[ggalanis]

Originally Posted by sward

I can choose from three different distance settings but they apply for all conditions

That's what I meant by 'manual' setting. The user manual mentions an automatic one that may be offered in certain markets and I thought that maybe that's what you had set on yours.

I don't like that they removed this control from the steering wheel. The few times I use it, it is because I feel it is dangerous to be following at the closest setting (my normal setting) i.e. the car ahead of me is not giving himself enough room and braking abruptly all the time and really not a good time to have to fiddle with idrive to change it. I will end up just disengaging the cruise control instead.

Hopefully they don't keep doing this for future cars.

[sward]

Originally Posted by E92_William

It's mainly because it's not peoples choice that they go away but woke overreaching lawmakers inflating the price of gasoline and gas cars themselves and forcing electric vehicles down peoples throats. He didn't want an iX, he has to get one because they have made it a huge financial problem to own the X5M long term. Gas doesn't cost 2€ per liter in any other country that doesn't tax the hell out of it. Can't wait until they start going for our older BMWs…

That is so true

[boomerang.e92]

Originally Posted by E92_William

It's mainly because it's not peoples choice that they go away but woke overreaching lawmakers inflating the price of gasoline and gas cars themselves and forcing electric vehicles down peoples throats. He didn't want an iX, he has to get one because they have made it a huge financial problem to own the X5M long term. Gas doesn't cost 2€ per liter in any other country that doesn't tax the hell out of it. Can't wait until they start going for our older BMWs…

IMHO owning a V8 car or any other high power gasoline car will be equal to owning a horse one day. Very expensive hobby. Also when all cars talk to each other and driving is fully automated, seeing an old car that is driven by a human will be considered dangerous just like seeing a horse on a highway now.

[daswartz]

Originally Posted by AK.Gone.Driving

IMHO owning a V8 car or any other high power gasoline car will be equal to owning a horse one day. Very expensive hobby. Also when all cars talk to each other and driving is fully automated, seeing an old car that is driven by a human will be considered dangerous just like seeing a horse on a highway now.

Yeup. That is why I am getting rid of my 600 HP GT350 (horse 1 that never is driven) and my F10 and Expedition (horse 2 & 3). And to be honest the GT350 makes you want to be dangerous so it is best it goes away from my garage.

[sward]

I've been driving about 1000 km during the last week. About 50/50 between the X5MC and the iX. I have to say that the gasoline car feels old.

Sweden is cold and one big difference is how quick the windows are ice free. It takes some time in the X5MC but in the iX it's really quick.

All the climate settings are in iDrive now. It works better than I thought because I never have to touch it. The automatic settings for temperature, heated seats and heated steering wheel works really well. I never have to change the settings.

I haven't had any chance driving the cars on twisty roads since it's icy but the iX is more fun to drive than I thought it would be. It is the best EV out there.

I have some serious problems finding a good driving position. The seats are really good but the ones in the X5M are way better. I can't extend the seat so I don't get the leg support that I want. I'm 190 cm

ID8 have had som bugs and the MY BMW app never updated so I ended up erasing all my private settings in the car and then configuring everything again and now it works fine. Pushing the volume knob to restart ID didn't solve the problems

BMW Digital key plus works super. I don't have my keys with my and I can keep my phone in my pocket to unlock and lock the car. Sometime the phone unlocks it and sometime Apple Watch unlocks it. A couple of times before the reset nothing happened when I approached the car but taping the phone on the door handle unlocked the car ant then it worked fine again.

I was worried that the lack of shortcut buttons would be a problem but you can create shortcuts by pressing the iDrive wheel forward and then shortcuts are shown on the screen.

I miss the small storage box by my right knee. Not there any more

I haven't figured out the best way to start massage seats. Might have to create a shortcut.

BMW intelligent personal assistant isn't available in Swedish so I can't talk to the car. Not even in English.

[Matt 335is]

Originally Posted by sward

I have some serious problems finding a good driving position. The seats are really good but the ones in the X5M are way better. I can't extend the seat so I don't get the leg support that I want. I'm 190 cm

Great to hear how much you're enjoying the iX. Sounds amazing and a nice upgrade over the X5M.

The quoted part is a real bummer for me as that's one of the most important features in a luxury vehicle. It's a little surprising as most reviews rave about the seats and say the iX is the most comfortable BMW to date. I'm also approx 6'2" and need ample thigh support. Very unfortunate and something I'll need to go try for myself if possible.

I'm currently deciding between the iX and the X7 LCI coming in August.

[EDWYER]

Awesome! Congrats!

[Deja011]

I did a test drive for an iX 50 this morning.

My first impressions looking at the car in real life versus the pictures it looks much better.

It has got more legroom in the front and back I am 6ft and adjusted driver seat to the max where I drive my X5 G05 and then sat in the back it has got more room in the back.

The boot is smaller than an X5.

Interior looks very nice, liked the single pane for iDrive and Speedo.

Seats were really comfy and cushiony.

Drive was really good as it's electric there is no lag just press the pedal and how fast this thing goes.

What I didn't like was that everything now needs to be done via the touch screen. As it was my first drive and had to fiddle around to get to a few settings.

Overall it's an awesome car in terms of build quality, finish and driving.

[sward]

IX

[bpu]

Originally Posted by sward

I've been driving about 1000 km during the last week. About 50/50 between the X5MC and the iX. I have to say that the gasoline car feels old.

Sweden is cold and one big difference is how quick the windows are ice free. It takes some time in the X5MC but in the iX it's really quick.

All the climate settings are in iDrive now. It works better than I thought because I never have to touch it. The automatic settings for temperature, heated seats and heated steering wheel works really well. I never have to change the settings.

I haven't had any chance driving the cars on twisty roads since it's icy but the iX is more fun to drive than I thought it would be. It is the best EV out there.

I have some serious problems finding a good driving position. The seats are really good but the ones in the X5M are way better. I can't extend the seat so I don't get the leg support that I want. I'm 190 cm

ID8 have had som bugs and the MY BMW app never updated so I ended up erasing all my private settings in the car and then configuring everything again and now it works fine. Pushing the volume knob to restart ID didn't solve the problems

BMW Digital key plus works super. I don't have my keys with my and I can keep my phone in my pocket to unlock and lock the car. Sometime the phone unlocks it and sometime Apple Watch unlocks it. A couple of times before the reset nothing happened when I approached the car but taping the phone on the door handle unlocked the car ant then it worked fine again.

I was worried that the lack of shortcut buttons would be a problem but you can create shortcuts by pressing the iDrive wheel forward and then shortcuts are shown on the screen.

I miss the small storage box by my right knee. Not there any more

I haven't figured out the best way to start massage seats. Might have to create a shortcut.

BMW intelligent personal assistant isn't available in Swedish so I can't talk to the car. Not even in English.

I wanted to ask specifically about the climate settings. You mentioned you never have to touch them but I wonder how true this will be over time. In my car I'm always adjusting the temp, fan, or seat heat up or down a notch or two. After awhile in the car you get too hot and need to turn seat heat off, or when you first get in it's especially cold and you need to turn the fan up, things like that.

Thing is, that's super easy to do in a car with physical controls for all those things, so it's not a problem at all. In the iX the climate screen looks so atrocious that it's practically a deal breaker for the entire car if you ever have to interact with it. So if the passenger wants to turn on seat heat, they need to:

1. Press Menu on the touchscreen (how do you do this in cold Sweden with gloves on?).
2. Scroll to the right (passenger controls aren't fully visible when the screen first comes up).
3. Press up or down on seat heat.
4. Reach to the far upper left corner to hit Home? Or press Menu again? To dismiss the screen.
5. The whole time they're doing this, the map or music or whatever else I had on the screen isn't visible.

Can you confirm that's how it actually is? Compared to pressing one button before. Seems like a solution in search of a problem. Why couldn't they just keep the row of buttons from the X5?

Voice controls are no better. Requires pausing music, or asking kids to pipe down, takes a few seconds, awkward, etc.

[nosnoop]

Originally Posted by bpu

So if the passenger wants to turn on seat heat, they need to:...

For passengers, screen interaction shouldn't be an issue as they don't have to pay attention to the road. For driver, the controls are quite accessible after one tap on menu.

You can also press Home or Back haptic buttons next to iDrive controller to go back.

You probably have to get used to this as most manufacturers other than Audi are going the on-screen control route.

[sward]

It automatically turn on heated steering wheel and seat. If there is a passenger it also turns on that seat. After a while it starts lowering the temp until it is off. I never thought it wasn't the right temp. The same goes with air temp. It heats up really fast and then it keeps the preset temp. It will be interesting trying this out in the summer

You can set a start time in the My BMW app. Depending on the outside temperature it starts heating the batteries but also the car up so it is warm and ready by that time. I never need to scrape ice off the windows, if I remember setting a time. I can also use start now.

One more thing. The fans are really quiet, much more than in the X5M

[bpu]

Originally Posted by nosnoop

For passengers, screen interaction shouldn't be an issue as they don't have to pay attention to the road. For driver, the controls are quite accessible after one tap on menu.

You can also press Home or Back haptic buttons next to iDrive controller to go back.

You probably have to get used to this as most manufacturers other than Audi are going the on-screen control route.

That doesn't address most of the points I made: still requires the passenger to execute at least 4 taps instead of 1, still requires removing gloves, still hides the map or music from the driver while they're doing this. It doesn't make sense that with this giant screen it can't display two things at once or fit all the controls on screen at once, it's just poor design. For the driver, it's still more taps and more focusing on the screen. The iDrive buttons don't help, since they're flat without dividers (on the wood trim version), you can't even use it without glancing down.

Yes other brands have gone to on-screen climate controls like Mercedes but at least that system displays all controls on screen persistently at the bottom, emulating the physical controls. So you have to use the touchscreen but it's still just one tap. BMW has gone to the back of the pack by removing the controls and hiding it all behind a menu that requires more taps, scrolling, and taking over the whole screen. Their solution on the X5 was clever, the buttons took up a single row beneath the vents, and the dedicated screen between the vents means you don't need this big black bar to display the temp on the main screen. That would've worked well with the iX style interior but they abandoned it instead.

Originally Posted by sward

It automatically turn on heated steering wheel and seat. If there is a passenger it also turns on that seat. After a while it starts lowering the temp until it is off. I never thought it wasn't the right temp. The same goes with air temp. It heats up really fast and then it keeps the preset temp. It will be interesting trying this out in the summer

You can set a start time in the My BMW app. Depending on the outside temperature it starts heating the batteries but also the car up so it is warm and ready by that time. I never need to scrape ice off the windows, if I remember setting a time. I can also use start now.

One more thing. The fans are really quiet, much more than in the X5M

If you really don't feel the need to adjust temp, fan speed, or seat heat manually ever that would be a huge accomplishment of the automatic systems. Until trying it, I'm skeptical that they've made some major progress on this compared to prior cars. It seems more like an excuse to follow the trend of removing buttons.

[LittleJoe]

Personally, our X7 has all of the physical climate control buttons but I rarely ever touch them. I set it to Auto and let the system take care of everything. I'll hold judgement on iDrive 8 until I can try it for myself.

[Nahlem]

For me its about the same with the temperature when i bought my i3s it was pre set on 20c i set it to 21c and left it there even though i have physical buttons i only use one and this physical button is present on the i4 its the max window defroster due to the windows clogging up when driving out of a warm garage in to the cold air.

I have noticed two things around march/april the car more or less cools it self during the day when the temperatures are a bit higher and the sun heats the car but during the morning hours when i drive to work around 04.00 in the morning its still cold then it heats the car perfectly. When autumn arrives that's the only time i have noticed the car struggle a little bit with heat settings.

Other then that i haven't touched my temperature control sense i bought the car it seems to handle it perfectly for me. Then again i can only speak for my self i know when my wife is in the car she always put on the bum heating so but she is cold when its 20c outside and warm when its -20c outside.

So i guess we are all different in that way.

[nosnoop]

Originally Posted by Nahlem

So i guess we are all different in that way.

Very true.
And I am sure BMW has metrics and logs analyzing how frequent certain buttons were used by drivers in all their past models.

[sward]

Temperature for driver and passenger is always visible at the bottom of the screen

[sward]

70% of the iX production for EU will go to Sweden and Norway. Sweden has a population of 10.4 million and Norway 5.4 million. 70%

[TheStanman]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Could very well be an alternative investment strategy. The question is what ICE vehicle to buy and hold.

I agree that certain ICE vehicles will likely appreciate in the future. However, I don't think it'll be great true "investment" given the holding costs (maintenance, insurance, fuel) compared to other investments.

But owning a great ICE vehicle for little to no cost into the EV future is extremely appealing. I plan on buying one myself to complement an EV daily driver.

In terms of which cars, I think any highly desirable NA car will do well. NA engines are purest form of ICE, and the low-end torque of turbos will still feel weak vs EVs. I'm considering new Corvette Z06, R8 V10, GT3, and GT4 RS. If you have lots of $$$, then an LFA or Carrera GT

[TheStanman]

Originally Posted by AK.Gone.Driving

IMHO owning a V8 car or any other high power gasoline car will be equal to owning a horse one day. Very expensive hobby. Also when all cars talk to each other and driving is fully automated, seeing an old car that is driven by a human will be considered dangerous just like seeing a horse on a highway now.

I agree that a horse is a much more accurate comparison than steam engine. I don't think that's a negative connotation though - horse riding is a real hobby that many people have enjoyed for a long time. Sure it's expensive, but so is driving a BMW.

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by sward

I've been driving about 1000 km during the last week. About 50/50 between the X5MC and the iX. I have to say that the gasoline car feels old.

This is a very common reaction to living with a good EV. Your daily driver starts to feel very old and clunky in comparison.

[pr0gi]

What can you say about the boot space compared to the X5? I think it is smaller than the X5. I was going for X3 M40i for my last gasoline car but now unsure. The IX is great car but not very good infrastructure for EVs in Bulgaria. Last option I was thinking was X5 45e but such a big car with such a small boot is shame. And we travel across the country every month once or twice approximately 450-500 kms each way. So my dilemma is between three so different cars. Please keep sharing your experience. It really is the future.