[vette4mec6]

Good afternoon all,

Well I took delivery of "Bucky" on Wednesday August 3rd in Baltimore MD. I then drove him home across country to my home in Southeastern WA state. After 6 days on the road and all those miles (3500), I figure I am qualified to give and unbiased review of the IX50. I am going to give you the good, bad and ugly. If you want to read about my adventures with our cross country trip home from Maryland, that can be found here in the blog I kept each day of the drive home. Adventures of Bucky - Cross country road trip in BMW IX50

THE GOOD

1) Probably the best built car as far as quality I have ever purchased. This is my first BMW and first EV. I have lusted after my buddies Model 5, and 7's, X5, X7;s in the past however. I have lost count of the number of cars I have owned on my 56 years on the planet. There have been a lot of Corvettes, Acuras, and Hyundais, and Hondas in the mix however. all have been good in their own ways, but IX is definitely in a whole different class.

2) The ride is nothing short of phenomenal. I love I can change the driving modes from sport to efficient with a simple command of the idrive system to change it's driving dynamics. I understand this is probably better on other BMW models, but this being my first BMW and first electric car, I'm hooked! The ride smoothness compared to the Tesla Model Y and X is night and day. The model y is a kidney buster compared to the IX.

3) Love the center console controls and the haptic feedback you get from them. I can pretty much do these by touch now and never take my eyes off the road to use them.

4) I know the front "grill" is something only a Naked Mole Rat Mother could love, but honestly it does not bother me. I love the lines of the car and the interior is spacious and comfortable.

5) LOVE LOVE LOVE the Active Driving Assistant Pro. The 10 mile traffic jam outside of Indianapolis where I never touch the brake or the accelerator once is something my right leg will forever be a fanboy of. My wife described it as magically when she had to use it as well. The lane keeping assistant the the safe change lane functions was also nothing short of just - WOW! Buy Active Driving Assistant Pro - so worth the $1700.

6) I was lucky to get the Bowers and Wilkins stereo system in my IX50. It is by far the best "stock stereo" system I have ever heard. I had a chance to compare it side by side with the Harmon Kardon and there is simply no comparison. Funny thing is when I originally ordered my IX50, I did not select the B&W stereo. The IX I got was one my good friend Hans at Next Level Brokers found for me, and I am so grateful I got it.

7) I am enamored with the dash display and the heads up display. I only wish my prescription sunglasses were polarized. But that heads up display night is amazeballs and I am still finding new things I can do with it.

8) Charging is a breeze at DC Fast chargers. Trust me - I had plenty of opportunity to test this across the country. I got my moneys worth of 30 minute Free DC fast charging along the way home. Longest handshake time I measured was 15 seconds. Handshake time is the time it takes the DC fast charger dispenser to communicate to the IX and start the charging process. Go out on youtube and see some of the horror stories of handshakes that happen between DC fast charges and Mustang MachE or Rivians, or Ionic 5. BMW got this right and it is as simple to charge with a DC fast charger as it is to use the Level 2 fast charger I had installed in my garage. I went with the Wallbox Plus btw - which allows me to charge at the full 11amps the IX can go to at Level 2 charging levels.

THE BAD (really not that bad, just annoying for a $100,000 car)

1) I am not a fan in that I have to put in a pin code when I get into the car each time I drive it. The IX should match my id to my cell phone (my primary key), however I bring the fob to be safe.

2) I wish the IX would remember the last mode I drove in so I don't have to select it each and every time I start up. However the 6 year geek in me loves sometimes that it feels like I am doing a 737 startup sequence to get going (LOL).

3) Although I have figured out the climate controls quite well at this point, I wish the heated/cooling seats and steering wheel had hard buttons to use as well as idrive. I know - first world problems - eh?

4) I wish the panoramic roof would actually get more opaque or even darker. Having and option to have just part of it being opaque ala the Porsche Taycan would be awesome!



THE UGLY

1) I have not figured out why Idrive can't figure out which cell phone to use when both my wife and I are in the car at the same time. This part is maddening to me. The damn thing does not know which phone to use for carplay or incoming calls. I have done everything to debug this, and it just gets plain confused as to who the primary cell phone to use is, even when I select my profile and put in my code at startup. If someone has figured out this bug, then please send me the solution and beers are on me the next time I am in your area. Yes, I am already planning another road trip. Next summer, around the entire perimeter of the country.

2) The BMW Navigation turn by turn directions simply suck. Sorry no other way to put it. Thankfully Car Play navigation works great. This really needs a software update by BMW. The lack of a turn by turn split screen for directions, or the lack of it giving you adequate time to get to the exit lane is just is bad. My wife and I now have our own little joke going on when we are out driving - we yell out right before an exit BEAR RIGHT, BEAR LEFT. I cant tell you how many uturns and go arounds we had to do with this system before we gave up. LOL It is abysmally bad. It has the potential to be a really decent navigation system. It just needs some major fine tuning as to exits and lane changes. Really hoping BMW does a software update on this.

Thanks for reading this review. Hopefully it was not too long of a read.

 

[jeffgtx]

You can assign your digital key to your profile and eliminate the need for the pin each time.

 

[Bornagain1973]

You can assign your digital key to your profile and eliminate the need for the pin each time.

Thanks for this!

 

[nash1991]

Good afternoon all,

Well I took delivery of "Bucky" on Wednesday August 3rd in Baltimore MD. I then drove him home across country to my home in Southeastern WA state. After 6 days on the road and all those miles (3500), I figure I am qualified to give and unbiased review of the IX50. I am going to give you the good, bad and ugly. If you want to read about my adventures with our cross country trip home from Maryland, that can be found here in the blog I kept each day of the drive home. Adventures of Bucky - Cross country road trip in BMW IX50

THE GOOD

1) Probably the best built car as far as quality I have ever purchased. This is my first BMW and first EV. I have lusted after my buddies Model 5, and 7's, X5, X7;s in the past however. I have lost count of the number of cars I have owned on my 56 years on the planet. There have been a lot of Corvettes, Acuras, and Hyundais, and Hondas in the mix however. all have been good in their own ways, but IX is definitely in a whole different class.

2) The ride is nothing short of phenomenal. I love I can change the driving modes from sport to efficient with a simple command of the idrive system to change it's driving dynamics. I understand this is probably better on other BMW models, but this being my first BMW and first electric car, I'm hooked! The ride smoothness compared to the Tesla Model Y and X is night and day. The model y is a kidney buster compared to the IX.

3) Love the center console controls and the haptic feedback you get from them. I can pretty much do these by touch now and never take my eyes off the road to use them.

4) I know the front "grill" is something only a Naked Mole Rat Mother could love, but honestly it does not bother me. I love the lines of the car and the interior is spacious and comfortable.

5) LOVE LOVE LOVE the Active Driving Assistant Pro. The 10 mile traffic jam outside of Indianapolis where I never touch the brake or the accelerator once is something my right leg will forever be a fanboy of. My wife described it as magically when she had to use it as well. The lane keeping assistant the the safe change lane functions was also nothing short of just - WOW! Buy Active Driving Assistant Pro - so worth the $1700.

6) I was lucky to get the Bowers and Wilkins stereo system in my IX50. It is by far the best "stock stereo" system I have ever heard. I had a chance to compare it side by side with the Harmon Kardon and there is simply no comparison. Funny thing is when I originally ordered my IX50, I did not select the B&W stereo. The IX I got was one my good friend Hans at Next Level Brokers found for me, and I am so grateful I got it.

7) I am enamored with the dash display and the heads up display. I only wish my prescription sunglasses were polarized. But that heads up display night is amazeballs and I am still finding new things I can do with it.

8) Charging is a breeze at DC Fast chargers. Trust me - I had plenty of opportunity to test this across the country. I got my moneys worth of 30 minute Free DC fast charging along the way home. Longest handshake time I measured was 15 seconds. Handshake time is the time it takes the DC fast charger dispenser to communicate to the IX and start the charging process. Go out on youtube and see some of the horror stories of handshakes that happen between DC fast charges and Mustang MachE or Rivians, or Ionic 5. BMW got this right and it is as simple to charge with a DC fast charger as it is to use the Level 2 fast charger I had installed in my garage. I went with the Wallbox Plus btw - which allows me to charge at the full 11amps the IX can go to at Level 2 charging levels.

THE BAD (really not that bad, just annoying for a $100,000 car)

1) I am not a fan in that I have to put in a pin code when I get into the car each time I drive it. The IX should match my id to my cell phone (my primary key), however I bring the fob to be safe.

2) I wish the IX would remember the last mode I drove in so I don't have to select it each and every time I start up. However the 6 year geek in me loves sometimes that it feels like I am doing a 737 startup sequence to get going (LOL).

3) Although I have figured out the climate controls quite well at this point, I wish the heated/cooling seats and steering wheel had hard buttons to use as well as idrive. I know - first world problems - eh?

4) I wish the panoramic roof would actually get more opaque or even darker. Having and option to have just part of it being opaque ala the Porsche Taycan would be awesome!



THE UGLY

1) I have not figured out why Idrive can't figure out which cell phone to use when both my wife and I are in the car at the same time. This part is maddening to me. The damn thing does not know which phone to use for carplay or incoming calls. I have done everything to debug this, and it just gets plain confused as to who the primary cell phone to use is, even when I select my profile and put in my code at startup. If someone has figured out this bug, then please send me the solution and beers are on me the next time I am in your area. Yes, I am already planning another road trip. Next summer, around the entire perimeter of the country.

2) The BMW Navigation turn by turn directions simply suck. Sorry no other way to put it. Thankfully Car Play navigation works great. This really needs a software update by BMW. The lack of a turn by turn split screen for directions, or the lack of it giving you adequate time to get to the exit lane is just is bad. My wife and I now have our own little joke going on when we are out driving - we yell out right before an exit BEAR RIGHT, BEAR LEFT. I cant tell you how many uturns and go arounds we had to do with this system before we gave up. LOL It is abysmally bad. It has the potential to be a really decent navigation system. It just needs some major fine tuning as to exits and lane changes. Really hoping BMW does a software update on this.

Thanks for reading this review. Hopefully it was not too long of a read.

You can also select which phone to use for car play vs calls/texts in the settings btw.

 

[davidbailey7]

I have tried the phone select in the settings, but for some reason it still forgets who is driving when it comes to the phone. I will get it figured out though. Absolutely love my first BMW and first EV.

 

[Thewelshone]

Thanks for this!

How do you this? I've set up my profile and key there doesnt seem to be anyway to associate my digital key on my iPhone with the profile in the car? Or if there is the user interface is so complex I cant find it!

 

[kshatz]

How do you this? I've set up my profile and key there doesnt seem to be anyway to associate my digital key on my iPhone with the profile in the car? Or if there is the user interface is so complex I cant find it!

I have this working. Once digital key is set up and your phone is in the car, when you go to edit your Profile, you can select the digital key to also be associated to that profile.
I have a physical key, mobile phone / digital key, and the physical keycard all associated to my profile

 

[Thewelshone]

I have this working. Once digital key is set up and your phone is in the car, when you go to edit your Profile, you can select the digital key to also be associated to that profile.
I have a physical key, mobile phone / digital key, and the physical keycard all associated to my profile

Thanks for your help! My bmw dealer was clueless!

 

[einert]

I think the stock navigation works really well, actually, with HUD cues, augmented reality, and even the main instrument panel nav display if you want that. Never felt there was a glaring problem, whether for city driving, highway or country roads.

I’ve got the 2022-3 map update now, but got by just fine with -1 and -2 as well.

YMMV, I guess.

 

[JPFlorida]

I have had my IX 50 now for over 4 months and 4,400 miles now. I agree with almost everything. I LOVE the car overall but,,,Here are some of my additionally thoughts and improvements thats I would love to see going forward
1) With the recent update (must be done at the dealership when you have the recalls fixed), you do get two additional driving modes. It can remember theses modes. However, it will not remember the Sports Mode. This is done on purpose I am told. It has something to do with Gov. Regulations.
2) I wish the moonroof has a sunscreen. I live in South FL. Despite the fact that I have the moonroof tinted at 5% (which renders the auto tinting feature basically useless), There is still a ton of heat you can feel coming through the moonroof when you hover your hand about one inch away from the glass (inside the car).
3) I never had the opportunity to order parking assist pro as it was not even an option avail at the time I purchased. (stores several parking macros which can be played back for remembered difficult parking spots). I loved the videos from last year, when the car was not even available anywhere. However, Im getting mixed messages on whether it will be avail as an OTA software update.
4) iPhone users (like me) can stream videos. This is horrible! What were they thinking! Would be a great way to kill time while fast charging.
5) No automatic speed limit changing while use Driver assist pro (at least in US). You have to hit "set" everything speed limit changes
6) Interior storage is horrible. For the size of this car, the glove box is tiny and so is the center console. My X3 has twice the storage. Also, anybody having trouble finding the glove box button at night LOL,,,you need a flashlight. It should be illuminated a little.
7) I wish the drive recorder was more like tesla in wish it would record base on proximity. I have gotten dents/ dings and scratches from people and none of them have triggered the alarm (which is currently needed to start the event recorder)
8) I wish the widget wish shows the car stats on the touch screen display would allow you to add more information. Or better yet just show all combined information at once, instead of having to toggle though it. The widget is very large and has so much wasted space.
9) I usually drive with cockpit display showing "assisted driving". That way I can look down and see the cars around me even better when I go to change lanes. However, I wish the system would display a little earlier the cars in your blind spot. When They appear on the screen, its almost too late to change lanes.

 

[SteveBK123]

Re: 5) No automatic speed limit changing while use Driver assist pro (at least in US). You have to hit "set" everything speed limit changes
If they add this, I would want it to be an option to turn on/off (that saves to profile) and also it needs to be bulletproof in implementation.

On my Tesla, which does this, every once in a while it would have some sort of GPS blip and think I was on a surface road below the highway, change speed from 55+ to 30- and slam the brakes to drop speed immediately.

So both the accuracy of the speed limit data needs to be extremely high, and the cars reaction to speed limit changes needs to be more graceful than Tesla.

 

[JPFlorida]

Yeah, you're right. I remembered one time that the speed limit showed 80 MPH when it was actually 35. That would have been a big problem