I swapped my BMW iX3 for its biggest rival - which would I choose?

I haven’t spent much time in ‘my’ BMW iX3 recently, the result of several colleagues borrowing it for various holidays and trips. The silver lining is that this gave me the opportunity to spend some time in other cars – most notably one of the iX3’s biggest rivals, the new Volvo EX60. Illya Verpraet has already conducted the definitive comparison test of those machines and the Mercedes-Benz GLC Electric, but it has been interesting how an extended period of testing time has brought a fresh perspective on both the BMW and the Volvo. What really struck me was how the differences between them extend so much further than how they drive. A decade or so back, if you pitted two premium SUVs against each other, the key difference would be how they handled. Sure, they would have distinct styling and their interior layouts would be different, but interacting with the car would be similar from the driver’s seat: you would be enveloped in plush materials, have wonderfully tactile switchgear and use broadly the same controls. Not any more. The iX3 and EX60 show just how much variation there can be in cabins that are dominated by digital screens. I’ve written plenty about the iX3’s angled touchscreen and fancy Panoramic iDrive strip; the Volvo, by contrast, is a more ‘traditional’ design, with a big, rectangular infotainment touchscreen plunked in the middle and a smaller driver’s information display behind the steering wheel. Both work well for the most part: I prefer the iX3’s set-up for the amount of information it can show and its usability, but there’s no doubt the EX60’s more minimalist approach makes the cabin feel more spacious. That spaciousness counts too: the EX60 is all Scandi-cool, with light materials and a really stripped-back design that feels very modern yet also warm and relaxing. A few of my colleagues have commented that, displays aside, they’ve found the iX3’s interior a little plain and not as premium as they want from a BMW. I don’t fully share that view, but to me the EX60 does feel that bit more special to sit in. It also cruises along really nicely. Much of the mileage I did in the EX60 was on motorways, and it was amazing at eating up miles, being quiet, serene and ultra-smooth. It’s the sort of car that instantly puts you at ease, and in which even a long trip won’t wear you down. By the end of a weekend with the EX60, I found myself genuinely thinking that in a head-to-head I might take one over the iX3. It has that intangible premium feel that you want from a car in this class. Of course, soon after that I was finally reunited with the iX3, coinciding with a long weekend in which I toured around mid-Wales and Shropshire – and while it wouldn’t be the first BMW I would pick for a jaunt along brilliant Welsh driving roads (I’d take a M240i, if you’re asking), it provided a reminder of just how good Munich’s engineers are at making cars that drive like a BMW should. Frankly, a big electric family SUV has no right being so pleasurable to drive. And it certainly has no right being so efficient while doing so: after 200 miles or so without touching a motorway, it averaged 4.6mpkWh. That’s just silly: there are small, lightweight EVs that can’t get anywhere near that figure. Ultimately, then, if forced to choose, I would probably take the iX3 over the EX60, because it’s just that much more enjoyable to drive, and its real-world 400-mile-plus range removes so many of those perceived EV barriers. But I’d do so with reservations, because I’d keep reflecting that the EX60 is just a nicer place in which to sit, and more relaxing for certain driving. It blows apart that perception that EVs are all identical: if anything, the differences now are more philosophical.

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I swapped my BMW iX3 for its biggest rival - which would I choose?

We swap into one of the brilliant BMW's closest contenders to see which has the edge

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I swapped my BMW iX3 for its biggest rival - which would I choose?

We swap into one of the brilliant BMW's closest contenders to see which has the edge

More from Autocar

Top 10s

Latest car reviews

Top manufacturers

Quick search

We recommend

Legal bits

About Autocar