In the same way that a little black dress is the one piece in your wardrobe that you can wear anywhere, anytime and look the part, so is the new BMW iX1. If you just want one car, the iX1 is great to go shopping in town, to ferry kids around, to go a bit wild off-road or to take on a long road trip with the girls.
First car in the BMW fleet with a fully electric drive train, the iX1 is much bigger inside that you’ll think by the way it looks. It helps that the battery is integrated in the floor of the car, as do other little tricks like the floating armrest/central bridge, which contributes to the feeling of space and the numerous pockets where to put anything from your coffee to your mascara. The central display has a 10.25-inch information display and a 10.7-inch control display. The whole thing curves towards the driver so you don’t even have to turn your head to read the screen. The 500-litre boot becomes 1,600 litres when you flatten the backseats. That’s lots of luggage… or lots of kids… or dogs… or a combination of it all.
The iX1 is the smallest compact SUV by BMW, but it can still carry 5 adults in full comfort and the boot has an impressive 1,600-litre capacity.
Equipped with BMW’s Operating System 8, the car’s “brain” is now smarter than ever, learning as you interact with it, making it more personalised and adapted to your preferences, which it will end up anticipating. Wouldn’t you love your partner to do the same? The BEV powertrain xDrive System distributes power between front and back wheels depending on weather and road conditions. The rest of the tech is as sophisticated as everything else on the iX1: intelligent personal assistance, wireless charging, automatic tailgate, parking assistance, lane control, adaptive LED headlights, adaptive M suspension (the “brain” decides what is best depending on the road), different driving modes (with three being completely new) … the list goes on and on.
The basic controls on the floating armrest and the curved display help make the interaction with the iX1’s brain easier than ever.
Something really cool in this car is the fact that it comes with its very own soundtrack by Academy Award-winning film score composer Hans Zimmer. The character of the sound alters according to the vehicle setting chosen with the My Modes button.
Design wise, the BMW kidney grille stands out by its Black high-gloss bars and three-dimensional chrome surround. The sculpted surfaces of the car make it look slender and strong at the same time… a bit like with a designer black dress. The iX1 comes as standard with L-shaped slim LED head and rear lights. The front ones split into three units for the low beam, high beam and daytime driving lights, the latter including the indicators. If you want to make your iX1 a bit more personal, you can choose from a large selection of exterior colours and 20-inch light-alloy wheels.
The iX1 looks, feels and drives like a BMW, strong, agile and super responsive; and in the inside, it is as elegant as one would expect from BMW and surprisingly spacious.
The interior is elegant and neutral – like a little black dress – with luxurious details such as Sensatec perforated seat surfaces, illuminated interior trim strips in Black high-gloss and Sensatec surfaces for the door shoulders and upper instrument panel. Depending on your mood you can change the ambience lighting, the massage preferences, or the driving modes. The shape of the seats is optimised for maximum comfort over long distances and extended functionality, with their prominent bolsters and adjustability of seat angle and depth. The optional Electric seat adjustment with memory function is available for the front seats as part of the Comfort Pack. The M Sport trimming is a bit different, with 19-inch M light-alloy wheels, adaptive M suspension and M High-gloss Shadowline trim. In the cabin, we find sport seats, anthracite-coloured headliner and M leather steering wheel with gearshift paddles.
Special design details in the iX1 include the L-shaped LED lights that run into the side of the car, the Black high-gloss bars in the grille and the 20-inch alloy wheels.
And now… let’s talk about how the iX1 performs on the road, as at the end of the day, this is what matters most, right? Well, the design of the iX1 is super aerodynamic, which means a drag coefficient of just 0.26. Apart from making the car looks sleeker despite of being an SUV, this means a range of 270 miles. When charging at a fast charger, you can add 75 miles of range in just 10 minutes. This my friends, is a game-changer in the EV world. With its 313hp, the iX1 gives you a top speed of 112mph, and it goes from 0 to 62mph in 5.8 seconds. What else do you need for your everyday car? For those of a competitive nature, the boost button on the left of the steering wheel gives the car full electric power for 10 seconds… ideal for a tight overtake or to leave behind that guy at the traffic lights that was looking at you with disdain.
The not-so-exciting but necessary issue of charging brings good news in the iX1. BMW offer a smart home charging kit and a completely new system for Public Charging via My BMW App, together with preferential subscriptions with BP Pulse and IONITY with the first year included courtesy of BMW. Furthermore, the iX1 comes with new E-route functionalities, which means that it can calculate routes more efficiently and continuously assess the state of charge and availability of charging stations.
As I said at the beginning of this review, this is the little black dress we all need in our garage. From £52,500 OTR.
Show Comments +