[TomInWA]

I’m talking like a U.S. Forest Service Road with a few deep potholes. How did the air suspension work? I understand the vehicle has 8 inches of ground clearance and close to 9 inches with the air suspension. How fast can you drive with the air suspension at its highest setting? I know the vehicle isn’t built for heavy duty off roaring.

 

[ICS_UK]

I’m talking like a U.S. Forest Service Road with a few deep potholes. How did the air suspension work? I understand the vehicle has 8 inches of ground clearance and close to 9 inches with the air suspension. How fast can you drive with the air suspension at its highest setting? I know the vehicle isn’t built for heavy duty off roaring.

The air suspension rise is less than 1/2" it actually lowers at speed. I'm not sure the suspension is up for that sort of road

 

[carchase54]

In any case, speeding up the vehicle on a road with potholes isn't an advisable thing to do. Right?

 

[NomoTesla]

This car is not a SUV and is not meant for off-roading.

 

[elmaqroll]

`

This car is not a SUV and is not meant for off-roading.

Respectfully disagree (albeit preliminarily).

Perhaps the definition of SUV and off-roading is a broad one.

• This car has xdrive, is very well protected under carriage, it offers the increase suspension (albeit minimal) for clearance purposes when needed and at that it has similar clearance to a Subaru outback or New Grand Cherokee.
• BMW has tested the iX off-road in several environments during development. This implies to me that it is meant to be driven off-tarmac.
• It is certainly not a rock crawler but it is capable (in paper) and also after my visual inspection of the under carriage when I received our iX.
• The Dealer heard exactly what I was intending to use the car for and they agreed that it was a good application. And no indication that I should look at an X5 / X7.

I will report back on my experience for sure. We INTEND to drive this car cautiously on fire roads, gravel roads and a bit of sand (specially cautious due to weight). We don't intend to sign up for Paris/Dakar but certainly intend to potentially swap the 21in sport wheels for smaller rims (waiting on OZ Racing) and more aggressive tires for the summer months . During the summer we access remote locations through dirt roads. Winter we stick to commuting only.

We won't expect to do well on the 10% gnarly roads we leave to our lifted LR3, but the other 90% of off tarmac service roads, for sure.

Again, we will see, and will report honestly out here to help new owners understand the car a bit more.

 

[TomInWA]

`

Respectfully disagree (albeit preliminarily).

Perhaps the definition of SUV and off-roading is a broad one.

• This car has xdrive, is very well protected under carriage, it offers the increase suspension (albeit minimal) for clearance purposes when needed and at that it has similar clearance to a Subaru outback or New Grand Cherokee.
• BMW has tested the iX off-road in several environments during development. This implies to me that it is meant to be driven off-tarmac.
• It is certainly not a rock crawler but it is capable (in paper) and also after my visual inspection of the under carriage when I received our iX.
• The Dealer heard exactly what I was intending to use the car for and they agreed that it was a good application. And no indication that I should look at an X5 / X7.

I will report back on my experience for sure. We INTEND to drive this car cautiously on fire roads, gravel roads and a bit of sand (specially cautious due to weight). We don't intend to sign up for Paris/Dakar but certainly intend to potentially swap the 21in sport wheels for smaller rims (waiting on OZ Racing) and more aggressive tires for the summer months . During the summer we access remote locations through dirt roads. Winter we stick to commuting only.

We won't expect to do well on the 10% gnarly roads we leave to our lifted LR3, but the other 90% of off tarmac service roads, for sure.

Again, we will see, and will report honestly out here to help new owners understand the car a bit more.

I thought this vehicle would be a good electric substitute for a Suburu Outback, which is used on Forest Service gravel roads throughout the Pacific Northwest. You see it very often at trailheads. I’d buy the new Suburu Solterra if it had a 300 mile range. Many electric vehicles have low ground clearance, 4 to 6 inches. I want at least 8 inches for gravel roads to trailheads. I understand this vehicle isn’t built for rock crawling, but it certainly seems capable of gravel roads with some potholes and mild ruts.

I’m certainly interested in hearing about owners experience with the iX under these circumstances. Elmaqroll, I look forward to hearing about your reports.

 

[Odopt]

Works just fine on bad roads. I live in the northern part of Sweden and are driving on gravel, potholes, snow, ice etc.
The air suspension is really really good and potholes and ripples are handled with ease. The last stretch to my cabin is "muddy" and very slippery. The IX works just fine. As mentioned above, it's not a Land Rover but as long there is some kind of road it works just fine. The care is heavy, that's my only concern when driving on snowy/muddy roads.