BMW iX3 All-electric version of X3 impresses in every way

BMW iX3

BMW’s all-electric medium SUV doesn’t bother trying to bash you over the head with its technology and concentrates instead on just being very good at what it does

THE BMW X3 is a very good, and very popular, medium SUV. The iX3 is almost the same vehicle, only electric, with all the tax wins that brings. So you can expect it to be… very good, and very popular.

It’s a full EV, not a hybrid. So range and charging time are the big questions, and it has some big answers: 285 miles from a full battery and a 150kW charging rate – allowing you to blast it to 80% in not much more than half an hour, given the availability of a powerful enough outlet. A not insubstantial ‘if’, that, but the vehicles are here for when the infrastructure catches up.

We’re driving the Premier Edition Pro here, which is something you can’t do unless you’ve already bought one as this particular model has now been discontinued. Not to worry, the 286bhp powertrain remains the same, and the M Sport and M Sport Pro trims available now have enough going on between them to do the job for most customers.

These start at £60,970 and £63,970 respectively, which actually sounds like sensible money compared to what you’ll pay for some of the other all-electric options in the SUV market. And it does get you a vehicle with an exceptional feeling of quality.

Whereas a lot of manufacturers have gone down the route of making their EVs look and feel markedly different to their traditional cars, BMW has taken the approach of making the iX3 look and feel like a BMW. Which is not what you’d call a bad thing for it to be. So instead of something that comes over as a 3D homage to some video game or other, you’re sitting in a lovely, classy cabin whose styling is modern but familiar and whose materials are a clear demonstration of what you get for this much money. These include the leather on the seats, which are very comfortable and give you an excellent view in all directions, high bonnet notwithstanding. Legroom is good and headroom is excellent, even with a panoramic sunroof, and there’s enough space in the back for one six-footer to sit comfortably behind another. The rear seats drop close to fl at for cargo carrying, too, leaving a good, low fl oor that’s easy to load through a yawning tailgate aperture with no lower lip.

On the road, the iX3 pulls like a train. Its power output is good rather than great but the motor’s torque is gigantic, whether from a standing or rolling start. The offi cial fi gures say 6.8 seconds and 111mph: we can’t comment on the latter, but it certainly feels as if it accelerates far harder than that.

It does so with commendable composure and refi nement, even by EV standards. It’s a delight around town, with as good as no drivetrain noise and precious little from anywhere else either, and this remains the case all the way up to and including motorway speeds.

Its suspension is forgiving, too, with a generally supple, sophisticated quality of ride which only breaks down a little on the most harshly corrugated surfaces. Body control is outstanding, even on the sort of obscene surfaces it’s our sorry lot to be used to here in Britain, and when you want to go on the attack it’s one of the most agile SUVs we’ve driven. Its steering is not quite pin-sharp like a sports car, but you know exactly what’s going on so you can place the vehicle very confi dently in corners. It’s very composed under braking, too, so if you really are going for it you can get on the anchors at the last moment without worrying about everything turning brown. In less gung-ho situations, the regenerative braking function works very effectively when you lift off the gas (it’ll always be called the gas, even when all the actual gas is long gone). This means one-pedal driving is absolutely achievable if you’re gentle with the size 10s and plan ahead, which is always the way to drive as effi ciently as possible. The conventionally fuelled X3 has been a major player in the medium SUV market for a while and the iX3 will play a major role in converting people to electric propulsion. It’s a great EV – but more to the point, it’s a great SUV. Even at this much money, get set for it to become a common sight.