BMW iX3 first drive: why this 2.3-tonne SUV shocked us on track, and puzzled us on the road

KUALA LUMPUR: The overseas reviews have been almost suspiciously glowing. Best electric BMW ever, they say. Car of the Year, one UK outlet has already declared.

So when BMW Malaysia flew us Malaysian media to Pathum Thani Speedway in Thailand for a first drive of the new iX3, we came ready to poke holes in the hype.

After half a day of what BMW calls Masterclass, which involved a test of the iX3 on a public road loop and a tight handling course on the Speedway, here's where we landed: the hype is mostly justified. Mostly.

Also Read: BMW Heart of Joy explained: why the iX3 handles so brilliantly, and Malaysians get to feel it in Q3

The car in question

The car we drove was a Thai-spec iX3 50 xDrive M Sport, the all-wheel drive variant with 469hp and 645Nm from BMW's sixth-generation eDrive motors, good for 0-100km/h in 4.9 seconds.

Its 113.4kWh battery claims up to 805km of WLTP range and charges at up to 400kW, and in Thailand it wears 22-inch wheels and a THB 3,599,000 price tag, roughly RM438,000 in a straight conversion, before accounting for how differently our two countries tax EVs.

This is the first car of the Neue Klasse generation, riding on BMW's first dedicated EV platform, with a computer called the Heart of Joy running the motors, brakes and steering functions from a single brain. That's the theory. The drive programme was designed to test whether you can feel it.

On the road: one genuine question mark

The road loop was short, so treat these as first impressions in the truest sense. The powertrain is effortless in the way good dual-motor EVs are, with progressive rather than violent throttle response, and the much-hyped Soft Stop is real: ease off, let the car bring itself to a halt, and it settles with none of that final-metre lurch many EVs still serve up.

On paper 4.9 seconds to 100km/h sounds merely quick by 2026 EV standards, but from the seat it feels properly rapid, and the iX3 can genuinely explode off the line when you ask for everything.

Our M Sport tester came with the conventional M steering wheel rather than the radical two-spoke unit some markets get as standard, and it feels like classic BMW: nice to hold, natural, nothing to learn.

But here's our question mark. The ride on the road section felt choppier than the European reviews had us primed for. Sharp inputs made their way into the cabin more than we expected from a car praised abroad for its compliance.

In fairness, the stretch of road we sampled was too short and less than perfect, and our test car sat on the largest 22-inch wheels. Worth noting: international press is actually split on this.

Some reviewers found the ride impressively comfortable even on 22s, while others driving on 21s made the same complaint we did, with at least one wishing aloud for adaptive dampers that BMW simply doesn't offer.

So our impression isn't an outlier, it's one side of a genuine debate. Whether Malaysian roads settle it in the car's favour or against, we'll find out when we drive it here, and that will be the first thing we test.

On track: the iX3 comes alive

Then came the curated handling course, and any scepticism evaporated. Through rapid direction changes that would have most heavy electric SUVs lurching onto their door handles, the iX3 simply follows.

Flat, composed, unbothered. Push harder and it stays planted, to the point that getting this 2.3-tonne SUV to actually misbehave took real determination. It was, frankly, difficult to unsettle.

We've experienced many EVs through tight exercises like this, and the iX3 is one of the best-handling we've experienced in such a setting. It is hard to imagine most of the current crop of Chinese EVs, for all their screens and horsepower, staying this tidy through the same course.

The remarkable part is what the iX3 doesn't have: no adaptive dampers, no air suspension, just passive steel springs on every variant.

The agility comes from the Heart of Joy shuffling drive and braking force between the axles mid-corner faster than any human could react. The suspension never changes. The car's brain does. On a track, that produces something rare in an EV: a car that feels lighter than it is.

The rest of the day

The masterclass sessions covered the Panoramic iDrive, with its full-width Panoramic Vision display along the base of the windscreen, 3D head-up display and the new multifunction steering wheel with context-sensitive illuminated buttons.

One honest admission: our first instinct was that a display spanning the entire windscreen would surely impair the driver's vision. It doesn't.

Out on the road, the strip sits low enough in the black band at the base of the glass that it never intrudes on the view ahead, and within minutes it simply feels like it belongs there, naturally in your peripheral vision when you want it, invisible when you don't.

There's plenty more to unpack on the screens, and we'll save the deep dive on living with them, along with the Smart Parking demonstration, for our full review when the car lands here.

Coming to Malaysia in Q3

That landing is closer than you might think. BMW Malaysia will bring the iX3 here in Q3 2026, though it has not confirmed whether we get this 50 xDrive variant or the rear-wheel drive 40.

What's confirmed is that it will be the standard wheelbase car imported from BMW's new Debrecen plant in Hungary, not the China-built long wheelbase iX3 L.

Early verdict

One curated drive event is not a review, and our ride question needs answering on Malaysian roads at a Malaysian price. But as first impressions go, the iX3 is the most convincing electric BMW yet, a heavy SUV that handles like something far lighter and stops more smoothly than anything else we've driven.

For Malaysian buyers weighing the Chinese EV wave against the established badges, Q3 just became a date worth circling.

Also Read: BMW M3 Touring launched in Malaysia, priced from RM 898,800: the first M3 wagon sold here