BMW iX review

Furnishing takes on a whole new style for BMW. It's open and straight-edged and themed with diagonals. Even, as mentioned, in the steering wheel. Which is no longer a wheel. And no longer comfortable to hold. Because of how the rim is angled inwards at quarter-to-three, you find that your elbows are naturally pushed into your sides. It’s a small, irritating thing.

Sweeping ahead of you is the huge two-parts-blended display. It stands proud of the dash on elegant metal brackets that should be holding up bookshelves in a modernist house. One part is touchscreen, one part instrument pod.

The touchscreen is big enough that you can reasonably have several windows open to show both entertainment and map, or map and energy use. The instruments are configurable too, although without the option of the most legible design ever invented: circular dials. Still, the huge head-up display also imparts plenty of read-outs, so you'll never feel uninformed. It’s just finding the right bit of info that’ll challenge you.

Since this is a new operating system, there has of course been a bonfire of the switchgear. Much control has been ceded to the screen. Or voice, provided you don't feel silly talking to your car and being misunderstood one time in three.

Are there *any* buttons?

Fortunately the iDrive controller remains, and is a great way to do many tasks. It's made of clear glass now, yet it retains a top surface that's sensitive to you writing letters with your finger like an old PDA. An effective form of input, actually.

Cleverly, several of the remaining switches have three horizontal bars in their icon. With these, a long-press will summon a relevant menu on the screen. So press the map light button and it switches on as per. But long-press it and the full screen menu for interior lighting pops up: ambient light, dimmers, etc. Excellently there's also one of those for the driver-assist menu. Otherwise turning off the default-on lane-assist steering interference system (which is too hyperactive for normal single-carriageways) needs multiple jabs at the screen.

Phone connectivity and integration is superb. This is the first car where the phone's maps show up in the driver's screen and the HUD. If the car gets low on charge, it triggers Apple Maps to give you a charging station.

Does it feel lounge-like inside?

Not especially, and it’s not as creative as the i3's cabin. But it does have a minimalist anti-SUV vibe and actually feels more like an MPV from the driver’s seat – a legacy of the wide, sloping windscreen and not being able to see the bonnet, as much as the cabin design.

The materials are pretty wild. Some of the buttons are glass. The wood is modern open-pore with backlit switch icons shining through. There's a defiantly hippy-looking faded blue cloth option for the seats. Doubtless it'll be discontinued after a couple of years when everyone has chosen black leather.

It's really roomy, with a flat floor and one of those multi-level central storage consoles common to EVs. In the back three fit abreast easily thanks to the flat floor, although the flat bench is rather less convincing. The boot is generous, but not vast. 500 litres is the same as the M3 Touring. Open the bonnet and you'll find no frunk. Or froot. Cables go under the boot floor.

The optional 'heat comfort pack' electrically heats the lower dash, door trims and console, gently warming you while using less energy than blown air heating.