Is the new iX3 really as clever as BMW thinks?

Nothing less than a once-in-a-generation reinvention for BMW, the new iX3 Neue Klasse and its tech have been so extensively teased, previewed and hyped it feels like it’s been around for ages already. But today we have the big reveal, ahead of which we’ve already had a chance to see it, sit in it, chat with the people behind it and generally get a feel for it. Has it been worth the wait?

A replacement for the aging but still popular iX3 electric SUV, this all-new iX3 is the first of BMW’s Neue Klasse generation of cars and launches the styling, powertrains and technology we’ll be seeing in all the brand’s cars from this point forwards. It’s also something of a reset for a manufacturer that built its reputation as a premium petrolhead brand for the combustion-engine era. Those traditions are respected in the iX3. But this is nothing short of an electrified reinvention. Perhaps not quite as significant as the one Jaguar has initiated. But there is, at least, a car you can buy resulting from it!

No, it isn’t. Bear with us… While BMW has been racing ahead with electrifying its range, demand for battery-powered cars still hasn’t quite taken off as everyone expected. So, it still needs cars powered by petrol and diesel engines with various levels of hybridisation. In the core mid-size SUV sector that car is the X3, and very good it is too. Perhaps among the best of its type. While it shares a family name this iX3 is totally different vehicle, purely electric, packed with brand-new technology and literally a generation on from the X3 in terms of its looks, features and more. They will sell alongside each other, though, meaning BMW has the flexibility to cater to differing speeds of electric uptake.

There is, inevitably, a blizzard of stats, jargon and tech to digest. But let’s cut to the chase and pick out the ones that matter, like how much it costs. When it (eventually) arrives in the UK the bottom-line price will start around £60,000. Which is basically meaningless given everyone pays monthly on finance or lease deals but, for context, is in the same ballpark as the outgoing one and key rivals like the Audi Q6 E-Tron, Porsche Macan, Polestar 3 and future ones like Volvo’s pending EX60. Not cheap. But, having already had a chance to poke around it, sit in it and try out some of its tech we’ll say it feels every inch the premium product and you won’t feel short changed. Other significant numbers? Well, 500 miles of range by official figures for the iX3 50 xDrive launch model should be enough to silence even the most range anxious while the best part of 500 horsepower and 0-62mph in under five seconds is more than fast enough for a family SUV. Slower, simpler and more affordable options (all relative) with smaller batteries and the like will follow. But as an opening gambit the iX3 has the numbers it needs.

BMW can reasonably claim to have revolutionised in-car tech with its very turn-of-the-millennium turn-and-push iDrive infotainment interface, even if it was controversial at the time. The Neue Klasse wants to reclaim that initiative for a new generation with its new Panoramic iDrive , this powering an additional display running the full width of the interior between the dash and windscreen. While speed and other fundamentals in front of the driver remain fixed other of its six elements can be customised to taste, whether you want nav, phone or a little smiling avatar reacting to your every move. We’ll ditch the latter if it’s all the same. Having tried it out and spoken to the team behind it we like their ‘hands on the wheel, eyes on the road’ design ethos, and the fact for all the whizzy graphics and screens there are still physical controls for basics like volume and ventilation. A lot of work has also gone into cleaning up the menus and interfaces, our first taste suggesting it's among the clearer and easier to use of its type, with crisp graphics and snappy reactions. Which is just as well, given versions of this new infotainment system will be rolled out across the BMW range in coming years, whether in new models or updates to existing ones.

Fair to say the gigantic, buck-toothed grille at the heart of BMW’s recent design direction hasn’t met with universal approval. Sighs of relief all-round, then, for the return to a more restrained reimagination of the brand’s iconic ‘kidney’ grille, the lines now illuminated rather than in the trad chrome of before but instantly recognisable as a BMW in the mirrors. Expect versions of this on all the brand’s future models, the iX3’s overall shape conforming to mid-size SUV type and a rather more elegant interpretation of the template laid down by the controversial iX.

Don’t hold your breath on this. The Neue Klasse is so revolutionary BMW has had to build a new (and impressively sustainable) factory to produce it. And it’ll be a while before right-hand drive ones for the UK start rolling off the line. Pricing, specs and the rest have been confirmed so you can go ahead and configure one. But don’t expect it to arrive before next year.