Review | 2025 BMW iX - It’s Not Pretty... (But it is Pretty Good)

When BMW invites you to a party, you don't say no. When BMW presents a list of exciting new cars to test (with a choice of what you'd like to drive!), again, you don't politely turn down the opportunity for that either.

But, when you're a bit late to the email reply with the wish list of cars you'd like to drive, and other journalists have already claimed your top 3 picks, you settle for what's left, and in my case, that was the BMW iX xDrive45 M Sport LCI. Which is fine... I guess?

Let's be real. It's not pretty - especially in beige.

When the iX first launched in 2021, I was personally underwhelmed by its appearance. It came at a time when a flurry of egg-shaped SUVs burst onto the market as if part of some fashionable craze. It was also a time when BMW was launching its most controversial designs to date. Extra large kidney grilles, oversized arches and enough angles upon angles to raise the eyebrows of even the most daring designers.

Four years later, for the model's LCI (life cycle impulse) - that's a 'facelift' to you and me - I can't say the car's overall appearance has as yet won me over. It's still very much an egg-shaped SUV and about as exciting to look at as a pebble.

To make my desire to write a positive review even more challenging, the iXs that had been lined up to test were all finished in a new colour called 'Dune Grey'. Except it's not grey; it's beige—the sort of colour you'd expect to see on a 1980s prosthetic limb.

As I was given the keys to my unmistakably beige car for the day, the adage of 'beggars and choosers' rattled around in my mind. I walked towards the car internally, chuckling at the sheer scale, colour scheme and proportions of the machine I was about to spend my day driving, but then, upon opening the door and taking a seat inside the iX, my almost gloating grumbles were quickly transformed into something more reminiscent of an unexpected comfortable smile. Because inside the car, it's a very different story altogether.

The good news: Interior Design

The interior of the iX is, in a word, fantastic. It represents what car interiors were predicted to look like back when I was reading car magazines at school. The perception of space and the use of minimalist design is staggering. The use of quality materials, including leather, Alcantara and textured fabrics portray true luxury. The seats feel large and wide, and once positioned in a suitable driving position, they feel more like armchairs than car seats. As part of the LCI update, the seats have been adapted for comfort, and the seats of the model that I'd been allocated for the day had an almost retro throwback design to BMW M cars of the 1990s with the iconic M stripe colour scheme, perforated leather and Alcantara bolsters supporting my legs and back.

Looking ahead, the steering wheel is reassuringly chunky, with increasingly rare-to-see push-button controls for infotainment and cruise control, all in intuitive places. As is the norm for BMW interior screens, a large 14.9-inch centre screen, which gives the illusion of it floating, accommodates all control and settings for the car, and an additional 12.3-inch screen acts as the instrument cluster ahead of the steering wheel. This smaller screen has a cycle of potential uses, including an augmented reality screen that takes a live forward-facing camera feed from outside the car and relays it to show the radar cruise control locking on to vehicles ahead.

Luxuries as Standard

As standard, the iX comes with a comprehensive list of luxuries, including comfort access, adaptive LED lights with automatic high beam assist, a driver's head-up display, wireless phone charging, smartphone connectivity and an excellent Harman Kardon Sound System.

Optional Extras Worth Ticking

On the model I'd be testing, two optional extra packages have been specified, including the Comfort Pack (£1,650), which rewards a climate comfort windscreen, ventilated seating, anthracite roof lining, sports seats, and the lovely upgraded M sport steering wheel. The Technology Pack has also been ticked (£3,250), offering 22kW high-speed charging, Driving Assistant Pro (automatic speed detecting radar cruise control system) and Parking Assistance Pro, which cleverly remembers tricky parking processes and manoeuvres the car for you into tight spaces and driveways once a predetermined route has been programmed. In addition to the packages, glowing kidney grilles had been spec'd at £500, a Sky Lounge Panoramic Roof with clever frosting at the touch of a button at £3,200 and sun protection glass at £500, had also been ticked, which, all in equates to exactly £10,000.00 worth of optional extras alone.

xDrive45 LCI Pricing and trim options

For anyone hoping that the iX might be a sub £50k family car option, allow me to regretfully quash that dream now. Even in the most basic form (iX xDrive Sport), the price tag starts at £75,315. The model I'm driving (iX xDrive45 M Sport) is £78,315 before options, and if more power is desired, an xDrive60 M Sport version will set you back £93,115.

At the time of writing, the three aforementioned models are on offer, but in the very near future, a 4th and even more powerful option will be available to purchase called the M70 xDrive, which will have a frankly unnecessary 660 hp and 1,015 Nm of torque. The price for such ludicrous power is £114,215 - before options. Obviously.

The xDrive45 variant (as tested) is the model that BMW predicts it will sell the most. It's also the one most likely to appear on the potential fleet list of company cars in the segment.

Charging and Range

BMW is celebrating a new milestone in its EV range with the iX LCI. The new xDrive60 variant now has a WLTP electric range of 426 miles, the largest range on any BMW EV to date. On the xDrive45 (as tested), the longest range to expect is still an impressive 367 miles (WLTP), so even with the occasional exuberant squirt from the lights, a range of around 300 miles should be easily achieved on a single full charge and with the high-speed charging capability, a 10-80% charge can be completed in just 34 minutes.

Driving Impressions

With the exterior design firmly out of sight, a day of driving the iX xDrive45 would continue to impress. The iX is an exceptionally comfortable car to drive, and with the additional bonus of heated and massaging seats working in tandem with intelligent cruise control managing speed limits, cornering speeds and automatic braking, driving an iX is about as relaxing as anyone could hope driving a car might be.

It's worth pointing out that whilst the ludicrous M70 (660hp) and almost as daft xDrive60 (544hp) options are available, the xDrive45 is no slouch with 408hp, 700Nm of torque and a 0-62mph acceleration time of 5.1 seconds. The acceleration time is not to be sniffed at when you consider the iX's weight. At over 2,500 kilos - before the addition of passengers and luggage - the iX is about as heavy as you'd want a family car to be. With four adults and a boot full of luggage, 3 tonnes of mass is easily within sight, and even the best driving dynamics teams on the planet will struggle to hide that on the road. When driving spiritedly on undulating roads and through fast corners, the iX makes every single kilo known. The car feels undeniably heavy - because it is. Braking from 60mph on a country road is an occasional stark reminder that new-era family cars are not what they were 10-15 years ago. That said, once you know what to expect, you soon dial back the desire to drive the iX like a performance SUV. What the iX does best is sedate comfort whilst keeping a bit of power up its sleeve for the requirements of confident overtakes when needed.

For everyday driving duties, the iX is frankly sublime. The road and wind noise are minimal, and the positioning of the Harmon Kardon sound system has clearly been engineered and thought about, as it's the best I've heard for standard equipment.

As a family car with ease of access, ample storage and overall comfort in all five seats, the iX is well worth a short list for anyone with £80-90k to spend on a car in this segment.

Conclusion

Will I ever consider the iX a 'pretty' or remotely 'good-looking' car? No, probably not, especially not in Dune Grey (beige), but that's only a personal opinion. In terms of what really matters - i.e. the car's usability, comfort and how it drives, it's almost impossible to find any faults. And for many, the design clearly works, as BMW sold nearly 40,000 iX models globally in 2024 alone - so, perhaps I'm the anomaly - maybe the iX IS a good-looking car, and I just don't know it yet.

words by John Marcar
photography by Henry Faulkner-Smith