[EVFan]

While I have been cross-shopping recently I naturally followed a few owners forums just to see reactions from new owners etc, and invariably there are quite a few complaints about software (in-car or in-app) or the implementation of certain features. This is particularly (but not exclusively) prevalent among the early adopters of new EV-platform cars.

However, here in the iX3 forum there doesn't seem to be anywhere near as many similar complaints.

Is this because iX3 is based on a fully-developed ICE platform and so a large proportion of the hardware/software is carried over, is it because there are not that many cars out in the mainstream yet, or is it just that BMW have got it right?

[ggla]

Coming from an X3 to an iX3 i think my driving experience so far (1 week) has been vastly improved in terms of comfort, features and technology.

The only downside i see is the lack of integration of charging points and timings and range when using Satnav, although by using Apple carplay i can get round this by having ABRP or something similar on the screen instead.

In short, im delighted with the quality and functionality.

[GDEvans]

Originally Posted by ggla

Coming from an X3 to an iX3 i think my driving experience so far (1 week) has been vastly improved in terms of comfort, features and technology.

The only downside i see is the lack of integration of charging points and timings and range when using Satnav, although by using Apple carplay i can get round this by having ABRP or something similar on the screen instead.

In short, im delighted with the quality and functionality.

Although it is pretty poor that a £60k car just has the same sat nav ported from the ICE X3. It offers no extra features over my £100 TomTom, apart from the HUD integration.

Indeed the live traffic updating on the TomTom is far superior to the BMW system. Last week I was stationary in a long queue that TomTom had warned me about. The built in system showed a clear road.

On a car at this price point, it should not be necessary to resort to apps or separate devices for the simple integration of sat nav and charging stations. The i3 has been in production for nearly 10 years. You would have thought this would be sufficient time for them to update their sat nav software to account for electric vehicles.

[ggla]

Agree with that

[hollpe]

Originally Posted by EVFan

While I have been cross-shopping recently I naturally followed a few owners forums just to see reactions from new owners etc, and invariably there are quite a few complaints about software (in-car or in-app) or the implementation of certain features. This is particularly (but not exclusively) prevalent among the early adopters of new EV-platform cars.

However, here in the iX3 forum there doesn't seem to be anywhere near as many similar complaints.

Is this because iX3 is based on a fully-developed ICE platform and so a large proportion of the hardware/software is carried over, is it because there are not that many cars out in the mainstream yet, or is it just that BMW have got it right?

I've come from a 5 series and I have no regrets whatsoever. I'm delighted with the car. As others have mentioned the lack of EV specific stuff being built into the satnav is an annoyance, but it doesn't detract from what is a superb car.

Whilst the iX3 isn't built on a bottom up EV platform, the CLAR architecture on which it is based was designed for an variety of BMW powertrains (petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric) so the electric integration wasn't an afterthought as such (which some reviewers tend to suggest).

In a nutshell, the iX3 is a very high quality EV, with superb driving dynamics. Depending on how you purchase it, whilst it's RRP is quite high there are some good finances deals, around especially last year (2.9% last year, which went up to 3.9% in 2022), which means on a PCP it's comes out quite reasonable, which is also due in part to it's high residual value. For example: a similarly spec'd Hyundai Ioniq 5, is around £50k but it's residual is just over £10k lower after 4 years and the finance is around 5.9%. The same goes for some of the other brands.

[Thwipp]

Originally Posted by ggla

Coming from an X3 to an iX3 i think my driving experience so far (1 week) has been vastly improved in terms of comfort, features and technology.

The only downside i see is the lack of integration of charging points and timings and range when using Satnav, although by using Apple carplay i can get round this by having ABRP or something similar on the screen instead.

In short, im delighted with the quality and functionality.

I am a little surprised by the sat nav comment, my ix3 is currently in a UK port and hopefully I get it in couple of weeks. After reading about "connected charging" here https://www.bmw.co.uk/en/topics/owne.../bmw-maps.html I thought the route planning would be smarter? But I may have it wrong.

[ggla]

I hadnt actually noticed that page before, but it does say:

- Intuitive route planning with automatic scheduling of charging stops

Which is interesting as i didnt see that it did that, will have to try again but from what others have said it doesnt do it.

[ggla]

Just tried it and it does plan the stops, not sure why i thought it doesn’t, I’ll do a few more tests and pics

[hollpe]

Originally Posted by ggla

Just tried it and it does plan the stops, not sure why i thought it doesn’t, I’ll do a few more tests and pics

I'm going to try it as well! It didn't plan any stops on my weekend trip, I just added them as interim destinations. Then checked them on zap-map to make sure they were available. The real time availability of charging points on zap-map is really useful.

[DaveCV]

Originally Posted by hollpe

I'm going to try it as well! It didn't plan any stops on my weekend trip, I just added them as interim destinations. Then checked them on zap-map to make sure they were available. The real time availability of charging points on zap-map is really useful.

BMW used to offer BMW Routes which included the i3’s driving modes. It would predict maximum range etc. The planned route could then be exported via Messages to the car for import into the navigation system. For some unknown reason BMW kicked Routes into the long grass.

[ggla]

So I put in London as destination from Glasgow and it told me that I would need to stop around 3 times to make it… but then didn’t plan the stops! It gave me a huge list of stops/chargers that I could pick from to add as destinations but you would have to add them as intermediaries yourself and you would also need to calculate when to stop yourself, so pretty useless really.

[hollpe]

Mmmm so I've just tried putting in 200+ miles destination. Which it did automatically plan stops for charging stations. I don't remember it doing this before, but perhaps I just ignored it

[hollpe]

There is one issue that I noticed. Our local Sainsburys has free PodPoint charging points which are 7kWh. However, satnav things these are 48kWh chargers. So that might scupper the charging times somewhat on the route planner if some of the charging speeds are incorrect!

[ggla]

Originally Posted by hollpe

Mmmm so I've just tried putting in 200+ miles destination. Which it did automatically plan stops for charging stations. I don't remember it doing this before, but perhaps I just ignored it

Hmm, why didn’t mine then, I do notice yours says “route optimised for charging” maybe I need to find that setting

[keninuk]

Originally Posted by EVFan

While I have been cross-shopping recently I naturally followed a few owners forums just to see reactions from new owners etc, and invariably there are quite a few complaints about software (in-car or in-app) or the implementation of certain features. This is particularly (but not exclusively) prevalent among the early adopters of new EV-platform cars.

However, here in the iX3 forum there doesn't seem to be anywhere near as many similar complaints.

Is this because iX3 is based on a fully-developed ICE platform and so a large proportion of the hardware/software is carried over, is it because there are not that many cars out in the mainstream yet, or is it just that BMW have got it right?

I have been looking at replacing my RWD Jaguar for about 4 years now and finally pulled the trigger and placed an order for an iX3 last October. I would have liked 4WD/dual motor but having managed for 9 years in Jaguars with winter tyres in cold weather it was not a must have.

I too cross shopped all the likely candidates and I had a deposit on a Polestar 2. The forum for that is very informative and my take from spending a lot of time browsing on there is that most owners love the car but it seems that there are a lot more software and hardware niggles than there should be. The Polestar 4 might be worth a look next time round but for now I am more comfortable going the iX3 route for my first EV.

The main issue for me with the iX3 is the lack of a subwoofer but that will be for a separate post once I have put it together.

The iX3 has some issues but nothing that is making me nervous about my purchase. Personally I don't see an issue with the platform of the iX3. My partner has an i3 and I think it is great fun and was one of the reasons I went for the iX3 as it will have a lot of what BMW have learned from it but without some of the Marmite characteristics of the i3.

I am hoping that I can simply leave my phones in my pocket with perhaps just on the odd trip having one running Google maps as a backup.

The benefit of using the BMW navigation for charging stops appears from comments to be operational so that is good news. I suppose it won't suggest any stops if you will arrive with charge. Personally if I were travelling to a holiday destination where charging availability might be an issue I might like to top up near my destination.

I don't think the BMW navigation offers it but it would be nice if you could get it to plan/force a stop to allow you to arrive with 50-70%. This would be based on charging to 80% and then using say 10-30% on the final leg of your journey.

Interesting comments I have seen about the traffic as my partner was using Google maps the other day and the Navigation from the BMW routed her off before a hold up on the Motorway. I don't think there is one best solution for this but hopefully the feeds/speed will improve with the BMW over time. I will probably run them in parallel for a while once I have the car and see how they compare.

[DaveCV]

Seventeen years of BMW driving, and I still get concerned about the navigation system’s route selection. Over the years, my car has taken me up some roads that were only fit for tractors and horses

[EVFan]

Originally Posted by DaveCV

Seventeen years of BMW driving, and I still get concerned about the navigation system’s route selection. Over the years, my car has taken me up some roads that were only fit for tractors and horses

Lexus is the worst I have had for that. Some really weird route choices.

[pedroribeiro]

Originally Posted by ggla

Hmm, why didn’t mine then, I do notice yours says “route optimised for charging” maybe I need to find that setting

This feature didn't exist as far as i recall (have mine since May 2021) but it did appear a few weeks ago (even though I'm still in 2021-03)

What i did notice is that for the same route (e.g., Brussels - Geneve) it shows me the chargers in one proposed route (e.g., Brussels, Charleroi, Troyes, Dijon. etc) but if i say that i want an alternative (they BMW proposes) such as Brussels, Luxembourg, Metz, Dijon, etc. it won't show the chargers. And this is a route with a few Ionity!!

so, I'll try to check more but these days have been staying home and couldn't play with it...

[ggla]

2021.40 is the software I am on. Can you tell me where the route optimised for charging option is or does it just appear automatically

[pedroribeiro]

Originally Posted by ggla

2021.40 is the software I am on. Can you tell me where the route optimised for charging option is or does it just appear automatically

It appear when it proposes charging in the route. Rather than showing these 30394847 chargers next to you than mean nothing, it shows the full route (as per screenshot above)

[supersebbo]

I must say, it's by far the best car I've ever owned. If I was a regular long distance driver I think I would be concerned by the lack of route+charging integration and the lack of battery preconditioning, however for my use which is a daily 10 mile commute and occasional 100mile-ish trips, it's perfect.

In terms of handling, comfort, road noise and general features, it's a perfect vehicle. It's really quite astonishing how silent the car is on a good road surface.

[Lazy Lee]

Originally Posted by supersebbo

I must say, it's by far the best car I've ever owned. If I was a regular long distance driver I think I would be concerned by the lack of route+charging integration and the lack of battery preconditioning, however for my use which is a daily 10 mile commute and occasional 100mile-ish trips, it's perfect.

In terms of handling, comfort, road noise and general features, it's a perfect vehicle. It's really quite astonishing how silent the car is on a good road surface.

Fully agree with this. For me it's my first BMW after a long history of Swedish and French cars and the iX3 really stands out.
The only car I've owned in the past that comes close was a Volvo XC70 3.2, but the iX3 beats that one as well on almost every aspect (the Volvo's seats were a lot better, but that's about it).

So "Have BMW got it right?": Yes, they definitely did.