2023 BMW iX1 (inc. 0-100 & autonomous) review

CarExpert

If you detest the Tesla Model Y, but still want an electric SUV, look no further! But, has BMW nailed the formula? Paul Maric reviews the 2023 BMW iX1 to see if it's worth spending money on.  Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  More BMW content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/bmw More BMW iX1 content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/bmw/x1  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior: 00:57 Interior: 03:30 Infotainment: 04:52 Safety Tech: 06:16 Practicality: 07:01 Charging: 10:30 On the Road: 11:10 Performance: 20:38 Verdict: 23:55  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #bmw #ix1 #review

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.

00:01 So are you sick of seeing Tesla Model Ys on the road?

00:04 Want something a little bit different in your life?

00:06 Well, the Euros are finally producing these things.

00:09 They're becoming more affordable

00:11 and a little more in line

00:12 with what we're seeing in the market today.

00:14 This is the BMW iX1.

00:16 It's a fully electric version of the X1,

00:19 so it does still share an internal combustion platform,

00:22 but it looks like a normal car.

00:24 It doesn't look like a science experiment.

00:25 This competes with things like the Volvo XC40,

00:28 the Tesla Model Y, the Mercedes-Benz EQA.

00:31 That segment is starting to get a little fuller as we speak.

00:35 And this one here is in one spec for Australia,

00:37 priced at just under $85,000.

00:40 Today, we're gonna do a detailed review of this car,

00:42 so if you do wanna skip ahead to other parts of this review,

00:44 you can use the time codes on the screen,

00:46 or if you are on YouTube,

00:47 scroll down and use the chapters below.

00:49 And if you haven't done so already,

00:50 subscribe to our channel

00:51 so you can find out every single time

00:53 we drive a green mean machine.

00:57 Let's talk exterior.

00:59 So you've got 10 external colors to pick from.

01:01 Love this green.

01:02 You really don't see many sort of adventurous colors

01:05 from the Germans,

01:06 and I love that they've got this sort of

01:08 fairly creative color,

01:09 and I'll show you when we go around the side

01:10 how they've offset some of the vehicle's

01:12 other colors with it.

01:13 So, blue around the BMW badge there.

01:16 Closed off grille because electric.

01:19 Obviously, this is here for the purposes

01:21 of cooling the internal combustion engine,

01:23 but for the purposes of cooling the battery

01:25 and the electric motors,

01:26 you've basically got vents down the bottom here

01:29 that open and close as required.

01:31 Camera down the bottom here,

01:32 and the radar is stuck behind this little section.

01:34 Full LED headlights,

01:36 matrix LED,

01:37 so you get great vision at nighttime,

01:39 and you can run them in high beam

01:40 to not blind other drivers.

01:42 Little bit of aero down the side there,

01:44 and then let's whip around to the side here.

01:46 So down here, you've got a set of 19-inch alloy wheels.

01:49 You can also option a bigger 20-inch alloy wheel

01:52 if you want.

01:53 Machined finish on the outside there,

01:54 and then a graphite finish on the inside.

01:56 This is what I was talking about with the offset color.

01:57 So you've got the green body color there,

01:59 but then sort of dark gray or something like that

02:02 within that section.

02:03 So I think that is a really cool look,

02:04 and love the experimentation there

02:06 with a few different colors to make this really pop.

02:08 Up the top here, you have brush color there

02:11 on the wing mirror with an indicator built into there.

02:13 Camera on the side.

02:14 Flush door handles,

02:16 which we're seeing now as a trend with BMWs.

02:18 Chrome on the outside of the windows there.

02:20 No privacy glass, which I find really strange.

02:23 Moonroof up the top there,

02:25 then come to the back with me.

02:27 Have a look at this design.

02:28 They've kind of, I don't know what this is.

02:29 They've tried to maximize the amount of boot space

02:31 by sort of not tapering this off all that quickly.

02:34 So you've got this design

02:35 that sort of comes around the back there, drops off,

02:37 and then the tail lights sort of have this 3D effect to them

02:40 and I think they look really cool,

02:41 especially here on the side

02:42 where you've got all of those triangles as well.

02:45 So yeah, really nice setup around the back there, I reckon.

02:47 Another BMW logo there with the blue edging.

02:50 iX1 badge down there.

02:51 X-Drive 30, which is the only spec we get here in Australia.

02:54 Brake light integrated into there

02:56 with a shark fin aerial up the top.

02:59 Well, I don't know what sort of animal that is.

03:01 It's like a dolphin.

03:02 No, actually not even a dolphin.

03:04 I don't know.

03:05 It's an animal style aerial up the back there.

03:08 Let me know what you reckon about the design

03:09 in the comments section below.

03:11 I think it actually looks pretty nice

03:13 and I love the fact that with some of BMW's

03:15 electric vehicles, they, you know,

03:16 obviously sharing an internal combustion platform

03:18 doesn't give you the efficiencies that you need

03:20 with an electric vehicle,

03:21 but it does mean that it does look normal,

03:22 which I'm a big fan of.

03:24 So let me know what you reckon

03:25 in the comments section below.

03:26 Do you like the look of this?

03:27 What do you think about it as a competitor

03:29 to those other vehicles I mentioned earlier?

03:30 So we are inside the iX1.

03:32 We'll start off with the key.

03:33 So you've got the BMW logo there.

03:35 Unlock, boot, the diamond for activating lights

03:39 and a blank on the back there.

03:41 It's a proximity sensing key,

03:42 so you can leave that in your pocket.

03:44 Then once you're inside,

03:45 your push button start is just here.

03:47 Gotta say, I love the look of this interior.

03:49 They have done such a good job with this.

03:51 Previous generation of the X1,

03:53 it just looked kind of not very nice inside the cabin,

03:56 but this looks great.

03:57 I'm personally a fan of wood grain

03:59 and I really like the way that they've put this

04:01 across the dash here.

04:01 You can even see this material on the seats and stuff.

04:04 It's like a brown leather of some sort.

04:06 So it looks just, yeah, really nice in my opinion.

04:10 And then in addition to that,

04:12 I guess because EV,

04:13 they try and maximise storage and stuff.

04:15 And you can see here,

04:15 they've gone to town with storage around the cabin.

04:17 So yeah, I think this is a very nice looking setup.

04:21 Love these new buttons on the steering wheel as well.

04:24 Now, what about your touch points?

04:25 So that is kind of firm, but soft.

04:29 And then same story on the door there.

04:30 How firm are they?

04:32 We've got our durometer.

04:33 We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.

04:36 If you wanna see how this car compares to others

04:37 that we've tested before,

04:39 look at the link in the description below.

04:41 About our build quality.

04:42 Let's give this a little shake there.

04:44 That all feels nice and solid.

04:46 And this is our door slam.

04:47 (door slamming)

04:50 Now let's talk infotainment.

04:54 So curved display,

04:55 which is what BMW has been rolling out

04:57 to a lot of its vehicles recently.

04:59 I really like that 'cause it is very high tech looking

05:01 and it's not just a standard double screen display.

05:04 It has a bit more substance to it.

05:06 You have buttons on the side here as shortcuts.

05:09 But have a look at this.

05:10 There is no traditional iDrive controller,

05:12 which is really interesting.

05:13 I've been playing with it for a little while now

05:14 and you do get used to it,

05:15 but it is just something a little bit different.

05:17 So OS 8, which means you get the configurable displays

05:21 here on the screen that you can whip through.

05:23 You have inbuilt satellite navigation.

05:25 In addition to that, it comes standard

05:26 with a 12 speaker Harman Kardon branded sound system.

05:30 It's a pretty good sound system as well.

05:31 On the smartphone mirroring front,

05:33 you have both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

05:36 I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like.

05:38 There it is there.

05:39 Wireless setup, takes up the full screen,

05:41 nice and quick and snappy as well, which is good.

05:44 And this is what Android Auto looks like.

05:46 So same story as CarPlay, full screen integration there.

05:50 A little configurable section off to the side.

05:53 Doesn't seem to do much, a bit slow and laggy.

05:56 But yeah, outside of that, it looks pretty straightforward.

06:00 Ahead of the driver here,

06:01 you also have another display here

06:03 and you can actually do a bit of configuration here.

06:06 So you can change what's displayed in the center

06:08 and also the general layout along with everything

06:11 that is displayed in the head up display.

06:13 Sort of really neat and easy system to use,

06:15 which I really like.

06:16 Now let's talk safety tech.

06:17 So you have autonomous emergency braking

06:20 with pedestrian detection.

06:22 You have an auto dimming rear vision mirror.

06:24 You have a lane departure warning

06:26 with a lane keeping assistant.

06:28 This actually has a semi-autonomous steering function,

06:30 which we'll test later on.

06:31 Blind spot monitoring built into the wing mirror,

06:33 rear cross traffic alert.

06:34 You have the drive recorder function,

06:36 which acts as a dash cam for you.

06:38 And then you also have a 360 camera.

06:40 I'll show you what that looks like.

06:42 Yeah, so look, quality of that isn't amazing.

06:46 It gives you okay visibility,

06:48 but you can see the quality is just a tiny bit

06:50 sort of grainy and not amazing.

06:53 It's not too bad there on that closer up view.

06:55 So yeah, look, the camera is good,

06:56 but I think it could be just a little bit better.

06:58 This is what the horn sounds like.

06:59 (horn honking)

07:01 Okay, let's chat practicality

07:03 and we'll start off with your connectivity.

07:04 So you've got two USB-C ports here, 12 volt outlet.

07:08 Wireless phone charger, but I love this.

07:10 So if you stick your phone in there,

07:12 it kind of moves around everywhere,

07:14 but then you have this, it's like a roller coaster.

07:16 You know, when they put that thing on you

07:18 so you don't fall out of it,

07:19 you basically just wedge that forward

07:21 and then it keeps the phone in position there,

07:23 which I think is a really great feature.

07:24 So very good to see that.

07:27 What about your coffee cup?

07:28 So it can fit down there, but there are no teeth

07:30 and it's quite a deep hole.

07:31 So it might delid your,

07:33 might end up delidding your coffee cup

07:36 if you're not too careful.

07:38 And what about your water bottle?

07:39 Fits in there without any dramas,

07:41 but again, it sort of just moves around a little bit.

07:43 Water bottle fits inside the door without too many problems.

07:47 And then our bigger water bottle,

07:49 a crack, fits inside the door too.

07:52 Excellent news.

07:53 Other storage, you've got this little slot here.

07:56 I don't actually know what you would fit in there.

07:58 Maybe a number of, a small number of keys

08:00 or something like that.

08:02 But you do have stacks of storage down here,

08:04 which is really good to see.

08:05 And then you also have a glove box over here as well,

08:07 that is actually pretty reasonably sized.

08:10 Comfort, so you have dual zone automatic climate control.

08:14 Unfortunately with OS8, you get this sort of system

08:16 where you have to go into the climate menu.

08:18 There are no physical buttons.

08:20 You know, I'm sure it's something you get used to,

08:22 or alternatively you can just use

08:24 a voice recognition command to blurt out the temperature

08:27 and stuff that you want to set.

08:28 You'd also have heated seats for the front row.

08:31 Electric seat adjustments, you can go forwards and backwards.

08:34 Backrest can go forwards and backwards.

08:35 You have lumbar adjustment.

08:37 You can bring the seat up and down.

08:38 You also have a massage as well, which is fun.

08:42 Seats are pretty comfy too, perforated.

08:44 And you can select a number of different colour options

08:47 for the seats too.

08:48 Steering offers both tilt and reach adjustment.

08:51 And on our reach test,

08:53 all of that stuff is not too bad to reach.

08:56 Okay, second row of the iX1.

08:57 So not a huge amount of knee room.

09:00 Toe room is okay.

09:02 Headroom is okay as well.

09:04 You've got air vents back here.

09:05 You have mat pockets, two USB-C outlets.

09:09 You've got ISOFIX points

09:11 and three top tether points as well.

09:13 Center armrest here with two cup holders,

09:16 little rubber teeth in there to hold everything in place.

09:19 This fits inside the door as well, which is good to see.

09:22 Now the all important window test.

09:24 So it's auto up and down.

09:27 So close.

09:30 Now let's talk cargo space.

09:31 So in its standard configuration here,

09:34 you've got 490 litres to work with.

09:36 It's not a huge amount.

09:37 If you compare this to something like a Model Y,

09:39 there is significantly more room in a Model Y.

09:42 And the other downside as well to this being

09:44 an internal combustion platform

09:45 is that you don't get a great deal of storage under here.

09:48 So you do have a little bit of room,

09:49 but you can see there once you put a cable or two in,

09:51 it kind of just takes up that entire space.

09:53 So yeah, that is something worth keeping in mind.

09:56 But you do have a couple of little storage slots

09:58 on the side there.

09:59 You've got a 12 volt outlet hidden under here.

10:02 Show you what it looks like with our bags in.

10:04 So that's the laptop bag.

10:06 And then there's the suitcase.

10:08 Now, if you do want a little bit more space though,

10:10 you can drop the second row.

10:12 Disappointingly, you can't do that from here.

10:13 So you're gonna go around the side,

10:15 crack the door open,

10:16 and then drop the seat.

10:18 Drop this side as well.

10:20 That expands the space to 1,490 litres,

10:23 but you can see here as well that it's on a flat floor.

10:25 So it comes along and then it has to climb.

10:26 So yeah, I think it's an okay use of space,

10:29 but it definitely could be better.

10:31 Now, before we go for a drive,

10:32 I wanted to run you through the electric part of things.

10:34 So you have a 65 kilowatt hour battery.

10:37 That's roughly 65 kilowatt hours usable.

10:40 You have both AC and DC charging.

10:42 AC, you can actually charge up to three phase 22 kilowatt,

10:46 which is pretty impressive.

10:48 And then on the DC front,

10:49 it'll do up to 130 kilowatts

10:51 with an average of about 100 kilowatts.

10:53 Not amazing in my opinion.

10:54 I think it could be much sort of quicker than that,

10:55 especially when you look at some of the other competitors

10:57 in the segment.

10:58 They are starting to offer much faster charging paces there.

11:01 So that is worth keeping in mind.

11:03 Driving range of around 440 kilometers on the WLTP cycle,

11:07 and then it uses a lithium ion battery.

11:10 (car engine roaring)

11:13 Okay, so we've just hit the road in the iX1.

11:16 It is so wet outside and it's all of 10 degrees as well.

11:21 So it is bloody freezing.

11:24 So that's gonna limit what we can do today,

11:27 but I'll run you through everything that I possibly can.

11:30 The iX1 in its entire range is only available

11:33 as all wheel drive.

11:34 So that means you get one motor on the front axle,

11:37 one motor on the rear axle,

11:38 and that offers a combined power output of 230 kilowatts

11:42 and just under 500 Newton meters of torque.

11:46 It's a pretty sort of decent number.

11:48 And for a vehicle this size,

11:50 it gives you that reasonable acceleration that you need.

11:53 And everything is sort of pretty easy and straightforward.

11:56 One thing that I like is you get a couple of options

11:58 when it comes to regen,

11:58 depending on the drive mode that you're in.

12:00 So when you roll out of the throttle

12:01 and you don't have anything selected,

12:03 it will basically just coast

12:04 and it won't do any regen at all.

12:06 And then when you go for the brake pedal,

12:08 it'll actually start going into regen

12:11 and then will come to a stop

12:13 just as you normally would with the brake pedal.

12:15 But then what you can do is flick your drive selector

12:19 down into B mode.

12:21 And then when you roll out of the throttle,

12:22 you can actually, kind of like a Tesla or a Nissan LEAF,

12:25 it'll come to a full stop and then you're ready to go.

12:28 So I do love that you have those options available

12:30 and it is super easy to switch on and off.

12:32 You don't need to faff around with anything.

12:33 It just works, which is great.

12:35 Now what does all that feel like behind the wheel?

12:38 It has a really nice and solid punch.

12:40 Given it's not big and it doesn't have an enormous battery,

12:43 it actually has a really, really sort of healthy kick

12:46 in the back, which is something I really like about it.

12:49 It is fascinating though.

12:51 It is very much front-wheel drive oriented

12:53 and I don't really understand why they've done that

12:55 given BMW's philosophy is very much rear-wheel drive

12:58 and sportiness.

12:59 This on the other hand, if you do get on the throttle

13:01 and you surprise it, and because it is wet,

13:03 it's gonna be easy to do here,

13:04 but I can feel the front wheels slipping there

13:08 in their sort of entirety.

13:10 And if I go over to sport mode actually,

13:13 where stability control is disabled and just stand on it,

13:17 you can actually feel those front wheels slipping.

13:20 So yeah, I do think that they could have gone down the path

13:23 of more of a rear bias setup,

13:26 but ultimately this is what they've chosen.

13:28 And then when you are driving just normally,

13:31 it will actually just be sending torque to the front axle.

13:33 It doesn't really sort of activate the rear axle

13:35 at all, it decouples it from service until it's required.

13:38 Now, you would have noticed just there

13:40 when I got on the throttle, it was making some funny sounds.

13:42 So, you know that?

13:44 This is the Hans Zimmer production notes

13:49 they've put together for it.

13:50 And it's quite fascinating.

13:51 If you go into my modes,

13:52 you can actually change to different sound styles

13:55 and driving styles.

13:56 So if I go to efficient,

13:57 basically dull some of the air conditioning

14:00 and also changes the noise.

14:01 So you get less noise there.

14:03 And then if we go over to this one,

14:06 which I thought was interesting, expressive,

14:07 have a listen to this.

14:08 Sounds like you're on like a theme show or something.

14:16 And then what else have we got here?

14:17 Relax, we'll give that a crack.

14:19 Oh, that's like nothing.

14:21 That's great, I like that one.

14:22 And then digital art.

14:24 Oh, look at that, that all lights up.

14:26 Yeah, cool.

14:29 So you have a couple of options there to play with.

14:31 I'm very interested if you have bought one of these,

14:33 whether you have ever touched any of these,

14:35 let me know in the comment section below.

14:38 Now let's talk efficiency.

14:39 So BMW claims that it uses a combined

14:43 around 17 kilowatt hours per 100 Ks.

14:46 We are currently sitting on since factory 19.3.

14:50 It's really not very efficient.

14:52 If you have a look at Model Y, for example,

14:55 the rear wheel drive version is using like 13 or 14,

14:58 the long range slightly more than that,

15:00 but all significantly less than this.

15:02 So I think it just shows you that this is the compromise

15:04 that you make with vehicles

15:06 that are on an internal combustion platform.

15:08 You don't quite have that level of efficiency.

15:11 Okay, time to hit our sine wave.

15:13 So we do these at 130 Ks an hour.

15:16 It gives us an indication of what this vehicle is like

15:19 when you're doing things like overtaking

15:21 on a country road.

15:22 And 130 is the maximum speed limit here in Australia.

15:27 Oh my God, it is so wet.

15:29 All right, here we go.

15:30 That's really nice and compliant.

15:34 So this vehicle shares a platform

15:37 with the internal combustion X1.

15:39 And I think they've done a really good job there

15:41 of managing the extra weight that you get here

15:43 with the full electric platform.

15:45 So it is actually quite nice.

15:46 Even in and around the city,

15:47 the ride is actually quite reasonable.

15:50 So it's not too busy.

15:52 It's not too firm.

15:53 It's not too soft.

15:54 It's kind of un-BMW.

15:56 It doesn't feel overly firm even on these wheels.

15:59 So I think they've done a great job there with the ride.

16:01 Okay, bumpy road time.

16:03 So worst road in Australia.

16:04 We do this one at 90 Ks an hour.

16:07 It's just a really good indication

16:08 of what the vehicle is like

16:09 if you head to the country and hit some corrugations.

16:13 Okie dokie, here comes our condensed sine wave as well.

16:17 This shakes the bejesus out of the car.

16:20 It's actually really good.

16:22 It is surprising that despite this being on such big wheels,

16:25 it is doing a remarkably good job here.

16:28 They've been able to soften it up enough

16:30 to cope with this type of road,

16:32 but not go too soft so that it becomes unruly

16:34 and doesn't have body control.

16:36 So yeah, very impressive.

16:37 Okay, let's go for a sporty drive.

16:40 So I'm going to put this into sport mode.

16:44 And then in sport mode,

16:45 you have a number of different settings there

16:47 you can choose in terms of steering feel

16:49 and also the drive train.

16:50 It is very wet today,

16:52 so I'm not going to be able to sort of go too crazy,

16:55 but we'll see how it goes.

16:56 I like that level of regen there

16:58 in the sport mode as well.

17:00 So yeah, look, it does sort of surge

17:04 a little bit of torque to the rear every now and then,

17:06 but I'm really just not loving

17:10 the way this feels behind the wheel.

17:12 They've tried to dial in a lot of sharpness

17:16 in this steering,

17:17 and it just causes it to feel a little bit too darty

17:20 for the size of the vehicle.

17:22 And as a result of that,

17:23 it does what the Tesla Model Y performance does,

17:25 which is when you turn in,

17:27 you get that rear left wheel unloading,

17:30 and it just really doesn't feel overly natural.

17:33 And the brakes, I also don't love either.

17:35 They've gone with one of those brake pedals

17:37 that will resist the uneven sort of stopping feel

17:40 that you get over things like our tram tracks just there,

17:43 which is what something like a Model Y suffers from.

17:46 But the feel just isn't there in that brake pedal,

17:49 and it just doesn't match what the vehicle

17:51 is actually doing.

17:52 So yeah, I don't know.

17:53 It's just not very confidence inspiring.

17:54 Even earlier when it was a bit drier,

17:56 like it is nice and fast and everything,

17:59 but even earlier when it was a bit drier,

18:00 I just didn't feel confident pushing it,

18:02 and it just always felt like it was just doing stuff

18:05 in the background that I didn't really love.

18:08 We've got a GLC here at the moment,

18:10 and I'm just able to drive that a whole lot quicker

18:13 than this, even in the wet,

18:14 because it just feels far more confidence inspiring.

18:17 I think this steering needs a lot of work.

18:20 In sport mode, it's good,

18:21 but when you switch it back to comfort,

18:22 it is just very vague,

18:24 and it just doesn't really know what it's doing.

18:26 So yeah, look, I think they've done an okay job with this,

18:29 but I just don't think it really feels

18:31 like a BMW to drive quickly.

18:33 Now, what about your road noise?

18:34 Look, you do get a little bit coming into the cabin,

18:37 but it's not the end of the world.

18:38 You do have a lot of glass around here,

18:39 so it does sort of reverberate a little.

18:41 But we did take some measurements

18:42 on our calibrated sound meter,

18:44 so if you do wanna see how this car compares

18:46 to others that we've tested before,

18:47 have a look at the link in the description below.

18:49 You also have a turning circle of 11.9 metres,

18:53 and should you be interested in it,

18:54 a brake towing capacity of 1200 kilos.

18:57 Okay, time to test our semi-autonomous systems here.

19:01 So do this at 70 k's an hour,

19:03 and I use the three outer lanes

19:04 to see how well it'll hold the lane.

19:07 And typically, the more banking angle we have,

19:10 the more representative it is of how it will perform

19:13 out on the open road when you do negotiate a tighter turn.

19:16 So pop this on to 70 k's an hour,

19:21 and then also change the mode to the assisted driving mode.

19:24 You can see there's a steering wheel that pops up there.

19:27 So let's see how it goes.

19:29 So in this first lane here, it's doing a great job.

19:31 It's basically staying dead centre in that lane,

19:34 which is awesome.

19:35 Jump over to the next lane.

19:39 Okey-dokey, so that has now activated.

19:44 It's holding itself nicely in that lane.

19:47 No dramas there at all.

19:49 Like that too, so if I let go of the steering wheel

19:52 and it wants me to put my hands back on, that goes orange,

19:54 but it also flashes these lights here as well.

19:57 I'm actually curious to see what happens

19:59 if I just continue ignoring that.

20:00 See what it does.

20:07 You definitely should not be doing this on the open road,

20:10 but we're safe here.

20:12 There you go, so it flashes red as well, which is cool.

20:14 All right, we'll jump over to the outer lane.

20:16 So this is the hardest one for it to master.

20:20 See how this goes.

20:22 So I like for that to activate,

20:23 so you can lift off the accelerator.

20:25 Okay, there we go, so it's detected that.

20:30 Nice, that is holding that beautifully.

20:32 Fantastic, sensational job, BMW.

20:37 Nicely done.

20:38 Okay, time to do a little bit of performance testing.

20:41 So obviously it is very wet at the moment,

20:43 so this is going to be very interesting.

20:46 Before we jump into that though,

20:47 I just wanted to mention Help Me Car Expert.

20:50 We've drawn some inspiration from our friends at CarWare.

20:53 Basically, we are a big company.

20:55 We have a lot of connections with dealers

20:57 and are able to get you really good deals on vehicles

20:59 that are in stock at the moment.

21:00 So what you need to do is head to Google

21:02 and type in Help Me Car Expert

21:04 to be taken to the Car Expert website.

21:06 We'll be able to take care of the rest from there.

21:09 Now, I'm going to put this into sport mode

21:12 and I'll turn stability control off

21:15 just so it can have a little bit of slip off the line there.

21:18 We're gonna go all the way through to 120

21:20 and I guess we'll just see what happens.

21:23 I've left it in B mode

21:24 because it'll just hold still off the line there

21:26 and I'll just basically stamp on the throttle

21:29 and we'll see what comes about.

21:31 So here we go.

21:33 (car engine revving)

21:36 Not bad there off the line.

21:41 Alrighty.

21:42 Looks like moving okay there.

21:43 So 100 Ks an hour and 120.

21:47 So we'll come to a stop.

21:48 Actually hoofing along okay.

21:50 So the official zero to 100 time is 5.6 seconds.

21:55 Let's have a look at how we went just then.

21:58 5.73, not bad for the wet, which is great.

22:01 And then 80 to 120 took 3.96 seconds.

22:04 So still quite eager and strong in that mid band,

22:06 which is awesome,

22:07 which shows you that it has a fair bit of punch there,

22:09 which is good.

22:10 So let's go back and do a break.

22:12 Look, the break,

22:12 unfortunately it's just gonna be raining all day.

22:14 So obviously this is going to be a wet result,

22:16 but I'll give it a shot anyway to see how it goes.

22:19 Okay, here we go.

22:20 Our break from 100.

22:22 (laughs)

22:24 Okey dokey.

22:24 So gonna be breaking from just above 100.

22:27 Here we go.

22:29 (thunder rumbling)

22:32 Actually didn't feel too bad to be honest.

22:36 Let's have a look at what the number was.

22:38 Like it is properly wet.

22:39 Our 100 to zero was 3.31 seconds and 45.9 meters.

22:44 So this pretty much stops in the sopping wet

22:48 as quickly as some of the big SUVs we tested recently

22:52 stop in the dry.

22:53 So if you do wanna see our SUV mega test videos,

22:57 click up here to watch those.

22:58 So pretty impressive stopping distance there

23:01 given it is as wet as it is at the moment.

23:03 So yeah, not a bad effort.

23:05 Now I did actually notice just then

23:07 stability control was off.

23:08 So give that one more crack just to make sure

23:11 that that didn't affect our stopping distance.

23:15 I'll get this back up to 100.

23:17 Alrighty, here we go.

23:20 (thunder rumbling)

23:23 (grunts)

23:24 Okey dokey.

23:25 So that time around 47 meters.

23:29 So slightly longer.

23:30 That was weird.

23:31 So with stability control off, it stopped slightly quicker.

23:33 Could just be an anomaly there, but yeah,

23:35 still a pretty decent stopping distance in the wet

23:38 in my opinion.

23:39 And now how quickly will it go in reverse?

23:42 I'm gonna clean the back window there.

23:44 Here we go.

23:45 Or I'll stand on the throttle.

23:46 (laughs)

23:48 Holy crap, that was quick.

23:50 Okay, so 44, 45, 45 kilometers an hour.

23:55 (upbeat music)

23:56 So BMW iX1.

23:58 As a competitor in this space,

24:00 a fully electric small SUV,

24:02 BMW has done a good job

24:04 with getting all the battery tech in there

24:06 and making it fun to drive in a straight line.

24:08 I think it is entirely let down though by the handling.

24:11 I don't know what they've done to the steering there

24:12 and just the way that it goes through corners.

24:14 I'm just not entirely convinced with.

24:16 Hopefully it is just a software thing

24:18 'cause a lot of that stuff is nowadays

24:20 just driven by software.

24:22 I do love though the technology inside the cabin.

24:24 The way that it looks as well,

24:25 it really feels nice and high-end and premium.

24:28 It's just something that you don't get in a vehicle

24:29 like the Tesla Model Y.

24:31 But on that flip side as well,

24:32 it does feel pretty cramped in the second row there

24:35 compared to a Model Y.

24:36 So yeah, look, I think the pricing is right

24:38 for what it is and the range that you get.

24:39 But ultimately, I think it is let down by the handling.

24:42 It doesn't feel like a BMW behind the wheel,

24:44 which is what I was hoping to get

24:46 when you drive an electric BMW

24:48 like some of the others that they've recently produced.

24:50 So have you bought one?

24:52 Let me know in the comments section below,

24:53 what do you think?

24:54 How's it going for you?

24:55 Are you enjoying it?

24:56 Why did you pick this over some of the other competitors

24:58 in the segment?

24:59 I'm keen for your feedback, so let me know down there.

25:01 If you did enjoy this video,

25:02 please make sure you like it

25:04 and you share it with your mates.

25:05 And if you haven't done so already,

25:06 subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.

25:08 But until next time, take it easy.

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