S2E17 - BMW M2 CS Track Day in the Rain + Neue Klasse iX3 First Drive + 2025 M5 Touring

Hey, guys, welcome back to the BMW podcast, episode 16 of season two.

And once again, I'm joined by Nate, but we do have another little guest

with us today, Mary Gold.

As you can see in the video, if you're watching this one, you will

see this very, very beautiful cat that is ready to join our podcast today.

So if you're not watching on YouTube, then you might have to.

So with that being said, Nate, once again, thanks for joining me today.

Yeah, thanks for having me, or us, I should say.

Exactly.

Soon as I start talking, just come on in and talk about today, right?

Exactly.

So maybe we get the cat to do the talking for us, but we've tested

quite a few cars lately.

So we wanted to have this episode kind of just dedicated to test drives.

I know that we bounce back and forth between news, test drives and gas.

But this week, we're just going to make it all about test drives so we

can lay that out right now.

So we're going to start with a big one, the BMW M2 CS.

You were fortunate to drive that car.

I have not.

I'm still very, very jealous of you, but you had a chance to go on the track

despite all the rain.

And we can talk about that as well.

But I did go to a sunny place in southern Spain, Soto Grande, right

across from Gibraltar and Morocco.

And I did drive the BMW iX3.

So that's a big one that we can talk about.

Not too many people had a chance to do that.

And then we can bounce to you once again, because you drove the BMW iX.

And that's one of the topics that I focus quite a bit when I drove the iX3,

because at least for the next year or so, the two cars will be on the

market at the same time.

A lot of people will be asking, which one should I buy?

And then lastly, we're going to end with another big one.

One of my favorites, the BMW M5 Touring.

You had a press car for a week and you can tell me what you think about that car.

I did drive it not for a week.

It was here and there, you know, a few days at a time.

I did have the M5 sedan for a while, but I will get the M5 Touring in the

spring and I can do a long term review as well.

So with that being said, BMW M2 CS, tell me the story of that trip and then

tell me about the car.

Yeah, of course.

You know, you were supposed to go, but it ended up not being able to.

So sorry about that.

Which is OK, because I can't do it all.

You know, it's nice to.

It's nice to not have it to go to all of the outside, as people are telling me by now.

And as you pointed out, the weather was horrendous.

It was, you know, we flew to the South Carolina, Spartanburg, went to

Michelin's lower improving grounds and it was absolutely pouring.

It was like 50 degrees.

Apparently the BMW team the week before had to go and take all of the cup two

tires off of all of the all the vehicles and replace it with pilot sport four

presses due to all the rain that was going to be there.

And it was good choice because there was literally on one of the large tracks,

a small creek crossing the road at about a zone where we're doing about 125.

So it was some of the worst elements I've ever driven in at speed like that.

But the car was a shame, though.

Yeah, before you go into the car, which is a shame because I was around the same

time I was actually with Frank Van Meel.

We were in Tokyo and then in China and I was showing him the photos that you were

sending me, the photos that Dan sent me also with the car like in the rain.

And he was kind of bummed out a little bit too, because he said that car,

it's great on, you know, PS4S or PS5S.

Is it 4S? 4S.

4S is what we had.

4S. Yeah, I'm not sure if the Europe gets 5S or not.

I don't remember.

But he said that if you get a cup two tires, especially the ones dedicated for

the car, he was telling me that it makes a huge huge difference in the dry

and the car drives even better.

So we have to do that test at some point as well, because I'm curious also if

you're going to feel the difference between the two.

They have a lot of tires left over, they said.

Yeah, so that's what everyone kept saying as well.

There's they're saying that it really comes to life on cup tires,

especially once they get warmed to like the suspension tuning is just so much

geared for that extra grip that the car just really seems to to come to life.

And which surprised me because I thought it was amazing, even in the traction

was fantastic, even the deep rain with the PS4S on it.

Considering seems like every time I go to these tests, the first one I get

thrown into is the high speed test.

So I jump out on track, you know, and what I later found out was obviously

we always have a lead instructor on those, who's usually at one of the pro drivers.

And then what I found out is I had the American Stig is the also the additional

person in my group.

So a pro driver in the Stig, I'm following in the rain, torrential rain, M2CS.

So like I'm like, I just hope I can keep up with these guys.

And the car just was fantastic.

I talked about my video a bunch about how, you know, we went out

and we tested the M2 two years ago now on track and it's just so capable.

And it just felt like anyone can get in that car and drive quickly.

It's just so planted, so composed.

You have to like push it to make it, you know, start dancing.

Like you really can just anyone get out there and drive it really well.

And I mean, that makes it a great, you know, very fast M car.

But it also takes a little bit of that, that personality, right?

That's why like the one M was so great.

Like why you love yours is like, it's got that.

It's got that little bit of something, you know, it'll bite you

if you're not doing things right.

Carefully. Yeah, exactly.

Same thing with the F87 models, the M2CS, you know, was more lively in the rear end.

And that's why it was just felt like more of a driver's car, more more fun,

more engaging.

And they've done the same thing with the G87.

It's you go from a planted M2 to the CS, which you just blip that throttle

and it wants to kick out.

It's but it's very balanced as it does it multiple times in that first session on track.

It wanted to drift out on me and I could easily catch it even in the rain.

Like you're not on a knife's edge.

It's it was very controllable and predictable.

I was I was very impressed that with that extra power,

the lack of traction out on track, that it was just so easy to drive quickly,

but have that composure and capability to to push it and get it to work

and play and really toss it around a little bit more.

But do you feel like it's it's worth, you know, whatever,

30,000 more than the BMW M2, even though somebody brought up a good point

if you had some of the like the carbon ceramic brakes, which are not available,

I think on the M2 as a regular option and then you add some of the other things,

you know, you end up with a difference of around $10,000.

But let's say, you know, $30,000 difference.

Do you think it's worth it over the BMW M2?

It's a question that I get quite a bit, actually.

Now, there's got to be a caveat in in my answer here because

if we're just talking performance wise, I think, yeah, that with a little bit

of tuning, a base M2 could be right there with an M2 CS.

I do know they do a lot of suspension tuning tweaks, but for 20 grand,

you can get a pretty nice, you know, H&R suspension on there or something

and, you know, tune it to probably get to that same level.

No problem. Power once again, it was it's a 50 horsepower bump.

That's not a lot for for an engine that's, you know, can take that.

So, yeah, a base M2, you can get it right up to that level,

probably for a lot less than 20, but it's not a CS.

Yeah.

And that's the answer, right?

Like if you look at the F87 CS's or any CS model, they hold their value very well.

So like a base M2, I mean, you can find M2's now for

M2 comps for mid 30s, you know, it's like the value drops on a normal M car

a lot quicker because there's so many of them and the CS is hold that value.

So the premium is worth it because you retain that value.

Yes, I mean, that's that's that's a good point.

I think globally, they haven't really announced the number.

But for more, I know it's around 1800 units.

I don't know if they're going to make a little bit more or not.

And I guess the US, they probably got, you know, 500 units from what I heard.

I don't know if they're going to increase that.

Sometimes they allocate more if there's more demand for a market.

I didn't hear that it might have allocated more, but I couldn't confirm that.

But it's quite rare, even if it's 500 units for the US,

it's actually more rare than a BMW 1M.

The 1M there, they were actually 740 for the US and the previous M2 CS.

I think they're like only 300 and something if I recall correctly.

So it's still quite, quite rare, but you're not buying that car just because it's rare.

Yes, I love that about the car.

But every time that I drive a CS car, I was on the track with the M3 CS, the M4 CS.

Honestly, every single car just just makes me like like a like a better driver.

I just pop on it and I feel like I'm faster than most instantly.

You know, and I feel like the car, it's not necessarily the sum of all parts.

Could people say, well, I can put this and I can put that.

Yes, I feel like it's got something that's special.

The software tuning is definitely unique to the car.

I know some people are trying to reverse engineer that to the ECU tune to the BMW M2,

but apparently it's locked and you can't really do that anyway.

And I feel like even if you try to tune it yourself, you can really bid all these years,

the BMW spends to test the car on the Nurburgring with professional drivers,

engineers and all of it.

They can feel every little change in the software code or anything.

Little change in the hardware and all of it.

And that's why I still think the CS models are quite special and they're worth the money.

That's why there's no competition because you don't need it.

You have the base model and you don't need a company more because we jump

straight to the CS, which is, you know, the pinnacle right there.

Yeah. And that's, I mean, I know that's another discussion of like the loss

of the competition models, which I think is a good thing.

It's it's yeah, you don't need it.

It's a good jump.

And I think what's great about the M2 CS is especially this new model is that

that as we speak about the other CS models, is this right there at the power,

the same power level too, right?

So that 50 horsepower bump takes it right up to with the M3 and M4 comp.

And so that power level is the same.

You know, you have a slightly smaller, more compact package.

So that feels like to me what the M3 should should always be is that the smallest,

more compact type performance car, which which you get from that M2 CS now.

Gotcha. What was the feedback from other people that were there?

I mean, there were quite a few journalists in the US and in the European as well.

Everyone is really amazed.

Everyone was very happy with its performance in those conditions.

Like as we mentioned, everyone's like obviously really bummed to not see

its true potential, but could all sense that there was a lot to it.

Especially on I spent a lot of time on the autocross track.

I thought that was even more fun than the big track, big track.

The cars fast, all M cars are extremely fast, especially at speed.

Once you get them up to speed, you know, M cars just feel so composed and planted.

The arrow kicks in like the cars just like that's what they're made for.

The autocross track, you can really definitely push it.

And I spent, like I said, a lot of time out there.

And so did everybody else.

There's a lot of people out there just getting it sideways, playing with its

its stability and its weight balance.

And it was just it was so easy to transition into a drift and then bring it back out.

And if it did ever kind of snap on you, it just took a quick quick motion.

It's right back in line.

There was never anything that really jumped out at me.

And it just was always, it felt so good on the autocross track with the combination

of that extra power and the ability to kick the rear end out.

It just was fun to drive.

Gotcha.

Did you have a chance to do some drifting also?

I did. I'm not very good at it.

I did my best.

That's one of those skills that I've just never seemed to have.

But I got it sideways quite a few times.

And like I said, it's progressive.

It's it's very easy to control.

Probably one of the easiest ones vehicles I've I've, you know, gotten sideways.

Yeah.

And everyone, I think everyone was out there just throwing it sideways, having a blast.

Yeah, gotcha.

Cool. So I guess too bad there was no

you know, dry track, but we should take it out on the road as well.

Yep. So we did have a street session.

And then luckily enough, since I was staying later the next day,

I took it back to the hotel as well.

So I got it on the freeway.

And one thing to know is a lot of times when you get these, you know,

the CES type models and they start removing

sound deadening and tires and all that, you know, the road noise can get a little bit much.

And I didn't think it was that bad.

I really didn't. I thought it, you know, there's obviously a little bit of drone

on the highway, but totally manageable.

Wasn't annoying or anything like that.

And it was pretty subdued.

It had, yeah, it's got your heated, even though the carbon seats are all crazy,

they're still heated, thankfully, because it's so cold and wet.

And it just it was actually quite comfortable cruising back to the hotel.

Gotcha. So it could serve as a daily driver, basically, right?

Oh, definitely. Yeah.

You know, the only thing that people might complain about to those seats,

but I mean, this getting in and out a little bit more difficult.

But I think they're awesome.

So yeah, I couldn't imagine the car with

the actual imagine the car with regular seats, honestly.

No, not at all.

You're getting that car and you need to get the proper seats.

Yeah, but no, you could easily daily drive it. No problem.

Gotcha. Cool.

All right, so let's move on then.

And let's talk about the opposite side of the world, basically,

and both in location and also in technology.

Yep. You know, you gave up the M2 CS drive for this.

So how was it?

Yeah, so, yes, I mean, I was, yeah, that was quite a trip.

But yeah, I mean, I was excited about the X3, honestly.

I have to say, if they would have asked me up front,

I would probably pick the X3 because it's such an important car.

You know, it's a mainstream car versus the M2 CS, you know,

and I really wanted to get behind the wheel of that one.

I tried as a prototype and I wanted to see also once again,

the production series.

So as I said, I flew to this place called Soto Grande,

a beautiful place, amazing roads and a lot of traffic.

So you can actually have some fun with the car.

But the best part was that they also let us on the track on

Ascari, which is one of the best tracks that you can be on.

Honestly, the facility is beautiful.

The track is beautiful.

It's just amazing.

It wasn't a lot of driving on the track.

Maybe like 30 minutes, but it was it was good enough to test the car.

So you know, in class, you know, this car, I think it's such a huge

leap compared to to what we have today, basically,

from BMW, it comes to electric cars.

I mean, I love the BMW iX.

I'll talk about it in a second.

But the X3, when it comes to technology, the driving experience,

it's really, really years ahead.

I mean, that those three, four, I think three, four super computers

that they have each control something else.

The main ones, the driving dynamics, the heart of joy, absolutely makes driving

not only a lot of fun, but also quite safe.

I was trying to really push that car to spin the wheels, to have the rear step out on you.

And unless you reduce the traction control, you almost can't.

I mean, you really need to to really push it to the physics limit.

And I think that's good from a fun perspective,

but it's also good from a safety perspective.

Because other people, they might not be experienced drivers

and they might end up in situations where it's quite sticky.

You know, literally, or it's raining on the road, you have water

and it's going to start to sleep.

You don't know how to counter that or do the proper steering technique.

And I think this car will save you quite a bit.

But on top of that, if you want to have fun with a car, you can absolutely.

It doesn't drive like an SUV, it drives like a smaller car.

I would say it's pretty compatible to how the i4 drives.

It's really, really that capable of driving dynamics.

Yeah, I was very, very impressed with driving dynamics once again.

On the track, the same thing.

I was following in M5 competition safety car, which sounded amazing.

But in the guys in front of me, they were pushing it quite a bit

and I was, you know, right behind them.

Of course, you could you could hear the tires, you know,

making a lot of noise because of the weight.

I think it's over a thousand pounds.

So it was it was making quite quite some noise.

So of course, you're going to, you know,

chew through those tires if you go on the track and push it.

But it could it could hold its own, honestly.

And it was it was really composed on the track, very capable,

not a lot of body roll if if anybody, honestly.

And we also did some slalom at 60 kilometers per hour,

which is quite good, very, very composed.

Again, we did some emergency braking with lane change,

which once again, really, really good.

Those brakes are awesome.

I'll talk about that in a second as well.

So from a driving dynamics perspective, you know,

nobody has to worry about this car.

It's really, really capable and it drives smaller than it is.

Yeah, to me, what I was just going to say,

I saw the the slalom videos and it does look very, very composed.

And I mean, that's that the whole weight down low,

lots of batteries in the bottom just keeps that low center of gravity.

But it seemed to transition really well, almost seemed to like drive

like it was a hatchback or a wagon instead of an SUV.

Exactly. You actually nailed it.

I think that's the that's the right way to describe it.

And if you put it in sport mode, it also sends a little bit more power to the rear.

I think 56 percent goes to the rear in sport mode.

So you can actually, you know, sense that both on the slalom

but also driving like on the road as well.

If you if you want to have some fun with the car and let you do its thing

a little bit more, but if you keep it even a normal road, you get

you know, the almost a perfect balance on a really, really good car.

When it comes to that, I think what I enjoyed a lot about this car

was really the brake regeneration, because a lot of people that go into EVs,

they constantly complain about the one paddle feel or maybe even the adaptive

mode will be too aggressive, you know, they get motion sickness,

especially stop or go traffic.

A lot of my friends gave their, you know, electric cars back

because you just don't like that constant, you know, breaking that happens.

And it wasn't smooth at all with this car.

It's ridiculous smooth.

I mean, I've done it in the prototype video where I literally close my eyes

and I can't tell when the car stops because 95 percent of the breaking

it's done actually by the electric motors.

That's so it's that's great because as we'll talk about later with the IX,

like the one I just had, that's literally the first thing my wife mentioned was

like, are you doing this on purpose?

Like, yeah, and the adaptive, it just wasn't it's not predictable.

It's not consistent.

So like hearing that they really smoothed that out is a huge change

because that that everyone who I rode with me in the IX

seemed to make that same, same mention like if I wasn't on my on the B mode,

the brake mode where it just automatically just starts breaking.

It was yeah, it was people kind of got sick and felt a little uneasy.

So it's good that they made some good progress on that.

Yeah, this one does a great job across all the settings.

I mean, it has the same settings, you know, the B mode.

He has the adaptive, you know, that has a high, medium and low.

And all of them are huge improvement over anything there is today.

I mean, I was talking to Kyla from Autospec and, you know, he's an EV not clearly.

And, you know, he was telling everyone there, you know,

generally that this is the best brake region he's ever tested in any electric car

and he's really tested a lot of them.

So if that came from me, maybe people wouldn't believe me,

but, you know, I call the brands, you know, that says a lot.

So yeah, the the brake region is fantastic

because a daily driver, you will absolutely enjoy it.

Even when you when you're going downhill or uphill,

it works brilliantly as well, you know, holds the car in place.

It's just good. It's really, really, really good.

And it's hard to convey that through video.

I've tried, I've tried to show it to explain it.

You just can't see it. You really have to experience this for yourself.

And I think a lot of people will be absolutely impressed with that.

Yeah, so they've done a really, really great job with that.

Then, of course, you know, charging, it's great.

Also, they didn't have a chance to actually test it there.

They only had, you know, I could only find it 200 or 300 kilowatts.

So I didn't even bother.

But basically 800 volts architecture charges, you know, 10 to 80 percent

in 28 minutes, I guess, and you're getting in 10 minutes about 176 miles

on the EPA or 350 on the WLTP depends on the calculator, which is insane

because that's only 10 minutes, 176.

If you get a 400 kilowatts charger, of course,

which is starting to pop up slowly in the US, but still not enough.

But that's going to make a huge difference

because that's exactly what I've always wanted to do.

This neck charging, I hate waiting a charging station.

I don't have a charger at home.

I just want to go plug in for 10 minutes and 176 miles for me.

That's more than enough for the next few days, basically.

I think it will work really, really well for a lot of people

as long as you get that infrastructure going.

Yeah, I mean, that that's a work week for most people.

So, you know, like a quick weekend charge up.

You got your whole week for you.

Just like you would a normal car with guests.

So then that's that's kind of the quality that people kind of want to see.

Right. Exactly.

Yeah, so the car is great.

I mean, it was a dual motor, the 50 model.

It's not even the top one that will be an M60.

They haven't confirmed, but it's going to be one.

I probably over 600 horsepower, so it's going to be probably insane.

Even more tuned towards the sporty side of things.

Writing, you know, the suspension was good.

It was just the base suspension, so not even the adaptive.

So steel suspension, the M60.

And in the future, it will be an adaptive, you know,

to order with the cars as well.

And that would be exactly what I probably expect.

You know, really comfortable, you know, in the comfort mode or the personal mode.

And then a lot sportier in that.

So that's the beauty of that.

And I always recommend getting one of those.

I don't think there will be an air suspension.

Then they keep that for the higher end models.

We can talk about that when you talk about the IX as well.

But yeah, so as a daily driver, honestly, even the suspension was very, very good.

Because it's very compliant over so over services.

I've tried in different places there and I found it really, really comfortable.

The tires, of course, you know, the bigger you go, the noisier they are,

the, you know, rougher they are.

So you would feel a little bit more.

I always tell people you don't need to get 22s or 23s.

I appreciate the money.

Twenty twenty one.

You know, twenty twenty one, it's fine.

You're getting better efficiency.

Also, of course, they don't look as good as, you know, with I like a meaty tire.

Yeah, so, you know, designers always make the sketches of the big tires

because they just make the car look better.

But in real life, you know, you're you're you're better off with a, you know,

medium sized tire, basically whatever they offer.

So that's that in size space, quite, quite good.

You know, it's, you know, if you first platform, same as the IX,

and you can see the difference compared to the current IX3, for example,

which you don't have here, but it's sold in Europe.

That's a conversion type of car kind of thing.

You know, this one very, very spacious up front in the back.

Spaces, you know, as in current X5, I had three adults with me,

which is to test it out and honestly, OK, we're a little cramped,

but not too bad over a shorter distance, you're fine.

But if you get two adults and one child in the back, plenty, plenty of space.

So that's cool. Cargo space will be smaller than the regular X3

because of the batteries, but it's an X3.

So once again, you don't expect it to be, you know, a cargo hauler.

And then you're getting a smallish

frunk, which I still don't think I'll ever use it in the I3.

I never really used that.

It's waterproof now, so that makes a huge difference.

I guess 17 liter or three cubic feet.

They measure differently, like in the US.

So enough to put a, you know, small

duffel bag in there or a backpack or to store your charger.

So it's good for that, especially for the charger.

I think that's probably the best use case.

Just put a charger there.

I don't have to have it in the trunk, moving around, dangling and all of that.

So from that perspective, it's a good family car.

If you have two kids, you should be okay.

I am looking forward to getting one, you know, maybe at least in one of them,

because I feel like it's a good replacement to my I4.

I have an IX currently right now.

We can talk about that as well now.

And then maybe we go back to one more thing.

Actually, now let's talk about the before we go, because I don't want to come back.

Let's talk about the Panoramic Drive and the iDrive.

I was just going to bring up the technology.

Yeah, a lot of people are talking about the technology in that.

You know, I tested all the technology in the car.

You can see the videos like an hour long, way too long, maybe.

But I tested, you know, driving assistant level two plus, which has been improved.

You can change the lanes on multiple ways.

You can even do the auto blinkers for you.

It's got a highway system up to 85 months per hour.

All these cool features, they work better than than what we have today, basically

in the iX or other cars as well.

But when it comes to the Panoramic Drive, that's one thing that I wanted to test

quite a bit, because, you know, there is no more dashboard behind the steering wheel.

So I was like, OK, how is this going to play out in real life?

And honestly, I love it.

I tested under very, very sunny conditions.

I wanted to see if it's legible.

It is. It's got really nice 3D depth effect that makes everything very legible in front of you.

You can customize that quite a bit.

You can keep just minimal information that's mandatory for driving.

You can customize the widgets.

But what I find useful, actually, was actually I was using the navigation quite a bit

on the Panoramic Drive compared to the head up display, because my eyes,

my eyes actually were only going maybe just a few degrees lower to that.

So like compared to looking at the central display when doing this,

maybe moving your head to the right, you know, it's a little bit easier

if you just, you know, lower your your eyesight a little bit.

And you can still see the information in the directions out there.

So a lot of times I find myself looking at the arrows, the map arrows right there

on the Panoramic display versus the head up display.

I even turn off the head up display at some point to see if I can just do the panoramic.

And honestly, I think it was fine for directions.

Perfect. So you might not even need a head up display in that car, to be honest.

Of course, it's nice to have it, but it's always an option and it's expensive.

But I find myself, you know, being OK, which is the Panoramic display.

So from that perspective, it's fine.

I don't think I'll miss the dashboard behind the steering wheel.

I mean, it was a classical thing to have, I guess.

A lot of people missed that.

But the projection that's on the windshield works just as well.

And I'm curious to see how that's going to evolve in the future.

If it's going to catch on or maybe one day they'll realize was just a gimmick

and they'll reverse it, I'm not sure.

I mean, they can go back and forth with that.

But so far, so so good.

I'll when I get a car for maybe like longer time for like a week or more,

I would chance to test it even more and see if, you know, I have the same opinion on that.

Most of the central displays, it's cool because now it's kind of angled towards the driver.

So if you're watching this, you know, podcast, you can see my hand.

But I was basically, you know, in the IX right now, I'm constantly kind of doing this to reach.

Even though I'm quite tall and I have long arms, I believe so.

But it's tough to go to the corner, basically, to the right top corner.

All the time I have to kind of lean over quite a bit.

And it's not very ergonomic to do so in this car.

It's really, it's really not.

I mean, it's angled nicely.

It's smaller size.

You can reach any, any point on the screen, any corner.

And from that perspective, it's definitely a lot, a lot better.

A lot snappier, a lot more intuitive in many, many ways.

Definitely better, you better UI as far as the design and all of it.

I even mentioned in the video, every single icon on the screen.

Now you can actually click on it and it brings up something or it does something in current generation.

If you, if you try to do that, some icons don't do anything.

They're just there to display the information, but they don't bring up anything.

So even though you're in time, you're, you're inclined to click, to click on it and see what it does.

It doesn't do anything.

So it's a lot more intuitive, you know, in many, many, many ways.

Of course, I still reach for the iDrive controller once in a while, especially when it's like a list.

When I see like a list, I'm always like, ah, many sort of being so much easier with that.

You know, like a quick spin.

Exactly.

That's kind of the only time when I'm, when I'm actually reaching for it, yeah,

or when I, when I reached for the iDrive controller, when I was going through a list, basically,

which happened mostly inside like a Spotify or something like that.

But usually on the, on the regular screen, because now everything, it's laid out more horizontally than before.

You're kind of doing scrolling like that, more than vertical, then basically, and then there are also multiple widgets on the screen

that you can quickly toggle between screens within the same plane kind of thing.

Then, then you don't need to use the iDrive controller for that.

Actually, it would be kind of difficult the way that it is right now to use the iDrive controller for that.

So from that perspective, it's fine.

The other thing that's a little bit maybe strange, still, it's are the haptic buttons on the steering wheel.

Takes a little time to get used to that, getting the feedback, you know, they lead up based on certain context.

You know, so it's, it's a, it's a learning curve there.

The scrolling works well, but you can only scroll, I think, with that on the panoramic display.

So there is a scrolling feature, like a, like a touchpad kind of thing.

Looks like a joystick and basically you can use that, you know, as an iDrive control kind of thing,

but it only controls the information on the panoramic, basically, when it comes to scrolling and all of that.

So that's the differentiation.

But overall, I like the tech, I'm always very techy.

I love new tech.

So maybe, you know, if you don't like new tech, if you don't like changes,

if you like the analog type of, you know, design and interior, then you might not like it.

But from my perspective, it was fine coming from my iDrive 8, 8.5 and 9.

This is definitely a huge step up.

So one last thing with the iX3 then.

Since it is an X model, did you do any off-road or anything with a loose traction or anything like that?

Fortunately not. We didn't do it. We didn't do it.

Now it's, it was set up more for driving dynamics than anything like that.

But I feel like I'll have a chance to do this in February.

I'm playing a nice trip in Europe through the Alps and all of it.

I think if that works out, I have a chance to actually try it on the snow.

Maybe we could go a little bit off-road also in different conditions.

But no, so far, no, I mean, it's still an X3 or iX3.

So I don't know how well it's going to handle that.

But with a new heart of joy, I don't know, it might be a good one.

I don't know. Of course, the ground clearance is not there.

But when it comes to being able to use it off-road, it might be okay.

So we'll have to test it out when it comes out next year in the US, especially in your area.

I mean, that's of all the other places.

Yeah. Well, the ground clearance, you bring up a good point.

That's the one thing I noticed about the iX that I had.

So maybe that's a good transition point.

Yeah. So let me, let me bring it to you with the iX3 first.

So a lot of people ask me, and I covered that in the video,

should I buy the iX3 or the iX? Which one is better?

Which one drives better?

So from a dynamic driving perspective, the iX3 is better.

From a comfort perspective, the iX is better because especially if you have the air suspension,

it makes a huge difference.

I have an iX right now at home, it's a 45 for the air suspension.

It's fantastic, right?

Now, if I were to compare a base suspension with that, maybe they're compared by,

I don't know, I would have to try to get back to back.

People always ask me, but like, unless you drive them back to back on the same surfaces,

it's still very subjective, you know?

And it's not fair when people try to compare that without driving on the same road,

same conditions, you know, try to have kind of the same tire sizes, so on and so forth.

But from an overall perspective, the iX is still, you know, easier to drive.

It has the rear axle steering, which makes a huge difference.

You know, it's a bigger car, but it drives smaller as well.

So from that perspective, I like it quite a bit.

I still see the iX, it's an amazing product.

The only thing with the iX, it's always been the price point.

They lowered it right now with the 2026, but it's always been a lot more expensive

than people expected, and that's kind of what put a dent maybe in the sales.

Even though I see a lot of them on the street because the incentives on it are quite good

and the lease rates are pretty good on the iX.

From that perspective, it's tough to choose.

If you want to be more space, if you don't want to wait for the iX5, which comes out,

I guess next year, you know, late next year, but it's not a full new i-class because it gets

the tech, but it's got a different platform, which is also a conversion.

So you will have maybe more limited space inside.

It's a tough one.

Actually, that would be a good test when the old three come out, iX3, iX5, and iX5.

That would be the perfect test to kind of see the differences right there.

But for now, you know, it really, really comes down to a personal choice.

If you want a smaller car and it's newer and all of that iX3,

if you want a bigger car and you don't want to wait for the iX5, I think the iX is still

an amazing product and I like it quite a bit.

The interior is premium.

It's definitely more premium than the iX3.

The quality inside is more premium.

It's a more expensive car.

So from that perspective, it's a great car.

But with that being said, now it's your turn to tell me about the iX.

Well, I was lucky enough.

Normally, we get them for a week and I got it for a week and a half.

So I had it over Thanksgiving, so I got to do a road trip.

I got to put it through its paces through pretty much every scenario.

So I was kind of happy for that because, you know, I'll admit it.

I was a little bit of an iX hater from day one.

And I'm right there with you, though.

Like the comfort is amazing.

My wife, my family, everyone who wrote in it was like, this is so comfortable and relaxing.

You know, it kind of calls back.

Like I know when they had the original i3 and i8,

it's one of the whole thing was like the interior ambiance and stuff was like a key point of it.

And it's nailed in the iX.

Like the seats are super comfortable.

The environment, it's light and airy because of the big sunroof.

It's obviously quiet because it's an EV, but it's so smooth.

Like so smooth, especially coming out of the M5 Touring,

like stepping into that a week later, like it was amazing how comfortable it was.

We took it on, like I said, a road trip on Thanksgiving up to see family,

threw it into, so it's got level two plus.

You know, I went hands-free for like 40 miles and just cruised along at 70 miles an hour.

And the kid fell asleep in the back because it's just so quiet and smooth.

Even in accelerating, you know, it accelerates quickly, but it does it so smoothly.

It's just for a comfort factor, yeah, I don't think I've ever ridden in a BMW

besides like some of the seven series where I've had that kind of feeling of calmness

and comfortability in a ride, right?

It's just, it's kind of hard to explain.

It's just, it's just so, it's like you're not even in a car.

Yeah, I think it's a great car.

I mean, honestly, I tell people all the time, I share a friend of mine just bought one

and I saw him the other night, we're playing soccer, so we're both there with the IXs

and he's like, yeah, this is a great car, I'm glad that I bought it.

And I told him before, I said, you know, don't look at the car, just go drive it,

believe me, go drive the car, you know, have your wife drive the car.

And I promise you, she will absolutely love this car.

It's really, really a nice car.

Ignore the design, you know, like the front end, it's fine.

You know, you don't have to like the front end, even though I feel like the facelift

looks quite nice right now, it's just a really, really, really nice car to drive,

especially if it's nicely specced out, especially now with the range.

I mean, I don't know, which model do you have?

I had the 45 as well.

The 45, so I have the 45 here.

So honestly, the range in that is fine, it was 300 miles.

Yeah, maybe in the winter now, I see maybe 250 now, like in the winter, I just noticed.

But for my personal use case, it's more than enough, 250, 300,

I don't have to charge maybe once a week.

Don't see any shame.

Yeah, the looks are, you know, it's the looks.

And like you pointed out that the facelift does look a lot better.

This one had the matte, dark gray paint with the black, the black, everything else.

Yeah, so it looks great.

A lot of people are like, oh, that looks really cool, actually.

The new headlights look good.

It definitely looks a lot better than when it was first launched.

If you get the dark color with all the dark trim, it looks great.

It does look like a minivan, but it's just the shape of it, which, you know,

fits a lot of people's lifestyles, especially families, right?

It worked great for us for that week and a half.

Range was awesome.

I thought it was fantastic.

I don't even have, I don't even have a stage two.

I don't even have a 220 at my house yet.

So I was only using 110.

So like I ran all of our errands, commuted, dropped the kid off at school.

So I did, for the whole week and a half, we had it.

I used it every day for everything.

Just got home.

I mean, honestly, I don't, yeah.

Yeah, I just got home plugged into 110.

And I would get about 10 to 15 percent battery charge overnight.

And that's like all I was using throughout the day.

Like, it was, it's range and efficiency is like crazy good.

When we took it on the road trip, yeah, it's, I was just gonna say we took on the road trip.

It was like 85, 90 miles.

And I got, I think I got down to like, I started off at 90 percent,

dropped down to like 70 percent.

So like the, the amount of battery I was using on a day to day basis next to nothing,

like, like I said, I don't, I don't even think I really even needed

an aftermarket charger at the house.

Like if, if I owned it, yeah, I'd want it just in case, but like not even needed.

Like you could just stop at a charger station once a week and be totally fine.

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's pretty much nothing else to say.

Honestly, it's, it's a good car.

I look forward, I look forward and, you know, trying this one in the next few months,

to be honest, and see, see how it does because I had a M70 before.

So now with the 45, I want to see if you really need to go up to like a M60, M70.

I had a M60 actually.

So far, so good.

I like the car.

I like everything about the car.

Nothing bothers me so far.

They fixed even the seats, they fixed them a little bit longer.

Love the seats.

In the thigh.

Exactly.

And I have the, I also have the M Sport seats with the Wild Cantara, which they look so nice.

They look so good, don't they?

Yeah, that's literally the first thing I saw when I opened the door.

I was like, oh, I want those seats.

That looks, that looks really, really good, honestly.

And, um, and yeah, so yeah, that's, that's, that's the IX.

I still tell people to go to go look, look at the car.

Don't wait for the IX.

The IX is going to be like a while anyway.

So I think the IX will, will serve that purpose, especially if the price is right.

So not a bad car at all.

And then we'll do another test.

IX, III, IX, when we get it in the US next spring, next summer, we get to press cars.

And then we'll do like a range test, because I want to like a range test,

be like an efficiency test, kind of show the differences.

It's a lot more interesting than just driving because it really comes down to that.

I didn't get a chance to do a range test.

But yeah, that'll be interesting to see.

That'll be a hard one because it's going to take a long time.

Yeah, yeah.

I'll probably do one as soon as it warms up a little bit because,

or maybe I'll do like a winter test also, and a normal weather test to kind of see the difference

right there.

Chicago, it's quite cold.

So it won't take me too long to, you know, bring it down to zero if I keep driving.

So here's the big question.

Do you think the IX is done with the Neue class coming out?

Yeah, definitely, definitely.

I mean, there is no, there is no success for more.

I know, I mean, BMW hasn't confirmed that, but it doesn't make sense.

I mean, there is no, no place in the lineup.

I mean, you have the IX-5 coming out, you have the IX-6 and the IX-7 all within the next two years,

basically.

So where would you fit the IX?

I mean, second generation, no, there is no room for now, I would say.

I mean, there is really, you'll be impossible to market a car.

Who are you going to target with that car?

Many man owners.

Change up the doors.

Yeah, exactly.

No, I mean, there are too many.

I mean, IX-3, IX-5, IX-6, IX-7.

I agree.

It's just there is no, an IX-4 also.

Yeah.

I mean, if it had the sales numbers, I would say, yeah, they might give it another iteration

or something, but it's not doing it.

So I think we're just at SCB culture.

We just want that, that even if it's not there with the right height,

like we still, that's what we gravitate towards as a market.

So, I mean, I like the IX-6 more of an interesting shape, I guess.

You know, so then the IX-4, so if you want something more interesting like today,

then you'll get that.

But yeah, I know the IX is definitely done.

That's why it's just like the IX-3, you know, was a good test bet for the future.

And I feel like just like the IX-3, you know,

you're going to be able to pick up some very cheap IXs in the next few years

and you can keep it for a long time and it'll be a very, very good car

because prices on the used market are definitely low on the kind of like on the IX.

And if you can pick one up for, let's say the next few years for $30,000,

you know, that was fully loaded.

I think it's still a good car to keep.

You don't need to get anything else.

That'd be a great value.

Yeah.

You pick up a facelifted one here in a few years.

Yeah, definitely.

Those will be a good pickup.

Exactly.

So honestly, yeah, that's the IX.

But what's the next topic that we are talking about?

Oh, the M52.

Yeah.

Let's talk about that.

Let's bring that one up again.

Okay.

Now, yeah, so tell me about that.

It's, as most people know and most headlines say, yeah, it's big and heavy.

But it's, you've driven, it's a lot of fun.

Like, I was quite surprised with how much fun that car was.

It is ridiculously fast.

It is, yeah.

It's like, I was on the freeway, needed to make a speed up and pass because

someone was coming on the freeway pretty slow and had a guy coming up on me.

So, you know, I just put the throttle and I audibly giggled, like literally started laughing.

I was just like, what?

Because it's almost like EV fast at speed.

Because it uses the EV boost to fill in for the turbo lag, then the turbos kick in.

It's just, it's a rocket ship, which is just crazy.

Considering how, you know, yeah, like we said, it's big, but it is so fast.

And I think it looks awesome.

I know a lot of people, you know, go here and there on it, but I thought it looked really

awesome in person.

Tons and tons of people stopped me and talked to me about it.

I don't know how many people like Home Depot parking lot people stopped me.

Guys in trucks, like, well, that's awesome.

You know, like everyone across the board was like, that is so cool.

So, like, that's what you expect from that car.

That's what I would have hoped from that car and what you got.

And I just had a great time driving around.

I drove around on electric a lot.

I did a range test in the electric and still, you know, enjoyed it.

It's not fast under electric mode, but it makes it such a good daily driver.

Because I think I got, like, 39 miles or something like that out of the EV range,

which is more than the US average for a day use.

Clearly enough for me.

44, I think.

44.

44 miles, I think.

44, but a hyper mile.

Okay.

Mine was just normal use around the city.

I got, like, 39.

So, I mean, that's impressive to me that I could just, you could use it all day,

all week long on your daily routes for just, like, EV mode.

And, like I said, it doesn't feel underpowered.

It still feels, just feels like a normal five series under the EV power.

But now tell me what's wrong with the car.

It's got to be something.

It's expensive.

Really, really expensive.

Way out of my price range.

I know that.

I think it was specced at, like, 155 or something like that.

Yeah, a lot of money.

That's a lot.

It's a lot of money for a car.

Yeah.

And, yeah, it is, it is really big.

Like, a lot of the parking spots I tried to fit into.

Like, I tried to do some street parking and, like, I couldn't find a space quite long enough for it.

So, it's, it's a very big car, as I've just said, probably about 10 times now.

But other than that, I-

Because you feel like an M5.

That's the question.

Yes.

Because I called the car a mini M7.

So, to me, it was like, I had the M5 sedan and I said, okay, this is a mini M7.

If you never driven an M5 before, you would love this car because it does everything well for what it is, right?

If you've driven an M5 before, especially like an E39 or something like that, then

clearly it's very, very different and you might be disappointed in some ways, right?

And I get that, you know?

So, it just depends where you're coming from.

But to me, this is really the mini M7 we've never had, really.

And that's kind of how it drives on, like, on the street, normal day, like day driving.

It's really more on the luxury side than anything else.

Yeah, that's it.

Like, the daily driving, comfort, comfortability factor, like, all the, all the features on it,

all the assisted driving, like, everything it has, you're right.

It's right there.

It's like you would have an M7 wagon, basically.

That's exactly what it would feel like us, like what we got.

But traditional M5, no, like, I didn't get to do a lot of, like, hard driving.

I just drove it around town for the week.

So, I didn't really get out and get to really push it.

But my guess is, yeah, it probably doesn't quite give that fun feeling of a traditional M5.

You know, M5 was always that super saloon, the car that was big.

You took it to business, you know, but it was still a rocket ship could go anywhere,

have fun in the curves and stuff.

I feel like, as I mentioned when we were talking about the M2,

the M2 is kind of like how the M3 has always kind of felt.

Everything's gotten bigger, as we all know.

And the M3 is now M5 size.

And the M5 series now is 7 series.

So, like, it all just kind of shifted up.

And I don't know, all I can say is I liked it.

I liked it a lot.

Got you.

I mean, there's another point to make about the new M5.

And I'm trying to, I'm not trying to absolve PNW of any fault here.

But other people say, we know why is it so heavy?

Why is it a plug-in hybrid?

I had a lot of conversations with BMW about that, mostly after record.

But I also talked about this with the Alpina CEO, Andreas Boven, like Bovenzipan.

Basically, you know, we're talking about the electrification and, you know, why he sold the brand.

And he was saying the same thing, you know.

Unfortunately, you know, it's you have to go electrified in order to survive.

And I asked, you know, what does it mean?

You know, I mean, can we just skip, you know, I said, just like, no, because in many countries,

you're not able to sell the car.

So if it's not electrified, you know, of some sort, then you just can't.

Like, you give the example of some Nordic countries, maybe the Netherlands.

So if you want to create a global product like the M5, especially, maybe I'm not like,

I said, like an Alpina, you need to have an electrified vehicle in order to sell, or at least

those were the regulations when they were conceived in the cars.

I mean, those that those are quite fluid lately, and the changes quite a bit

based on the political landscape, you know, so of course, maybe going back,

who knows, maybe they've done something else.

But those those are the things of the time.

And that's why they decided to go with this one.

It's not like BMW didn't have the technology to do something else.

And they could have, they still can honestly, there's still time, but they want to one day

to just do an M5 with a mild hybrid, you know, we have the V8, the S68,

throwing a 40 mile mild hybrid.

Basically, you're making at least 650 horsepower without the weight.

I think that's going to be a fun car.

You don't need more than that.

I mean, basically lost, you know, right there, a thousand pounds, probably out of the battery.

Going with that, it's just it's going to be quite, quite fun to drive, right?

But I think that's those the motivation based on what I know, and people that told me that

genuine, they're no interest on trying to, to spin it.

It was really, really just that they need to make a product and sales globally.

And there was no way because of the regulations and the emission laws and,

you know, banning of, you know, fully ice and models engines, products in different countries.

So and I think that ties into what we were just talking about, though, too, right?

Like the fact that it's, it's a seven series now.

And in your traditional seven series thought is not to have, it's not lighter weight.

It's all about bigger, heavier, more comfortable, but still have the power, right?

So that's where this falls into place now.

If you're wanting the non hybrid, that's your M3 now.

That's your, your big sedan.

Exactly. Yeah. So that's a very good point.

And I feel like the M5 customer, it's also a little bit different today.

It's a little bit on the older side based on what I see and what I hear, you know, before,

maybe you'll see a younger, younger people on in an M5, you know, but now I feel like

younger people either stick, like you said, with an M3 and four, maybe they go straight

to an SUV. Basically, they don't even do like the M5.

Yeah. I mean, I know when the, when this first came out, we were discussing and it's like, well,

what about the X5M? Like you're, you're cheaper. You're just as big like

you don't have the hybrid system. You got, you know, it's, it's, it's what you're looking for.

We, they offer it for you. I mean, it's, so people nitpicking about, about what it is.

My first reaction is that they haven't driven it first off.

Because when I drove it, yeah, I had that same feeling.

I'm like, oh, this is going to be so big, so heavy and not as fun.

It's just, it's fun in a different way.

It, on the freeway, anytime when it's at speed, like is when it just really shines,

because it's still accelerated like crazy, which I thought was very impressive for,

like we said, for how big and heavy it is. It's still accelerated great.

One thing I noticed is mine came with hand-cooked tires. I don't know what you drove yours on.

Oh, I had mine on hand. Oh, I know I had one, I drove multiple ones.

Actually the one that I had at home was on Michelin, but I did drive on hand-cooked, so

which kind of surprised me because around, you know, around here it's like 50 degrees and wet.

It constantly wanted to light up the rear tires.

Was it really?

Yeah. It was really struggling to find traction, like just going around, like if I was out of

stop sign and I would like be making a left or right corner, it even light throttle pressure.

It just wanted to light those rears up, which, you know, that's fun.

Yeah, but it's important to have, you know, really good sticky tires for whatever you leave

or whatever the situation is. You know, maybe the PS5S on that car, it's probably the way to go

as a performance tire.

Yeah, but I mean, it just shows how much power that car has. Like literally, like I was barely,

I was just, yeah, the family in the car was just trying to pull away from a stop sign and it wanted

to light them up. Like, yeah. I mean, the car doesn't struggle when it comes to power. I think

when it comes to that, it's just ridiculous. But you only feel that weight on the track and

driving dynamically. And I did both. And that's when I felt it. And that's when I was like,

a little bit disappointed. But like I said, I had the M5 sedan for about six months, I think.

And honestly, as a daily driver, it was a great car. I had a great color also. People love that.

You know, they'll stop me by. I mean, I do enjoy the touring body style more. And I hope that people

will buy that more because that will send a good message to BMW to keep bringing those to the U.S.

And you know, if they do that, then we might also get a second generation M5 touring, basically,

you know, after this one or third one, I guess, not the second. And then maybe we'll get some other,

you know, touring body styles in the U.S. You know, if they're popular enough,

people buy them. So I'm truly hoping that over time, there will be more M5 touring sold. I

know initially there were, but it's always that novelty thing. You know, people want that. So

let's see if they're going to be sustainable over time. So I'm curious to see people buy the touring

more than the sedan. Yeah, that'll be really interesting. Like I said, I know everyone was

stopping me when saying how awesome it was. Well, that turned into sales. I mean, you know, we've

had wagons before and all the enthusiasts really seem to like it, but enthusiast sales is not enough.

You got to get the general public to buy it. So if I'm getting general public, like literally,

everyone out on the street stopping at people like waving at me, like,

you know, looking at me all strange, like, what the hell's that? I mean, that's kind of a good

sign. Maybe there will be some, some general public sales and we'll pick up because I'd love to see,

see some more tourings around. I did a fun little video where I just throw through in

a bunch of random things in the back to show how much you can actually haul with it.

Well, let's see if it's as funny as I thought it was when I shot it, but

we'll find out. We'll find out, but it holds a lot.

It's a big trunk. That's why I'm kind of looking forward and, you know, to getting mine in the

spring, give back the IX, take the, the M5 Touring for maybe like a month or two. I think you

actually saw my car. It was in South Carolina, not mine, but BMW's car, the, the, the, the

car yellow one. That's the one that I saw. So I might have to go pick it up from there and drive

it back to Chicago to like a road trip with it. But at the same time, you know, I kind of want

that color for a month or four or so just to see the, the attention that it's getting.

The, the, the only thing about the rear trunk space that I didn't like was, uh, the seats don't

go perfectly flat. So there's still, there's still, there's still a bit of an angle. Even

you can take the head seats off or the headrest off and you get it.

It's probably because of the rear bench probably.

Yeah. It's the rear bench. It's a little too much. Now, even though it's just a little bit,

like I think having it, if it could have gone flat, flat, it would be a lot more,

I think a lot more usable for a lot of people.

Yeah. Gotcha.

Because like one of the things is just like a lot of things with like the SUVs,

especially a lot of the electric SUVs now like Rivian and stuff, people use them as

their campers. They sleep in the back of it and you could easily do that in this, but that little

bit of slope just kind of throws it off. Gotcha. So I'm going to test that in the IX. I'm actually

going to go tonight to pick up some furniture and I'm going to put the seats down in the IX.

I'm curious if they're flat or they're angled up a little bit to pay attention to that.

Yeah. Yeah. It's as I was loading things in and out of it, like things would kind of bump up

against it. It wouldn't slide in as easily. Like just that little bit of angle just kind of threw

off the storage space for me. Not saying it's a big deal, but it was like something that,

you know, just you noticing that it would just be nice if it was flat.

Yeah. Gotcha.

Cool. So I think that's all we had for today. Next episode, I was already thinking as we're

talking about this today, maybe we'll do it about some, you know, future products coming out next

year. People always love, people always love hearing about that. So we can focus on what's

coming in 26, 27. I know a few, some of the, I know a few that's coming out and there's a lot.

There's a lot. Yes. We can talk about that and where everything fits and why and all of that and

the difference between platforms. I did a story on this. So that was kind of the idea

to put this into a podcast as well and can explain the different platforms and

what's what and what's coming with what. So basically by the end, it's all for today. We'll

keep testing some cars. We'll have some more of that in the future as well. We'll put some more

videos on YouTube. So always check out the YouTube channel. We have a lot of reviews there,

including Meanie. We can talk about Meanie next time. Maybe like an episode just on Meanie. We

can talk about that quite a bit as well. So that being said, Nate, thanks for joining me.

Everyone, thanks for listening to us. You can find us on all the podcast platforms,

but of course also on YouTube. With that being said, we'll see you in the next one.

See you.

S2E17 - BMW M2 CS Track Day in the Rain + Neue Klasse iX3 First Drive + 2025 M5 Touring

About this episode

Volkswagen iX3

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from BMWBLOG Podcast