Found the Boomer! A) Harry royally screwed up the badge and title to this video. B) The same engine/motor can make different power ratings, it’s not that hard to comprehend.
@@ericfitzgerald9139 did you just say "boomer"? That's basically a by-word for tiktok kids AKA Generation participation Trophy AKA The hurt feelings generation. No joke mate nobody listens to anything anyone born after about 1985 says, you lot created a post truth world so you cannot come on here insulting older and vastly more robust & intelligent generations and expect anyone to listen to you. You spent your life playing Call of Duty son... that had consequences.
@@fakevirus8828 actually, the current post-truth world is a late 19th / early 20th century phenomenon. Boomer's added tech & monetization. post-boomers added not particularly caring about the truth or fiction of the world. I personally apologize for not teaching them better.
As an advocate for always reversing into a car parking spot, rather than reversing out into car park traffic I'd be happy with a charge port at the rear of the car.
Absolutely 👍 Also, many of these will end up as company cars and/or driven to corporate offices, which often have reverse parking policies for "health and safety".
Agree, also they are considering accident damage less for rear side power connections then a front connector and in BMW’s case where does the petrol cap go on those models ICE and electric, but Harry’s has a point some of the InstaVolt locations are difficult with the rear side power, there’s one in Crewe a right royal pain.
On one hand we have the UK Gov making almost any interaction with a smartphone a penalty offence and on the other car makers are loading up cars with more and more touch interfaces with no legal issues.
Exactly. Big business make their own rules. But the ordinary man is fined to pay the government when breaking their rules. Works well for the government and big business. Stuff like this really highlights that not every law is fair. just because it's law doesn't mean its right.
If manufacturers absolutely insist on having touch-screens for every function then these cars need to have a Siri/Alexa type of operating system for things like the heater controls, audio etc. It would make it much safer than messing around going into menus and sub-menus. ....or they can return to regular controls which can be manually adjusted and be safer too. Too much tech becomes annoying after a while.
Most cars nowadays come with voice commands which do those, i think bmw comes with alexa which can be used to control other things and link with your alexa in home
14:10 as a german this astounds me. I know nobody that does not have 3 phase power to their house. I got a 22kW car charger in my house and we have plenty of connection to the grid left. And for NON tesla fast chargers (take IONITY for example) Germany has 105 active fast chargers (350kW), France has 103, but the UK has only 17(!).
Yes I'm not sure what the UK are doing because Europe is way ahead in regards fast charging I like the IX you can find them used at half price in the UK or in the US with very little mileage on them and they will tow 5,000 lb so having the bigger battery will come in very handy
@@michelmoonen3433 Save the Planet? Yea check out the manufacturing process...Oh and with many components made in China, possibly the most environmentally unfriendly country on earth combined with their mining practices in Africa, the EV could possibly be more damaging than ICE...I really don't think Putin really cares what you do.
weird logic you have. Cars have gotten heavier each decade since the 60ies because more integrated safety and tech added. the range has nothing with progress to do. will a 1000 mile range be progress? you have to get some food and go to the loo anyway. it is actually progress for you well being!
@@williamr3840 Very true - but even worse is they are still one of the better German brands for reliability - you are lucky if you get a Mercedes arrive at the dealership without multiple faults from the factory, and VAG - if it's not one of their big selling units like a Golf, it'll be a utter pain in the arse to own too. The only good news is people are starting to wake up to the fact that German Engineering isn't what it was 30 years ago.
@@Beer_Dad1975 Sadly agree, and I'm German. I have no idea what they think they are doing. Good engineering used to be a virtue, now it seems it's all about marketing and cost cutting the engineering, or engineering in a way that won't last.
I just wanted to clarify my like. It’s not for the car, but rather the suburb Chanel and in particular Harry’s presentation and watch ability. I love this and Harry’s Farm video’s. Keep up the excellent work!👍🏻👏🏻
I'd like to see these touch screens with no physical buttons banned. How are they any different to using a mobile phone whilst driving. I don't want mine or anyone else's attention taken from the road to adjust the heating etc... It takes too much faffing to navigate the menus and sub menus and is dangerous. It should be a quick glance to see where the button is and that's it.
Another good point of why German/may other cars are loosing touch of reality, to control one on the go is almost impossible as ive test drove and seen harry do giving a demo.
Excellent point. I would go further and suggest that it’s idiotic that manufactures have chosen to effectively mount an iPad in the middle of the dashboard. I swear the police used to get funny about where you positioned your sat nav in the windscreen. I wish there was some sort of owners survey into what features owners actually use. Air con, heater, radio, maps. Who seriously wants to change the drive mode or gearbox settings in a regular car. I just want to get in and drive ffs. Great comments tho 👍
I agree. I would really like to see a sterring wheel full of physical or virtual buttons with tangible feedback that can be progrrammed to the positions I want them in with relevant head up display when I touch a button. It's all perfectly doable, almost old technology, and I can still see the road while I adjust volume, seat, temperature, and so on.
One of the main points about ergonomics as they were developed during the '70s was that you didn't have to take your eyes off the road to operate the controls. That's why those for indicators, wipers and lights went from being scattered all over the dash to being concentrated around the steering column.
I 100% agree, I have recently got the new leon phev, and it also has zero physically buttons. I have to wait for a safe bit of the road before i start clicking through the various menus to get the climate control i want etc. Its beyond dangerous, muscle memory all the way, but that doesnt apply to tapping various menus on a app
@@sq1rlsqu4d what? So you basically admitting only generation "participation trophy" have zero style or class and actually find a set of Eskimo shoes painted by a cheap can of halfords black.. a sexy car? hahahahaha you plum, get back on Tiktok
I saw another review where they applauded BMW returning to the big grill from their very early models but the truth is that BMWs didn't really look any good until they made the kidneys small, the were still distinctively BMW but didn't have hideous front ends that looked way out of balance.
Had to chuckle when opening the door caused all those things to activate and the range go down. Sort of like half a pint of petrol leaking out. I prefer your Jag V12.
I have to say a car weighing nearly three tons to transport one person does seem extravagant in the extreme. I think we need Gordon Murray to design the World some economical electric transport, also do we really need such extreme performance? Great car just over the top. Interesting review, thanks Harry.
So a smaller battery has its merit; the old scalability problem for EV. I came across a BMW i3 police car on the street; wonder if they take the range-extender version?
Someone at bmw drew that. Thought it looked good and presented it for consideration and then more people liked it and then it was approved for build. It’s an utterly ghastly looking thing shocking how BMW have lost their way
Not having a frunk is a major let down. Even though the one on my Polestar 2 is rather small, I love having the charging cables there. Having to keep them in the trunk would be a hazzle when you have other luggage.
It would be great to see your review of this “thing” on a trip to the arctic circle 🥶 …in 40-50 years from now 🤔 Playing with a phone while driving is a big no-no but massive screens with intricate menus in a car seem to be fine?! Beats me 😱
Quite right if you go to commercial MOT with a tax disc in the window they would fail you for obscuring vision. Yet as car drivers we are allowed things stuck to the windscreen. Screens in the car to distract us ETC its all wrong.
It won't be around to be reviewed in 40-50 years, and if it is it'll be on it's 3, 4, 5th replacement battery. This is my main gripe with all modern cars, especially EVs - if we were truly interested in helping the environment we would be championing cars that are built to be maintained and last a generation or three
@@tom_thumb most batteries will outlast ICE engines. 3-400k is not abnormal for Tesla batteries still with 85%+ capacity As for attic, watch horn by land on yt?, he has regular arctic challenge on his channel. Never a problem.
@@johnn17golf I hope you're right, but from what I can see most manufacturers are estimating 10-20 years life for current battery packs, that's before you think about the rest of the car's technology which i'm guessing will be outdated and failing before then. I'm not completely negative about EV's, but I'm not convinced the way we're building them now is the answer
Harry, another very enjoyable and insightful review, thank you. You mentioned driving the BMW iX as being just such a different experience to a conventional car. Many years ago, I was given a lift in an open topped two seater 1930s MG Midget around the back lanes of the New Forest. Everything was so alive! The whine of the crash gearbox; the full on engine sound; the smell of hot oil and leather; the bouncy ride; the lack of bodywork surrounding you and no seat belt!! 30mph felt like 70!! It was exhilarating. When I returned to my own car, then a Mk1 Ford Focus, it seemed utterly refined but comparatively soulless. Now times have moved on and comparisons change. Today, a Mk1 Focus is regarded as a reference point by many for driver involvement when compared to some more modern cars. Judging by your reviews, and those of others, it would now seem that current combustion engined cars, although more refined than ever, have retained more driver involvement than electrically powered cars. Are we moving into the age of the truly 'soulless' vehicle?
I'm afraid it looks that way. I remain unconvinced it's possible to make an involving pure electric sports car but maybe Lotus/Alpine will prove me wrong! But a lot of miles we do today are very tedious commuter type miles and a modern EV (like a Tesla or this BMW) is good at doing such things, so long as the typical 300 mile range isn't an issue for you.
@@harrysgarage great review. we can & will have electric sports cars. there's a long way to go yet in achieving systems having light batt pkgs with quick charging & adequate range. it will flow from the industry as the shift to electrics sinks in... give it 5-10 yrs. pleasure derived from analog fun-in-motion will endure as market pull.
It's not just the front that looks wrong. If you removed the badges from that car I could not tell you if it was a Hyundai or a Kia or what. I've purchased many BMWs in my life, several of them new. But there is no way I'd purchase a new BMW anymore. I don't know what they think they are doing. Who likes these designs? Is that the Chinese market? Has me puzzled, looks cheap. Way to throw a brand language over board but honestly BMW had lost the plot for a decade now so nothing new here.
@@TheChannel1978 Confronted by the unexpected success and cult of Tesla - who lead the EV market by a country mile - BMW are panicking. They are 5 years too late and these awful designs are handing market share to Audi.....and of course Tesla.
I dont get how manufactures claim such low co-efficient of drag on these new cars when they have a massive slab of a front end. The Renault Alpine GTA V6 Turbo from 1986 was the worlds most Aerodynamic car for 6 years in a row from 1986 onwards @ 0.27. Which has a tiny frontal area and very sleek.
A lot has been learned since 1986. Also, being an EV, it's just as smooth on the bottom as on the top, which is almost half the battle. It needs very little air for cooling, and that airflow is much easier to control than with a gas car.
The drag coefficient, Cd, only describes the smoothness of the shape, not the full air resistance. The frontal area, A, is a completely separate factor in the drag equation. Often you'll hear the two combined, as in "the CdA value", because it's the product of the two you can easily measure in a wind tunnel. D = Cd * A * .5 * r * v^2
The shape of front of a car (or in fact any subsonic object) actually makes very little difference to air resistance! The back REALLY matters and maintaining low turbulence down the sides and underneath is next in terms of importance.
It being "sleek" doesn't mean it's aerodynamically efficient, look at the Mercedes W124 for that, it's got a pretty big nose and looks rather brutish and it's CD was 0.3, which is extremely impressive for a car that's design was finalized in 1981.
Harry! A real road test would be you in your huge electric car, and I in my petrol sportscar, setting off from Oxford and driving to my home in SW France. You would be hours, even days behind me if the BMW owners manual is correct regarding charging times. Electric cars are brilliant for city use with home overnight charging. They will never work as Touring cars. My old Defender still pulls 3.5MT and an electric car can not rival that. The raw materials and environmental cost of replacing either of my cars with electric negates all value of zero emissions as the production emissions are many fold greater.
In Germany the majority of houses have 3-phase so 11kW is standard and if you are luck (and ask the local electricity supplier nicely) then one can have 22kW. (Or charging 2 cars at 11kW... 😁)
BMW have made a car that nobody can afford, takes two days to charge, is so heavy it'll break your driveway AND has a shonky looking PC monitor bolted to the dash. Way to go guys 🤣
100K+ for a mass market car that carries no more people than an average family saloon or indeed supermini. Electric is looking less and less like 'the future'. Unless the future is the bus , for most.
@@justafish-bd8kw Exactly my thought too. I live in an area where most of the houses are Victorian terraces with small side street/footpaths of 16 houses and only on street parking, getting parked anywhere near you house is a rarity, so how are us working class going to charge electric vehicles , or even afford them in the 1st place.. see your comment for the answer lol
That is exactly where they want us to go. The Chipping Norton types get to keep their EVs but the peasants are on the bus getting mugged and farted on. Let's see how it plays.
This is pretty much every luxury SUV summed up so not sure what this has to do with this being electric. In terms of power and performance this is in line with the X5 M50i which starts at 104k€ in Germany vs 102k€ for the iX xDrive50. That is a lot of money of course but top of the line BMW SUVs have always been super expensive and this one is no different.
The euro regulations and emissions benefits for heavier, larger and more expensive cars are forcing the poorer out of cars, it's some high level social manipulation. In a few years when the safety systems make them uneconomical to repair we will enter the 'You will own nothing' stage..
Harry, you can also get 3phase power in Germany. So 11 kW is no issue and if your local power grid provider agrees you can have even more. Only if you utilize just one single phase you can get at most 4,6 kW (230V x 20A) - hence you should get a car and charger with 3phase AC to benefit from the usual 11-22 kW charging.
Looks bloody awful, big fan of 80's BMW, but this is shocking styling, saw a 635i friday in red, stunning car. This is a horrible mistake. As for the stupid grill....
@@neilrafferty2097 or the E36 or my E39 M5. Even my 2017 440i looks a lot better. This huge grill thing BMW is into is worse than the Bangle-era BMW crap - and that's saying something!
Good job then that these are for BMW’s 2020’s customers. Funny how all the modern BMW haters are anything but the current target customer. The ‘grill’ is no longer a grill anyway it’s to hide all the modern driving aids.
Talk to anyone with home charging and they'll tell you they dont typically drain the battery to 0 and quite often dont bother to charge to 100% because that last 10% takes exponentially longer. A 0-100% charge is not practical unless you know youre going to go on a long trip.
Safest way to park is to reverse in, so maybe that's behind the rear charge plug location If you ever go to a car park on a construction site where safety is paramount you will usually see signs telling you to reverse park. This is so you aren't reversing out of a space with poor visibility either side for most of the manoeuvre if you're next to parked vehicles.
Really, I love Harry's Garage, I really do. But please, please, please do a real-world review of an affordable e-car and a proper UK road trip. I'm tired of seeing £90k+ cars going to Europe where the charging infrastructure is way better than Blighty!!
Even electric superminis have a starting price of around £30k, and once a few options are ticked, you're easily looking at a bill of £50k for some of them. For the average household with a budget of around ten grand for the family car, running an EV just isn't viable. And that's before we look at charging infrastructure, which is insufficient at best. The government is going to have to reconsider the 2030 cut off for petrol & diesel new car sales unless this can be improved.
@@jamsxr 'at the moment'. I love your optimism. But just wait until the government start taxing electricity.... do you think they'll let the revenue from fuel just disappear? You ain't seen nothing yet.
Surprised not more mention of the Merc at the charge station. What an epic piece of shithousery - unbelievable 'my time is more valuable than your time' selfishness. Should have shared a pic of the tool at the wheel, Harry.
I laughed at that front end, then laughed harder at the price. And I'm in pain after Harry stated the charging times. So I can only conclude this is a joke.
@@SDK2006b You sleep for 2 days? Lets face it, the only people buying this car will be rich virtue signallers to put in the fleet. This thing is totally irrelevant to most people.
@@ralphmillais5237 - nope, very rarely do you run an EV down to 0%. Mostly you charge EV’s from 10-80%. With this car 50% battery gives you 150+ miles - Most people do that much driving in a week! (Average UK daily miles is 20 miles).
You’ve got the maths confused my friend. The Cd includes drag force in the calculation. Therefore, the lower the Cd (no matter the frontal area) = more aerodynamic, the end.
@@TML34 You are absolutely wrong. D is the drag force. Cd is a coefficient. A is the frontal area, r is the density of the air, V is the velocity. You should keep out of engineering when engineering is involved. Leave that to us engineers. BTW, it's math, not maths, and this is science not math.
Great review Harry,I can here all the bmw technicians watching sigh as the realise they are going to have to try and fix these cars , it all went wrong for BMW when that stopped fitting torches in the glovebox!!!
I was always taught and teach reverse parking. It safer when exiting from a parking space. Many businesses now insist on reverse parking in company car parks. Would also solve your charging cable issues.
Starting to see quite a few of these up here in Norway, obviously pulling a few potential Audi E-Tron drivers. In the flesh it looks pretty decent from the back, but the front grille is truly awful. Charging ports: The industry really needs to set some standards on this, cos there are a lot of charger/car incompatibilities simply due to cable lengths and charge port location
Well I blame the auto industry. They could have easily standardized it but everyone is too busy making money/things that are impossible to repair. As an auto tech, I won’t have a job in 30 years, everything is going to be maintenance free because everyone is turning stupid.
@@silentracer911 - Oh i don't think you need to worry about employment. Speaking as a Tesla owner i can see plenty of stuff that needs maintaining and will wear out. Plus all the fancy stuff that will definitely go wrong. And that's ignoring crash damage. You might need to change skill-set a bit, but i can promise these cars are far from maintenance-free.
To much tech on the screen surely pressing a switch is a lot safer, Way can’t it have a charging socket on the front as well as the back especially when it costs over £115.000. Excellent video cheers Harry.
Tesla Model X also has a 2500 kg towing capacity. I’ve towed my Lotus to the track many times and it was always a very smooth experience. Range is almost halved when towing of course which adds charge time but the smoothness of the drivetrain makes it a more relaxing experience than ICE towing.
Carbon fibre cell ... I think repairability is a big factor in a car's environmental footprint. I thought these CF cells were uber expensive to fix. So I could understand they would make sense to repair in a super car. But as these things depreciate, and their batteries degrade, would the carbon fibre make them a write off in any sort of accident whereas a metal celled call might not be ?
Damage to the "cell" is normally a write off anyway because the way collision repairs are done, they replace parts that are bolted to the central cell unit, or sometimes glued. They do not "cut and shut" sections of that cell because if that part is damaged, the car is considered structurally compromised, and will be recorded as an unrepairable write-off in most jurisdictions. The only people who will be repairing a major collision to a car like this, will be enthusiasts - and it's not impossible to repair CF. In fact, it some cases, it's more viable than correcting a metal structure.
It depends. There's probably a halve way house in CF chassis design, where parts likely to be clobbered are either protected by something sacrificial, or that part of the chassis is designed for (expert) garage replacement. Or, the car is designed so that CF cell replacement is not a massive job. If the CF cell has been made by gluing together CF parts, then it is possible (if the right glues have been used) to unglue the broken part and replace it with a new. I've had this done (not with a car), and it's as good as new. So, in a situation where that part can be adequately accessed without dismantling the whole thing, then a repair could actually be pretty economic. However, for cheapest / lightest CF cells, the way forward is the one adopted by McLaren where by the cell is made in one step, resulting in a single piece of hollow CF. Very clever. Cheaper to make - just 4 man hours. But, impossible or very difficult to adequately repair... This problem also exists in the airliner industry, with the A350 and Boeing 787 in particular. Boeing make their fuselages in several, giant, single piece CF barrels. For repair there's a lot of work in assessing the extent of the damage, what has to be cut out, how it's cut out, how patches are glued in, or whether it's repairable in the first place. Airbus made the A350 out of jointed CF panels. Much easier to remove damaged parts and replace them. I'm no expert, but I'd hazard a guess that the B787 is more readily repaired on the ramp, for small damage, but might get written off, whereas the A350 is likely less repairable on the ramp but is less likely to be written off when damaged (you can always replace a panel, even if you have to do it in a hangar).
Have you driven an i3s Harry? The most fun EV you can buy, honest! Yes, it'll onyl do 140 miles on a charge, but for those of us who don't drive lots of miles, the near 1,200kg mass and carbon chassis give it hilariously fun dynamics! In the real world, it's also plenty fast enough, and more than fast enough to be fun (you can actually use the performance unilke any modern performance car....)
If BMW are starting with a clean sheet, why still design a car with a bonnet, as though it needs that space for an engine? They can put the drivetrain and batteries anywhere in the car, so can use completely new layouts...
Great point this and i was actually thinking along the same lines as yourself . What got me thinking along those lines was the sound ( motors etc ) while Harry was driving . Reminded me ( when i closed my eyes ) , of sitting on a tram !!
@@davidnorton5887 Absolutely - the last thing BMW want is to scare off potential customers with a car that looks too different. Think of the Ford Sierra going back - slated at first because of the looks but only later becoming accepted and changing much of car design.
Great review Harry. As a BMW X5 owner I am beyond disappointed with this car- I can’t even remember it’s ridiculous name. The charge time and screen displays and carbon fiber crash repair factors along with the beaver teeth grill make it a non starter for me. I periodically drive a journey of over 900 miles in 16 hour period. I’d like to see how long a trip to go from your place to the Riviera to check on the boat. I can’t imagine stopping every 300 miles for a charge and waiting for this thing to recharge. I think it a toy or a commuter car. The car is devoid of passion, it sounds like an electric train inside, has a passionless interior that is a giant computer screen- all no doubt because it’s cheaper and easier than gauges. I am really sad to see an era of numb steering cars in our future. I hope I am wrong, but wow BMW, it’s a buck toothed toaster.
@@anmihovil I hope BMW have put some thought into that. I wonder how, following a medium side impact an insurance company assessor will be able to judge the integrity of any such damage.
@@anmihovil Lol, hell no, what can be recycled will be, the rest goes into landfill. Car manufacturers have very little incentive to make cars accident repairable, and it's financially better for them to fill up landfills with wrecks rather than repair them - that's why more and more late model cars get written off from what would have been in the past considered a fairly minor accident.
Well Harry, it is preffered to reverse park, because of the safety. I was looking at some statistics and numbers of accidents are pretty significant when reverse exiting parking
My 2020 X5 had iDrive 7 and I was able to set up the system pretty well, so important operations were automatically set. My 2022 BMW iX50 arrives tonight at the Port of Baltimore. I look forward to spending a lot of time setting up iDrive 8. From what I have learned from the UA-cam videos, I can pretty much pre-program much of the options for my usual driving habits. I have no intention of learning iDrive 8 as I am driving. I had two test drives of the iX50 and I am in love.
I saw one in a dealership last week. In the flesh, it looks far worse than it does on camera, both inside and out. Over £100k for iX is a complete joke.
These cars are brutally badly made they aren't worth £20k and that's the truth. Abysmal build quality that I haven't seen since BMC. Just had to fully respray one on warranty as the customer had picked up several issues with bodywork including panel gaps and boot seal leaking into trunk, the worst part is he clocked some of the issues and the horrific orange peel when he went to pick it up but they conned him into taking it on the promise it would get sorted, they then refused to repaint it till he got a solicitor involved and he said that was £1100 in total. The guy drove it in here raging, I had to point out that he bought the silly thing and that we ain't BMW we are subcontracted to fix their new cars if they are damaged or bellow par before they are sold. Worst still BMW phoned the police on him when he dumped the car outside the dealer with a letter refusing to drive the car again till it was fixed. It needed a new gearbox a few month afterwards as he phoned us asking if anything we had done in the painting process required the gearbox being touched in any way. Still raging at BMW he said the last one he bought was just as bad so he's done with then now. Glad I buy Japanese cars only.
Either it's one of those timeless designs everyone hates on at first but it'll still look good in 10, 15 years time or it will end up among the Pontiac Aztec down the bottom of car hell. I guess we'll see but I still think it's ugly. Looks like a really fat guinea pig with overgrown front teeth.
@@fakevirus8828 is somebdy paying you to spread this nonsense? This is 7-series quality vehicle. I know because I owned 7-series and have driven iX for a week.
I do worry what has happened to BMW since it jumped on the climate emergency bandwagon. These cars used to have character, luxury and panache. Such a shame.
Looks like BMW totally bypassed the focus testing part of the design process where they ask regular folk, not fellow designers, for their opinion on the new design direction. From what I’ve seen of the comments at least 90% really dislike the front grill. Count me in on that number too!
Its big in chin and bmw stopped caring a long time ago. There was a huge backlash when they previewed the hideous grille on the M4 ans they couldny care less. Because it's just about bling bling and showoff now
I saw one of these in the flesh for the first time a couple of hours ago. It's even worse in real life than it looks in the video. Looks aren't everything but if I were to spend this much money on a car, I wouldn't want to wince every time I looked at it.
Harry, the charge point thing, either way, the owner will have to turn the vehicle around eventually. Your focused on it taking the extra 30 seconds when you get home instead of when your leaving.
Harry, I bet the bonnet does open. Check in the front passenger footwell and I bet you’ll find a removable panel that has the hood release hidden behind it, most likely painted bright red trying to make you scared of pulling it. The ESQ Merc also has an un-openable bonnet and what I describe is how you get into it.
Does it come with a teeth whitening kit? ☺️ Great review by Harry, always enjoyable to watch. I just find most electric cars repulsive. It’s ridiculous that we even have to mention things like ‘I didn’t have heater or ac on..’ when reviewing any modern car. Too many angles, a messy design all round. I really do not see why this is twice the price of a Tesla, Ioniq 5 or Kia EV6. Back a few years ago in the ICE world there was a big difference in say the BMW 5 series and a top spec Hyundai or KIA. In the BMW or Mercedes you got better engines, more characterful engines and better interiors. EVs seem to me to be an equaliser. They are all fast, quiet, do 200 odd miles and take too long to charge. The most expensive ones make the least sense to me. Keep up the good work Harry. Enjoyed many of the other comments left.
Thanks for your comment, it's becoming a very confusing landscape where we are now being asked to pay more for better range, rather than greater performance and luxury, as used to be the case with ICE powered cars. Odd.
Who told you BMW have good engines? They are the worst alongside Audi. 22% failure rates in some of them and the s/b58 lump, the one BMW fans called "the next 2JZ" has been found out as so bad it can't even do 30k miles reliably on a stage1. Older BMW 6pots are over rated to the point its comical as any mechanic or indeed true car guy knows they sucked, they had constant fan issues, cylinder liners broke up, hydraulic lifters, oil starvation to crank journals and later Vanos issues that were so bad that brand new cars failed the vanos test. Their diesels are terrible too especially the N47 and all era of the inline 6 swallowing their own swirl flaps and dying premature deaths. Even a lowly VW PD1.9 engine embarrasses all BMW engine designs.
@@fakevirus8828 Not so. I have the N47 and it is a great engine. No issues. The N52 inline 6 is a very good engine and it made BMW become renowned. There are some engines with reliability issues but all in all, they are not worse than any other ICE engine with issues, the V10 being an exception. The problem with BMW is that they have many small bits and pieces which fail.
I thoroughly enjoyed the video, you covered all significant points. I think you summed it up indirectly at the end - the BMW is nearly perfect but you have no love for it, and the Countach is terribly flawed and you love it. Me too.
Backing up to park is actually considered safer. You take more care to park properly, the car turns better (like a forklift) and when leaving you don't back up into traffic and see easier. Also when you are not in a hurry, you can save that time to make it faster to leave when you are in a hurry... :)
@@user-ht9fr6eh9u Parking forwards at supermarkets is only my exception to that rule - loading the boot isn't convenient if you have to squeeze the trolley between cars to reach the boot.
8:48 Nice bit of scaffolding holding up the dash display! :) A screen that big is a major contribution to non road safety. Why is it acceptable to have an Ipad bolted to the screen with social media connectivity when drivers should be paying attention to the road, and not messing around on Facebook etc. If a mobile phone is banned, why is this major distraction allowed? I ride a motorbike and can see fewer and fewer drivers paying attention to their fellow road users, happy in the knowledge that they're alright in their big carbon fibre box. Oh, and it is Fugly!
Charging in Germany is even worse, as you cannot pull 16 amps from a normal outlet constantly. Charging is more or less limited to 10 amps constant output. 11kw wallboxes are common, though.
@Harry’s Garage Sorry Harry but at 115K or 95K, it is most definitely NOT a “normal” family car, unless the family income is 300K p.a. In three years it’s battery capacity will be at 80% max… I’m certain that this EV bubble will burst when logical people finally realise the constraints of an EV. An engineer recently stated that todays EV’s on a technological level are where ICE where in the 30’s!
I agree it's not a normal family car. Even here in Norway with all our subsidies this is an expensive machine. I disagree with pretty much everything else you say though :) - Batteries do degrade, but nowhere near that fast. Current evidence suggests that 90% retention after 5 years / 100k miles should be what you can expect. - EVs are less constrained than you think. We have a Model 3 and it takes us 850km to my in-laws in exactly the same time as the ICE we used to drive there. It took us 4000km round northern Norway last summer without any inconvenience at all, and i expect it to take us 6000km round europe (including the UK) this coming summer. The only real inconvenience is if you don't have the ability to charge at home or work. That for sure is limiting. - I think your engineer needs to look a bit more closely. The electric motors, AC-DC converters and control electronics in a 2022 EV are mind-bogglingly advanced.
Harry, regarding the location of the charging socket. Perhaps BMW are trying to encourage you to back into a bay, because Health and Safety Advisers recommend that drivers are able to drive straight out of the bay!
Thank you for this review. I have collected my iX 40 recently (after 3 i3s). I agree with you about the comfort of driving with all the tech support, as well as the power. As mentioned I have the shorter range battery - in winter about 320 km. I think it is sufficient: the average commute is about 20 km (mine is about 80 km) and we have a very dense fast-charger network in the Netherlands. I have a 3-phase 11 kW charger at thome, so no issues there. I agree with your complaint about the weight, BMW have used some carbon, but far less than on the i3; they should do better. Then again, it is not cheap. But if you can afford it, it is a great car.
You can really see some of the i3 ideas in this iX...especially where the charge flap is (that annoyed me too when I had one!) and the use of composite materrials. Overall though, the fit and finish looks top notch
Strikes me by the content of the comments below that BMW have got this and other models completely wrong in most departments. I'm not sure I'd be wanting to be head of marketing for this range.
I really hope this craze for everything in a video display with endless menus goes away. Give me a handful of well-placed switches that do one thing and one thing only for heavens sakes. Drivers scrolling around a screen looking for some function or other are not safe drivers. Your comments on charge times are on point Harry. Great review!
I'm old enough to remember when BMW naming conventions didn't look like encrypted passwords.
Yeah so do I, 4 pre 74 2002's in my collection, Rj in Oz
Found the Boomer!
A) Harry royally screwed up the badge and title to this video.
B) The same engine/motor can make different power ratings, it’s not that hard to comprehend.
@@ericfitzgerald9139 Found the BMW nerd!
@@ericfitzgerald9139 did you just say "boomer"? That's basically a by-word for tiktok kids AKA Generation participation Trophy AKA The hurt feelings generation. No joke mate nobody listens to anything anyone born after about 1985 says, you lot created a post truth world so you cannot come on here insulting older and vastly more robust & intelligent generations and expect anyone to listen to you. You spent your life playing Call of Duty son... that had consequences.
@@fakevirus8828 actually, the current post-truth world is a late 19th / early 20th century phenomenon. Boomer's added tech & monetization. post-boomers added not particularly caring about the truth or fiction of the world. I personally apologize for not teaching them better.
As an advocate for always reversing into a car parking spot, rather than reversing out into car park traffic I'd be happy with a charge port at the rear of the car.
Absolutely 👍
Also, many of these will end up as company cars and/or driven to corporate offices, which often have reverse parking policies for "health and safety".
Safest way to park.
@@roybatty4687 actually I guess its safest way to unpark
Agree, also they are considering accident damage less for rear side power connections then a front connector and in BMW’s case where does the petrol cap go on those models ICE and electric, but Harry’s has a point some of the InstaVolt locations are difficult with the rear side power, there’s one in Crewe a right royal pain.
I can see a lot of charge point rage in the future.
On one hand we have the UK Gov making almost any interaction with a smartphone a penalty offence and on the other car makers are loading up cars with more and more touch interfaces with no legal issues.
Exactly. Big business make their own rules. But the ordinary man is fined to pay the government when breaking their rules. Works well for the government and big business. Stuff like this really highlights that not every law is fair. just because it's law doesn't mean its right.
Very good point!
@@TheChannel1978 the laws are only for middle class and below
Loading cars with unecessary tech is why they charge the higher prices.
@@mjames978 and the latest trick is to install all the tech, but get the customer to pay a subscription for access to that tech.
"What's happened to the BMW kidneys?" They're not kidneys any more Harry, they're beaver teeth.
Funny thing is .. to repair stone chips and scratches you use a hair dryer to melt out the blemishes !!! Most bizarre thing I never heard of before .
The BMW designers have lost the plot haven't they?
Just following Audi's lead, I guess.
German "style".
@@stevemawer848 lol…… it’s bmw style!!
Not a design to create calmness on the motorway.
Totally
If manufacturers absolutely insist on having touch-screens for every function then these cars need to have a Siri/Alexa type of operating system for things like the heater controls, audio etc. It would make it much safer than messing around going into menus and sub-menus.
....or they can return to regular controls which can be manually adjusted and be safer too.
Too much tech becomes annoying after a while.
Most cars nowadays come with voice commands which do those, i think bmw comes with alexa which can be used to control other things and link with your alexa in home
They do. Not as smooth as Siri but you can command these cars to do everything you want.
I wouldn't like to connect with that screen and it's supports in an accident #impaled
it would be more safe if no one drive's, sum, you clearly havent thought your pant wetting through....
The voice command in modern BMWs is second to none. They also have Alexa integration.
14:10 as a german this astounds me. I know nobody that does not have 3 phase power to their house. I got a 22kW car charger in my house and we have plenty of connection to the grid left. And for NON tesla fast chargers (take IONITY for example) Germany has 105 active fast chargers (350kW), France has 103, but the UK has only 17(!).
Yes I'm not sure what the UK are doing because Europe is way ahead in regards fast charging I like the IX you can find them used at half price in the UK or in the US with very little mileage on them and they will tow 5,000 lb so having the bigger battery will come in very handy
LOL, that guy in the Mercedes cutting you off to get to the charging point - what an asshole!
I love Harry and watch the electric stuff so that I can try and understand the future, but my hearts not in it. Show me a leaking Lambo engine any day
@@lukemallory7832 +2
@@lukemallory7832 +3 these things aren't really cars just $100,000 appliances.
I like to learn, not just nostalgia.
Use an electric vehicle as a daily, save the planet and annoy Putin, drive the lambo on weekends 😉
@@michelmoonen3433 Save the Planet? Yea check out the manufacturing process...Oh and with many components made in China, possibly the most environmentally unfriendly country on earth combined with their mining practices in Africa, the EV could possibly be more damaging than ICE...I really don't think Putin really cares what you do.
£120,000?????????? Jesus 😳
At least you can save money on the servicing by filling up the washer bottle.
Blasphemer
Weird how a near 3 ton car costing over £100K to move 5 people over an interrupted 300 mile range is seen as progress!
and once 8 to 10 years old you will be scrapping it when it needs a new battery.'
only a moron buys into this junk
That's because you have critical thinking skills of the average ape.
@@NickLiang we're all descended from apes. Some of us managed to learn how to have more polite discourse on the way though.
@@m7dgz But obviously for some, not intelligence, we didn't descend from apes.
weird logic you have. Cars have gotten heavier each decade since the 60ies because more integrated safety and tech added. the range has nothing with progress to do. will a 1000 mile range be progress? you have to get some food and go to the loo anyway.
it is actually progress for you well being!
Great video Harry as always 👌always informative and entertaining. Love the technical components
This is the antithesis of what I want in my life.
I could not agree more with statement.
It is awful, and tacky with that 🤮 'crystal' interface
@@conflagrationTuesday ~ well said
BMW has been struggling with design lately. These modern BMWs are not nice looking in my opinion.
Looks like Bugs Bunny to me.
"Struggling" is a very generous way to put it. Every time I see a new 1 or 4 Series it hurts my inner car lover
They've been struggling even more with reliability -- which is in the toilet.
@@williamr3840 Very true - but even worse is they are still one of the better German brands for reliability - you are lucky if you get a Mercedes arrive at the dealership without multiple faults from the factory, and VAG - if it's not one of their big selling units like a Golf, it'll be a utter pain in the arse to own too. The only good news is people are starting to wake up to the fact that German Engineering isn't what it was 30 years ago.
@@Beer_Dad1975 Sadly agree, and I'm German. I have no idea what they think they are doing. Good engineering used to be a virtue, now it seems it's all about marketing and cost cutting the engineering, or engineering in a way that won't last.
I think I could sit and listen to Harry reviewing just about anything. Cool guy.
I just wanted to clarify my like. It’s not for the car, but rather the suburb Chanel and in particular Harry’s presentation and watch ability.
I love this and Harry’s Farm video’s. Keep up the excellent work!👍🏻👏🏻
I'd like to see these touch screens with no physical buttons banned.
How are they any different to using a mobile phone whilst driving.
I don't want mine or anyone else's attention taken from the road to adjust the heating etc...
It takes too much faffing to navigate the menus and sub menus and is dangerous.
It should be a quick glance to see where the button is and that's it.
Another good point of why German/may other cars are loosing touch of reality, to control one on the go is almost impossible as ive test drove and seen harry do giving a demo.
Excellent point. I would go further and suggest that it’s idiotic that manufactures have chosen to effectively mount an iPad in the middle of the dashboard. I swear the police used to get funny about where you positioned your sat nav in the windscreen. I wish there was some sort of owners survey into what features owners actually use. Air con, heater, radio, maps. Who seriously wants to change the drive mode or gearbox settings in a regular car. I just want to get in and drive ffs. Great comments tho 👍
I agree. I would really like to see a sterring wheel full of physical or virtual buttons with tangible feedback that can be progrrammed to the positions I want them in with relevant head up display when I touch a button. It's all perfectly doable, almost old technology, and I can still see the road while I adjust volume, seat, temperature, and so on.
One of the main points about ergonomics as they were developed during the '70s was that you didn't have to take your eyes off the road to operate the controls. That's why those for indicators, wipers and lights went from being scattered all over the dash to being concentrated around the steering column.
I 100% agree, I have recently got the new leon phev, and it also has zero physically buttons. I have to wait for a safe bit of the road before i start clicking through the various menus to get the climate control i want etc. Its beyond dangerous, muscle memory all the way, but that doesnt apply to tapping various menus on a app
“The front is a statement look” and that statement is “it looks like it crashed head on into a brick wall”
No, that statement is "piss off Helipeek you mangy old luddite"
@@sq1rlsqu4d what? So you basically admitting only generation "participation trophy" have zero style or class and actually find a set of Eskimo shoes painted by a cheap can of halfords black.. a sexy car? hahahahaha you plum, get back on Tiktok
@@sq1rlsqu4d the joke’s on you, I’m not from Ludd!
@@helipeek2736 bmw looks crap
I saw another review where they applauded BMW returning to the big grill from their very early models but the truth is that BMWs didn't really look any good until they made the kidneys small, the were still distinctively BMW but didn't have hideous front ends that looked way out of balance.
Loved the bit where the other car muscled their way into the charging bay! Brilliant - thanks for a thoroughly enjoyable vid. 👍
Had to chuckle when opening the door caused all those things to activate and the range go down. Sort of like half a pint of petrol leaking out. I prefer your Jag V12.
I have to say a car weighing nearly three tons to transport one person does seem extravagant in the extreme. I think we need Gordon Murray to design the World some economical electric
transport, also do we really need such extreme performance? Great car just over the top. Interesting review, thanks Harry.
Batteries mean added weight - you can’t get around physics.
thats why I commute on an Innova, 100kg, 1.7L/100km (~135 mpg)
on pretty much ancient technology
So a smaller battery has its merit; the old scalability problem for EV. I came across a BMW i3 police car on the street; wonder if they take the range-extender version?
Gordon Murray? He'll probably get someone else to design it and claim he did it all.
More and more, the environmental credibility of these things shrink.
Absurd - from just about every point of view. Thanks for the review.
I couldn't agree more. Well said! 😖
Thanks! Fascinating to have a real enthusiast's balanced assessment. The comments were equally interesting. All the best.
Someone at bmw drew that. Thought it looked good and presented it for consideration and then more people liked it and then it was approved for build. It’s an utterly ghastly looking thing shocking how BMW have lost their way
Have you ever seen it in person?
It actually looks much better, especially in the red and bronze accent.
@@MH-im4oh unfortunately I have and if anything it looked worse
Stunning and brave
@@wolfiestreet6899 I agree... I like the bold design starting with the M3, M4 and the new X7 and i7 as well.
@@MH-im4oh .....
The light show on the cluster has just taken 10 miles of the range! 😂
Well spotted, saw that too.
Yes, It seems like just opening the door eats into the range!
@@peteracton6360 🤣👍🏻👊🏿.. petrol all the way sir 👌🏾
3 tonnes? The last vehicle I drove that weighed 3 tonnes was towing a horse box - With a horse in it!
it has 2585kg and not 3000kg
It's 2.5, not 3.
May not be quite 3 tonne unladen… but put four passengers and their luggage in, it will not be far off…
@@dr-ok3sn Yeah, it's 2585kg kerb weight.... 4 average people and their luggage will have it knocking on 3 tonnes.
@@TheDoosh79 6000 US pounds. That's 3 tons to us in the US and ridiculously high for an SUV of this size.
The "in conclusion" is spot on on every single point. From towing to BMW building to charging... Thanks again. 👍👍👍
Not having a frunk is a major let down. Even though the one on my Polestar 2 is rather small, I love having the charging cables there. Having to keep them in the trunk would be a hazzle when you have other luggage.
Lol…….. even most tesla users never/barely uses the frunk and also this bmw has way more space than a tesla despite having no frunk.
The vw id4 has the practicality of the giant tesla modelX for the records!
@@alanmay7929 Good luck fetching your cables from under your luggage.
@@andyknuckles2903 that’s what she said lol…… there are tons and tons of space still.
@@alanmay7929 Haha
That front end is many things but “a good look” is not what springs to my mind 🤣
Those oversized kidney 'grills' are very obnoxious at first glance. Now they just have a cheap computer case look about them to my eye.
And suddently the Fiat Multipla turned pretty.
I always really liked it, especially the original one.
🤣
😂👌🏾👍🏻🤘🏽
🤣🤣🤣👍
😂
9:33 Lovely little Lambretta 2 stroke buzzing around! The antithesis of what Harry is driving!
Great review Harry. I like it, not a stunner from the front, lovely from the rear and side but undoubtedly a breathtaking feat of engineering.
It would be great to see your review of this “thing” on a trip to the arctic circle 🥶
…in 40-50 years from now 🤔
Playing with a phone while driving is a big no-no but massive screens with intricate menus in a car seem to be fine?! Beats me 😱
Quite right if you go to commercial MOT with a tax disc in the window they would fail you for obscuring vision. Yet as car drivers we are allowed things stuck to the windscreen. Screens in the car to distract us ETC its all wrong.
It won't be around to be reviewed in 40-50 years, and if it is it'll be on it's 3, 4, 5th replacement battery. This is my main gripe with all modern cars, especially EVs - if we were truly interested in helping the environment we would be championing cars that are built to be maintained and last a generation or three
@@tom_thumb most batteries will outlast ICE engines. 3-400k is not abnormal for Tesla batteries still with 85%+ capacity
As for attic, watch horn by land on yt?, he has regular arctic challenge on his channel. Never a problem.
@@johnn17golf I hope you're right, but from what I can see most manufacturers are estimating 10-20 years life for current battery packs, that's before you think about the rest of the car's technology which i'm guessing will be outdated and failing before then. I'm not completely negative about EV's, but I'm not convinced the way we're building them now is the answer
@@tom_thumb like my 800kgor so mx5 that's averaged 4k miles a year for 21years and Im expected to change it to a new electric 50k one? fkn mental
Harry, another very enjoyable and insightful review, thank you. You mentioned driving the BMW iX as being just such a different experience to a conventional car. Many years ago, I was given a lift in an open topped two seater 1930s MG Midget around the back lanes of the New Forest. Everything was so alive! The whine of the crash gearbox; the full on engine sound; the smell of hot oil and leather; the bouncy ride; the lack of bodywork surrounding you and no seat belt!! 30mph felt like 70!! It was exhilarating. When I returned to my own car, then a Mk1 Ford Focus, it seemed utterly refined but comparatively soulless. Now times have moved on and comparisons change. Today, a Mk1 Focus is regarded as a reference point by many for driver involvement when compared to some more modern cars. Judging by your reviews, and those of others, it would now seem that current combustion engined cars, although more refined than ever, have retained more driver involvement than electrically powered cars. Are we moving into the age of the truly 'soulless' vehicle?
I'm afraid it looks that way. I remain unconvinced it's possible to make an involving pure electric sports car but maybe Lotus/Alpine will prove me wrong!
But a lot of miles we do today are very tedious commuter type miles and a modern EV (like a Tesla or this BMW) is good at doing such things, so long as the typical 300 mile range isn't an issue for you.
True
@@harrysgarage Electric cars are for people who don't like cars. Or driving, hence the plethora of driver "aids" which basically just deskill you.
@@harrysgarage great review.
we can & will have electric sports cars. there's a long way to go yet in achieving systems having light batt pkgs with quick charging & adequate range. it will flow from the industry as the shift to electrics sinks in... give it 5-10 yrs. pleasure derived from analog fun-in-motion will endure as market pull.
@Steve Mawer many ICE cars are the same. To many it’s just a box to get from A to B
Informative and enjoyable…just tec as harry said… thank you so much
Another great video Harry. Love your style too, how cool you always seem to remain even when pushed (by a lowly undertaker for example), good on you.
BMW has lost the design plot in the last 10 years. The front of the car looks like the front door to a futuristic brothel.
I thought it looked more like something you visit the brothel to get....
I don’t think they have a design department.
It's not just the front that looks wrong. If you removed the badges from that car I could not tell you if it was a Hyundai or a Kia or what. I've purchased many BMWs in my life, several of them new. But there is no way I'd purchase a new BMW anymore. I don't know what they think they are doing. Who likes these designs? Is that the Chinese market? Has me puzzled, looks cheap. Way to throw a brand language over board but honestly BMW had lost the plot for a decade now so nothing new here.
@@TheChannel1978 Confronted by the unexpected success and cult of Tesla - who lead the EV market by a country mile - BMW are panicking. They are 5 years too late and these awful designs are handing market share to Audi.....and of course Tesla.
@@berwhaletheavenger except...everyone know Tesla and BMW are both junk heaps with shocking reliability.
I dont get how manufactures claim such low co-efficient of drag on these new cars when they have a massive slab of a front end. The Renault Alpine GTA V6 Turbo from 1986 was the worlds most Aerodynamic car for 6 years in a row from 1986 onwards @ 0.27. Which has a tiny frontal area and very sleek.
A lot has been learned since 1986. Also, being an EV, it's just as smooth on the bottom as on the top, which is almost half the battle. It needs very little air for cooling, and that airflow is much easier to control than with a gas car.
The drag coefficient, Cd, only describes the smoothness of the shape, not the full air resistance. The frontal area, A, is a completely separate factor in the drag equation. Often you'll hear the two combined, as in "the CdA value", because it's the product of the two you can easily measure in a wind tunnel.
D = Cd * A * .5 * r * v^2
The shape of front of a car (or in fact any subsonic object) actually makes very little difference to air resistance! The back REALLY matters and maintaining low turbulence down the sides and underneath is next in terms of importance.
Physics!
It being "sleek" doesn't mean it's aerodynamically efficient, look at the Mercedes W124 for that, it's got a pretty big nose and looks rather brutish and it's CD was 0.3, which is extremely impressive for a car that's design was finalized in 1981.
Harry! A real road test would be you in your huge electric car, and I in my petrol sportscar, setting off from Oxford and driving to my home in SW France. You would be hours, even days behind me if the BMW owners manual is correct regarding charging times. Electric cars are brilliant for city use with home overnight charging. They will never work as Touring cars. My old Defender still pulls 3.5MT and an electric car can not rival that. The raw materials and environmental cost of replacing either of my cars with electric negates all value of zero emissions as the production emissions are many fold greater.
In Germany the majority of houses have 3-phase so 11kW is standard and if you are luck (and ask the local electricity supplier nicely) then one can have 22kW. (Or charging 2 cars at 11kW... 😁)
…and about all the people who happen to be living in apartments?
@@thesaint2700 they also have 3-phase and therefore 11kW
BMW have made a car that nobody can afford, takes two days to charge, is so heavy it'll break your driveway AND has a shonky looking PC monitor bolted to the dash.
Way to go guys 🤣
Don't forget that grill!
I was just thinking the same about the screen - looks a bit of an afterthought rather than integrated design….
and still sells like hot cake
@@eugenux no it doesn't, German car sales are tanking faster than British Leylands did when everyone realised they kept breaking down.
Way to go Boomer! 😆 Isn't it an utter crock of shit?
100K+ for a mass market car that carries no more people than an average family saloon or indeed supermini. Electric is looking less and less like 'the future'. Unless the future is the bus , for most.
And without any front boot ... I am pro tech, but imagine the quantity of gas I can pay with this obscene amount of extra money needed
@@justafish-bd8kw Exactly my thought too. I live in an area where most of the houses are Victorian terraces with small side street/footpaths of 16 houses and only on street parking, getting parked anywhere near you house is a rarity, so how are us working class going to charge electric vehicles , or even afford them in the 1st place.. see your comment for the answer lol
That is exactly where they want us to go. The Chipping Norton types get to keep their EVs but the peasants are on the bus getting mugged and farted on. Let's see how it plays.
This is pretty much every luxury SUV summed up so not sure what this has to do with this being electric. In terms of power and performance this is in line with the X5 M50i which starts at 104k€ in Germany vs 102k€ for the iX xDrive50. That is a lot of money of course but top of the line BMW SUVs have always been super expensive and this one is no different.
The euro regulations and emissions benefits for heavier, larger and more expensive cars are forcing the poorer out of cars, it's some high level social manipulation. In a few years when the safety systems make them uneconomical to repair we will enter the 'You will own nothing' stage..
Great review, thanks!
The quietness is very apparent in the video, super quiet. I also like the sound of the car.
Was fully expecting the Chiron today, haha. Love every Harry video.
Harry’s farm as well ❤️✌️
@@MrMarcol29 Anything Harry. Damn those fertalizer prices! And that fence is AWESOME! lol
Snap!
Same here haha
Sorry Harry, the first review that really isn’t for me. The BMW is a shocker.
And it's ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN THOUSAND POUNDS 😂
@@ChocolateFrog oh man 🙁 I didn’t get that far in the review
Harry, you can also get 3phase power in Germany. So 11 kW is no issue and if your local power grid provider agrees you can have even more.
Only if you utilize just one single phase you can get at most 4,6 kW (230V x 20A) - hence you should get a car and charger with 3phase AC to benefit from the usual 11-22 kW charging.
Very impressive Harry!
Looks bloody awful, big fan of 80's BMW, but this is shocking styling, saw a 635i friday in red, stunning car. This is a horrible mistake. As for the stupid grill....
2002tii or 323i any day over this soulless monstrosity.
@@neilrafferty2097 or the E36 or my E39 M5. Even my 2017 440i looks a lot better. This huge grill thing BMW is into is worse than the Bangle-era BMW crap - and that's saying something!
It may be quiet, but that means you'll hear people being sick as you drive past.
@@pete540Z Great cars and a simple streamlined model range in the 80s .
Good job then that these are for BMW’s 2020’s customers. Funny how all the modern BMW haters are anything but the current target customer. The ‘grill’ is no longer a grill anyway it’s to hide all the modern driving aids.
I think it looks drop-dead gorgeous from the wheel hubs down.
Good one :D
You are kidding, right? 😳
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab I believe he is Peter.
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab Yes Peter, I'm kidding.
@@JonathanCheeseman Phew! 🥵
You've nailed it Harry... those full charge from empty timings are what prevent most EV's from really killing it in the marketplace.
Talk to anyone with home charging and they'll tell you they dont typically drain the battery to 0 and quite often dont bother to charge to 100% because that last 10% takes exponentially longer. A 0-100% charge is not practical unless you know youre going to go on a long trip.
A 7kw home charger can give 200 miles in 10 hours overnight. That's enough for most people.
Safest way to park is to reverse in, so maybe that's behind the rear charge plug location If you ever go to a car park on a construction site where safety is paramount you will usually see signs telling you to reverse park. This is so you aren't reversing out of a space with poor visibility either side for most of the manoeuvre if you're next to parked vehicles.
Really, I love Harry's Garage, I really do. But please, please, please do a real-world review of an affordable e-car and a proper UK road trip. I'm tired of seeing £90k+ cars going to Europe where the charging infrastructure is way better than Blighty!!
All EVs are overpriced at the moment.
Even electric superminis have a starting price of around £30k, and once a few options are ticked, you're easily looking at a bill of £50k for some of them. For the average household with a budget of around ten grand for the family car, running an EV just isn't viable. And that's before we look at charging infrastructure, which is insufficient at best. The government is going to have to reconsider the 2030 cut off for petrol & diesel new car sales unless this can be improved.
@@jamsxr 'at the moment'. I love your optimism. But just wait until the government start taxing electricity.... do you think they'll let the revenue from fuel just disappear? You ain't seen nothing yet.
Yep, it's like people think they'll be able to run Evs on pennies. All that lost fuel duty will be clawed back, just wait
@@matthewgodwin3050 But you're assuming big car manufacturers will still be making fuel cars......!!
Surprised not more mention of the Merc at the charge station. What an epic piece of shithousery - unbelievable 'my time is more valuable than your time' selfishness. Should have shared a pic of the tool at the wheel, Harry.
And then the waste of space cannot even reverse into the space first time. What a p***k!
I really like the rear lights idea !
C'mon Harry, we don't care about hybrid electric crossover vehicles! Show us more of the classics! 🙏
I laughed at that front end, then laughed harder at the price. And I'm in pain after Harry stated the charging times. So I can only conclude this is a joke.
Charging times is the least funny thing about it. Most cars are parked long enough to fully charge at their spot, daily.
Charge whilst you sleep - no issue
And a not very funny one at that.
@@SDK2006b You sleep for 2 days? Lets face it, the only people buying this car will be rich virtue signallers to put in the fleet. This thing is totally irrelevant to most people.
@@ralphmillais5237 - nope, very rarely do you run an EV down to 0%. Mostly you charge EV’s from 10-80%. With this car 50% battery gives you 150+ miles - Most people do that much driving in a week! (Average UK daily miles is 20 miles).
Cd may be 0.25, but the Drag Force also depends on the frontal area (D = Cd * A * .5 * r * V^2). That is NOT a small number.
Yeah, 275 wide tyres sheesh...
@@JR-ii4lq it's an 'M' car lolololol
You’ve got the maths confused my friend. The Cd includes drag force in the calculation. Therefore, the lower the Cd (no matter the frontal area) = more aerodynamic, the end.
@@TML34 nope, it's a coefficient that acts on the drag area, fluid density and flow velocity relative to the object.
@@TML34 You are absolutely wrong. D is the drag force. Cd is a coefficient. A is the frontal area, r is the density of the air, V is the velocity. You should keep out of engineering when engineering is involved. Leave that to us engineers. BTW, it's math, not maths, and this is science not math.
Great review Harry,I can here all the bmw technicians watching sigh as the realise they are going to have to try and fix these cars , it all went wrong for BMW when that stopped fitting torches in the glovebox!!!
I was always taught and teach reverse parking. It safer when exiting from a parking space. Many businesses now insist on reverse parking in company car parks. Would also solve your charging cable issues.
Starting to see quite a few of these up here in Norway, obviously pulling a few potential Audi E-Tron drivers. In the flesh it looks pretty decent from the back, but the front grille is truly awful.
Charging ports: The industry really needs to set some standards on this, cos there are a lot of charger/car incompatibilities simply due to cable lengths and charge port location
I like the rear quarter view as well. Such a shame about the front
A non Tesla EV is a mess of various cables / apps / credit cards and faulty untrustworthy chargers … utterly ghastly to charge.
Well I blame the auto industry. They could have easily standardized it but everyone is too busy making money/things that are impossible to repair. As an auto tech, I won’t have a job in 30 years, everything is going to be maintenance free because everyone is turning stupid.
@@silentracer911 - Oh i don't think you need to worry about employment. Speaking as a Tesla owner i can see plenty of stuff that needs maintaining and will wear out. Plus all the fancy stuff that will definitely go wrong. And that's ignoring crash damage. You might need to change skill-set a bit, but i can promise these cars are far from maintenance-free.
Two Edsel grills on the front, not a winning look.
To much tech on the screen surely pressing a switch is a lot safer,
Way can’t it have a charging socket on the front as well as the back
especially when it costs over £115.000. Excellent video cheers Harry.
The price is a comedy. . The looks are a tragedy.
Great review, as always. Is that electric train sound synthetic, or do the motors really sound like that?
Tesla Model X also has a 2500 kg towing capacity. I’ve towed my Lotus to the track many times and it was always a very smooth experience. Range is almost halved when towing of course which adds charge time but the smoothness of the drivetrain makes it a more relaxing experience than ICE towing.
Needs auto-drive feature (having checked no pasengers) to auto-launch off the white cliffs of Dover
Carbon fibre cell ... I think repairability is a big factor in a car's environmental footprint. I thought these CF cells were uber expensive to fix. So I could understand they would make sense to repair in a super car. But as these things depreciate, and their batteries degrade, would the carbon fibre make them a write off in any sort of accident whereas a metal celled call might not be ?
Damage to the "cell" is normally a write off anyway because the way collision repairs are done, they replace parts that are bolted to the central cell unit, or sometimes glued. They do not "cut and shut" sections of that cell because if that part is damaged, the car is considered structurally compromised, and will be recorded as an unrepairable write-off in most jurisdictions. The only people who will be repairing a major collision to a car like this, will be enthusiasts - and it's not impossible to repair CF. In fact, it some cases, it's more viable than correcting a metal structure.
Carbon fiber is 100% non recyclable
It depends. There's probably a halve way house in CF chassis design, where parts likely to be clobbered are either protected by something sacrificial, or that part of the chassis is designed for (expert) garage replacement. Or, the car is designed so that CF cell replacement is not a massive job.
If the CF cell has been made by gluing together CF parts, then it is possible (if the right glues have been used) to unglue the broken part and replace it with a new. I've had this done (not with a car), and it's as good as new. So, in a situation where that part can be adequately accessed without dismantling the whole thing, then a repair could actually be pretty economic.
However, for cheapest / lightest CF cells, the way forward is the one adopted by McLaren where by the cell is made in one step, resulting in a single piece of hollow CF. Very clever. Cheaper to make - just 4 man hours. But, impossible or very difficult to adequately repair...
This problem also exists in the airliner industry, with the A350 and Boeing 787 in particular. Boeing make their fuselages in several, giant, single piece CF barrels. For repair there's a lot of work in assessing the extent of the damage, what has to be cut out, how it's cut out, how patches are glued in, or whether it's repairable in the first place. Airbus made the A350 out of jointed CF panels. Much easier to remove damaged parts and replace them. I'm no expert, but I'd hazard a guess that the B787 is more readily repaired on the ramp, for small damage, but might get written off, whereas the A350 is likely less repairable on the ramp but is less likely to be written off when damaged (you can always replace a panel, even if you have to do it in a hangar).
Have you driven an i3s Harry? The most fun EV you can buy, honest! Yes, it'll onyl do 140 miles on a charge, but for those of us who don't drive lots of miles, the near 1,200kg mass and carbon chassis give it hilariously fun dynamics! In the real world, it's also plenty fast enough, and more than fast enough to be fun (you can actually use the performance unilke any modern performance car....)
Beautiful big vehicule. The car of The fluture. Great understated design
I back into every single parking stall, for convenience... Lol. Great video!
If BMW are starting with a clean sheet, why still design a car with a bonnet, as though it needs that space for an engine? They can put the drivetrain and batteries anywhere in the car, so can use completely new layouts...
Great point this and i was actually thinking along the same lines as yourself . What got me thinking along those lines was the sound ( motors etc ) while Harry was driving . Reminded me ( when i closed my eyes ) , of sitting on a tram !!
I think they are keeping traditional styling during the ’transition’ phase so as not to scare off the early adapters.
@@davidnorton5887 Absolutely - the last thing BMW want is to scare off potential customers with a car that looks too different. Think of the Ford Sierra going back - slated at first because of the looks but only later becoming accepted and changing much of car design.
The only thing that impressed me was the low CD factor. But that’s like saying you married your wife because she was great at mental arithmetic.
@@johncarter7355 But the CD figure has to be multiplied by the frontal area, which in this case is pretty large.
Great review Harry. As a BMW X5 owner I am beyond disappointed with this car- I can’t even remember it’s ridiculous name. The charge time and screen displays and carbon fiber crash repair factors along with the beaver teeth grill make it a non starter for me. I periodically drive a journey of over 900 miles in 16 hour period. I’d like to see how long a trip to go from your place to the Riviera to check on the boat. I can’t imagine stopping every 300 miles for a charge and waiting for this thing to recharge. I think it a toy or a commuter car. The car is devoid of passion, it sounds like an electric train inside, has a passionless interior that is a giant computer screen- all no doubt because it’s cheaper and easier than gauges. I am really sad to see an era of numb steering cars in our future. I hope I am wrong, but wow BMW, it’s a buck toothed toaster.
Wow seeing vehicles like this make the future very exciting BRAVO BMW 🖐👍
Putting that car into the thumbnail really hurts due to it looks.
Do I sue Harry or BMW?
BMW 😆
Sue yourself.
Google
@@johnsmith1474 Smithy☑️
If that thing is involved in a side impact, does that mean it's basically written off or can that carbon fibre structure be replaced?
I'm sure it can be repaired for a third of the price of a new car.
@@anmihovil I hope BMW have put some thought into that. I wonder how, following a medium side impact an insurance company assessor will be able to judge the integrity of any such damage.
I think, at that point, you’re more focused on whether or not everyone is safe
@@anmihovil a cunning plan. It costs a fortune to repair so they make the purchase price astronomical in order to make the repair viable! Genius 👍🤣
@@anmihovil Lol, hell no, what can be recycled will be, the rest goes into landfill. Car manufacturers have very little incentive to make cars accident repairable, and it's financially better for them to fill up landfills with wrecks rather than repair them - that's why more and more late model cars get written off from what would have been in the past considered a fairly minor accident.
Well Harry, it is preffered to reverse park, because of the safety. I was looking at some statistics and numbers of accidents are pretty significant when reverse exiting parking
My 2020 X5 had iDrive 7 and I was able to set up the system pretty well, so important operations were automatically set. My 2022 BMW iX50 arrives tonight at the Port of Baltimore. I look forward to spending a lot of time setting up iDrive 8. From what I have learned from the UA-cam videos, I can pretty much pre-program much of the options for my usual driving habits. I have no intention of learning iDrive 8 as I am driving. I had two test drives of the iX50 and I am in love.
I saw one in a dealership last week. In the flesh, it looks far worse than it does on camera, both inside and out. Over £100k for iX is a complete joke.
These cars are brutally badly made they aren't worth £20k and that's the truth. Abysmal build quality that I haven't seen since BMC. Just had to fully respray one on warranty as the customer had picked up several issues with bodywork including panel gaps and boot seal leaking into trunk, the worst part is he clocked some of the issues and the horrific orange peel when he went to pick it up but they conned him into taking it on the promise it would get sorted, they then refused to repaint it till he got a solicitor involved and he said that was £1100 in total. The guy drove it in here raging, I had to point out that he bought the silly thing and that we ain't BMW we are subcontracted to fix their new cars if they are damaged or bellow par before they are sold. Worst still BMW phoned the police on him when he dumped the car outside the dealer with a letter refusing to drive the car again till it was fixed. It needed a new gearbox a few month afterwards as he phoned us asking if anything we had done in the painting process required the gearbox being touched in any way. Still raging at BMW he said the last one he bought was just as bad so he's done with then now. Glad I buy Japanese cars only.
Either it's one of those timeless designs everyone hates on at first but it'll still look good in 10, 15 years time or it will end up among the Pontiac Aztec down the bottom of car hell. I guess we'll see but I still think it's ugly. Looks like a really fat guinea pig with overgrown front teeth.
@@fakevirus8828 is somebdy paying you to spread this nonsense? This is 7-series quality vehicle. I know because I owned 7-series and have driven iX for a week.
@@marlasota I think it is a case by case basis, some model months/years are fine when build in a certain factory and other are not.
I do worry what has happened to BMW since it jumped on the climate emergency bandwagon.
These cars used to have character, luxury and panache.
Such a shame.
Looks like BMW totally bypassed the focus testing part of the design process where they ask regular folk, not fellow designers, for their opinion on the new design direction. From what I’ve seen of the comments at least 90% really dislike the front grill. Count me in on that number too!
The hideous front grilles on the new M4 are one of the reasons I haven't swapped my M5 for an M4.
Its big in chin and bmw stopped caring a long time ago. There was a huge backlash when they previewed the hideous grille on the M4 ans they couldny care less. Because it's just about bling bling and showoff now
I saw one of these in the flesh for the first time a couple of hours ago. It's even worse in real life than it looks in the video.
Looks aren't everything but if I were to spend this much money on a car, I wouldn't want to wince every time I looked at it.
@C J B and ugly indeed
But thats just my opinion
Harry, the charge point thing, either way, the owner will have to turn the vehicle around eventually. Your focused on it taking the extra 30 seconds when you get home instead of when your leaving.
Harry, I bet the bonnet does open. Check in the front passenger footwell and I bet you’ll find a removable panel that has the hood release hidden behind it, most likely painted bright red trying to make you scared of pulling it. The ESQ Merc also has an un-openable bonnet and what I describe is how you get into it.
Does it come with a teeth whitening kit? ☺️ Great review by Harry, always enjoyable to watch. I just find most electric cars repulsive. It’s ridiculous that we even have to mention things like ‘I didn’t have heater or ac on..’ when reviewing any modern car. Too many angles, a messy design all round. I really do not see why this is twice the price of a Tesla, Ioniq 5 or Kia EV6. Back a few years ago in the ICE world there was a big difference in say the BMW 5 series and a top spec Hyundai or KIA. In the BMW or Mercedes you got better engines, more characterful engines and better interiors. EVs seem to me to be an equaliser. They are all fast, quiet, do 200 odd miles and take too long to charge. The most expensive ones make the least sense to me. Keep up the good work Harry. Enjoyed many of the other comments left.
Thanks for your comment, it's becoming a very confusing landscape where we are now being asked to pay more for better range, rather than greater performance and luxury, as used to be the case with ICE powered cars. Odd.
Who told you BMW have good engines? They are the worst alongside Audi. 22% failure rates in some of them and the s/b58 lump, the one BMW fans called "the next 2JZ" has been found out as so bad it can't even do 30k miles reliably on a stage1. Older BMW 6pots are over rated to the point its comical as any mechanic or indeed true car guy knows they sucked, they had constant fan issues, cylinder liners broke up, hydraulic lifters, oil starvation to crank journals and later Vanos issues that were so bad that brand new cars failed the vanos test. Their diesels are terrible too especially the N47 and all era of the inline 6 swallowing their own swirl flaps and dying premature deaths. Even a lowly VW PD1.9 engine embarrasses all BMW engine designs.
These days a top spec Hyundai is very nearly the equal of a BMW.
@@scottthomson9813 In what way?
@@fakevirus8828 Not so. I have the N47 and it is a great engine. No issues. The N52 inline 6 is a very good engine and it made BMW become renowned. There are some engines with reliability issues but all in all, they are not worse than any other ICE engine with issues, the V10 being an exception. The problem with BMW is that they have many small bits and pieces which fail.
94k for something so ugly and fat , well done bmw keep up the good work
I thoroughly enjoyed the video, you covered all significant points. I think you summed it up indirectly at the end - the BMW is nearly perfect but you have no love for it, and the Countach is terribly flawed and you love it. Me too.
Excited for the coming i7!
Great review as always. £114k, really….? When is reality going to kick in, like electric charge point rage…?
What a total "see you next Tuesday" that Mercedes driver was.
About the same as estimated starting price of new Lotus SUV - don't want that either!
It's a good deal considering it rides better than the electric S class (EQS) and its performance and refinement.
Backing up to park is actually considered safer. You take more care to park properly, the car turns better (like a forklift) and when leaving you don't back up into traffic and see easier.
Also when you are not in a hurry, you can save that time to make it faster to leave when you are in a hurry... :)
always always park boot in
@@user-ht9fr6eh9u Parking forwards at supermarkets is only my exception to that rule - loading the boot isn't convenient if you have to squeeze the trolley between cars to reach the boot.
8:48 Nice bit of scaffolding holding up the dash display! :) A screen that big is a major contribution to non road safety. Why is it acceptable to have an Ipad bolted to the screen with social media connectivity when drivers should be paying attention to the road, and not messing around on Facebook etc. If a mobile phone is banned, why is this major distraction allowed? I ride a motorbike and can see fewer and fewer drivers paying attention to their fellow road users, happy in the knowledge that they're alright in their big carbon fibre box.
Oh, and it is Fugly!
spot on. Makes me want to go into car design
Charging in Germany is even worse, as you cannot pull 16 amps from a normal outlet constantly. Charging is more or less limited to 10 amps constant output. 11kw wallboxes are common, though.
That cheeky EQC driver! They couldn’t even reverse it in one either. Saw you do some hand gesturing. What happened next 👀
Virtue signallers prerogative, "me first, me first"
@Harry’s Garage Sorry Harry but at 115K or 95K, it is most definitely NOT a “normal” family car, unless the family income is 300K p.a.
In three years it’s battery capacity will be at 80% max…
I’m certain that this EV bubble will burst when logical people finally realise the constraints of an EV.
An engineer recently stated that todays EV’s on a technological level are where ICE where in the 30’s!
I agree it's not a normal family car. Even here in Norway with all our subsidies this is an expensive machine.
I disagree with pretty much everything else you say though :)
- Batteries do degrade, but nowhere near that fast. Current evidence suggests that 90% retention after 5 years / 100k miles should be what you can expect.
- EVs are less constrained than you think. We have a Model 3 and it takes us 850km to my in-laws in exactly the same time as the ICE we used to drive there. It took us 4000km round northern Norway last summer without any inconvenience at all, and i expect it to take us 6000km round europe (including the UK) this coming summer. The only real inconvenience is if you don't have the ability to charge at home or work. That for sure is limiting.
- I think your engineer needs to look a bit more closely. The electric motors, AC-DC converters and control electronics in a 2022 EV are mind-bogglingly advanced.
'its a little bit Cheshire' is my new favourite phrase 🤣
Harry, regarding the location of the charging socket. Perhaps BMW are trying to encourage you to back into a bay, because Health and Safety Advisers recommend that drivers are able to drive straight out of the bay!
my eyes
This actually makes the X5 look like good value!
Anyone buying modern German cars needs their head checken. Utter heaps
@@fakevirus8828 take a look at Lexus pricing or JLR. The 7 series is a bargain in comparison.
Thank you for this review. I have collected my iX 40 recently (after 3 i3s). I agree with you about the comfort of driving with all the tech support, as well as the power. As mentioned I have the shorter range battery - in winter about 320 km. I think it is sufficient: the average commute is about 20 km (mine is about 80 km) and we have a very dense fast-charger network in the Netherlands. I have a 3-phase 11 kW charger at thome, so no issues there. I agree with your complaint about the weight, BMW have used some carbon, but far less than on the i3; they should do better. Then again, it is not cheap. But if you can afford it, it is a great car.
You can really see some of the i3 ideas in this iX...especially where the charge flap is (that annoyed me too when I had one!) and the use of composite materrials. Overall though, the fit and finish looks top notch
Strikes me by the content of the comments below that BMW have got this and other models completely wrong in most departments. I'm not sure I'd be wanting to be head of marketing for this range.
Another superb review Harry, rather too expensive, like you I will stay with the plug in hybrid
Great video Harry as always a pleasure to watch. Too pricey for an EV this one in my opinion
I really hope this craze for everything in a video display with endless menus goes away. Give me a handful of well-placed switches that do one thing and one thing only for heavens sakes. Drivers scrolling around a screen looking for some function or other are not safe drivers. Your comments on charge times are on point Harry. Great review!