BMW IX M60 Impressions – The future is fast, comfy and crystal

BY ANDREW UTTERBACK

Podcast Producer

BMW’s first foot in the electric SUV door was the IX, a midsize luxury SUV with an obvious focus on feeling futuristic. After spending some time with the 2023 IX M60, a car that is pretty similar to even its 2026 refreshed model, I can say the IX is quite possibly the most refined EV I’ve driven. Coming in at almost 6,000 lbs, the 2023 IX still offered an estimated 324 miles of range, plus 610 hp and a 3.2-second 0-60mph time thanks to the M60 performance trim. 

Design

Let’s get the most controversial part of the IX out of the way first; the large kidney grilles up front are not the most attractive thing to look at. I definitely don’t think it ruins the whole look of the car, but it’s pretty hard to miss them. They blend into the silhouette well enough where they don’t look out of place, and look a lot better on a larger SUV than they do on a 4-Series, for example. We’ve seen widespread negative feedback on BMW’s kidney grilles before, notably in 2021 with the launch of the G80 M3, the brand’s high-performance sports sedan. To be fair, since the M3 is gas-powered, the grilles did have a function, but nonetheless, they’ll stand out less over time. 

The back of the IX looks much better, resembling what you’d see on an X5 M. It even has a bumper with diffuser cutouts that look ready for an exhaust. My IX was specced with Oxide Grey, which paired very well with the black badges, blue ring around the BMW logos and the blue M brake calipers. The IX’s design is smooth enough to give away its electric DNA, but sharp enough to remind you it shares that DNA with its M car siblings. Or maybe distant cousins. I think aside from the front, it’s a fairly inoffensive design that won’t even turn as many heads as BMW’s hybrid performance SUV, the XM. 

Interior

The interior may be just as controversial, starting with the steering wheel. We get a squared off, almost C8 Corvette-style wheel with scroll wheels on each side. If you’re familiar with BMWs, you’ll notice that this steering wheel has the same controls and flat bottom as the new 4,5 and 7 Series models. However, the missing bottom stalk gives it a “floaty” look that more closely resembles a Star Wars TIE Fighter than an actual wheel. 

Infotainment wise, you get BMW’s iDrive 8 found in most post 2022 BMWs nowadays. I’ve driven many BMWs with this version of iDrive, and I still think it looks miles better than it functions. It’s one of the better infotainment systems out there, but it still puts too many controls on the screen rather than below in the form of physical buttons. It’s good, I just miss the buttons. 

My favorite part about iDrive (which is slowly being faded out in the X1 and X2) is the fact you can use the touchscreen or the physical dial to move around the screen. I seriously wish more cars had this. (Looking at you, Acura, Mazda and Lexus, all up until the past year or two). 

Speaking of the infotainment control dial, the start/stop button, the seat adjustment controls and the drive mode selector – all of them are crystal. Straight-up glass. I’ll admit, they look sharp when the sun catches them just right, but it’s also the kind of feature that might earn an eye roll or two from passengers. The center console, where the crystal is housed, doesn’t extend all the way to the dash, giving the cabin a more open feel. The screen is also curved toward the driver, and the addressable ambient lighting and excellent speaker system make for a very pleasant cruising experience. 

The rest of the interior is well done. The seats feel comfortable and well-bolstered, materials are all solid—definitely towards the top of BMW’s material quality spectrum—and the seating position is quite good. One thing worth noting is the space between the dashboard and the windshield is huge. It feels like you’re positioned a lot further back when you’re driving the IX, almost like a Cybertruck. Rear seat passengers have an okay amount of space. It’s comfortable, but not in the way a large family SUV is comfortable.

Likely, the coolest party trick of the IX is its sunroof. Instead of a cover for the sheet of glass spanning nearly the entire roof, you have electrochromic glass. This means with a press of a (not crystal) button, the entire roof can dim or become transparent on command. This is a feature we’ve only seen on a few other cars, but one I think should definitely be more widely adopted. There’s noticeably less sun in the cabin after dimming, but just enough light comes through to give the cabin a spacious feel. 

Driving

Remember the iX’s DNA, part electric BMW and part M car? Behind the wheel, you get pieces of both, sometimes at the same time.

Right off the bat, the IX drives incredibly well. The suspension, handling, cushion and steering precision are all what you’d expect from the very best luxury cars on the market. Driving this car in comfort mode around corners, over bumps and just straight down the highway was a wonderfully posh experience. The IX is very well isolated, and road noise is among the lowest I’ve ever heard – or not heard. Acceleration is smooth, and BMW’s xDrive AWD system works just as well here as in any other BMW. Launching from a stop produced little to no wheelspin, and carving through backroads felt far smoother than you’d expect from a 6,000-pound SUV.

Hiding weight and delivering strong traction are traits we’ve come to expect from EVs, but where the iX truly excels is in its buttery-smooth ride. Switching into Sport mode keeps that comfort intact while squeezing out the last bits of its M DNA.

Aggressive driving (obviously on a track) can be done pretty confidently in the IX. At least as much as SUV physics will let you. Acceleration is extremely quick, and the IX still pulls hard enough at the top end to make passing an afterthought. It’s not Model X Plaid level, but as far as performance SUVs go, this is toward the top and right up around its gas-powered, X5M counterpart. Cornering is also aided by the flat bottom steering wheel, and stopping isn’t a problem, courtesy of the M Power brakes. 

The IX’s 324 miles of range is solid for the class, and charging is via the DC fast charging port located on the right rear. When hooked up to a 200kW charger, the IX is rated to charge from 10% to 80% in about 35 minutes. 

To wrap it up

The BMW IX, when it came out in 2022, was the car that BMW threw all of their visions for the future into. It was the first BMW to feature iDrive 8, the automaker’s first ground-up EV and was priced at $85,000. The following year’s M60 trim added plenty of performance and 25 grand, bringing that starting price to $110,000. The future is expensive. 

Since this is an electric SUV, it carries the same fate as all the others – severe depreciation. This is mostly due to how fast this part of the car industry moves, especially in terms of technology. It’s quite unfortunate for the first owner and quite the opposite for the second. Pre-owned IXs with relatively low miles can be picked up in the mid $40,000 range. Mind you, the brand new 2026 IX is not that drastic of a change from the first, 2022 model. At that price, it’s hard to find another car—especially an EV—that drives this well and has this many features.

The electric SUV market has grown a little bit since the IX’s debut. Right around that $80,000 starting price of the 2026 IX sits the Cadillac Vistiq, Volvo EX90 and Rivian R1S, plus new options like the Lucid Gravity. But even though the IX may not be “the future” anymore, at least relative to other new BMWs, it’s still refined enough to be at the top of any electric SUV list, especially pre-owned.