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That intro was for the 90’s kids, a few Hadoukens, shoryukens, and a good old Shun Goku Satsu was enough to take out our collective frustration on BMW’s design team. Now I think it’s safe to review the new #BMW iX xDrive 50!
It’s all of BMW’s latest tech crammed into one conceptual vehicle that you can actually buy - and it’s in the form of a luxurious and fast #SUV - but these are two of the last things most commonly attributable to the ultimate driving machine. Add the design and we have the ultimate trifecta of no-nos for the purists. Have they totally lost their minds, is the tech so good that you won’t care how it looks, Is Rory Reid really the only person in the world who thinks it’s good looking? Let’s find out!
The IX is actually really important for cars you’ll car very much about soon. It features the 5th Generation E Drive technology - and it’ll underpin cars like the future all electric 7 and 5 series too and is thus wholly modular. Firstly the body - it’s not based on an X5 or something, Rather it’s a unique aluminium space frame with a “Carbon Cage” with CFRP in the roof. sides and rear = intelligent material mix increasing rigidity and less weight.
The new 5th generation unit Combines electric motor, power electronics and transmission in one unit - this saves space and gives far improved power output given it’s size. Unlike most #EVs like the Taycan or Mercedes models which use the same basic principle of Permanently Excited Electric Motors - The Motor in the IX is different. Its an electrically excited motor instead, so doesn’t require rare earths in order to use magnets. BMW say that it also has very high power density.
Our xDrive 50 has two motors in the front and rear, all feeding a single speed transmission, which sits in that same housing. And has a 105KW battery at the heart. All of that leads to Electric all wheel drive - fully variable power transmission. The rest is standard fare with - Double wishbone front, 5 link rear axle and our xDrive 50 getting adaptive suspension with two axle air suspension, Dampers controlled at each wheel. And finally, 4 wheel steering standard on the xDrive 50.
Performance and range are impressive. The normal iX 40 does 264 miles quoted, and 326BHP, but only charges up to 150kw in speed. The xDrive 50 has a 105KW battery which gives 380 miles claimed, in reality still a massive 320 miles as tested by me. It also feels massively fast with “Just” 523hp and a 0-60 of 4.5 secs. It charges faster up to 200kw too.
A BMW M iX M60 with 619 BHP and sprint of 3.8 secs will also come, but we will see if it’s needed.
The iNext concept previewed the marmite design, at almost 5 meters long, and 2 meters wide. It’s said to be a sign post for the future. More like a giant lighted billboard! CD aero value is good for a huge lego block, it’s 0.25. I think you can blame a lot of the shape on aero, and need to house batteries while giving big space.
The best part is the interior, with one of the best modern EV interiors I’ve seen! Big and easy to use touch screen, but also maintaining the iDrive knob to keep things safe. Huge space inside, but I was most happy about the SOUND of the car, playing when you turn it on and off as well as driving - courtesy of Hans Zimmer. It’s a really important car for BMW, as the i7 takes much from it as will future cars. Let's see how it does!
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