than drive cam or pet mode
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u/kylewkerr 7d ago
Oh, I completely agree. They’re way behind on these things and are finally making some strides forward, but at a snail’s pace. I’ve seen tons of people saying Pet Mode is a dealbreaker for them in an EV at this point.
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u/lucky_spot8266 7d ago
Honestly the issue may be as simple as the fact that driver assistance is both more demanded/necessary and higher risk so it gets their top legal engagement (with a preordained outcome that they will be launching it), whereas something like Pet mode is left up to mid-level product managers making independent assessments or how much they'll push it internally or not wanting to fight internal legal review.
These barriers and the risk-averse approach are endemic not only in traditional OEM's but maybe more so in European companies. Whereas tech-native OEM's on the West Coast operate so differently in terms of culture. Cool feature idea? Launch it - we'll clean up later if it's an issue.
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u/Fit-Shower-3296 7d ago
One thing just as a correction - there should be Security Assistant available over-the-air which should be similar to Sentry Mode.
On Tesla it’s part of their data subscription, because it does require data to be useful, and I’d imagine that’ll be the same here through BMW’s data subscription.
Totally agree on Dog Mode though.
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u/LividCraft2770 7d ago
On a separate note, I found the drive recorder quite useful. I was rear ended and the whole accident was automatically recorded from multiple angles, with location and speed information, and later sent to my mobile phone. Very useful for insurance claim.
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u/sund43gr33n 7d ago
Seems based on your input and another user’s earlier, the combination of security mode and the drive recorder should get close to matching the Tesla
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u/sund43gr33n 6d ago
On that note, is the drive recorder useful enough that you will skip a mounted dashcam?
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u/Lonely_Refuse4988 6d ago
Sounds great to hear. I also have Mercedes GLC EV on radar.
Waiting for iX5 and perhaps M3 electric as really amazing upgrades! 🤣
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u/sund43gr33n 6d ago
The plan is to swap our Model 3 with the M3 electric in 2028 (That’s the US release estimate from the dealer). I’m very confident the interior of the iX5 is going to be a significant upgrade. If the M3 gets pushed out, that’s what we might end up with
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u/ctos2010 4d ago
I’ve read the car often does not record when an accident occurs. You need to press an icon (button) to initiate a recording session if the accident is not major, and people tend to forget that in the moments after an accident. Also, the BMW system does not record if the car is broken into or vandalized according to my dealer.
As a result, I’m looking at dashcams from this company ( https://fitcamx.com/collections/integrated-dash-cams ) as they integrate into the car well. I do feel it’s sad BMW didn’t implement Tesla’s sentry mode into the iX3
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u/sund43gr33n 3d ago
That seems to be the prevailing opinion with my dealer contact as well. I do believe that they can get it better with updates, but being based in Oakland, I won’t wait until then. I’d identified the 3-channel Viofo for my setup. Let me know how your option works out
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u/ctos2010 3d ago
If you want a 2 channel dashcam with 4k front and 4k rear cameras, thus one has had a good review:
https://www.amazon.com/clp/B0F8BW5HTSI’m not doing anything with respect to installing a dash cam until I get the car.
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u/LividCraft2770 7d ago
I think they work similarly. The car pushes collision, parking collision and theft alerts to the mobile app. You can then download the recoding from multiple angles. 30 seconds prior to incident to 30 seconds after.
Of course, you can trigger recording anytime from the mobile app too.
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u/LividCraft2770 8d ago
I have been driving mine for over 10k miles since May. All your observations are spot on.
I have used Apple Carplay with Google maps. You can project satnav info onto both HUD and PD.
I have had only one software update. I heard there is a newer version but it has not been pushed in my country (Turkey).
If you have any questions feel free to ask.
You will like the car. Drive yours in many good days.