The radiostation buttons are actually a real genius thing. They can be stored as shortcut buttons for different actions, GPS destinations, phone numbers or, as mentioned, radiostations. So they are one of my top 5 features in the iX3.
After viewing the video this was my first thing to comment. Absolutely right! I use these presets almost everyday in our i3, really handy!
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Totally agree, I was starting to answer the exact same comment as yours! Althought, there's nothing more clever than physical buttons that fall right under your fingers, without having to look at them. That's the feeling I always had in all my BMWs : always keep the road in sight, and be able to do every needed action directly from my fingers. The full touch screen design is just awfull, you have to stare at where you press your fingers, and to have a confortable distance to use it, most screens are too close to your eyes, needing time for them to focus, and loose focus on the road. I really hope BMW will keep physical buttons design! (Just think about a plane, where security is in mind much over high-tech marketing, you'll never see touchscreens replace physical dials...)
Came here to say the same thing. BMWs shortcut row is genius and I don't want to drive a car without it. Being able to make a shortcut to any state of the iDrive system was pure genius! Also: buttons for the driver are a good thing. Sure they may clutter the cockpit a bit but it is much more convenient to press a button while driving instead of navigating a touch screen. Don't take my eyes of the road car designers!
@yElectricYeah, sometimes it's good to read a manual before making review 😉 Of course you need all that buttons, including rotary iDrive and others. It's much more quicker and safer.
I don’t agree with your bad list. I’m driving a iX3 now for several months and previously owned a BMW 5 Series. I don’t miss a frunk. (I never had one before and the car has a spacious trunk.) Same for the all-wheel drive. That is probably relevant in countries with much snow but not in the Netherlands. Rearwheel drive only makes the car more energy efficient than many of its competitors. I like buttons. You can use them intuitively without taking your eyes off the road unlike when having to scroll through menus to for example turn up the heater. The only thing I miss is that the trunk cover doesn’t automatically lifts when you open the trunk. All in all a great car.
Congratulations to s nice car! 👍 The ix3 makes a lot of sense when you come from a combustion car. But after have been driving electric for 5 years, you get other driving habits.
1. The buttons you called "stereo channels" are Shortcut Buttons and the best feature of iDrive! You can set them to GPS targets, phone numbers, and whatever feature you can select in the menu - and yes, stereo channels too. Buttons around the iDrive selector can switch quickly between contexts - I have an overview map, clock and car info on home, and you get detailed map when you click "Map". It's just soooo convenient! Generally, buttons are there because people wanted them. So if you're stuck in the snow and need to disable ESP quickly to get moving - what do you do? Dig down in the menu and search for a proper setting? While others honk on you and get mad? I don't see a single button there that's not useful. Well, maybe the Start/Stop, I would agree with you on this one. For the rest of the buttons - I don't know, don't take it as an offense, but I believe people who don't like buttons are also those who never read the manual. They don't need a car, they need a driver 😜 2. The AWD does not come for free. It means more resources, additional weight, thus higher consumption, more parts to fail - and if you don't use it a lot, it's all completely unnecessary. With the weight distribution 43 / 57 on the iX3 it's heavily biased to the back and should be optimal even in snowy/ icy conditions. That's also what I hear from iX3 drivers in Switzerland and Austria, who are used to mountains and lots of snow. 3. Frunk: as you said, there's an easily available and solid 3rd party solution for under 300€ - so not really a problem, just buy it if you need it. Lots of people have no use for it. I put there stuff that I very seldom use - but to be honest, that's stupid of me. Better just leave the stuff home if you're not going to use it. I'm just super lazy 🦥 3. The refinement of starting and stopping is indeed a bothering thing to me, too. Maybe if you've been driving an ICE car that would be kind of "standard", but after you've driven Tesla and you know how they can manage the motor modulation and brake application to perfectly come to a stop - then BMW start/stop is kinda weird. I'm pretty sure that there are simply different controllers for the motor and for the brakes, and that BMW were not able to get them perfectly synchronized. In Tesla, there's only one central computer doing all the work, so it's much easier there (which can be a huge advantage for Tesla in the future). Strangely for me you didn't mention the app at all. Is it your car or just a test drive? If yours, do you charge at home every day and very seldom at chargers? That could be the reason why it's not high on your list. For everyone who's depending on public charging for travel or because he just doesn't have a personal driveway, the app is just key! You have to see the charge level, you should be able to pre-condition the car (heat it up or cool it down), etc. The BMW app is second only to Tesla, and in some points even second to none. Most other competitors just have some basic apps that mostly don't deliver even this basic functionality, and that's not something you can design or redesign very quickly. BMW had their Connected Drive before Tesla did, and they also had their "Features on Demand" first and still offer a much greater portfolio of upgrades. Furthermore, included with BMW is a 3-years subscription for Concierge Services - which is an assistant, a real person, not Siri ;) - who can help you plan the route, finding (and booking!) proper hotels, restaurants AND even charging stops! So while BMW's onboard routing with charging stops is not really a star-winning solution, their Concierge Services can easily make up for that!
Very good and interesting to read your points, thanks. 👍 It's not my car and I had it for a couple of days. I tried the up and I think it's good, mich better than eg vw. But to be honest I think it's how it should be not better or wors. And thats probably because I'm used with Tesla. When it comes to buttons we have different philosophys. 🙂 My philosophy: a function like ESP is by the majority of the drivers never switched off during the whole period of ownage. Simply because its not very often needed, the car handles the situation 99% of the times. Hence the button only adds cost, weight, environment impact and conplexity for the majority of the users and driving scenarios. Thank you for taking your time to comment and watching.
@@ItsOnlyElectric 😎 All good. I’m also not always sitting there and reading the manuals from the beginning to the end. There’s a whole business branch of people doing TH-cam videos on “the top 20 secrets of iPhone / Tesla Model 3 / BMW” and you name it. Then they just read the manual and pick the most funny or useful things out of it. But if you call it a “secret”, you get people’s interest :) But still, I disagree with you on buttons. Even if you don’t use them often. Or actually, even _more_ then! Every button is a feature, and if there’s a button, you are at least reminded on the existence of such a feature. Or if you’re in trouble, you call for assistance - and this more experienced person will tell you “Look, there’s an ESP button, push it and you’re good”. You’re in Sweden, right? So fog lights are also a necessity? So how do you turn them on, on a Model 3, for example? Hit the car button, then select the front or rear fog light button on the screen. So how’s that different? Those are still buttons - but virtual buttons on the screen, hidden in layers of menus, and you need to know where to look for them, if not - you’ll search for ages… But fog lights was relatively easy. Let’s say you’re stuck on a layer of new snow on top of icy road. I bet this happens from time to time in Sweden? So you need to disable ESP to allow some wheel spin to get the car moving. What do you do in Tesla? Can you tell me which menu to look for? And even without the more complicated or advanced features - because there are only few buttons in Model 3, most of them are heavily overloaded. There’s a click, a double click, click and hold, and click and hold while dancing and popping yourself on the head with a flat hand 3 times 🤪😏 Seriously, I consider myself a car geek, very interested in the topic and reading lots about the subject and doing a lot of stuff myself. And even I didn’t know that you could apply the speed from the currently shown limit as your cruise control speed by slightly holding down the gear selector for 3 seconds… Is that really the kind of “intuitive control” that we should strive for? It’s a cost control on Tesla’s side, and they’ve done a pretty good job to sell this as an advantage. Also back to your mentioning of volume control both on the steering wheel and as a separate knob. This is _exactly_ how I would like it to be! The first time I had the volume control on the steering wheel I god caught in a situation where I had the steering wheel turned halfway, stopped on a red light, and something came that I needed to turn the volume down very quickly. Well, guess what - the volume buttons are on the wrong side of the wheel and upside down in this situation. So your muscle memory tried to do its thing first, but then struggles and comes back to the mind asking for help. You’ve quickly lost a second or two, maybe in a critical situation. The dedicated volume know can also mute completely if you push it down (the Tesla wheel for volume can do it, too - but it’s not in a fixed position. And here we come again, how many people do actually know that you can mute by pushing the volume control inwards?) Look how many people complain on vendors reducing the amount of buttons? It’s beneficial for the vendors, indeed. But not for customers. BMW is a drivers car, I need buttons to control features. In a self-driving Tesla they can even remove the steering wheel, I don’t care. BTW, I have a Tesla Model 3, too. I’m not saying the car is bad - as I stated before, the drivetrain refinement is sometimes superior to the BMW’s. But with the direction that Tesla is taking in the last 2-3 years I’m actually completely out of the game.
Yes it's definitely two different ways of seeing it and that's the fun part of it. 🙂 I have been owning teslas for over 5 years and other EVs too. But never have I needed to switch the ESP off and every years we get deep snow several times. It was another story with my older combustion cars like a bmw 520d. The precision in the electric drive trains are so much better. Maybe the rear wheel drive on the ix3 is a bit more rough? The only time I switch off the traction control is when I want to play with the car and pretend to be a professional drifter. 😂
When u put the car on P without pulling the Handbrakes puts the car load on the Gearbox (which is bad on the long run) and that's why u have that small movement. Correct Approach is you put the car on N >> Pull ((P)) Handbrakes button >> Press P. Now the car load/weight is held by the brakes and not the Gearbox and u won't have that small movement. Hope that helps
@@ItsOnlyElectric that's not true. In your video you put the gear in P but the hand brake ((P)) didn't light up. Putting gear in P does not automatically put on the handbrake. My car is the same albeit a Phev. I rock too when I put it on P alone but if I put ((P)) pm first it doesn’t rock
You didn’t mention the foot gesture tailgate opener , swipe your foot under the rear bumper and the tailgate opens.. awesome when you have your hands full so you can just open the tailgate with your foot.
Test drove one, thinking of getting it. Moving from PHEV with real buttons (start button, real keys you actually need to turn to start the car, etc.) to an EV with some buttons (and the gesture controls) is a smooth way to move into the EV world. I like buttons and knobs. And having owned a BMW previously it felt good to sit into a very familiar setting. Everything was where I would expect it to be. Also, being a BMW the buttons and knobs are well made, sturdy and durable, unlike some I cars I have tested.
I’ve been driving a Tesla model 3 long range AWD for just over 4 years now and thinking of ordering the iX3 as I want an SUV. Firstly the lack of a frunk won’t bother me as I’ve never used it once in the Tesla in over 4 years, not even to store the charge cables! It stores the first aid kit and warning triangle that I’ve never used! Only time I’ve opened it was to refil the screen wash. The lack of AWD may bother me but again I can’t think of a scenario where I was glad I had AWD on the Tesla as in the south of the U.K. we get very little snow, black ice sometimes but not snow and when we do I just don’t go driving in it as it only lasts a day or two if it does snow. My other choice of car is the Tesla Model Y LR and the only thing keeping me engaged with Tesla is the supercharger network. I’m now finding the touchscreen on the Tesla more of a distraction not only because you have to look, and reach, and sometimes go through 2 touches to get what you want but also as someone else has said you have to let your eyes adjust from long sight to short sight to see what you’re selecting and I’m finding that just too dangerous lately, so I’m happy to go back to buttons and dials that are more intuitive. I’ve had demos of many EV’s these last few months and most are heading the tesla direction with touchscreens (apart from Audi Q4 E-tron) but I keep coming back to the iX3 because of the ride and build quality and the infotainment system making it feel safer to drive. Plus the Driving Assistance on the M-Sport Pro seemed to be much better than Teslas Autopilot with ACC as that can be very temperamental with phantom braking. My main arguments not to go with the iX3 are will I be happy going back to 2WD? And will I miss the Supercharger network (which I do use regularly as I can do long journeys of 250+ miles)? But even a LR Tesla with a claimed 301 mile range from new has to charge on a 250 mile trip, especially if you want miles in the battery at your destination. And so I’m starting to look at real world miles/kWh rather than battery range as a more meaningful measure. I’ve been getting about 3.1 to 3.5 m/kWh in the Tesla and the iX3 is stated to be 3.4 to 3.5 m/kWh and the battery recuperation on the iX3 seems to do better than the Tesla. I think my mind is made up. I did also consider the iX1 as that is AWD but it’s gone the touchscreen route and has a more twitchy ride than the iX3.
Seems like you have put in both time and effort to find a new car and your reasoning to get an ix3 seems logical in your case based on what you like and are looking for. All in all bmw is one of few companies that managed to build good EVs on hybrid platforms. I did a range test of the ix3 if you haven't seen it: th-cam.com/video/8HOJ2jQWFi4/w-d-xo.html
Did you go for the IX3 since your post 11 months ago? I live in Norway with harsh winters and when test driving three IX3’s I had skidding issues on black ice as the winter tires were studless. Here in Norway every single car has two sets of wheels as standard. I have used studless tires on all my EV’s and then switched to studded ones for better grip. Global warming has contributed to melting snow and ice, which then freezes again and visa versa. With black ice AWD isn’t that brilliant, so I’m going to buy an IX3 with studded tires. It’s a great car!
- You don't need to press STOP when you're parked... Just open the door and it stops. - if you activate Auto Hold, you won't have any movement when in P
Seems some of your comments "pushed the buttons" of you viewers - personally I like your review, you were careful enough to say that these are your opinions and will not be the same for all. In general terms the iX3 has; no genuine design bad points, just taste preferences, but actually some really good assistive practical design elements.
Having buttons is actually a good thing. i hate all the touch nonsense.. nothing is better than real buttons. you can operate buttons without looking at them. With a touch system you need to look first before touching
I like the mix with the most used functions as buttons and the rest on the screen. This in combination with a smart combo of buttons on the steering wheel and voice control works great.
You don´t have to push the stop bottom when leaving the car, you can make a stoprule in the settings when opening driverdoor to "stop". The same use is for autohold this puts the car automatically in P when it goes off.
Because we need the start button. Your are out of order. You need to make sure you are switching off the car. How would you switch off the car if you wanted it of but remaining in the car. Please stop finding unnecessary problems.
From the perspective of 14 months of ownership only your first BAD matters. AWD would be nice but tests show that all these cars get a huge range hit. Almost 100kWh in an AWD Mustang gets lower real-life range than this iX3
Yes, mostly small things on the bad side. When it comes to AWD not all cars get a huge range hit. Look at the model y for istance. AWD with good range.
Great summery! Agree with your list. Coming from X3 the Adaptive setting of recuperation is lovely, I feel more relaxed than keeping my foot in a certain way. But I guess coming from Tesla it will feel weird. 😅 I have to disagree with you about the radio buttons. They acts as shortcuts (like Tesla sexy buttons) If you go to the preheat battery option in the menu and long press "9" then that button will act as preheat battery. You can do it to everything, navigate to Home etc etx. To bad that they removed them from IX,IX1 and i7, it's BMW DNA and very convenient in button free vehicles. 😅
I don't think having buttons is a bad thing at all. Especially in a car that moves. You really want to have something under your finger you can feel and rest your fingers on. I would rather have different buttons than have to swipe some screen looking for that one option I want to use instantly. Also, buttons make an interior feel more filled. That's obviously a matter of estetic taste, but for me personally I think it looks great. If you don't need some button you can simply not use it ;) I would rather have more buttons than I'm gonna use than not enough.
I have one and the adaptive recuperation is good until you approach a parked car to drive round it. It will without warning turn on fully to almost stop. I have mine on low all the time and any breaking with increase recuperation to full manually without the worry of the car taking over.
@@ItsOnlyElectric I'm the same, I find low give the ix3 a good balance of slight coasting with a small amount of regen. Mimics a fuel car that way and through long term testing I have found the efficiency to be much the same.
for the "bad" no 5: You have to keep your foot on brake pedal, when you remove the "gear" from D to P, and you should you pull also the (P) The only bad think is that it is not AWD
This is a great car if it's a post-facelift version. I have a 2021 PRE-facelift version, I'm also in Sweden. Aside from all the gimmicky things you have in your facelifted one, the key feature that mine doesn't have is pre-heating the battery. As soon as the temperature hits 0 or God forbid lower, the car will not, under any circumstances, charge faster than 75kW. I cannot stress enough how bad this is for a car that cost 700.000 SEK when it came out. Luckily, it's a company car so it's with me until March 2025, personally I'd never cough up that kind of money for it. Also, I don't know about your version of the car, but I don't need to shut down mine. I use Auto Hold, and as soon as I come to a standstill, I release the brake and as soon as I open the door, it shuts down automatically. Best of luck with owning it, the software is really good, the adaptive braking does wonders and the ride quality makes the build quality show itself, the car is a wonderful display of harmony betweem craftsmanship and engineering. But the part where they left out a key feature for EVs on a car within this price range disappoints me beyond words and I don't think I'll be going back to BMW after this one, especially not after seeing them experimenting on consumers like on cattle, with that heated seats subscription. Cheers
This is for sharing your experience. This one have preheating. It's not my car I personally would never buy another car without preheating the battery, it's a showstopper.
The 2 standout criticisms- bothered about no AWD option and that space under the bonnet is an absolute waste. It would have been easy for BMW to mould a bucket container to achieve max utilisation of the space for storing extra luggage, water, toolkits shopping bags. Weird.
It’s 2024 now and I’ve looked at this car to buy. Agree way too many buttons. It feels unnecessarily complicated for people not coming from bmw. Agree frunk is a huge missed opportunity. It should have one with a drainage hole like the mache. I use our Tesla model 3 frunk often. I think the main reason they didn’t want to do it was reengineering the hood for opening by remote or app was too expensive. 2wd is no downside and keeps the car lighter. Though it could do with a bit more power. Only other thing is I wish the boot had a sub boot like Tesla. It’s a huge benefit for storage. For the size of this car storage is still limited vs model 3 or model y. Everything else is great.
Buttons are needed especially the volume everywhere as it provides easily reachable and fast controls for the passanger also. I would not prefer one button and a hierarchical menu on a touchscreen instead of them.
Tack för en riktigt bra video. Jag har en fråga. Är alla ix3 utrustade med M-paket? Jag hade en X3 innan och där va bilarna antigen med M-power paket eller utan och då såg man tydlig skillnad på bilen. På ix3 så ser alla likadana ut
@HaidarJd är inte min bil men känner ägaren och han är nöjd som tidigare Audi etron ägare. Gjorde dock ett räckviddstest i vintras: th-cam.com/video/8HOJ2jQWFi4/w-d-xo.html
Ive had the ix3 for 2 years, never have i pushed the "stop" button before going out of the car. Its shuts off when i open the door. But ofc, the start button is not necessary.
@@ItsOnlyElectric like all cars electric or not we have to put it in park when we stop 🙂✌️ I'm super pleased with the ix3, sold my 2018 tesla model s to buy it. Teslas have shit build quality, gave em up 😅
@@codex83 half of the new electric cars puts it in park when you stop and buckle up or open the driver door. But it's a small thing to complain about I know! But hey, see it like this: small things on the bad list = good car
I guess BMW listened to you when they made mine, I have mine just for 3 months now and it’s completely different from your review, but when I stop and park, I don’t need to stop it, I just walk away and it’s already off once I park.
Agree with the 4 wheel drive and frunk, however you did not mention the limit of only 750kg tow weight which is kind of pathetic for this size vehicle. Even iX1 beats this.
@@ItsOnlyElectric I just checked on the BMW website. The current ix3 does not have a lever at all. Just the simple slider. Maybe this is a mid cycle refresh then? The LCI is out since not that long ago.
@@ItsOnlyElectric Great car nevertheless! We are looking for one to replace our i3s which will come out of the lease this year. With Tesla putting pressure on the pricing and overall new car stock getting higher for most companies I hope to get a good discount somewhere in the next months.
@ItsOnlyElectric you may want to look out the features in mine, you will clearly see its very different from yours. I love mine so much and don't see any bad feature on it so far
@@ItsOnlyElectric thanks. In the UK here where is mild and always got by with FWD cars and winter or all season tyres so I think with similar tyres on an iX3 we should be ok.
It's my personal preferences and I understand that some like more buttons than others. 🙂 I think a mix is good and like how NIO has done it when it comes to a balance between buttons and functions on the screen. Thanks for tuning in!.👍
I feel you were trying too hard to find faults. No one cares about a frunk and the buttons are way better and the start button- so what! AWD is a big miss though. I have one and done 15 thousand miles - just smooth as silk to drive- in the dark its like floating on air- amazing. BUT the really naughty thing from BMW is the claimed range of 280 miles- NEVER ONCE EVEN CLOSE. Maybe on a great run 240 max- normally 200-220 Tell it like it is BMW
The first bad thing is actually a good thing. There is no all wheel drive. BMW did this on purpose. It’s because 4WD takes a lot of energy.. and they choose to make longer distance of driving instead. The driving range on electric cars are still a little problem (until we get solid state batteries) 🔋 Most people would prefer longer driving range over 4WD. All the buttons is probably good or bad depending on who you ask. Personally I like it. Especially I don’t like Tesla where there is only a tablet to control everything. That seems both inconvenient and cheap .. must break down quickly.
Get your point with RWD but still think that an awd option would be a nice addition for people living in the countryside or in colder climates. Thanks for sharing your thoughts 🙏
Yes you are right.. It could be a nice option to have the all wheel drive. maybe to save money on manufacturing they didn’t make too many options. Also I noticed that this car only comes in two different variants.. as far as I know.. so they can mass produce cheaper. Does anyone know if the 2023 model is the same as the 2022 model. I know there was a facelift from the first ix3… but after this facelift the cars are the same ?
Good because I have to buy one from Germany and take it to Denmark. I can see the price on the M sport is only 50.000 EUR now if it’s a few years old and around 50.000 km. Tesla is pushing the price down on all electric cars …👍
The buttons are far more convenient to operate than e.g. touchscreen controls. The iX3 continues to use the excellent logical BMW controls, with a solid combination of the idrive-controller and buttons. So, not only wrong opinion, but really incorrect criticism.
You can't say that someone's individual opinion is incorrect. It's an opinion and I still stand with that. I respect that you think differently though. 👍
You clearly know nothing about cars … buttons for function are the best …the move to having all controls into the screen is useless and not safe … all premier car testers are saying the same !!
Maybe it's about taste and age. All old testers may focus on the past. 😉 I have been driving cars for 25 years and tested a lot of cars. So premier, maybe in your eyes. But not everyone thinks and likes the same things, that's obvious and good.
The radiostation buttons are actually a real genius thing. They can be stored as shortcut buttons for different actions, GPS destinations, phone numbers or, as mentioned, radiostations. So they are one of my top 5 features in the iX3.
After viewing the video this was my first thing to comment. Absolutely right!
I use these presets almost everyday in our i3, really handy!
Totally agree, I was starting to answer the exact same comment as yours! Althought, there's nothing more clever than physical buttons that fall right under your fingers, without having to look at them. That's the feeling I always had in all my BMWs : always keep the road in sight, and be able to do every needed action directly from my fingers. The full touch screen design is just awfull, you have to stare at where you press your fingers, and to have a confortable distance to use it, most screens are too close to your eyes, needing time for them to focus, and loose focus on the road. I really hope BMW will keep physical buttons design! (Just think about a plane, where security is in mind much over high-tech marketing, you'll never see touchscreens replace physical dials...)
Came here to say the same thing. BMWs shortcut row is genius and I don't want to drive a car without it. Being able to make a shortcut to any state of the iDrive system was pure genius!
Also: buttons for the driver are a good thing. Sure they may clutter the cockpit a bit but it is much more convenient to press a button while driving instead of navigating a touch screen. Don't take my eyes of the road car designers!
Good point 👍
@yElectricYeah, sometimes it's good to read a manual before making review 😉 Of course you need all that buttons, including rotary iDrive and others. It's much more quicker and safer.
I don’t agree with your bad list. I’m driving a iX3 now for several months and previously owned a BMW 5 Series. I don’t miss a frunk. (I never had one before and the car has a spacious trunk.) Same for the all-wheel drive. That is probably relevant in countries with much snow but not in the Netherlands. Rearwheel drive only makes the car more energy efficient than many of its competitors. I like buttons. You can use them intuitively without taking your eyes off the road unlike when having to scroll through menus to for example turn up the heater. The only thing I miss is that the trunk cover doesn’t automatically lifts when you open the trunk. All in all a great car.
Congratulations to s nice car! 👍
The ix3 makes a lot of sense when you come from a combustion car. But after have been driving electric for 5 years, you get other driving habits.
Thanks for the input.
What is its "real world range" please
1. The buttons you called "stereo channels" are Shortcut Buttons and the best feature of iDrive! You can set them to GPS targets, phone numbers, and whatever feature you can select in the menu - and yes, stereo channels too.
Buttons around the iDrive selector can switch quickly between contexts - I have an overview map, clock and car info on home, and you get detailed map when you click "Map". It's just soooo convenient!
Generally, buttons are there because people wanted them. So if you're stuck in the snow and need to disable ESP quickly to get moving - what do you do? Dig down in the menu and search for a proper setting? While others honk on you and get mad? I don't see a single button there that's not useful. Well, maybe the Start/Stop, I would agree with you on this one.
For the rest of the buttons - I don't know, don't take it as an offense, but I believe people who don't like buttons are also those who never read the manual. They don't need a car, they need a driver 😜
2. The AWD does not come for free. It means more resources, additional weight, thus higher consumption, more parts to fail - and if you don't use it a lot, it's all completely unnecessary. With the weight distribution 43 / 57 on the iX3 it's heavily biased to the back and should be optimal even in snowy/ icy conditions. That's also what I hear from iX3 drivers in Switzerland and Austria, who are used to mountains and lots of snow.
3. Frunk: as you said, there's an easily available and solid 3rd party solution for under 300€ - so not really a problem, just buy it if you need it. Lots of people have no use for it. I put there stuff that I very seldom use - but to be honest, that's stupid of me. Better just leave the stuff home if you're not going to use it. I'm just super lazy 🦥
3. The refinement of starting and stopping is indeed a bothering thing to me, too. Maybe if you've been driving an ICE car that would be kind of "standard", but after you've driven Tesla and you know how they can manage the motor modulation and brake application to perfectly come to a stop - then BMW start/stop is kinda weird. I'm pretty sure that there are simply different controllers for the motor and for the brakes, and that BMW were not able to get them perfectly synchronized. In Tesla, there's only one central computer doing all the work, so it's much easier there (which can be a huge advantage for Tesla in the future).
Strangely for me you didn't mention the app at all. Is it your car or just a test drive? If yours, do you charge at home every day and very seldom at chargers? That could be the reason why it's not high on your list. For everyone who's depending on public charging for travel or because he just doesn't have a personal driveway, the app is just key! You have to see the charge level, you should be able to pre-condition the car (heat it up or cool it down), etc. The BMW app is second only to Tesla, and in some points even second to none. Most other competitors just have some basic apps that mostly don't deliver even this basic functionality, and that's not something you can design or redesign very quickly. BMW had their Connected Drive before Tesla did, and they also had their "Features on Demand" first and still offer a much greater portfolio of upgrades.
Furthermore, included with BMW is a 3-years subscription for Concierge Services - which is an assistant, a real person, not Siri ;) - who can help you plan the route, finding (and booking!) proper hotels, restaurants AND even charging stops! So while BMW's onboard routing with charging stops is not really a star-winning solution, their Concierge Services can easily make up for that!
Very good and interesting to read your points, thanks. 👍
It's not my car and I had it for a couple of days. I tried the up and I think it's good, mich better than eg vw. But to be honest I think it's how it should be not better or wors. And thats probably because I'm used with Tesla.
When it comes to buttons we have different philosophys. 🙂 My philosophy: a function like ESP is by the majority of the drivers never switched off during the whole period of ownage. Simply because its not very often needed, the car handles the situation 99% of the times. Hence the button only adds cost, weight, environment impact and conplexity for the majority of the users and driving scenarios.
Thank you for taking your time to comment and watching.
And by the way. You are right about the manuals, I only read them when I can't find another solution.
Learning by doing. 🙂
@@ItsOnlyElectric 😎 All good. I’m also not always sitting there and reading the manuals from the beginning to the end. There’s a whole business branch of people doing TH-cam videos on “the top 20 secrets of iPhone / Tesla Model 3 / BMW” and you name it. Then they just read the manual and pick the most funny or useful things out of it. But if you call it a “secret”, you get people’s interest :)
But still, I disagree with you on buttons. Even if you don’t use them often. Or actually, even _more_ then! Every button is a feature, and if there’s a button, you are at least reminded on the existence of such a feature. Or if you’re in trouble, you call for assistance - and this more experienced person will tell you “Look, there’s an ESP button, push it and you’re good”. You’re in Sweden, right? So fog lights are also a necessity? So how do you turn them on, on a Model 3, for example? Hit the car button, then select the front or rear fog light button on the screen. So how’s that different? Those are still buttons - but virtual buttons on the screen, hidden in layers of menus, and you need to know where to look for them, if not - you’ll search for ages…
But fog lights was relatively easy. Let’s say you’re stuck on a layer of new snow on top of icy road. I bet this happens from time to time in Sweden? So you need to disable ESP to allow some wheel spin to get the car moving. What do you do in Tesla? Can you tell me which menu to look for?
And even without the more complicated or advanced features - because there are only few buttons in Model 3, most of them are heavily overloaded. There’s a click, a double click, click and hold, and click and hold while dancing and popping yourself on the head with a flat hand 3 times 🤪😏 Seriously, I consider myself a car geek, very interested in the topic and reading lots about the subject and doing a lot of stuff myself. And even I didn’t know that you could apply the speed from the currently shown limit as your cruise control speed by slightly holding down the gear selector for 3 seconds… Is that really the kind of “intuitive control” that we should strive for? It’s a cost control on Tesla’s side, and they’ve done a pretty good job to sell this as an advantage.
Also back to your mentioning of volume control both on the steering wheel and as a separate knob. This is _exactly_ how I would like it to be! The first time I had the volume control on the steering wheel I god caught in a situation where I had the steering wheel turned halfway, stopped on a red light, and something came that I needed to turn the volume down very quickly. Well, guess what - the volume buttons are on the wrong side of the wheel and upside down in this situation. So your muscle memory tried to do its thing first, but then struggles and comes back to the mind asking for help. You’ve quickly lost a second or two, maybe in a critical situation. The dedicated volume know can also mute completely if you push it down (the Tesla wheel for volume can do it, too - but it’s not in a fixed position. And here we come again, how many people do actually know that you can mute by pushing the volume control inwards?)
Look how many people complain on vendors reducing the amount of buttons? It’s beneficial for the vendors, indeed. But not for customers. BMW is a drivers car, I need buttons to control features. In a self-driving Tesla they can even remove the steering wheel, I don’t care. BTW, I have a Tesla Model 3, too. I’m not saying the car is bad - as I stated before, the drivetrain refinement is sometimes superior to the BMW’s. But with the direction that Tesla is taking in the last 2-3 years I’m actually completely out of the game.
Yes it's definitely two different ways of seeing it and that's the fun part of it. 🙂
I have been owning teslas for over 5 years and other EVs too. But never have I needed to switch the ESP off and every years we get deep snow several times. It was another story with my older combustion cars like a bmw 520d. The precision in the electric drive trains are so much better. Maybe the rear wheel drive on the ix3 is a bit more rough?
The only time I switch off the traction control is when I want to play with the car and pretend to be a professional drifter. 😂
I say they keep the start stop button if I want to remain in the car Wei ugh it switched off I should be allowed to do that by way of button.
When u put the car on P without pulling the Handbrakes puts the car load on the Gearbox (which is bad on the long run) and that's why u have that small movement. Correct Approach is you put the car on N >> Pull ((P)) Handbrakes button >> Press P. Now the car load/weight is held by the brakes and not the Gearbox and u won't have that small movement. Hope that helps
P activates the handbrake so the car should handle that for you. All other EVs do that.
@@ItsOnlyElectric that's not true. In your video you put the gear in P but the hand brake ((P)) didn't light up. Putting gear in P does not automatically put on the handbrake. My car is the same albeit a Phev. I rock too when I put it on P alone but if I put ((P)) pm first it doesn’t rock
@ninjaninja9954 yes, but it should engage the o brake Automatically before then if intelligent enough. Works good on a lot of other cars
@@ninjaninja9954Tesla or even Nissan leaf don’t rock
Exactly my point
You didn’t mention the foot gesture tailgate opener , swipe your foot under the rear bumper and the tailgate opens.. awesome when you have your hands full so you can just open the tailgate with your foot.
Good point ☝️
Test drove one, thinking of getting it. Moving from PHEV with real buttons (start button, real keys you actually need to turn to start the car, etc.) to an EV with some buttons (and the gesture controls) is a smooth way to move into the EV world. I like buttons and knobs. And having owned a BMW previously it felt good to sit into a very familiar setting. Everything was where I would expect it to be. Also, being a BMW the buttons and knobs are well made, sturdy and durable, unlike some I cars I have tested.
Exactly on point with my conclusion. Can it be the best transition to an EV for current BMW (and similar) owners?
I’ve been driving a Tesla model 3 long range AWD for just over 4 years now and thinking of ordering the iX3 as I want an SUV. Firstly the lack of a frunk won’t bother me as I’ve never used it once in the Tesla in over 4 years, not even to store the charge cables! It stores the first aid kit and warning triangle that I’ve never used! Only time I’ve opened it was to refil the screen wash. The lack of AWD may bother me but again I can’t think of a scenario where I was glad I had AWD on the Tesla as in the south of the U.K. we get very little snow, black ice sometimes but not snow and when we do I just don’t go driving in it as it only lasts a day or two if it does snow. My other choice of car is the Tesla Model Y LR and the only thing keeping me engaged with Tesla is the supercharger network. I’m now finding the touchscreen on the Tesla more of a distraction not only because you have to look, and reach, and sometimes go through 2 touches to get what you want but also as someone else has said you have to let your eyes adjust from long sight to short sight to see what you’re selecting and I’m finding that just too dangerous lately, so I’m happy to go back to buttons and dials that are more intuitive. I’ve had demos of many EV’s these last few months and most are heading the tesla direction with touchscreens (apart from Audi Q4 E-tron) but I keep coming back to the iX3 because of the ride and build quality and the infotainment system making it feel safer to drive. Plus the Driving Assistance on the M-Sport Pro seemed to be much better than Teslas Autopilot with ACC as that can be very temperamental with phantom braking. My main arguments not to go with the iX3 are will I be happy going back to 2WD? And will I miss the Supercharger network (which I do use regularly as I can do long journeys of 250+ miles)? But even a LR Tesla with a claimed 301 mile range from new has to charge on a 250 mile trip, especially if you want miles in the battery at your destination. And so I’m starting to look at real world miles/kWh rather than battery range as a more meaningful measure. I’ve been getting about 3.1 to 3.5 m/kWh in the Tesla and the iX3 is stated to be 3.4 to 3.5 m/kWh and the battery recuperation on the iX3 seems to do better than the Tesla. I think my mind is made up. I did also consider the iX1 as that is AWD but it’s gone the touchscreen route and has a more twitchy ride than the iX3.
Seems like you have put in both time and effort to find a new car and your reasoning to get an ix3 seems logical in your case based on what you like and are looking for.
All in all bmw is one of few companies that managed to build good EVs on hybrid platforms.
I did a range test of the ix3 if you haven't seen it:
th-cam.com/video/8HOJ2jQWFi4/w-d-xo.html
Did you go for the IX3 since your post 11 months ago? I live in Norway with harsh winters and when test driving three IX3’s I had skidding issues on black ice as the winter tires were studless. Here in Norway every single car has two sets of wheels as standard. I have used studless tires on all my EV’s and then switched to studded ones for better grip. Global warming has contributed to melting snow and ice, which then freezes again and visa versa. With black ice AWD isn’t that brilliant, so I’m going to buy an IX3 with studded tires. It’s a great car!
Good video!
Thanks
- You don't need to press STOP when you're parked... Just open the door and it stops.
- if you activate Auto Hold, you won't have any movement when in P
Seems some of your comments "pushed the buttons" of you viewers - personally I like your review, you were careful enough to say that these are your opinions and will not be the same for all. In general terms the iX3 has; no genuine design bad points, just taste preferences, but actually some really good assistive practical design elements.
Yes, indeed it did. :) glad you noticed my points and that you like my reviews. 🙂👍
Having buttons is actually a good thing. i hate all the touch nonsense.. nothing is better than real buttons. you can operate buttons without looking at them. With a touch system you need to look first before touching
I like the mix with the most used functions as buttons and the rest on the screen. This in combination with a smart combo of buttons on the steering wheel and voice control works great.
You don´t have to push the stop bottom when leaving the car, you can make a stoprule in the settings when opening driverdoor to "stop". The same use is for autohold this puts the car automatically in P when it goes off.
That's good info. Why isn't that default? Don't understand why anyone don't want to have that function active. 🙂
Because we need the start button. Your are out of order. You need to make sure you are switching off the car. How would you switch off the car if you wanted it of but remaining in the car. Please stop finding unnecessary problems.
No you don't need to manually switch off the car. It's 2023 and everything is digital these days. It's just software. 🙂
From the perspective of 14 months of ownership only your first BAD matters. AWD would be nice but tests show that all these cars get a huge range hit. Almost 100kWh in an AWD Mustang gets lower real-life range than this iX3
Yes, mostly small things on the bad side.
When it comes to AWD not all cars get a huge range hit. Look at the model y for istance. AWD with good range.
What's your range during summer vs winter?
Great summery! Agree with your list. Coming from X3 the Adaptive setting of recuperation is lovely, I feel more relaxed than keeping my foot in a certain way. But I guess coming from Tesla it will feel weird. 😅
I have to disagree with you about the radio buttons. They acts as shortcuts (like Tesla sexy buttons) If you go to the preheat battery option in the menu and long press "9" then that button will act as preheat battery. You can do it to everything, navigate to Home etc etx. To bad that they removed them from IX,IX1 and i7, it's BMW DNA and very convenient in button free vehicles. 😅
Good information! I hope you enjoy your ix3! 👍
I don't think having buttons is a bad thing at all. Especially in a car that moves. You really want to have something under your finger you can feel and rest your fingers on.
I would rather have different buttons than have to swipe some screen looking for that one option I want to use instantly.
Also, buttons make an interior feel more filled. That's obviously a matter of estetic taste, but for me personally I think it looks great.
If you don't need some button you can simply not use it ;) I would rather have more buttons than I'm gonna use than not enough.
I have one and the adaptive recuperation is good until you approach a parked car to drive round it. It will without warning turn on fully to almost stop. I have mine on low all the time and any breaking with increase recuperation to full manually without the worry of the car taking over.
Agree, I have never learned to drive cars with auto recup so a normally drive in full Regen.
@@ItsOnlyElectric I'm the same, I find low give the ix3 a good balance of slight coasting with a small amount of regen. Mimics a fuel car that way and through long term testing I have found the efficiency to be much the same.
I disagree about buttons. Love them
Nice video..very informative
Thank you
for the "bad" no 5:
You have to keep your foot on brake pedal, when you remove the "gear" from D to P, and you should you pull also the (P)
The only bad think is that it is not AWD
I put my foot on the brake of course. When shifting to P. 👍
This is a great car if it's a post-facelift version. I have a 2021 PRE-facelift version, I'm also in Sweden. Aside from all the gimmicky things you have in your facelifted one, the key feature that mine doesn't have is pre-heating the battery. As soon as the temperature hits 0 or God forbid lower, the car will not, under any circumstances, charge faster than 75kW. I cannot stress enough how bad this is for a car that cost 700.000 SEK when it came out. Luckily, it's a company car so it's with me until March 2025, personally I'd never cough up that kind of money for it.
Also, I don't know about your version of the car, but I don't need to shut down mine. I use Auto Hold, and as soon as I come to a standstill, I release the brake and as soon as I open the door, it shuts down automatically.
Best of luck with owning it, the software is really good, the adaptive braking does wonders and the ride quality makes the build quality show itself, the car is a wonderful display of harmony betweem craftsmanship and engineering. But the part where they left out a key feature for EVs on a car within this price range disappoints me beyond words and I don't think I'll be going back to BMW after this one, especially not after seeing them experimenting on consumers like on cattle, with that heated seats subscription. Cheers
This is for sharing your experience. This one have preheating. It's not my car I personally would never buy another car without preheating the battery, it's a showstopper.
The 2 standout criticisms- bothered about no AWD option and that space under the bonnet is an absolute waste. It would have been easy for BMW to mould a bucket container to achieve max utilisation of the space for storing extra luggage, water, toolkits shopping bags. Weird.
I've still yet to master the reverse and pay assist. It so confusing, meredes is seamless
It’s 2024 now and I’ve looked at this car to buy.
Agree way too many buttons. It feels unnecessarily complicated for people not coming from bmw.
Agree frunk is a huge missed opportunity. It should have one with a drainage hole like the mache. I use our Tesla model 3 frunk often. I think the main reason they didn’t want to do it was reengineering the hood for opening by remote or app was too expensive.
2wd is no downside and keeps the car lighter. Though it could do with a bit more power.
Only other thing is I wish the boot had a sub boot like Tesla. It’s a huge benefit for storage. For the size of this car storage is still limited vs model 3 or model y.
Everything else is great.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts
Buttons are needed especially the volume everywhere as it provides easily reachable and fast controls for the passanger also. I would not prefer one button and a hierarchical menu on a touchscreen instead of them.
Everyone is different. :) One on the screen and on the steering wheel is enough for me.
Tack för en riktigt bra video. Jag har en fråga. Är alla ix3 utrustade med M-paket? Jag hade en X3 innan och där va bilarna antigen med M-power paket eller utan och då såg man tydlig skillnad på bilen. På ix3 så ser alla likadana ut
Tja, kul att du gillade videon.
Som jag förstår det som kommer IX3 M-utrustad som standard. Ser så ut i konfiguratorn på hemsidan.
@@ItsOnlyElectric jag misstänkte det, tack för svar!
@@ItsOnlyElectric passar på och frågar dig angående räckvidden på den bilen, är du nöjd? Hur långt räcker det på vintern i Sverige?
@HaidarJd är inte min bil men känner ägaren och han är nöjd som tidigare Audi etron ägare.
Gjorde dock ett räckviddstest i vintras:
th-cam.com/video/8HOJ2jQWFi4/w-d-xo.html
it is amazing thing to keep all the buttons , please BMW never remove it
the only bad thing if absence of AWD
Ive had the ix3 for 2 years, never have i pushed the "stop" button before going out of the car. Its shuts off when i open the door.
But ofc, the start button is not necessary.
But then you push park instead I guess?
Happy with the car?
@@ItsOnlyElectric like all cars electric or not we have to put it in park when we stop 🙂✌️
I'm super pleased with the ix3, sold my 2018 tesla model s to buy it. Teslas have shit build quality, gave em up 😅
@@codex83 half of the new electric cars puts it in park when you stop and buckle up or open the driver door. But it's a small thing to complain about I know! But hey, see it like this: small things on the bad list = good car
Just went to the dealer two days ago. I was given an option of All wheeel drives on X3: "BMW X3 xDrive20i all-wheel drive"
Yes, but this is an all electric version called ix3.
I guess BMW listened to you when they made mine, I have mine just for 3 months now and it’s completely different from your review, but when I stop and park, I don’t need to stop it, I just walk away and it’s already off once I park.
Agree with the 4 wheel drive and frunk, however you did not mention the limit of only 750kg tow weight which is kind of pathetic for this size vehicle. Even iX1 beats this.
That is a very good point that I didn't even consider! Thanks for pointing that out.
Is this really the 23 version?
I saw the ix3 in the BMW showroom last week and the gear lever is completely different (more like VW Golf slider).
Yes it is. This is the updated gear lever. Shorter than the old one.
@@ItsOnlyElectric I just checked on the BMW website. The current ix3 does not have a lever at all. Just the simple slider. Maybe this is a mid cycle refresh then? The LCI is out since not that long ago.
So maybe another update. The one in the video is the 2023 facelift and you can clearly see the difference when compared to a 2022 model.
@@ItsOnlyElectric Great car nevertheless!
We are looking for one to replace our i3s which will come out of the lease this year.
With Tesla putting pressure on the pricing and overall new car stock getting higher for most companies I hope to get a good discount somewhere in the next months.
@@Xero285 thats probably a good strategy!
Why is yours different from mine? Mine don’t have that traditional gear knob
There is no AWD Ix3.
@ItsOnlyElectric you may want to look out the features in mine, you will clearly see its very different from yours. I love mine so much and don't see any bad feature on it so far
Nice! What model year do you have?
@@ItsOnlyElectric I configured and ordered mine since March this year, and it was only delivered in August this year.
@@ItsOnlyElectric or is yours a hybrid? Mine is a full electric
you need a start/stop, because without that, all clima is off. P-Mode without Auto-Hold will engage the brakes...
Yes, but most ev manufacturers solve this with software. Merry Christmas
I love the buttons!
Buttons and levers are the best! Safety #1
How did it handle in that snow and ice?
Well in a Stockholm winter. But when to much snow or ice, the rwd will not be sufficient.
@@ItsOnlyElectric thanks. In the UK here where is mild and always got by with FWD cars and winter or all season tyres so I think with similar tyres on an iX3 we should be ok.
I agree with the first and second BAD arguments, but not at all with the rest, particularly the third. I hate the new trend of no buttons
It's my personal preferences and I understand that some like more buttons than others. 🙂 I think a mix is good and like how NIO has done it when it comes to a balance between buttons and functions on the screen.
Thanks for tuning in!.👍
I feel you were trying too hard to find faults.
No one cares about a frunk and the buttons are way better and the start button- so what!
AWD is a big miss though.
I have one and done 15 thousand miles - just smooth as silk to drive- in the dark its like floating on air- amazing.
BUT the really naughty thing from BMW is the claimed range of 280 miles- NEVER ONCE EVEN CLOSE.
Maybe on a great run 240 max- normally 200-220
Tell it like it is BMW
Yes, in total a great car from bmw. AWD and range is the most important short comings as you say.
The first bad thing is actually a good thing.
There is no all wheel drive.
BMW did this on purpose.
It’s because 4WD takes a lot of energy.. and they choose to make longer distance of driving instead. The driving range on electric cars are still a little problem (until we get solid state batteries) 🔋
Most people would prefer longer driving range over 4WD.
All the buttons is probably good or bad depending on who you ask. Personally I like it. Especially I don’t like Tesla where there is only a tablet to control everything. That seems both inconvenient and cheap .. must break down quickly.
Get your point with RWD but still think that an awd option would be a nice addition for people living in the countryside or in colder climates.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts 🙏
Yes you are right.. It could be a nice option to have the all wheel drive.
maybe to save money on manufacturing they didn’t make too many options.
Also I noticed that this car only comes in two different variants.. as far as I know.. so they can mass produce cheaper.
Does anyone know if the 2023 model is the same as the 2022 model.
I know there was a facelift from the first ix3… but after this facelift the cars are the same ?
@surfermike2 as far as I know it's the same after the facelift.
Good because I have to buy one from Germany and take it to Denmark.
I can see the price on the M sport is only 50.000 EUR now if it’s a few years old and around 50.000 km.
Tesla is pushing the price down on all electric cars …👍
Buttons are a good thing surely. The less touch screen the better
The buttons are far more convenient to operate than e.g. touchscreen controls. The iX3 continues to use the excellent logical BMW controls, with a solid combination of the idrive-controller and buttons. So, not only wrong opinion, but really incorrect criticism.
You can't say that someone's individual opinion is incorrect. It's an opinion and I still stand with that. I respect that you think differently though. 👍
I’m afraid that I can very definitely say someone’s opinion is wrong. Your video is well done, but.. not always so smart. Good luck and success.
I have an ix3, nice car but you can tell its an ICE car thats been shaped into an ev. I'm ready for a tesla Y tbh
Yes, agree The IX3 it's a perfect first time EV.
Seems a bit outdated and old fashioned?
The better and accurate title would be the useless and the worst features of this NOKIA YEAR 2007...!
🤣
In 5 years Tesla invents the „BUTTON“ - and everyones yelling!! Wow you know These Tesla Buttons??? Millenials will love it.
Please, stop removing the wheel covers. The wheels are NOT designed to take it off. It looks like crap.
İmdont think they are removed in this case. İt's the winter wheels and delivered that way.
I LOVE BUTTONS i hate tesla for removing buttons, this is a plus not minus
buttons are good.
Don't push my buttons! 😂
The big problem is that it's not a real electric car but built on the X3 platform. Kind of lazy job. Also cheap.
You clearly know nothing about cars … buttons for function are the best …the move to having all controls into the screen is useless and not safe … all premier car testers are saying the same !!
Maybe it's about taste and age. All old testers may focus on the past. 😉
I have been driving cars for 25 years and tested a lot of cars. So premier, maybe in your eyes. But not everyone thinks and likes the same things, that's obvious and good.
Another very bad thing. We have the 2021 model and nothing has changed through the years actually it is becoming a very boring car.
More boring than other cars?
Fuck i love buttons
فيديو مالوش اي لازمة
😂
Maybe not for you. 🤣
This is totally not worth ut. Overpriced. Go for the Xpeng G9. Much better car
What is Xpeng G9? New Tesla model? Sorry. No go 0.
More Niggles than worst things
I love the buttons!