The new BMW iX3 looks unlike any BMW that has come before it, even with design influences from iconic models of decades past. Things are just as funky inside the electric SUV, where you get a central screen shaped like a parallelogram and a nearly four-foot-wide display that spans the bottom of the windshield. The setup is unlike anything I've ever seen in a car.
And just as I quickly got used to the iX3's bold styling, during my few days of testing, I soon realized that BMW is really on to something with this new tech layout. It's easy to dismiss more displays in cars as just screens for screens' sake. But that's not the case here.
Panoramic iDrive, as the system is called, comprises a 17.9-inch central screen and a very cool 43-inch “Panoramic Vision” display where the dash meets the windshield. Trying it shortly after experiencing the giant screen in the new Mercedes-Benz GLC EV really put things into perspective. In the Mercedes, the 39.1-inch screen that takes over the entire dashboard is impressive at first glance. But once you start using it, you realize most of it isn't really needed. It feels excessive.
By contrast, the way BMW set things up comes off more thoughtful. The main display is shaped the way it is to reinterpret how BMW used to orient the center console controls toward the driver. Now that there are no more buttons there and the screen needs to also be easily accessible to the passenger, turning it into a parallelogram is actually quite smart.
Its shape brings the lower-right corner closer to the passenger’s seat, giving them easier access to the part of the screen where the climate controls are. Likewise, the top-left bit doesn't require quite as much of a stretch from the driver as it would with a more standard rectangular display.
The screen itself looks fantastic, too. It has a resolution of 3340 x 1440 pixels with crisp graphics, and OS X feels like an improvement over the already very good ninth iteration of iDrive. It’s more of an evolution rather than a revolution, but it’s easy to operate. And once you learn where all the important functions are, it all feels very natural and logical.
The only downside I could find of having a screen shaped like this rears its ugly head when you switch on Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Using the former, it opens up a rectangular window in the center of the screen instead of going all the way to the edges. If you, for instance, have Waze up on the screen, it looks bad compared to the operating system’s native navigation app, which uses all the screen real estate.
(This reminds me of another excellent infotainment display in a BMW vehicle, the circular OLED screen that's equipped in the latest Mini models. While it’s a fantastic display overall, it has the same problem when mirroring your phone—a square pops up instead of using the entire circle.)
The highlight for me, hands down, was the Panoramic Vision display. Right in front of the driver, you have the essentials: speed, transmission mode, and range. That leftmost section replaces a typical gauge cluster. The rest of the display features six customizable widget slots. There's a wide selection that includes expected items like local weather, music, and trip information. But there are also nerdier choices like battery pack temperature and even steering lock angle.
Maybe the best part of it is how it's positioned in the car. It’s projected right under the edge of the windshield, putting it right in the driver’s line of sight. You see it over the steering wheel, eliminating the need to look down to where you'd typically find your gauges. This should improve safety since it means drivers keep their eyes on the road more of the time.
There’s also a mode that turns off most of the display, leaving just the part in front of the driver. This makes night driving that little bit easier on your eyes and also helps visually declutter the cabin. BMW also offers a 3D head-up display to complement the two screens, but it’s really not necessary. After using it for a day, I turned it off in my iX3 tester and kept it off until I returned the vehicle.
After revolutionizing car infotainment systems with its original iDrive, whose controller was copied by most of the industry, BMW is again showing innovation and out-of-the-box thinking with the setup in the iX3. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to keep one of the hallmarks of its previous infotainment systems: physical controls for the central screen. I think that is still the safest way of operating the infotainment while driving, and the rotary swivel control surrounded by shortcuts was an excellent design.
Still, Panoramic iDrive is a big step forward, and I'm glad it's coming to the i3 and other future models.
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