Most of my week was spent in “civilised” mode. I could easily perform daily tasks where I’m nipping to the shops, running errands at Sandton City, charging at Benmore Shopping Centre or the slow-and-go commute through the Rivonia and Grayston drive bottleneck without ever awakening the iX’s full potential. But with a simple flex of my big toe, this SUV turns electricity into shockingly quick forward motion.

On the outside, the iX remains a stylish and upscale presence. For 2026, it receives some subtle cosmetic updates along with a boost in range and power. It still speaks the signature BMW design language, dominated by that large, vertical kidney grille. Inside, it’s an unsurprisingly premium product. The build quality is beyond reproach, offering the kind of quiet refinement that makes the chaos of the outside world simply melt away.

Interestingly, while most luxury car prices seem to be heading into the stratosphere, the 2026 lineup offers a bit of a reshuffle. While the flagship M70 sits at the top of the ladder with its 485 kW output, the xDrive60 I drive feels like the true sweet spot for the discerning driver who wants M-level performance without the full M-branding tax.

The driving experience is where the iX truly surprises. Passing slow-moving traffic on the highway is effortless; with 400 kW at your disposal, the car simply barrels towards at a scarcely believable pace. This sort of acceleration is a feat most EV shoppers see on spec sheets, but experiencing it in a vehicle that weighs nearly 2600 kg is a different story. It has the footprint of a large family SUV but the reflexes of something much lighter.

It is remarkably agile through corners, dishing out serious lateral forces that defy its dimensions. However, there are minor trade-offs for all that speed. The steering feels a bit light and heavily assisted, even in the most aggressive drive modes, though it does return to center naturally. Similarly, the brakes, while effective at bringing this massive machine to a halt, can feel a bit soft and lacking in immediate feedback. Switching over the one pedal driving makes things more bearable.

A word of advice: stay away from the 23-inch wheels. While they look spectacular pulling into a driveway, they come with a compromise. Small road imperfections feel sharp inside the cabin, detracting from the otherwise plush air suspension. The 21- or 22-inch options offer more sidewall, which significantly improves ride quality and, crucially, helps you reach that impressive 701 km maximum range.

However, a word of advice: stay away from the 23-inch wheels. While they look spectacular pulling into a driveway in Hyde Park, they come with a compromise. Small road imperfections feel sharp inside the cabin, detracting from the otherwise plush air suspension. The 21- or 22-inch options offer more sidewall, which significantly improves ride quality and, crucially, adds a few extra kilometres to your total range.

Inside, the iX takes full advantage of its generous exterior dimensions. This is a cabin where you can truly stretch out. Whether you’re in the driver’s seat or the back, the padding is generous and the bolsters are perfectly placed to keep you secure during those enthusiastic moments on the road. There is ample room for five adults to travel without feeling cramped, and enough cargo space to pack for a long weekend away without a second thought.

The insulation is equally impressive: Road and wind noise are kept to a whisper, creating a serene environment. The dashboard is dominated by a massive, landscape-style interface that is surprisingly easy to navigate, complemented by a crystal-like rotary dial and tactile steering wheel controls that keep things simple.

The focal point of the interior is the massive BMW Curved Display, which seems to float above the dashboard. It’s actually two high-resolution screens merged under a single piece of glass: a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster for the driver and a 14.9-inch central touchscreen.

The instrument cluster is highly customisable. I spent far too long toggling between minimalist layouts and data-heavy views. The main infotainment runs the latest Operating System 8.5, featuring a “QuickSelect” menu that makes navigating settings as intuitive as using a smartphone. One of my favourite features is the Augmented Reality Navigation. When you’re approaching a tricky turn, the screen displays a live camera feed of the road ahead and overlays virtual arrows exactly where you need to go. It takes the guesswork out of navigating a busy intersection.

Charging the iX is a breeze. The 400-volt architecture might not be the absolute fastest on the market, but it’s remarkably consistent. At a local 110 kW DC fast charger, I was able to add roughly 100 km of range in about 20 minutes – just enough time to visit the restrooms and top-up on groceries for the evening. BMW claims a 10% to 80% charge in about 35 minutes, which is perfectly timed for a quick lunch meeting.

After charging, I spent even more time enjoying the iX on the open road driving to Muldersdrift and even in traffic. Overall, the iX’s driving experience was darn impressive. It was easy to drive at slow paces, but just as happy to drive at a rapid clip. It truly never ceased to impress me with its relentless application of speed.

It was also quick to navigate through just about every corner. Big or not, this thing could dish out some serious cornering G’s. There were, however, some minor issues that I noted alongside the rapid pace.

One minor “stationary” gripe: the interior door buttons. BMW has replaced traditional handles with electronic buttons. While they look sleek and modern, they feel a bit “anti-functional” compared to the intuitive pull handles we’ve used for a century. Even worse, when you’ve experienced the self opening doors of the 7 Series these feel a bit underwhelming because I kept waiting for them open wide.

If the door handles were a low point, the Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound System was the undisputed highlight. As someone who usually looks to upgrade factory speakers, I wouldn’t change a thing here. It features 30 speakers, including 4D audio shakers in the seats. Turn it up, and you aren’t just hearing the music; you’re feeling it. It maintains crystal-clear quality even at volumes that probably aren’t great for your eardrums. I found myself sitting in the garage long after arriving home just to finish a playlist.

The 2026 BMW iX xDrive50 performs in all the right places. It is spacious enough for five adults, the cabin is a sanctuary of silence, and the materials are top-tier. It doesn’t just move you; it transports you in a way that feels distinctly futuristic yet grounded in BMW’s performance heritage. While rivals like the Audi Q8 e-tron or the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV offer their own versions of luxury, the iX remains at the top of its class for its unique blend of “sleeper” speed and avant-garde refinement.

Priced from R2 689 000, it remains a premium but compelling choice for those looking to master the electric landscape without sacrificing the thrill of the drive.

The 2022 BMW iX xDrive50 has two electric motors both churning upwards of 370 kW of power, accelerating from zero to 100 km/h in under five seconds. Those two motors offer 30-percent better power density than previous BMW electric drive units. In the 5th gen eDrive system, the electric motor, power electronics, and transmission are integrated as a single unit to reduce weight while maximizing space. Developed in-house by BMW, the electric motors have a 93-percent efficiency factor, and BMW did it without using rare earth minerals for the motor’s magnetic components.

Meanwhile, the newest BMW iX electric SUV has a 100 kWh high-voltage lithium-ion battery packing 20-percent more energy density. As we all know, lithium-ion batteries contain cobalt and lithium, critical-classified raw materials derived from ‘questionable’ sources, for lack of a better word. For BMW, sustainability covers every production phase, including sourcing the cobalt directly before delivering the mineral to battery cell suppliers. With this method, BMW ensures “that environmentally and sustainability standards are observed during the extraction and processing of cobalt and that there are no violations of human rights,” said the carmaker. On the other hand, BMW sources lithium directly from Australia.

This holistic approach to sustainability includes the utilization of ‘secondary aluminium’ castings (a recycled form of high-grade aluminium) for 50-percent of the BMW iX’s chassis and battery casing to reduce CO2 emissions during the manufacturing stage. Inside, the new BMW iX features premium recycled materials like sustainably grown wood, natural wool fibres, olive leaf-treated leather, and carpeting made of synthetic yarn derived from discarded fishing nets. What’s more, around 20-percent of thermoplastics in the BMW iX are made of recycled plastics like the door panels, bumper guides, and cowl panel cover, comprising up to 132 pounds of recycled plastic in total. Additionally, all recycled components are meticulously tested at the BMW Group’s materials laboratory to check for potential allergenic materials.

Speaking of the interior, the 2022 BMW iX features the next-generation iDrive 8 infotainment system, combining a 12.3-inch high-resolution instrument display with a 14.9-inch central touchscreen in a single, curved glass panel. Like the display set-up in Kia’s EV6, the BMW iX’s infotainment cockpit is angled oh-so-slightly to the driver’s line of sight. The centre console has that familiar iDrive rotary controller. It now gains a touchpad controller with active haptic buttons and rocker switches to control the audio volume, seat adjustment, and transmission mode.

BMW’s Intelligent Personal Assistant is at the heart of the next-gen iDrive 8. It now supports natural language interactions and gesture control to adjust vehicle settings like ambient lighting, HVAC settings, or switching between drive modes. And yes, iDrive 8 allows you to raise or lower the power windows using voice control.

BMW SA will confirm finer details around the new SUVs in 2022.

Details on the car are still very sketchy at this point. BMW describes it as a 4 door Gran Coupé, pretty much like the 4 Series, its terminology for the slope-backed sedans that have helped bridge traditional three-box passenger vehicles and its coupe line-up. There’ll be multiple versions of the i4, with some expected to offer driving range of up to 590km.

At the same time, there won’t be a shortage of power. BMW says there’ll be an i4 M Performance variant, for a start, and power output of up to 390 kW will be on tap, depending on configuration. The expectation is that the i4 will be able to do the 0-100 km/h run in around 4 seconds.

Outside, it’s a familiar aesthetic. BMW’s large – and controversial – grille design gives the i4 an imposing fascia, flanked with the automaker’s laser-light headlamps. Blue trim on the front, sides, and rear of the car help emphasize its zero-emissions powertrain, though you’d be forgiven for not knowing it was an electric vehicle at first glance.

That’s presumably by design. BMW has long had two approaches to electrification: on the one hand, plug-in hybrid versions of its mainstream line, typically distinguished only by minor badging such as the “e” suffix on the model number, while its “i” series has embraced more outlandish styling as well as, in some cases, full electrification.

The i4 – and the BMW iX SUV, which was revealed in recent months and for which the automaker spilled full model details earlier this week – introduce a new platform and new motor and battery tech, as BMW gets more serious about the role EVs will play in its line-up.

Inside, meanwhile, we’re expecting the new BMW iDrive 8 system that was also fully revealed this past week. That’s BMW’s new infotainment platform, complete with optional embedded 5G connectivity, more advanced voice control, new graphics and a curved dual-display atop the dashboard, and added features designed to make living with an electric vehicle more straightforward. It’ll feature in both the iX and the i4, as well as other new models from BMW. Full details on the i4 specifically, meanwhile, will follow on in the next weeks, BMW says.

In comparison to what we saw from Mercedes, the BMW iX’s panels look a little less overwhelming. The driver will get a 12.3-inch display for their instrumentation, while the central touchscreen will measure in at 14.9-inches. Both will be housed in a new magnesium design, with anti-reflective cover glass.

BMW promised a whole new UI for its iDrive operating system when it announced the iX in November of last year, and now it’s dropping more hints about just what that will include.

“Digital intelligence has been introduced into cars, optimized sensors now allowing them to perceive and analyse their surroundings,” the automaker points out. “As a result, elements of driving and parking can be automated to an increasing degree. And cloud-based services dip into a growing pool of real-time data.”

The result, BMW argues, is that a lot of the time the car will know more than the driver themselves will. That will include things like crowdsourced traffic and hazard alerts from other connected BMW vehicles, or the ability to predict open parking spaces at a destination programmed into the navigation system.

What BMW isn’t doing is getting rid of physical controls altogether, which is likely to please a lot of drivers concerned about a fully-virtual cockpit. The iDrive controller – a mainstay of the infotainment system since BMW introduced the first-generation of the system in the 2021 7 Series sedan – may not look quite the same as it once did, but the crystal knob in the center console of the BMW iX still promises the same sort of hands-on interface.

It’s a distinct divergence from what Mercedes is doing with MBUX Hyperscreen, where almost everything in the cabin has been handed over to the touchscreen UI. Indeed, Mercedes says, only the ECS’ start button will be physical, along with its headlamp controller. While some elements of the onscreen interface – like the air controls – will be fixed in place, everything else will be a virtual button, dial, or slider, allowing Mercedes to push OTA updates and evolve the EV’s design.

That’s not to say BMW’s controls will all be big, physical buttons. The iX’s drive modes, shortcuts for jumping into different iDrive areas, and media controls will be handled via touch-sensitive keys with haptic feedback, the automaker says. Still, the difference there is that those buttons won’t be moving on a touchscreen: while it may take some different muscle memory to pin them down in your brain, it’s arguably going to be more user-friendly on day one than fully-virtual versions.

There’ll be voice control, as you’d expect, and an optional head-up display. Full details will be confirmed when the BMW iX gets its full reveal later in the year. Production will kick off soon but local availability has not been confirmed as yet.