- 2 days ago
I'm testing the most important model in BMW's modern history – the all-new, fully electric BMW iX3 from the Neue Klasse series. This isn't just another update to an old platform. It’s the dawn of a new era, where BMW challenges the current EV market leaders. I check if the 800V architecture, an incredible range exceeding 800 km (WLTP), and a minimalist design are enough to win over traditional fans of the brand.
In this video, you will find answers to key questions:
How does the Neue Klasse differ from previous BMW electric models?
How does the Panoramic iDrive system work in practice, and is removing the traditional instrument cluster a good idea?
Does 400 kW of charging power truly eliminate range anxiety on long trips?
What are the real driving impressions compared to the ICE X3 and its competitors?
Is the BMW iX3 Neue Klasse the new benchmark in the premium mid-size SUV segment?
This BMW iX3 (NA5) is the first model based on a dedicated EV platform, designed to prove that "Sheer Driving Pleasure" can coexist with maximum energy efficiency.
↔ 2026 BMW iX3 dimensions:
✔ length: 4782 mm
✔ width: 1895 mm
✔ height: 1635 mm
✔ wheelbase: 2897 mm
✔ boot/trunk: 520-1750 L + fru
In this video, you will find answers to key questions:
How does the Neue Klasse differ from previous BMW electric models?
How does the Panoramic iDrive system work in practice, and is removing the traditional instrument cluster a good idea?
Does 400 kW of charging power truly eliminate range anxiety on long trips?
What are the real driving impressions compared to the ICE X3 and its competitors?
Is the BMW iX3 Neue Klasse the new benchmark in the premium mid-size SUV segment?
This BMW iX3 (NA5) is the first model based on a dedicated EV platform, designed to prove that "Sheer Driving Pleasure" can coexist with maximum energy efficiency.
↔ 2026 BMW iX3 dimensions:
✔ length: 4782 mm
✔ width: 1895 mm
✔ height: 1635 mm
✔ wheelbase: 2897 mm
✔ boot/trunk: 520-1750 L + fru
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00hell froze over electric bmw once again gets a frunk and a 58 liter one too
00:07this is the new bmw ix3 and it's an every man's or every woman's electric car seriously the new
00:16bmw ix3 neue classe is a car for everyone who can afford the lease payment but is it still
00:25a real bmw let's find out here in sunny south of spain viva hispania
01:08the new bmw ix3 embodies over a decade of experience with vehicle electrification
01:14condensed into what is arguably the bavarian car makers most important model of the 21st century
01:21globally bmw bestsellers are the 3 series the x1 and the x3 as the original quirky i3 was put to
01:29pasture the electric 3 series neue classe will soon take over the i3 badge but for now bmw
01:36launches a model in a segment that's easier to digest regardless of the market the simple design
01:42is intended to help aerodynamics although something tells me it's also a cost cutting measure the
01:48optional iconic glow light signature is a nod to the original neue classe from the 1960s following
01:54the bmw beaver teeth era i think this modern interpretation of a classic design is a welcome
01:59change but of course i'd love to hear your opinions in the comments so type away minimalism and possibly
02:08also cost cutting are visible inside bmw boasts the new interior please shut up
02:15is so eco-friendly that if it weren't made of plastic probably grass would grow on it
02:19again after the monstrosity shut up that the bmw os8 was the new infotainment system with panoramic
02:26i drive seems like a step in the right direction if you still drive an early g01 or f25 x3
02:32the new
02:33interior will shock you but if you're upgrading from a recent bmw product you probably appreciate the
02:41streamlined menu and please please please do not pop up every time i say bmw bye i'm not quite sure
02:52how
02:52to help you with that i'm sure you're not sure
03:00as for the panoramic i drive it replaces the more traditional gauge cluster but it can also display
03:06information for passengers and if you don't want a constant stream of data under the windshield
03:11you can turn it all off except for the speedo of course we'll come back to the panoramic i drive
03:16later
03:17on there are also large door pockets a wireless charger cup holders a storage compartment under the
03:25armrest and some storage under the console the glove box is on the small side the only physical
03:31switches are for the basic seats adjustment but more advanced seat functions are on the central
03:36display even the air vents are now adjusted via the screen i know you can assign your favorite airflow
03:43direction settings to your driver profile but anyone who's ever driven in real life knows that sometimes
03:48you have to adjust the airflow and temperature based on whether the sun is out or not or whether
03:54you're suddenly covered from the sun by some trees sometimes you're wearing short sleeves sometimes
03:59you're driving in a sweater and all this affects the perceived temperature and you will be
04:04readjusting your ac sometimes prove me wrong
04:12cars are increasingly becoming computers on wheels the bmw ix3 weighing approximately 2300 kilograms has
04:20four so-called super brains responsible for driving dynamics semi-autonomous driving infotainment as well as
04:28basic vehicle functions and comfort the ix3 debuts with the 50x drive powertrain that's 469 horsepower
04:37and 465 newton meters of torque bmw emphasizes that unlike less sophisticated performance evs that's how they
04:46like to call it the ix3 accelerates progressively and elastically and was that what does that mean in
04:54practice well let's floor it and find out shall we
05:02was that progressive enough
05:09during first drive events like this one i'm unable to verify whether the zero to 100 kilometers per hour
05:16time is really 4.9 seconds but bmw usually under promises and over delivers in this sphere
05:22in the ix3 bmw decided to use traditional suspension at least for now likely partly
05:29to reduce costs and partly to make the car more efficient to be honest i don't feel that i need
05:35adaptive suspension the car handles just fine around here on these twisty spanish roads i've driven on some
05:44less than perfect surfaces and some are okay now i'm taking a sharp turn and
05:51it's it handles okay
05:54no don't mind the banging noises from the back it's
06:00my gear anyway as far as soundproofing is concerned i'm not particularly pleased with the noise inside the
06:09cabin i have the impression that the wheel wells wheel arches aren't properly soundproofed and especially
06:19when driving on wet tarmac there's this constant droning noise coming from around there and it's
06:28actually worse in the front than in the back as far as i can tell going back to the four
06:34super brains the
06:35one responsible for driving dynamics also ensures that braking is exceptionally smooth i recall from
06:42my review of the previous ix3 that i said switching between regenerative and friction braking was
06:49to put it mildly noticeable and therefore rather unpleasant here most of the braking in normal driving
06:56is regenerative with the electric motor in the back doing the heavy lifting which limits the nose diving
07:06the car comes to a complete stop and the passenger may not even notice that seriously
07:16the bmw neuer classe is built on an 800 volt architecture which means it can charge much faster
07:23than earlier bmw models for now the ix3 is offered with a 108.7 kilowatt hour battery that's net which
07:33translates to a range of up to approximately 800 kilometers wltp of course this figure assumes optimal
07:39driving conditions during these events we are often taken along some mountain roads and you know it's
07:51up and down up you can get 35 40 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers going down you get a
07:58dozen or so so it's not very reliable however for the purpose of this review i've taken the
08:07ix3 off the assigned route and i went on the highway which joins
08:17malaga marbella estepona so anyway i drove a bit towards estepona and estepona i drove in there you
08:27know drove around for a couple of kilometers turned back and now i'm maybe uh 20 30 kilometers from the
08:35hotel so i've driven 70 kilometers thereabouts on the motorway that's when i reset the counter
08:42and i've got 22.6 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers a minute ago it was 23 but i was going
08:52downhill a
08:52bit now we're going to go uphill again so that's 120 using cruise control on the motorway and 10 minutes
09:02in estepona so what did we learn every 10 kilometers traveled on the motorway takes
09:15some 30 kilometers off my range so that's massive also see it's going up so it's going to be 23
09:28kilowatt
09:29hours in a moment also with a hundred and nine almost kilowatt hour traction battery this gives us
09:40460 470 kilometers of range but that's like from 100 to zero and if we're talking about the 10 to
09:4880 percent
09:48range when you're going to be charging or looking for chargers anyway we're talking maybe 400 kilometers
09:58realistically between charges again not bad
10:03but it's not 800 kilometers 800 kilometers it'll do at 50 60 kilometers per hour around the city etc not
10:13on the motorway this is more or less what i said during the launch event back in october it's december
10:21right
10:22now so it's it's not that it feels good to be right because it's not about being right or
10:31wrong in this case it's about where we are where when it comes to electric cars a massive battery
10:44still gives you around 400 kilometers range on the motorway again a huge hike from the what was it ix
10:54which with a 90 something kilowatt hour battery could do 250 300 between charges
11:02but
11:05it is what it is is it a problem no i mean you're gonna stop for a number one or
11:12number two
11:13every three four hundred kilometers i guess but you know just bear that in mind
11:20it's not gonna do 800 kilometers on the motorway
11:25while the battery is big enough and therefore i didn't need to charge it along the way if i had
11:30to
11:30the ix3 peaks at 400 kilowatts and charging from 10 to 80 percent takes about 21 minutes that's under
11:37optimal conditions when the car knows it's about to charge and the computer preconditions the battery
11:43how does the car know when to precondition the battery from the route planned in the navigation
11:50system or when the driver forces preconditioning via the onboard computer this also requires a
11:58sufficiently powerful charger but these are increasingly popular along main transport corridors
12:04across europe this makes long ev travels less inconvenient i won't call them easy just yet
12:13furthermore the ix3 can handle v2h v2g 11 kilowatts as well as v2l 3.6 kilowatts so
12:21you can either power your home or you can either power your devices like a kettle or something if you
12:29want to make a coffee quickly about visibility because i'm going off the motorway in a moment
12:35visibility around the a-pillars is terrible because of how this i drive panoramic i drive projector is
12:43um is integrated however the panoramic i drive and the head-up display they work fine would i like analog
12:56gauges yes of course i would but
12:58this is something new and i don't mind it i wonder how they're going to integrate it
13:03in other models because you know there's a chunk of space also i'm slowing down now from 120
13:18here what's the difference how loud it was at 120 and it's still quite loud a lot of road noise
13:24too much
13:28if you're wondering what's up with this strange steering wheel with vertical spokes i think it's
13:34purely a styling exercise it feels like any other but like in other bmw models it's quite thick in the
13:42hands
13:43the steering wheel buttons are made of transparent plastic they do provide some haptic feedback and to make
13:50it easier to use them they illuminate when needed so for example when the phone rings the receiver lights
13:57up green and when you're on a call it turns red so you know how to end the call and
14:04now the adaptive
14:07driving assist feature is lit up green because i'm using it and if i press it it shuts off so
14:16i know where to
14:17press it and if you don't feel like driving you can hand the keys over to mr lava lava shaggy
14:26or more
14:27likely the bmw ix3 highway assistant will take over and in some situations it'll even allow you to take
14:35your hands off the steering wheel okay so right now i'm on the motorway using the highway assist feature so
14:42i can drive hands free as long as i'm looking ahead and also hopefully we'll get to that in a
14:50moment
14:51i can overtake without actually touching the steering wheel and indicators so as i'll be
15:03approaching a slower vehicle possibly a truck somewhere along the way
15:08the system will tell me to just check my mirror and i can glance at my mirror and
15:14the lane change will happen and now i'm sorry about that but we'll have to wait for something to overtake
15:25okay there's a slower car exiting the
15:31the petrol station i wonder how is this gonna
15:38whoa well that wasn't very nice i would have changed i would have changed the lane already to
15:48let the guy in and this thing just plowed through there was a moment of hesitation
15:55where it i could i mean i didn't even notice anything happen on the speedo but
16:03it wanted to slow down but it didn't slow down it was just a little moment like that
16:19okay i can see the slower car ahead but i'm afraid we're gonna be overtaking him okay
16:28before the tunnel great
16:34unfortunately we're slowing down now because we're entering a tunnel there's a speed limit
16:38and the slower car isn't slowing down so okay i should go back
16:48and the car does it for me i'm sorry you can't see it because we're in a bloody tunnel
16:54but in a moment we're gonna exit the tunnel and i guess we're gonna
17:02attempt to
17:07we're going to attempt to uh overtake
17:13okay we're overtaking come on come on baby come on
17:20we're going to attempt to stop stop accelerating what's gbz or gbz
17:27is that like georgia or something i don't know anyway i'm overtaking and now the system should suggest
17:43that we go back i glance i glance again
17:51and back we go so
17:55it works
17:59there's also an advanced parking assistant and you can control various vehicle functions
18:04via the app this is possible both from outside and the inside of the vehicle meaning passengers
18:10can control some of the multimedia features i don't know if this is absolutely necessary
18:14but it's another way to persuade users to download and actively use the app
18:22in the back besides some of my luggage and a mess
18:28we made me and my colleagues because there is mud and gravel all over the place anyway
18:35there is decent leg room i'm 175 centimeters tall the driver's seat is set to my driving position
18:44and there's good headroom as well
18:47the rear seat splits 40 20 40 so there's a pass through to the boot through here
18:55as you can see we've got some drinks in the cup holders the backrest is adjustable
19:06so that's cool the floor sorry the floor is flat there's third zone climate control two usbc ports
19:16rather cheap flap here for that accessory mount what else do we have isofixes on the side seats and
19:29door pockets and
19:32this interior i mean i'd love to say that you get what you pay for but this isn't really a
19:39cheap i mean
19:41it is cheap ish for a premium ev but
19:49sustainability apparently you want that in a car
19:53the boot capacity is 520 liters in a five seat configuration and up to 1750 liters with the rear
20:02seats folded during the launch event before the munich auto show i measured the boot and there's about
20:08470 liters above the floor and the rest is under the floor the floor cannot be dropped but the partial
20:14shelf should fit underneath it the bmw ix3 can tow up to two tons the tow hook load is up
20:22to 80 kilograms
20:23and you can also put up to 75 kilograms on the roof prices of the bmw ix3 started 68 900
20:31euro but bear in
20:33mind bmw currently offers only the 50x drive powertrain a car specced similarly to the model i've driven
20:39during the launch event cost about 83 000 euro which is much less than a petrol x3 m50x drive with
20:47similar
20:47options the bmw ix3 neuer classe is a very good ev and a technological tour the force but in my
20:57opinion
20:57it's also an average bmw ride and handling are excellent especially for an electric car but if
21:03you're expecting bmw ergonomics you will be disappointed the range and charging speeds are
21:09impressive but sustainable interior won't appeal to everyone and what are your thoughts on the bmw
21:16ix3 neuer classe let me know in the comment section below if you like my sarcastic down-to-earth and
21:25possibly mildly amusing car reviews join me every friday at 3pm central european time and don't forget
21:32to subscribe and like this video as it helps me with the youtube algorithm thanks for watching
21:37and i will see you in the next one
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