Right from the get-go, you will appreciate the smoothness of the motor. The calibration of the accelerator is also nice which makes the car pretty easy to drive. Your morning commute in bumper-to-bumper traffic should be comfortable.
Driving the BMW iX1 LWB eDrive 20
BMW has moved from the dual motor setup of the outgoing iX1 to a single-motor front-wheel drive setup for the 2025 iX1 LWB. The motor makes 201 BHP and 250 Nm and the car’s claimed 0-100 km/h time is 8.6 seconds. The battery capacity remains the same at 66.4 kWh and the car has a claimed range of 531 km. Now that the specifications are out of the way, let’s get to the driving part. Right from the get-go, you will appreciate the smoothness of the motor. That is not unexpected as EVs, in general, are known to provide a very smooth driving experience. The calibration of the accelerator is also nice which makes the car pretty easy to drive. Your morning commute in bumper-to-bumper traffic should be comfortable.
The iX1 gets drive modes which can be accessed by pressing a button on the center console. However, this button only opens up the drive mode selector on the touchscreen. You now have to shift to the screen to select the desired drive mode. I found this to be cumbersome. Once you are in the menu, you can select the efficient mode which is perfect for the city. It dulls the accelerator response and hence, makes the driving experience smoother. There’s still enough punch in the motor to tackle the city traffic and make quick overtakes.
Out on the highway is where you can flex your right foot and get to feel some of that instant torque from the electric motor. Of course, it is not as fast as the outgoing iX1 as it doesn’t have the dual motor setup anymore, but it’s still quick. When in D, tap the transmission selector down one more time to activate B mode. This is where you get the maximum power from the motor and can feel the full potential. Yes, it drains the battery that much faster, but by selecting Sport mode from the screen and B mode on the selector, you got yourself a quick car. You even hear the motor in the cabin deploying all that power to the front wheels. Highway overtakes are handled with ease and you don’t have to think twice. Compared to some of the other cars in the segment, the iX1 isn’t as quick, but it still has enough power for Indian roads.
Regenerative Braking
You can adjust the regenerative braking in the iX1, but it’s not easily accessible like a button on the centre console or paddle shifters. You have to do it through the touchscreen which can get annoying while driving. There are 4 modes of regenerative braking to choose from – Low, Moderate, High and Adaptive. In the adaptive setting, the car decides the amount of regeneration needed as per the throttle inputs. I didn’t find this mode to be very intuitive and preferred having the car in low regeneration mode. In the B mode, one-pedal driving is activated.
Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH)
As expected of an EV, the cabin is super quiet. The only noise you will hear in the cabin is the motor noise when you press down the accelerator. There’s also a silent mode (in the drive modes) which, as the name suggests, makes everything go silent. You can hear a bit of tyre noise when driving at 100 km/h, but it’s not excessive.
Bonnet gets insulation underneath:
Range
BMW claims an MIDC range of 531 km, but in a real-world scenario, you can expect a range of 400-450km, which is fair. Within the efficient mode, there’s an option of maximizing the range which can be used when you’re running low on battery. In this mode, the maximum speed is limited to 90 km/h and the air conditioner’s performance is also reduced. In case you run out of charge, BMW has an RSA service that will rescue you with a portable fast charger.
Charging
To charge the 66.4 kWh battery pack, there are AC and DC charging options. It takes 6 hours and 30 minutes to charge the battery from 0-100% with a 11 kW AC charger. When it comes to DC fast charging, the iX1 can use a 130 kW charger, which takes 29 minutes to charge the battery from 10-80%. With a 50 kW DC fast charger, you will be able to get a 100 km range in about 19 minutes.
Through the My BMW app, you can plan your charging spots on your road trip route. BMW has set up about 300 chargers at various resorts and corporate parks around India. Apart from these, there are about 5,000 3rd party chargers that have been verified by BMW which will show up on the app as well. You can even pre-book your charger through the app. The payment is to be made through the app and if you’re not very tech-savvy, customer care allows you to pay through a link.
Charging port is located in the same location as the fuel filler of the ICE version:
Suspension
Ride Comfort
When we drove the X1 diesel, we found its suspension to be compliant. It was on the stiffer side, but comfortable enough. In most cases, when the electric vehicle is based on the IC engine platform, the suspension is stiffened up to account for the heavy battery placed in the floor. This makes the ride quality pretty stiff and you feel everything on the road. This is the case with the iX1 as well. The suspension setup has a firm edge to it which is why you feel a lot of the road. While driving around in the city, small to medium-sized potholes are handled fairly well, but you still feel them in the cabin. There is also noticeable body movement when going over bad roads. Build up some speed and like most European cars, the ride gets better. However, you still feel the expansion joints and undulations. The 18-inch wheels with 225/55 section tyres aren’t that big of a contributor to the stiffness. The chassis itself is firm which contributes to the stiff ride.
Handling & Dynamics
Straight line stability is great and the car feels solid while doing highway speeds. The car masks speed with ease and you can cruise at triple-digit speeds till the charge runs out. You do need to be mindful of the expansion joints and sudden dips on the highways as you feel them in the cabin. The iX1 with its long wheelbase and only a front wheel drive configuration is obviously not as sporty as the outgoing car which had a shorter wheelbase and an all-wheel-drive configuration. However, in its own right, the iX1 handles well. The front end is sharp and eager to turn in. On high-speed curves, the car holds its line well and doesn’t lose composure. The 225/55 R18 Bridgestone Turanza tyres provide enough grip for the power on tap. The iX1, however, doesn’t feel like a car you would want to go pushing hard around corners. It is big and not as engaging to drive as some of the other BMWs.
Steering
The electric power steering of the iX1 is super light which makes it a breeze to use in the city. Most people will appreciate the light steering with the electric motor as you get a very smooth driving experience. The steering weighs up on the highway and you can stiffen it up even more by switching to Sport mode. It doesn’t feel nervous while cruising on the highways. While the steering is accurate and fairly direct, it feels light even in Sport mode and lacks feedback. As mentioned earlier, this is a car you wouldn’t want to drive very hard.
Braking
Like most EVs, the brake pedal has a spongy feel to it and doesn’t feel very progressive. However, the all-wheel disc brake setup provides good braking performance. Even under hard braking, the car comes to a halt without any drama.
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