[Review] BMW iX3 50 xDrive (Neue Klasse): New Class

Let me save you the suspense. This is the best electric car BMW has made.

I know that is a big claim to open with. But I have driven enough EVs that feel like fridges on wheels to know when a company finally gets it right. The new iX3, wearing the historic Neue Klasse name, is BMW getting it right.

A New Class

In the late 1950s, BMW was nearly bankrupt and almost swallowed by a bigger rival. The car that saved them was the Neue Klasse in 1961, a whole new class that rebuilt the company from the ground up. Putting that name on an electric SUV today is BMW telling you that in an era where we are surrounded by an explosion of EV brands, this is that moment again. High stakes for BMW.

A New Look

After years of BMW kidneys getting bigger and bigger until the internet turned them into a running joke, the size of the grille is now reset. Back to the beginning. The design inspiration for the refreshed kidney grille is drawn from the 1961 original Neue Klasse, and there is a new flat BMW badge to sit above it.

The rest of the car is just as easy to like.

In our test car painted in Space Silver Metallic, the profile is neat and almost wagon-like, low and long for an SUV, with flush details and a set of 21-inch aero wheels that properly fill the arches. It even avoids the overused centre light-bar trope at the rear. Instead, the iX3’s taillights look like something off a spaceship, conveying both speed and technology in one stroke.

A New Architecture

The old iX3 was a petrol X3 with batteries and motors stuffed into it, working around holes and spaces left for an engine and a gearbox. Don’t get it wrong, I’ve tested it and it was a great car. It just wasn’t born to be an EV from Day 1.

The new iX3 owes nothing to a combustion car. BMW calls the underpinnings its Gen6 system, and against the last generation it charges around 30 percent faster, goes about 30 percent further and loses 40 percent less energy, all while weighing 20 percent less.

The most exciting improvement to me is the range.

The iX3 carries a gigantic 108.7 kWh battery that enables a range of 805km in a charge, among the best in its class.

Even discounting the occasional spirited driving (you will do that plenty in this car), and the fact that we should avoid using the last 20% of battery range to conserve battery health, you still have range that’s finally on par with a petrol car.

And in Singapore, for a typical driver, this means charging once a week instead of 2-3 times. This is a big difference in convenience.

Fitting such a huge battery into a compact SUV form factor is no easy feat. The new cylindrical cells hold about 20 percent more energy in the same space, and they pack straight into the housing with none of the old style module casings in between. BMW even builds the battery into the body structure rather than bolting a slab underneath, so the pack stiffens the car and keeps the weight low in the floor.

A New Cabin

Step into the cabin and three things grab you at once: the Panoramic Vision display, the new steering wheel, and the oddly shaped infotainment screen.

Start with the Panoramic Vision display, a full strip of information running along the base of the windscreen. It sounds like a gimmick. It is anything but.

Easy to read, easy to customise, everything sitting right in your sightline so you are not glancing down.

There is a real philosophy behind it. BMW ditched the traditional instrument binnacle and put your driving information where your eyes already are, on the road. Less clutter, easy-to-see information only when you want it. This is BMW’s idea that man and software should work hand in hand, and that the software should never interrupt the drive.

You can even personalise it to show things you never usually get in a car: the air pollutant index (useful in the middle of haze season), the live current draw and how much you are regenerating back into the battery, and even how hard you are pressing the accelerator, as a percentage.

Then the steering wheel, which looks alien at first glance. There are no spokes on the left and right like almost every other wheel. Instead the spokes sit at the top and bottom. Based on photos, one may think that the steering wheel is all looks and no function. But that can’t be further from the truth.

The left and right sections where your hands naturally rest are sculpted so your fingers find their home on their own, and spoke at the top actually gives you extra grip for those of us who like to grab the top of the wheel through a tighter turn. BMW has killed it.

Last of the trio is the infotainment screen, angled toward the driver in that unusual free-form shape rather than the plain rectangle everyone else fits. BMW was already on the podium for infotainment software, and the new Operating System X pushes it up another notch. The interface is quick to respond, the menus are easy to read, and there is almost no learning curve. You sit down and you already know where everything is.

Beyond the Panoramic Vision display, the new wheel and the infotainment screen, the build quality is classic BMW. Which means practical, sleek to look at, and most importantly, not a single creak or rattle anywhere.

Above your head is a panoramic glass roof that runs almost the length of the cabin and makes the whole space feel airy and open. Where other makers with a similar glass roof have forgotten owners in permanent-summer countries like Singapore, BMW has not. The glass already comes tinted with a strong UV-resistant treatment, and if that is still not enough for you, there is a foldable sunshade included as standard.

In the back, the bench is wide and genuinely spacious, easily three across, with proper legroom even behind a tall driver. Better still, rear passengers get their own digital air-con controls and two USB-C ports.

Practicality holds up at the tail too. The boot goes from 520 litres to 1,750 with the seats folded. An interesting note: the powered tailgate is among the fastest I have used, none of that slow, dramatic crawl while you stand there holding the groceries.

A New Drive

Now the driving, and the feature I keep telling people about. Symbiotic Drive.

Nestled deep in the car is a control unit BMW calls the Heart of Joy (which reminds me of the Heart of Gold in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy, my favourite novel of all time), one brain that runs the motors, brakes, steering and energy recovery together and reacts about ten times faster than the old setup.

The car reads what you are trying to do and steps in only when it needs to. Braking is the clearest example. It eases off the brake right before the car stops completely, the way a smooth driver does so nobody’s head nods forward. Most drivers cannot do this consistently. The iX3 does it every time, and from lower speeds you cannot feel the moment the speed hit zero.

Another useful feature is Remote Parking. Using a paired mobile phone, you can park the car while you stand outside. The only caveat here is that you need to stand within bluetooth range of the car, or the parking still stop abruptly.

A New Powertrain

469hp, 645Nm, 0 to 100 in 4.9 seconds. Quick undersells it. The moment I press past about 40 percent pedal, every other car on the road looks like it is moving at half frame.

And pure speed is not the whole story. This is a BMW. To match the mad power, the iX3 handles firm and flat, with minimal body roll for an SUV, even through corners taken at a speed that makes your passengers quietly question their life choices.

Push it over rougher tarmac and there is a bit more tilt and movement from the firmer suspension and taller body, but it is very well managed and stays comfortable for a car of its class.

The price for the BMW iX3 xDrive50 M Sport is S$387,888 with COE (as of September 2026). That is real money, but it lands right alongside the other luxury electric SUVs it competes with, so you are not overpaying for the badge.

And what you get for your hard-earned money is a completely new approach to the electric car. You bring home a piece of BMW at its very best, staring straight at its new electrifying future. A Neue Klasse.

If this is the future for BMW, then count me as a fan.

The BMW iX3 50 xDrive used for this review was provided by Eurokars Auto Pte Ltd. All opinions expressed are the author’s own and have not been influenced by the brand.