6 years ago when I bought a BMW 5-series, the delivery experience was smooth, however, it was not the case this time.
BHPian pk0080 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Why BMW iX
I wanted an electric, first booked a BMW i4 due to range figures but when I actually saw it, it was too small, cramped, and had low ground clearance, so I canceled it and took the refund.
I checked many SUVs of Jaguar, Land Rover, Audi, BMW, Mercedez, etc but none were giving as many features at that time as my wife’s new XUV700 was. Believe it or not, last year these brands were no longer talking about features if you say you have XUV700, the only pitch they were making was Luxury, Brand value etc.
The iX had all the features, range, ground clearance, etc, that’s why I decided on it.
Why it took almost a year to buy it
The problem was no one knew the expected delivery time etc, but then last year-end a batch (100+) lot of iX got diverted to India from some other market (I assume Russia or Scandinavian countries), suddenly it was readily available but I didn’t like that one because it had heated seat but not ventilated, whereas in NCR or most of India, we do not really need a heated seat that much, and it even had heated steering, heated side mirrors etc.
Then in March of 2023, another lot came, though the price got increased by 10%, it had soft close doors, latest ADAS (driver assistance plus), so I booked it while it was in transit to Bird Automotive Gurgaon to take immediate delivery.
Delivery experience
6 years ago when I bought a 5-series, the delivery experience was smooth, there was no surprise, and I was hoping the same. But it was shock one after another.
The first dealer changed the bank for finance from Axis to HDFC at the last moment. With Axis I was promised cashback, when they changed to HDFC, HDFC had a higher interest rate, and they said they will give me the difference of interest as cashback.
When I took the delivery, it was late in the evening like 8 pm, and I didn’t pay attention, just took the vehicle. Later I realized that no cashback was given at all. First, they said we promised nothing, luckily I had it in the email for one part, and for 2nd part, the HDFC guy was a witness, still they gave me an accessory / extended warranty worth that amount only after raising the issue with BMW India.
On the day of the delivery, all of a sudden they increased insurance costs from 1.5 lakh to more than 2 lakh, saying it was a mistake by one of their employees. I told them that I will do it outside and I got it done outside.
A few days before delivery, when I came to sign loan papers, the dealer gave me a wall charger and told me that a travel charger will come later but after delivery, they told me that this lot is coming without a travel charger (even cheapest electric SUV, Nexon EV comes with a travel charger).
Ownership experience
- None of my past vehicles got as much attention or eyeballs as this one.
- It is super spacious inside, with so many type C charging ports that you will never need even half of them at the same time.
- Seats are very comfortable.
- Acceleration was very fast, infact you can’t even use full acceleration if there is stuff loose in the boot, as stuff keep moving back and forth.
- Mileage is improving with time. I got 300 KM distance from 100% to 2% on the expressway (120 KMPH) and around 400 KM distance for the same charge on the expressway (100 KMPH). I have noticed I get the best in the city but never could really do long distance.
- Lane change feature is super useful, you do not need to worry about vehicles coming from the back, just give the half indicator, and it switches the lane automatically, but it waits upto a minute or so max for the lane to be clear off traffic for change and cancels the lane change function if it is not possible to change within this short time. I think this time should be more.
- Twice it happened to me, when I was in a hotel which gave just a socket for charging and didn’t have DC / AC charger itself. I had to once borrow the charger from a Nexon owner staying in the same hotel. I was wondering why BMW doesn’t supply chargers with vehicles, and after such an experience, I decided to buy one. But the BMW charger is expensive and it doesn’t even have cable / plug for India, it has European plug and you need to buy convertor / adaptor yourself. And default cable charges at less than the speed of the Nexon charger. but the charger itself is designed for fast charging, but in India cables sent with it are slow.
- Overall I am satisfied, except that such an expensive vehicle is given without a proper travel charger for the Indian environment.
Charging experience
Like most EV users, I have been to different charging stations, best I found so far were Golden royal dhaba in Kurukshetra, and Highway King near Shahpura, they had 150 KW chargers. But I got around 150 KW charging speed only in Kurukshetra Hyundai (Charged zone app) charger at Golden Royal dhaba.
BMW chargers are amongst the worst with charging speeds of around 25KW, maybe that is why you rarely see anyone charging at a BMW charging station.
I did a trip from Ambala to Jaipur and back, charging at highway king, and getting 80% before we finished the meal / snacks.
Did Another trip from Delhi – Agra – Jaipur – Delhi, without stopping anywhere and charged at the hotel where I stayed. There was no charging problem, but still always need to think about how far can it go.
I found adaptive regen gives better mileage than high or low regen.
Many times valets are not able to get out of the car, as it has a button to open the door instead of a handle.
Cons
- Lack of a travel charger, they are selling 11KW travel chargers in USA & Europe, so why not in India?
- Need to tell hotel security that its bonnet can’t be opened.
- Moon Glass on top doesn’t really stop the heat well, and there is no curtain to cover it.
Planning for a trip from Jaisalmer – Udaipur – Jodhpur – Delhi – Shimla – Manali – Leh – Kashmir – Amritsar – Delhi in it. If all goes well, I will share the experience.
Keyword: Waited almost a year to get the BMW iX: Buying & ownership experience