The facelifted BMW iX is a big, quiet, air-suspended luxury electric SUV that starts just over 80,000 euros with the smaller 95 kWh battery and climbs past 100,000 euros with the 109 kWh pack. Thomas and Lea from Autogefühl took one on a full German Autobahn road trip, complete with two charging stops and back-to-back efficiency testing at 100 and 130 km/h. The headline numbers: at a steady 100 km/h cruise, real-world consumption came in at 19 kWh per 100 km, which works out to roughly 570 km of actual range. Push that to 130 km/h and consumption rises to 25 kWh per 100 km, dropping the range to about 440 km. Across the full mixed trip, the figure settled at 23 kWh per 100 km, or approximately 480 km end to end.
That range figure puts the iX roughly 120 km behind the newer iX3 under the same conditions, though part of that gap traces directly to wheel choice. This test car wore 22-inch, 275-wide tires. The iX3 comparison run used 20-inch, 235-wide rubber. When Autogefühl tested the iX3 with 22-inch wheels in an earlier session, efficiency numbers between the two came much closer. What doesn't close so easily is the charging comparison. The iX peaks at around 195 kW DC and is not on 800-volt architecture, which put a 15-to-75 percent charge at roughly 30 minutes in testing. The iX3, built on a newer 800-volt platform, can hit 400 kW peak and covers a comparable state-of-charge range in about 21 minutes. That gap is real and consistent regardless of which station you find.
On the road, the iX brings things the iX3 simply doesn't offer yet. Optional air suspension with adaptive damping makes a clear difference in city driving and on uneven surfaces. Rear-axle steering is available. Seat cooling is standard on the M Sport Pro package. The heated armrests and center console warming are iX-only features. The windows are thicker than the iX3's, which kept interior temperatures noticeably lower in direct sun during the test, a detail the team flagged as a real-world complaint about the iX3 that BMW still needs to address. Remote trunk release is another feature the iX3 currently lacks. These are comfort and convenience items, but they're the sort of thing that makes a difference on a long trip. Pricing: a comparably specced iX with the larger battery runs around 100,000 euros, versus roughly 70,000 euros for the iX3. Add air suspension and rear-axle steering to the iX and the gap stretches to 40,000 euros. At that price difference, you're essentially paying for a full second iX3.
Bottom line: The iX is a genuinely good car with luxury features the newer iX3 hasn't caught up to yet. But at up to 40,000 euros more than a well-loaded iX3, with slower charging and less range at the same wheel size, buying one new is a hard case to make. If a dealer has a used iX sitting at a steep discount while the iX3 wait list stretches out, that math looks different.