Is BMW lying about the new iX3?

Oh, that's very sideways. It's like some crazy person. Anyway, I keep on going back knobs, don't I? I get my job back. Got to admit that was pretty good, isn't it? Unreal. It's actually pretty bloody good. This is the new BMW iX3, and it's the most important new BMW for decades. That's because its design, technology, and driving dynamics will be used on the next 40 new BMWs. So, it better be blumbing good. And to find out if it is, I'm going to compare it in this series of experiments to its past. I'm Matt Watson and I almost got run over. BMW has just delivered this car here. I've not had chance to look at it or drive it or anything yet. You're going to join me for my first impressions of this new important BMW. And then afterwards, I'm actually going to take the car away, live with it for a week, and then report back my honest opinion on this car so you'll know whether it's any good or not. Have they succeeded or have they failed? Let's get on with it. It's so different to other BMWs and like this part just harks back to like really really old BMWs. See if we can get the lights on. Yeah, look. It's illuminated grill. Maybe a little bit chintzy for some. I quite like it. I do think this car is very color specific. And I'm not sure about it in this color. The reason is while the front has quite a lot of presence to it. The sides, the way it's all kind of smooth and pebbly. It sort of just like loses its form. Let me have a look at it from back here. You know, is it SUV? It's not quite tall enough for an SUV, but it's not a hatchback either. Obviously, arrow caps in the wheels to improve the efficiency. Around the back, see, I quite like the rear design as well, not as much as the front. I'm never a fan of BMW's new design whenever it comes out, but it does always sort of grow on me, but I do just want to give you a little bit of a comparison, right, to when BMW's designs were. So, now we've got an X3. It's a 2019 model. It does have a few like extra bits that have been added on, but you get the general idea. You can see how the new EX-3 is just lower, whereas that's more like a proper SUV. I mean, I do like the new look, but it's this whole thing. If you come down here, like down the sides, you can see just the creases and good oldfashioned door handles. That's just not as interesting. And the back, look at the back of that compared to the back of that. That's maybe got off the rear of that right now. But like I said, BMW the designs, they always try something new and they always do grow on me. So, we'll probably revisit this again in about four years time and I'll go what a great looking car that is. But at the moment, I ain't feeling it. Now, that is my take on the design of the new iix3. But what about everyone else? What I'm going to do is a little Instagram story. I'm going to put it live now. We'll find out the end of the video what people think of the design of that compared to the design of the old X3. So, Jack's going to film me. Okay. So, here I have the new BMW i3. Have a look at it. There it is. But I've also got an X3. Yes, it's the M version, but have a look down the side of this car. Look at it. Look at the side and the rear. and have a look around here as well. And what I want you to do is to vote up there which car you think looks the best. Is it the new EX-3 or is it the old X3? Let me know. Vote up there right now. Anyway, let's check out the quality of the new EX-3. First, let's check out the panel gaps cuz I think they might have got a little bit tight. If you look on the bonnet here compared to this one, can you see? And around the plastics, it just seems a little bit neater. Obviously, this is an older car, right? went down the sides as well. It's just more consistent. And you really notice these window frames here compared to like the oldfashioned way. That is quite cool. Obviously, this car is massively speced up being the M. This looks like entry spec to me. Very unusual for BMW's press office to send out an entry spec car for a review. It's all very very nicely done. Uh this I mean not too many complaints, but it is noticeably slightly wider. Anyway, let's check out the quality of the doors. So, do we get a nice Oh, this feels that feels solid. The backs are usually more tiny. A little bit more tinny. All right, let's try this one. Guys, I prefer this handle. I definitely prefer that handle. But that's a bit rattly. That is Have a feel of this. I can hear it from That is better. That is I hate the handle. Yeah, I know. Everyone hates the handle. That is solid. Feelingwise, that's feeling more expensive. However, the big thing about this new car isn't the outside, it's the inside. I've always found BMW's interiors in the past quite conservative, but recently they've gone crazy. And this feels very modern, very interesting. Now, I know some people won't like it cuz of the big screen. And then you got this crazy like screen here. Although it's actually images projected from a display just tucked into the dash. I like it. It just looks good. It looks interesting. Do you know what it reminds me of? I had an old i3. I love that car. The interior was so cool and way ahead of its time. It's like BMW are back there again. I like it way more than the exterior. Let's just check out the inside of that just very briefly. Not going to lie, this does just feel more normal, more traditional car. And so it appeals to me in that respect. It is nice to have like physical buttons for the air conditioning and the climate. Now, in a moment, I'm going to try and guess what price this car is. But first, I just want to check the quality here inside the cabin and compare it to the old X3. So, we don't have leather on the dash here, but it's still nice. Like this plasticky polyurethane squidgginess and this textured stuff here as well. Let me just check this. Oh god, no. Oh, classic. Why do manufacturers do that? Why do they have to have the air vents moved around by a little blumbing motor? cuz you know one day that's going to break and it's just much easier to have a little knobbyby that you move around. Anyway, I keep on going about knobs, don't I? Turning the knob. Twiddle the knob. The big knob. I just love to stroke the knob. Right. So, quality wise though, yeah, generally quite nice. This center console is solid. We do have some slightly cheap feeling plastics lower down. The steering wheel feels nice as well. Jack hates it. And to be fair, I don't like this plasticky bit on it. That looks a bit like a a toy. You've got some touch sensitive buttons. Not a fan of those really, but I like the cover of them. Looks quite blingy. One thing that's happened is the indicator stalks on Bender Deloo has gone really cheap. That's okay, I guess. Uh, let's check out the damping on the glove box. Oh, that's well damped. Loving that. And the headlining and stuff seems fine. And let's let's just do this test. That feels smooth and nice. That feels pretty good. And the seats are lovely. So, generally, it is a quite good apart from a few annoying things. But how well has the old car stood the test of time. Now, we got to bear in mind that this is a six-year-old car, but the seats, obviously, the M seats, so they they are lovely. Do you know what? This is not leather. It's like leatherrett, but it looks good. That's squidgy actually on the glove box. It's squidgy there. So, that feels more expensive lower down. This center console doesn't seem quite so cheapy. I mean, we do have the black piano shiny plastic here, which is scratched a buggery, but like the steering wheel bit shiny. It's not as modern, but it looks a little bit more expensive, less like a toy. Center console solid. That's just the same really. Let's check the damping on the glove box. Oh, not quite as well damped. Headlining no different really. This This is It's like they haven't changed these in years. Just feel the buttons on it. Actual physical buttons rather than touch sensitive ones which are easier to use like in the new car. Ah, here we go. Now, the damping on that is definitely better. Especially considering this is like 6 years old. I think this feels ever so slightly higher quality inside. And that's what brings us on to the price. Seeing as car prices have gone crazy, I bet this is rather expensive. It's almost £59,000. That's nuts, isn't it? Now, this 29,000 mi on this 6-year-old X3M, so top of the range, 45 grand, 46. So, that is cheaper than this. And that's another thing. So, you might want to go for a used car. And you can do that through CarWow as well. But obviously, if you're buying a used car, you need to be careful. So, to make sure you're not buying a car with a Moody Pass, get a car vertical history check and use the code car wow for 20% off. Now, you can get that automatically applied if you follow the link in the description or the pin comment or you can just scan the QR code or click on the pop out banner appearing now. But despite the differences in price and age, these cars are quite closely matched elsewhere. For example, the new iix3 has dual motors that make 469 horsepower and 645 new m of torque. While the old X3M has a 3 L twin turbo six-cylinder engine with 510 horsepower and 600 new m of torque, and they both have all-wheel drive and launch control. However, the X3M does have an 8-speed automatic gearbox, and it's 315 kg lighter than the EX-3. But which one will be quicker in the/4 mile drag race? 3 2 1. He was spinning his wheels. This managed its traction brilliantly. Goodness me. Oh, come on. Now, this, remember, is the least powerful one available right now. Is he gaining? I can't tell. Yeah, I got beaten, but not by loads. So, my specialist tummy gear here, and this car did 0 to 60 in 4.46 46 seconds and the 1/4 mile in 12.82. Nick, what was the times on your car? Not 60 in 4.22 seconds and the 1/4 mile in 12.49 seconds. So, not that different. Really. Can't wait till the fast version of this comes out. But drag race isn't the only measure of outright performance. So, I'm going to see how these cars compare in a more important rolling race. Now, we're both going to be like driving along, say, at 30 mph. Then, randomly, Jack on the radio is just going to say go. No. 3 2 1. It's just going to say go. And we've got to respond. Floor the throttle and we'll see what speed the car is doing when the other one goes past it. Okay. So, Nick, just get level with me. We'll get to 30 and we'll see when Jack calls us in. So, we are at 30 now. Come on. Oh, he's shot off. So, I'm well ahead of him. He's still pulling away. I'm going to beat him to the quarter mile. Probably even going to beat him to the half mile. I'm not gaining on him. Been into the half mile. This is the half mile. Now I've hit a wall. I've hit my speed. Let me know about 130. Mate, you were never catching me. I knew you'd get a dump on me, but I wasn't gaining until we were doing silly speeds. Okay, so that's quicker in a drag race. This is quicker in the real world. What about when it comes to braking? Cuz this is heavier. Let's do a brake test. Here we go. 100 milesPH. Well, that was a lot better. heavier but breaks better. Who' have thought it? And that's the sporty BMW X3. But that's not the only little driving challenge we've got. We're going to do another one now. And it's called a moose test. Basically, you have to swerve to avoid a moose, then get back in your lane as quickly as possible to avoid oncoming traffic. Sounds simple, but if a car isn't set up properly, it can slide wide or even flip onto two wheels. I don't have access to a real moose, but I've laid out a course and I'll see how long it takes for me to complete the whole maneuver and get back into my original lane. The car which manages it in the shortest distance wins. And I'll start with the car that's all about handling, the X3M. Let's go. Get to 45 miles an hour. Here we go. Here we are cruising at 45. The stability control really kicked in then. But will the I3 do better? Let's find out. 45. That felt better. That is better. Let's just go have a chat with Nick. That was better, wasn't it? That's almost a car's leg better. Yeah. And it's like it just felt neater and tidier and just more balanced. It looked it from the side as well. Definite win for this. And this isn't even the sporty one. Now, it's gonna be interesting to see what this car is like to drive when we take on this handling circuit and compare it to the X3M. But before that, we need to see just how practical it is. The I3 feels pretty spacious here in the back. So, headroom's good, knee room's good, but there's something that's not so great, and it's the fact that because you got the batteries underneath the floor, the distance between the floor and the seat base isn't that great. So, there's not such good under thigh support. I can stretch out slightly underneath the seat in front, which does help. And you got a completely flat floor. So, when you got three people in the back at once, it should be all right. We'll find out. Now, this middle seat actually is quite hard and these bits sort of poke into your bottom. So, it's not that great. There you go. Look, this is this is super tight, isn't it? Anyway, right. Come on. Let's get out. Not ideal with three back at once. We'll do a child seat test in a moment because I've just noticed, look, rather than having the oldfashioned like covers which are easy to get to, you've got this flap that you then have to lift up like that to get access. But, we'll try fitting a baby seat in a bit. Right. One thing I just want to check is this. Do the rear windows go all the way down? The windows are nice and big, but I bet that doesn't go all the way. Yeah, I didn't think it would. Anyway, let's just quickly check out the old car. Actually, before I do, let me just look at this. Oh, they're not covered. Oh, and look. Got some through loading. Oh, I've just noticed this as well. Look. Oo. So, that's quite reclined. That's better. Oh, and I forgot. I wanted to tell you this, but with the headrest, you can move them like that as well as up and down. Look. So, if you're one of those people who have bad posture, you're going to love all that. This feels more snug in here. Doesn't feel as spacious. Knee room's not as good. Head room seems tighter. It's not helped by the fact we got the glass roof in this one. Also, we've got a huge hump in the floor as well for the transmission, but this seat is further from the floor. So, I've got more under thigh support, though. The seat bases don't seem so deep. I can stretch out into the seat in front, but do you know what? I'm preferring that car. I think that's nicer in the back seats. Now, let's try it with three in the back at once. This central seat is actually slightly better for me. Oh, this is not quite as tight, is it? Weirdly, there's a bit more room. Weirdly, but the rest of it, like your knees aren't so good, are they, Lewis? No, they're not. No, no, no. It's tighter, isn't it? Absolutely. Right, then hop out. Let's continue with the rest of this. Here we go. That'll go all the way down. Yeah, tell you. It's cuz you got this extra bit here, so that'll fit in the door. Right, let's just check something. I wonder if these cup holders are covered. Yes, I knew they would be. These little features add a bit of money. And you can tell they're stripping cash out of the later cars. And that is an actual switch. Look at this. That's much easier than like the tag in that car. Once again, that's more expensive to do. And down here as well, I can recline the seats. And it's not a pull tag. It's actually like a a proper lever. Oh, that is actually better. So, the headroom issues gone. Still prefer that one ever so slightly in the back seats. This is what I'm talking about. The um is fix. Look, no messing around, no lifting anything up. You can just bodgege your eyes fix anchor point into there and jobs are good. And in fact, let's do that now. Let's do the baby seat challenge. So, Nick's going to tie me. Go on, Nick. Right. There we go. Right. Let's get into the new car first. Then my holes are exposed. I'm going to do this side first. problems already. Can you see that's flopped back down again? Wasn't bad. What What was the time? 52.64 seconds. That's not That's not bad. I was fighting the wind. Really? Oh, it's flopped back down again. Look at that. I think that's a great solution at all. Let's do it in the old car. 3 2 1 go. All right. Oops. This should be easier. Then just have a jab around him there. That's fitted. So this side that's fitted. That's That's fitted. 35.4. Yeah, it's definitely easy. And it's all down to those is fix even though this opening isn't quite as big. I think overall that's probably slightly better, but that is fix solution they've got in the new car is not a good idea. However, the tighter space here in the back of the old X3 would be more problematic with one of those bigger rearfacing seats. Overall, I'm going to give it a win to the new car, even though the time was longer. Now, I'm going to compare the practicality of these cars by seeing how much stuff we can shove into the boots. So, big capacity on this. I imagine it's about like 5 520 L. 550. Nice square shape. There is some storage. Well, just a little bit under there. And look, this is important. The load cover can fit underneath the false floor. And it's one of these kind of posh old school ones like that. Let's um slot it in. It's actually quite easy to slot this in. It's got very clever mechanism. Look. Done. Let's go and see how many carry-on suitcases we can fit into here. That's looking good. I can keep it up like that. Just needs to sh Now that's eight. I will give it a helping hand. I didn't need it. Eight quite easily. Right, let's have a look in here. Boot capacity looks similarish and there's lots of storage under there. I reckon it's going to be about the same but not quite as usable. So what 550 L again? 520 L. I guessed what it was. Oh guess that car should have been this number but okay. So smaller now this won't fit underneath the false floor. Are you sure? You try I just need to try it. He says no. It look it looks promising. See that? That bit looks like it might like kind of sort of go in like this. Nick, you're absolutely fired. You're fired. Now, it's not as good a load cover. I prefer the slidy slidy roller cover in the old car. Right? Because I don't like this this kind of stuff. See that? Right. Let's go with the suitcases. Can we fit as many in? This is just wishful thinking. This is I think it might. No, it's not. We can try, but I just don't. That one will look We're good there. Why is it? No. No. I mean, I'll give it a go cuz this would be a winning a winning combo of nine, but absolutely no way. We're going to end up with a seven, I'm pretty sure. Look, love. Look what's going on here. Right. L. No way. No. Absolute. I'm not sure that counts. How does that not count? But that's not the only surprising thing about the i3 because it has something I've not seen in any modern BMW. A fruit. First things first, where is the plumbing switch for it? It's old school washer. No, it's just a it's a normal bonnet release. Oh, right. Nick, what you got to do? Oh, yeah. Easy. Try and fit four suitcases in there now. Nick, there's four suitcases that you just bought. And if you don't get them in there, you've got to get in there. I'm about to be fired again. You You were lucky, Jack, cuz you were going to get in there if you're being from winding me up. That's That's in. How is that in? Come on. Let the professional do his job. That's the front boot there. Look, you can fit some cables in there. That That's basically it. Not Not even a single suitcase. Unless your suitcase is sort of exactly that shape, which they're not. Anyway, still I think it's slightly more practical, isn't it, than the old X3. Now, let's check out interior cubby spaces. Oh, the excitement. Interior practicality is actually very good, especially in the front. So there's lots and lots of cubby spaces. First of all, we have our cup holders there. So normal size bottle probably doesn't hold it that tight. And if you got like a energy drink size, same thing. Big wireless charging pads there for your mobile phone and your two USBs. Underneath here, there's an okay amount of storage. Got 12vt socket in there. The door bins are huge. Jack, can you just demonstrate the door bin? See? Then under here, look, more storage. That's useful, isn't it? And the glove box is It's not very big, is it? So, let's go into the back. So, I've already shown you the two cup holders in the armrest. Now, rear door bins are there is one slight weirdness. They're pockets on the seat backs. You do have USBs there, two USBCs. Let's compare to the old car. The first thing we should notice is that this old X3 has its cup holders covered, which looks nicer. obviously adds a bit of cost and that's why we don't have it on the new car. So there they are. Let's see. Do they grip better? Same kind of deal. And you've got wireless charging pad and one old school USB there. No storage underneath the center console. Bit more room in this center cubby. Glove box. Got slightly bigger than on the new car, but it's not really going to make that much of a difference. And Jack, can you demonstrate the bottle? I think the actual door bin is bigger on this old car. Wedge. Go for a wedge. There you go. Now, let's check out the back seats. Rear door bins are slightly better again. That's perfect for that, isn't it? Oh. Oh, look. I think it's because it's the M seats, but no storage on the back. I've already shown you the cup holders once again covered. Uh, practicality are done. I think it's a draw really. But how are the two cars compare on a handling course? Bearing in mind that this is a full fat M car and that's an entry level I3 might shock you. I'm going to start off in the X3M. Set a baseline. Tell you what, it's nice having gears to play with. Might not have a manual shift, but still pedal shifts are fun. Oh. Oh, it feels like it wants to go. That stability control totally took over there. It cut the power. I wanted to pull it out of that slide. Obviously, being four-wheel drive, you're just accelerating. It pull itself straight, but stability just killed me there. Or maybe it stopped me killing myself. But yes, this car feels pretty mobile. I'm going to go into MDM sport mode because it'll let it slide a bit more. Give me a bit more power and exit. That's better. Now it's more fun. Yeah, definite M car. A little bit Larry. Wants to hoon around. I like it. Plus, you can put everything in comfort and drive more sedately and it's totally fine. Totally civilized. There's no way the I3 can be as much fun as this. Surely not. Well, BMW has fitted it with something called the heart of joy. This is a poetic way of saying fancy new stability control system. It combines all the separate computers for braking, suspension, and traction control into one super module that can process information 10 times faster than in older cars. But can I actually tell the difference? And can it make this electric car truly fun to drive? First thing I'm missing is engine sounds. We do have this digital sound which BMW has been using in its i vehicles for a while. And I'm missing gear changes. Right. It's pretty stable and considering it's electric, the brake pedal is quite nice, but it's it's just it's nowhere near as playful as that X3M. It I mean, it handles well enough, but it's not the kind of car I really want to be pushing cuz I'm not getting the thrills from it. Fair enough. It's not the M version and for like an everyday model, it's actually all right. But it's definitely set up on the side of stability and safety rather than pure driving pleasure. Look, it actually goes around corners quite well and predictably, but I'm not getting the LOLs. If you want fun, get yourself an X3M and get the one from DNA Auto House. Put a link in the description of this video so you can check them out. Check that car out if you're interested in buying it or maybe something else that they've got in their fleet. They've got a lot of hot cars. Most people aren't interested in hooning around in their new EV, which is why BMW has fitted the EX-3 with some new tech designed to help you in a very different scenario, parallel parking. Now, we're going to do a parking challenge. That's quite a tight space. That car is 4.8 m long. The old X3 is 4.7 m long. We're going to try and park them in that space using their self park features. And we'll see if they've come a long way in the past seven years. Bloody hell, it's windy. Let's do it. Right. How do we do this? Is it always just measuring the space? How about if I do that? Parking searching. Look, it's searching. It's searching. Available offers. It's got two offers. Some have an offer. What do we do now? Press that. Start. Let's do it. Monitor. Take hands off steering wheel and release brake. Here we go. Is he going to do this in like a one? No. Maybe a two. W. I like the speed of that. It's like some crazy person giving it a bit of that. Not going to lie, Louis, you got to admit that's pretty good, isn't it? It's actually pretty bloody good. I've got an idea. Has it got an exit? It's got an exit feature. Is it going to brave it? Come on, technology. You going to do it, technology? No. We are good to go. Ah, I like the way it wants you to pull out onto the road so that it's it's your responsibility for pulling out into traffic. What a result. Let's try the old car. In theory, it should just be looking for a parking space. There. It's got it. It's got it. It's got it. It's got it. Now, indicate parallel. Please select the direction. Hold down the parking button. So, press that and hold it down. This is more complicated. and hands off the steering wheel. Here we go. It's about the same, isn't it? The other one turn the wheel quicker. The other one has a nicer screen, doesn't it? I can This This can't get me out. The new one is better. It can get me out. But although the I3 was making a good first impression on me, how was its design fairing in the judgmental world of social media? We had the result from the Instagram polls. What do you think, Nick? What do you think people said? 80% old car, 20% new. Jack has already peaked. 100%. No, shut up. 100% old car. Right. Right. So, Le, what do you reckon? Old car. 75%. I It's a given it's the old car, right? I reckon it's going to be something ridiculous like 92% old car. Oh, no. Nick, you win. 79% to the old car. He gets his job back. You're remployed. Now, I'm going to take this I3 away. I'm gonna live with it for a week and update you on what I think it's really like to live with. And I'll be telling you about some annoying things I'll have discovered. The first of which is this center console gets quite wide down here. It's just always touching your leg there when you're resting on the footrest. I hate these haptic buttons on the steering wheel. They just don't know where you are with them. It's just awkward. And you can occasionally knock them with your thumbs like that when you're just driving and then it just changes your track on your stereo and stuff like that. Normal buttons, please. normal buttons. These sills really protrude. So, you end up rubbing the backs of your legs on them. In fact, the other day my M said to me, "Look, Matt, what what's all that muck over the back of your jeans?" And you can see, can you see this? Look. See, it's clean there. That's from my jeans rubbing as I'm getting in and out. It's an SUV. Let's have the doors covering the sills, please. Because this car has such a big battery, you don't have so much range anxiety because you look at your trip computer up there and it says you got 89% of the battery remaining. That's 388 mi of range. All good. In fact, the other day I got into the car, thought I charged it up, but something went wrong with my charger. And so I only had 50% of the battery remaining. Had to go from Oxford all the way down to Southampton and back. And it said that I had like 200 mi of range, so it was not going to be dead easy. However, I'm not sure I can trust that. And here's why. If I enter the trip computer since charging, I have averaged over an hour and 40 minutes, 32 mi. This is just ping about round town, you know, kind of stuff that electric cars is good at. 3.1 m per kilowatt hour. And when I multiply that out by the battery capacity of 108 and then times it by 89% that actually works out to 300 mi, not 388 mi. Now, when I dig deeper into the actual since factory figures, so what this car efficiency is through all the miles it's done so far, 814 mi, it's averaged 3 m per kowatt hour. Multiply that out by the battery, 324 miles. And the actual claimed range of this car is supposed to be 490 odd miles. Now, I went into my Tesla Model 3. I own a Tesla Model 3, and it trick computer says that it's done 245 W hours per mile over the 16,000 mi it's done. Multiply that out and it comes out to 4 m per kowatt hour. So, that car is a third more efficient than this car. When you want to fold the rear seats down, you have to undo that so you can separate the seat belt. Then you wedge it there. Then you're all good. Where's the lever? See, but every time that's just a little bit of a palava, especially when you're in a rush. It's like, oh, come on. Right. And then it's trapped. And I'm sure it's not like that in the old X3. I literally never once altered the direction of air flow from the air vents, which is something I usually do in cars. And the reason is I just couldn't be asked to mess around with this. Just couldn't be bothered cuz you always want to do it when you're driving. And this is just so much more hassle than the paint finish is dreadful. It's got such bad orange peel. If you look at the reflection, you can see how it turns like straight lines into zigzags. Premium product apparently. While BMW's panoramic vision does look cool and makes the cabin feel very modern, a lot of the information there is just for show. It's a bit of a gimmick. So, we've got the time up there, but we've also got it there. You got the temperature up there, which we've also got it here. Then I've got a compass there and altitude. I'm not on an expedition. I'm in an electric car. Um, the only really useful thing there, I think, is seeing my music track, but I could easily see it here. And yeah, you can go through different functions. So, if I press a button on the steering wheel, I can move into maps. And that's quite cool when you see the mapping there. So, you get your satellite navigation displayed there. It's really nice. But if you use Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, you don't then get the routing from the Apple CarPlay, Android Auto up there. And most people are going to use their phones to navigate, aren't they? And then another one you've got is trip computer. And then you've got driving dynamics which show things like your geforces and stuff like that. It also show like your rev counter. Why do you need to know the revs of an electric car when it's got no gears? Anyhow, you can also personalize it. But yet again, the issue I have, if you look here, configure all the things that you can actually put in there are just like extra information that you're hardly ever going to look at. So ultimately, all of this is just for a bit of bling. There is one thing that's super useful though, and it's just having the speedo up there and like your traffic sign recognition and your battery and range. That's really useful. Better than looking down here. Better than looking down here. And it almost renders the the otherwise very, very good heads-up display pointless because that's part of a 1,700 pack. This is so good. Every car should have a speedo and all that key information here. Take note, Tesla. And that's not the only thing I really liked after spending some time with this BMW. I love the fact that you can easily turn off the speed limit warning and the lane departure warning just by pressing this. Look, that's the speed limit warning off. And then that is the lane departure warning off. And then, you know, you got even more like beeps and bongs and stuff. Well, here in this car, you got a function where you can just reduce all warnings like that. Warnings reduce for this journey. Thank you, BMW. We appreciate that. Do you know what I hate? Electric cars that you have to get in and then to make them go, you have to press a start button. Why do I need a start button in an electric car? Should be like this. You just sit in, go into drive, and off you go. Better not crash into that. I like the fact that this car has one pedal drive. So, if you pull the gear selector and put it into B mode, look at this. If you lift off the accelerator, like this, look, the car will come to a complete stop. The ambient lighting inside the car is pretty cool. The way it appears underneath this this console here, it's not static. It moves. Can you see the pattern just changes slightly? Tiny things, please. Tiny mind. The surround view cameras are brilliant. Really good crisp definition. And you got lots of different views. Curve view. Use curve view a lot to protect the wheels. And you can change the position as well. That is super handy. I've used that. And obviously you got like 3D mode as well. Like we Let's have a look around the car. Oo, look. Yeah, lovely jubbly. I love how much adjustment there is in this steering wheel. Look, there's just so much. Look at that. That just makes it easy for pretty much everybody to get comfy behind the wheel. I might drive along like this actually. So, I've driven this car for a week now, and I must say I found it very, very pleasant. It's very relaxing to drive over longer distances. So, part of the reason for that is that it's quiet because BMW use sound cancelling technology through the speakers, which just cancel out annoying noises. Another thing that I like about it, the controls. So, the steering is really responsive. The brake pedal feels good as well. And interestingly, BMW say 95% of the braking is just regen. Only the last 5% when you really stab the brakes is actual friction braking. And the brake pedal just feels totally natural. They've nailed it. The handling is good as well. Now, I was messing about last week trying to get that X3 to like over steer and this didn't want to. But who wants to over steer on the road? This corner as well. And it's very, very predictable and safe and you can rattle along on a twisty road as fast as you actually need to. If there is one weakness in the drive, it's the suspension. So, generally, it is quite comfortable, but it does feel a bit unsettled. So, over like rougher surfaces, it's jiggling you about. And you can't get this car with adaptive dampers, which is weird because you can on most other BMWs, and that just adds a layer of sophistication and makes a car feel more premium. This car needs it considering the price tag. Biggest issue with this car, though, is the range. Well, the efficiency. So, 3 m per kowatt hour just really, really isn't good enough for the very latest offering from BMW from a platform that's going to underpin 40 future cars. I don't know what's going on. I don't know if it's my driving style. I don't think it is, but that is a problem. And it's a shame because this is a nice car to sit in, especially with this upgraded two-tone interior. I really, really like the cabin. I'm just not sold on the exterior design. This is not the kind of car that you'd like look back at and go, I'm glad that's mine. And that's an issue for something that costs as much as this does. So, where does that leave us with the final verdict on this car? Now, if someone came up to me and said, "Which one would you rather have, though? I'm going to give you one. I would take the BMW over the Tesla." But life doesn't work like that, does it? You see, we have to pay for things, don't we? And it all comes down to cash. So, when I'm recommending which car to buy between the two, to most people, things get a little bit tricky. Now, I recommend leasing an electric car rather than buying one outright. And when you look at the lease deals on CarWow for the BMW EX-3, compare them to the Tesla Model Y with a similar spec over a 3year period, the Tesla will cost you around £29,000. This £35,000. That's a 20% difference. 6 grand is quite a lot of money. It's about 200 quid a month. So in that respect, I more like to recommend to most people the Tesla Model Y. But if brand image matters to you and driving dynamics really matter to you, then you definitely should check out the BMW i3. I just wish it looked better.