BMW iX review: This is truly Star Trek territory – future dreams, now

The German giant has produced someting here which almost dares others to be as visionary

BMW iX: The German giant has tapped into a technological zeitgeist here and a lot of people are going to love it

BMW iX
Rating	★★★★☆
Price	from €94,957 - €113,975 as tested
Motor	xDrive 40 - a 71-kWh battery and produces a very healthy 321 bhp  xDrive 50 - a higher-powered step up
The Spec	a futuristic, almost Star Trek-like, line up
Verdict	has its limitations, but a bold venture

For the last 50 years or so, fans of the television and big screen show Star Trek have been waffling on about how loads of the futuristic bits and bobs featured throughout have actually come to pass as items now in everyday use.

Trekkies – for it is they – boast that the show’s creator Gene Roddenberry and his production team foresaw the invention of stuff like mobile phones, tasers, tablet computers and rakes of other things which were then the stuff of science fiction but are now real.

Any Trekkie then, upon coming across this week’s tester, will undoubtedly be able to point to any number of the technologies in evidence on the vehicle as either having been inspired by the show or developed from things that were pioneered on it.

The car in question is the truly gob-smacking BMW iX. And it is a face-slapper not only because it oozes the latest, newest, fastest and most daring technologies, but because it may well be one of the ugliest cars ever teleported onto a garage forecourt.

It may even be that when this beast was created in BMW’s design studios and readied for unveiling to the world at large, someone said: “Beam it down, Scottie.” 

The Starship Enterprise, on the other hand, was always a fantastic thing – it even looked like an awesome interstellar vehicle should, unlike so many of its Hollywood predecessors.

This is truly Star Trek territory – future dreams, now

It’s the same with automotive beauty; if it looks sensational, generally it is. The corollary is that if it looks brutal, it will be brutal to drive. The iX smashes the accepted wisdom then, because it’s as ugly as a baboon’s bum but drives like the Starship Enterprise.

It is electric and therefore – in the current space and time continuum – necessarily subject to some boastful claims about its range from its maker. But you could imagine Capt. Kirk, Dr. Spock and Chief Engineer, Scott taking it on a trip from Dublin to West Cork. Around Horse and Jockey, Scottie gets worried.

“Can we get to star vector two near the Mizen in a hurry, Scotty?” Kirks asks.

“Nae chance, Sir, we might have to stop in Cashel fer hae an oour, to juice up. They should have used dilithium crystals on this thing,” the perennially pessimistic Aberdonian responds.

“But Sir,” Spock intervened, “the carmaker told us it has 413.6 km of range, so surely we’ve enough juice to get us Colin’s Chipper in Goleen. It’s logical and the chips in Cashel are shite.”

“We better not phone in the order to Colin’s yet,” Scotty responded. 

“We’ve come back in time to test this thing and it does nae do what it’s supposed to do. I reckon we’ll get just 286 km from her because we are in the early electric period, remember.

"She’s giving me everything Skipper, but I think we’ll just make Cork.” 

Of course this car is the first true electric BMW has made since the i3 and as such it has to be a major statement of intent: this is how we start and this is how we mean to continue

“Phone in the order,” Kirk said “just tell ‘em we’ll be an hour late. Set the coordinates for Cork and we’ll juice her up there.”

“Aye, Sir,” Scotty intoned. “We’ll probably still be in time for a pint in O’Meara’s after.” 

Beaming back to earth momentarily, the iX we tested came in the lesser of the two options available; there’s the xDrive 40 we drove and the higher-powered xDrive 50. The xDrive 40 comes with a 71-kWh battery and produces a very healthy 321 bhp.

It’s fast too, what with a 0-100 km/h time of 6.1 seconds and a top speed of 200 km/h and for a beast this size – it is roughly similar to the X5 – that’s not at all bad. It also has a 4WD system with an electric motor on each axle.

On the road it demonstrates the hauteur of a really well-sorted car, handling the vicissitudes of the Irish road network with considerable aplomb. Cornering and handling in general are very well sorted for a vehicle this big and the ride is as smooth as any self-respecting starship.

The exterior looks are nearly shocking, however, and that monstrous kidney grille layout is not for the faint-hearted. It may be that in time this design will grow on us, but I’m not sure. 

One thing it does do is get people talking and, it has to be said, most of that is not favourable, although it should be said that the grille performs as an ‘intelligence panel’ with integrated sensors, a camera and radar technology for advanced driver assistance systems.

It is electric and therefore – in the current space and time continuum – necessarily subject to some boastful claims about its range from its maker

But, open the electrically operated doors (there are no internal door handles, just buttons – although there are hidden handles for emergencies) and step inside and you enter a world that would most certainly meet the approval of Kirk, Spock, Scotty et al.

Marvel at the leather surfaces and upholstery (tanned using olive leaves for environmental purposes) as well the control panel made of sustainably produced and FSC-certified wood and you’re already well on the way to feeling really good about how green your conscience is.

Throw in the fact that the door substructures come from 100% recycled materials, that the visible bits are made of 30% recycled stuff and that even the floor mats are 100% recycled nylon (mainly from old fishing nets) and you might even profess yourself to being an eco-warrior.

Prepare to be left feeling weak by the floating screen for all the instrumentation and the infotainment stuff – not to mention the hexagonal steering wheel. This is truly Star Trek territory – future dreams, now. 

The physical and sensory appeal is tremendous and BMW has done as stonking job in taking formerly boring and mundane things and making them into something completely original and innovative.

Of course this car is the first true electric BMW has made since the i3 and as such it has to be a major statement of intent: this is how we start and this is how we mean to continue. 

The iX does have obvious shortcomings – the range for a start and the looks on top of that – but on the whole, it has produced something here that almost dares others to be as visionary.

Star Trek and the Star Ship USS Enterprise promised viewers it would boldly go where no man has gone before and, to a certain extent, BMW has done just that with the iX. 

It might be ugly and it might have limited range, but the German giant has tapped into a technological zeitgeist here and a lot of people are going to love it.

It is, as Dr Spock himself might say, “fascinating.”