BMW iX3 50 xDrive M Sport - long-term review

Extended time in the BMW (and the rival Rivian R2) has exposed the former’s niggles to our team during a recent head-to-head in the USA. For me, it’s not a case of “I told you so”, more relief that I’m no longer the only naysayer of an electric SUV that’s by and large been deified across the industry.

But that’s exactly what these long-term tests are designed for: months of day-in, day-out monotony exposes exactly the sort of foibles that a foreign launch or a first group test on UK soil, no matter how thorough, can miss.

Plus, to be fair, the BMW deservedly spanked the Tesla Model Y when we brought them together in March, and it’s pretty darn good on first contact. The real-world range is a gamechanger, and the set of screens mounted across the width of the windscreen is brilliant, negating the need for dials and a head-up display, all while keeping your eyes off the funkily shaped touchscreen and on the road.

Yet are those big positives increasingly being offset by a growing bunch of foibles, enough to keep it atop the class? We’ll find out soon when the new Volvo EX60 and new Mercedes GLC Electric step in.

For now, I want to deviate to Mrs P’s 19-plate 420i Convertible. Why? Well, there’s not a lot that makes it a BMW. Sheer driving pleasure? Not with a heavy folding metal roof and a four-cylinder engine that manages less than 200bhp.

But we didn’t buy it (second-hand) for anything BMW-ish. No, we wanted a large four-seat convertible, and without a fabric roof, because the detritus dropping onto a driveway surrounded by old oak trees ruins everything. This was the only car that fitted those very specific set of requirements, and we love it for that, not for the fact it’s a BMW.

Which got me thinking about the iX3. What makes it a BMW? Most M cars (XM aside) are clearly from the same family gene pool, be it from a bygone time of epic naturally aspirated six-, eight- and ten-cylinder engines, to today’s offerings that aren’t so sonorous but rule chassis wise.

A E90-generation 320d was clearly a BMW too, because it was one of those hundred-yard-cars that you knew had a sweet balance and peppy engine after your first roundabout. Ditto a G60-gen 530d Touring.

But a 2.3-tonne SUV with no engine doesn’t have the dynamics or drivetrain that make you think it’s a BMW. Sure, it might prove to be the most competent at going around corners when those rivals visit, but it doesn’t sparkle like a BMW of old.

And if it’s not that, then what makes it a BMW? iDrive? That’s gone, and while the panoramic windscreen, err, screens will proliferate across the range, is that and kidney grilles (now filled in with piano black plastic) enough?

I’m not sure it is. Which is why we’re increasingly brand agnostic. It’s why a start-up brand like Rivian can target BMW brand loyalists, why Chinese marques are making massive in-roads in the UK, and it’s why Mrs P is about to replace her 420i with an electric Kia.

For now, the iX3’s USP is range – when as a BMW it should be more than that. What happens when rivals catch up? Maybe soon they will…