Test drive The BMW iX, advertised as an eco-friendly choice, is quiet to drive, but as an electric car it does not rank among the best.

Is there An urban SUV weighing 2,500 kilograms is a climate act if it is made using fishing nets and plastic bottles cleaned from the sea?

Artist Paula Vesala has recently appeared as BMW’s advertising face in a campaign to highlight the greenery of this new iX all-electric car. In Some, the campaign has raised allegations of green washing.

On the other hand, if you are going to buy a big living standard, isn’t it better that it runs on electricity? Conscience is also alleviated by the fact that this time the minerals have not been mined by child labor in Congo, but by adult labor in Morocco and Australia.

Important questions, but first deal with the bottom of the most important. The new iX is a challenging looking car.

Bemar’s characteristic bow kidneys are stretched to just comical proportions, and along with the dull streak lights, the bow comes to mind an irritated rodent. The license plate on top of the plastic mask crowns the whole: it’s like putting a patch on a hamster’s teeth.

During the test week, the car should preferably be parked against the wall so that no one can see. The over-the-top design language may have been driven by the fact that China is an increasingly important market for European premium brands.

In a test drive is now a smaller battery “base model” or xDrive40. The four-wheel drive vehicle has electric motors at the front and rear, and emits a total of 240 kW (326 hp). The usable capacity of the battery is 71 kWh. Since the car consumes quite a lot, one can think of getting about 300 kilometers on a single charge.

The two more powerful models have a whopping 111.5 kilowatt-hour battery, and the busiest M60 model accelerates from zero to one hundred in 3.8 seconds. It has 540 horsepower.

The BMW iX is a bemar half-full-length model. In the current solution, the cardan tunnel can already be removed, so the cabin floor is flat and the legroom is generous at the front and rear. Controversially, the space in the cab is even wasteful, as there is an empty floor space between the driver and the front passenger, which is not really usable. It could very well have some sort of storage compartment.

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Bemar has frameless side windows like Tesla cars.

The futuristic cab has a certain cold concept car spirit, and the driver’s place doesn’t feel as homey as in the older value seminars. Details like the crystal control switches on the benches feel glued on top.

But that’s where the fishing net is now: cloth rugs are made from recycled fiber. In general, 60 kilos of recycled plastic is said to have been used for the upholstery and plastic parts of one bemar. The test model has faux leather benches, but if they were animal skin, they would have been treated with olive leaf extract instead of the usual tanning agents. The wood panel on the center console has an eco-label.

Thus we can, in good conscience, turn the power on and go into traffic. The car is heavy, it is immediately felt in the next meters. On the other hand, the big bemari is so intensified and assisted that moving the mass does not present any difficulty. The car travels like a cloud, somewhat as smoothly as the competing Mercedes-Benz EQC.

There’s enough power for effortless advancement, and the four-wheel drive blob moves from the lights with good grip, even though this 40-model doesn’t offer Tesla’s level of acceleration. In general, the iX is not a sporty Bemar-like feel, but an extremely comfortable, Yankee-style fort. The sound insulation is good, and the electric motors don’t even take a dip in the cab. Yes, the screen can be turned on by the artificial buzz and buzz ordered by the film composer BMW From Hans Zimmer.

The front seats are sofa-like soft but on the other hand do not offer any lateral support. The seat should also be tilted slightly higher, and there is a need for extended leg support. Competitors and even ordinary public cars often have more sturdy seats, and a more customizable bench for this bemar is not even available for extra money.

Air conditioning and other functions can be found on the touch screen, which can also be controlled with the center console wheel like any other bemar. For some reason, the adaptive cruise control distance control is hidden in the car’s settings on the center display and does not have its own button on the steering wheel like all other cars. The logic of the solution is that I did not find the adjustment on my own, but had to ask the importer.

Bemari consumes a considerable amount of power even at zero heat. City driving runs out of battery power in a couple of days, leaving a range of 230 kilometers. Later, when I left the semi-warm hall on the road, I got the consumption pressed to just under 25 kilowatt hours per hundred, leaving a range of 270 kilometers. The iX feels like a power surge like Audi’s big E-Tron. Note that during the test run, the car only had air conditioning on the driver, which was set to 19 degrees. The passenger compartment is heated by an air source heat pump.

Fast charging is possible at its fastest power of 150 kilowatts, and the car preheats the battery when you set a charging point on the navigator. The download speed is reasonable but does not represent the top of the market.

Bemar has frameless side windows like Tesla cars. Opening the door therefore requires the glass to fall below the seal, which can cause problems when the glass freezes. There is no opening handle on the inside, but a rather inconspicuous opening button on the door.

The optional glass roof is exciting: there is no protective curtain, and the liquid crystal film inside the glass is blurred and brightened at the touch of a button. In the sunshine, the roof can be electrically dimmed as if it were milk glass.

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You can turn on the artificial buzz and buzz that BMW has commissioned from film composer Hans Zimmer.

In a car there are a lot of small luxury chips, and the ride of the iX is quiet and pleasant. It also has a fair capacity of just over 2,500 pounds. The choice of comfort between this or the like is a matter of taste.

But when green values ​​are emphasized, the laws of physics cannot be ignored. The heavy BMW boasts a considerable amount of power. The range on this 40 model is limited. This can be counteracted by buying a larger battery model, but those 60 pounds of recycled plastic don’t save nature when the battery pack weighs half a ton.

The BMW iX is a special low-circulation brand that will remain a marginal product in the collection.

BMW itself calculates that charging the iX with green electricity is up to half as environmentally friendly as the equivalent diesel X5.

It may be true. The most important question is what to compare.