• Space for passengers is impressive
• Boot is rather shallow
• iX is a large car but tech eases the blow

How much space is there?

Passengers are well looked-after in the BMW iX. As you’d hope for from such a big car, passenger space is excellent, with lots of head and legroom in the rear and large, soft and comfortable seats all round.

You don’t suffer with the floor being excessively high, either, which is often a problem with electric cars that store their battery packs in the floor pan. There’s also a totally flat floor, which is great – it means passengers in the centre rear seat don’t have to contend with a transmission tunnel, and there’s step-through access through the centre console at the front, so if you’re parked up against a wall you can get out on either side of the car without too much scrambling.

There’s loads of adjustment in the driving position, including in the steering column which telescopes out really far – great for drivers with long legs who sit a long way back.

Boot space and storage

The iX has 500 litres of boot space underneath the parcel shelf. That’s not a huge boot for such a large car, and it’s also quite a shallow space with a high floor. It’s no problem for shopping and two people’s luggage will fit without issue, but if you’re attempting to load up a full family’s kit and clobber you might find yourself struggling for space. For reference, the Skoda Enyaq has a 585-litre boot – and it’s a much smaller car, too.

Unusually BMW hasn’t used additional space where an engine would go for a ‘frunk’ – this is a shame as it means you’ll need to store charging cables in the main load area, taking up space. The Tesla Model X offers a further 187 litres under the bonnet making it a genuinely useful space.

Storage space for smaller items is good, though, with a big glovebox, large partitioned door bins, and a wireless charging pad plus a few other smaller storage trays for oddments or smartphones. USB-C charging ports are plentiful, too.

Is it easy to park?

It’s a massive car but the BMW iX’s tech takes the sting out of parking with a rear camera and all-round sensors as standard. Optional parking packs can give you 360-degree cameras as well as automatic parking and a clever ‘reversing assistant’ – drive into a tight spot and change your mind and the car will reverse you along the same route to take the sting out of this manoeuvre.

You can even teach it specific parking manoeuvres, which it will remember and carry out on its own in the future. So it will even get you into a difficult space, as well as out of it.

Safety

• iX scored a full five stars in Euro NCAP testing
• Whole host of driver assistance aids
• Composite body structure very stiff in a crash

The iX was the safest car Euro NCAP tested in 2021, a high accolade indeed. With 91% and 87% scores for adult and child occupants respectively, and a huge 87% score for safety assist systems, it’s a very safe car whether you’re sat inside it or interacting with it on the road.

Safety equipment is plentiful, and all models come with advanced autonomous emergency braking as well as partially automated driving aids like adaptive cruise control. Blind spot monitoring is also standard.

However, not all of the driver assistance systems work consistently. With everything switched on, the iX can theoretically accelerate up to speed limits automatically as well as slow down for hazards and ‘assist’ through turns (though this relies on you touching the steering wheel – it is not a fully autonomous car). However, we found many of these facilities unreliable in action, and certainly would caution against relying on them too heavily.

Watch BMW iX Euro NCAP crash test video