The BMW X1 has a gasoline engine with 123hp, a diesel engine with 150hp and this, the all-electric iX1 with 313hp. If you want your gas-powered car to meet personal and business emissions standards, you have to make it very skinny and choked. In this brave new world, electric cars rule and give you loads and loads of power and performance.
The iX1 has more than twice as much power as the diesel, which is pretty impressive. It also claims to have great speed, with a 0-100kph time of just 5.6 seconds thanks to its twin electric motors. Wow. How does the X1 with an electric motor and some other changes feel to drive and ride in?
Performance, ride, and control of the BMW iX1
First up is the “Efficiency” mode. It’s nice that even in this mode, the car is smooth when it starts moving from a stop, the speed builds up in a straight line, and the accelerator pedal responds well enough to make it feel even more useful. You can also drive naturally with a low amount of regeneration and still get a lot of power from the iX1. The electric system works a lot like the drag of a combustion engine. Good insulation in the car means that only a little road noise gets in, which adds to the experience. It’s annoying that you have to use the tablet to access a menu in order to change the regeneration levels.
Want to get off the queue more quickly or quickly pass other cars when passing? You need to switch to Sport. The performance here is really exciting. The iX1’s best party trick is an explosive launch off the line with the left paddle pulled to turn on E-boost mode for 10 seconds. It has one motor over each side and almost 500Nm of torque. All 313hp is sent to all four wheels, and the electric X1 moves forward with a strong push from the back. At first, it feels faster than the 5.6-second 0-100kph time that is promised. Performance drops as you go faster, but this is still a lot of fun. It’s also fun to pass slower cars in Sport, where the quick boost of power helps you go by in a flash. However, Volvo’s XC40 Recharge is said to be even faster, with a 0-100 time of 4.9 seconds.
Because it has two motors for four-wheel drive, the iX1 can also put its power down easily. As you come out of turns, it even sends more power to the back axle. It’s not as balanced as the more expensive and bigger iX EV, which has rear-wheel drive, and it’s not as sharp or lively either. But it still has enough grip in corners to be fun.
I do wish the handling was better, though. It doesn’t have much feel and isn’t always reliable when loaded up in corners, which doesn’t give you much trust. The iX1 has good grip, but it rolls when you go faster around turns because the two-ton body weight is too much for the suspension to handle. And that’s true even though this car has adjustable dampers. The brakes don’t quite feel like a BMW should; they don’t have that initial bite that makes you feel confident, but they do get better as you press harder on the brakes.
When it comes to comfort, the ride over normal bumps is pretty smooth at low and medium speeds. We can say that this means the iX1 is at ease and at home in a city setting. If you go faster, especially on a road that isn’t perfectly smooth, the iX1’s suspension gets active and reacts, even throwing people around on really bad spots.
Battery, charge, and range in real life for the BMW iX1
An inverter, controller, a DC converter, an onboard charger, and a big battery are added to the ICE X1 to turn it into the electric iX1. The engine, gearbox, radiator, and fuel tank are taken away. For a car that goes from petrol to electric, the iX1 has a very big boot, but it doesn’t have a boot or front boot. The 490-liter trunk doesn’t have a cutout for a spare tyre because there is an e-motor on the back axle along with the power electronics and transmission that go with it. BMW India has given them a spare in the form of a Rexine cover, but it takes up room in the trunk.
The 64.7kWh battery is mounted between the wheels, and the X1’s floor is raised to make room for it. Tests showed that the iX1 had a real-world range of 323 km in a variety of weather situations. BMW says that an 11kW AC charger can charge a car from 0% to 100% in 6.5 hours. You can charge DC fast at up to 130kW, and it takes about 30 minutes to charge from 10 to 80%.
The battery can also be set up by hand for a quick DC charge. As the battery gets close to full charge, the charging speed drops in a straight rather than a stepped way. Cooling processes that go on and off are also used here to keep the battery at the right temperature when it’s being used. The iX1 will know what settings and pre-conditioning to use if you use the same fast charger twice.
BMW has soundproofed the AC refrigerant compressor, which can be very loud in an electric car, and put the battery and drive units inside a case to make the car look better and be more aerodynamic. This car also has Automated Level 2 driving, which is what the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) calls it. The camera and radar-based technology helps with steering and staying in your lane, and it has Active Cruise Control that slows the car down for traffic ahead.
Like most BMWs, the iX1’s electric motors don’t use fixed magnets. This not only saves energy but also lowers the “drag” from the permanent magnet’s field, which lets the car move freely with less resistance. The motors used are also unique in that they are not brushed. When it comes to sealed and airtight units, BMW says they probably won’t need a service because dust doesn’t get into them. In this form, these motors can produce up to 190hp each. When you let off the gas, they can produce up to 50kW, and when you stop, they can produce up to 120kW.
Inside the BMW iX1 and what it has
The iX1’s interior is based on the X1 and is very well built and put together. When it comes to quality, the products are far and away the best of their kind. This doesn’t feel like an entry-level BMW either, because the style is new and the interior is so nice. Even the more sporty M seats are big, comfortable, and have a massage feature.
It does have some strange and annoying things about it. The driver can’t open the elbow box the right way, and you have to go two levels deep on the touchscreen to change the air conditioning or driver modes. Of course, the iX1’s stand-up charging pad and electronic assistant that will even turn for you are what make it feel unique. It’s also well-insulated and quiet.
When it comes to comfort, the iX1’s back seats are not as good as the X1’s. Because of where the rear electric motor is located, you can’t slide the bench back to make more room for your legs like you can on the X1. The seat itself is basically the same and comfortable on its own. And because the big battery takes up a lot of room inside, you have to sit closer to the floor and put your knees up. To slightly improve comfort, you can tilt the seat back, but you have to pull on small nylon hoops to do so.
The iX1 has a large panoramic sunroof, mood lighting front and rear, 40:20:40 folding rear backrest, connected tech, smartphone-enabled key, real-time navigation, front collision warning with brake intervention, evasion assist, cornering brake control, and tyre pressure monitoring. The front seats are massaged, and the rear seats can be folded down 40:20:40. You also get battery warranty for 8 years or 160,000 km and roadside help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 5 years.
BMW iX1 price and review
The iX1 costs Rs 66.9 lakh, which is about 20 lakh more than the diesel X1 and 10 lakh more than electric cars like the Volvo XC40 recharge. Not as comfortable in the back as the X1 with a petrol engine, and it doesn’t take turns as quickly and smoothly as we’re used to seeing in BMWs.
The BMW iX1, on the other hand, has a lot of power and speed that the ICE X1 doesn’t have. This easily makes it the most fun X1 in the queue, which is something that potential buyers will understand. The twin-motor EV also has a real-world range of 323 km, as tested on the Autocar EV test route. The high-end cabin makes it easy to enjoy a real luxury car experience. That being said, the iX1 could be a good choice if you want strong speed and a nice cabin and are willing to spend more.
