Text | Whoops
The last time I drove the i3, I failed to rub the spark, this time IX3, the familiar feeling is back.
Traditional car companies do pure trams, like paper media to do public accounts when migrating fans, how to ensure that the powder does not fall? Keeping a bite of the old flavor is paramount.
Therefore, organizing this test drive activity, BMW put the X3 and iX3 together, probably intending to show its "mechanical power" of equal treatment, whether in the former or the latter, you can experience the pure driving pleasure of BMW.
Of course, as an SUV, it can achieve the sleekness and flexibility comparable to that of a sedan, and it may not be appropriate to describe it as driving pleasure, it is more like a ability to control the body, thanks to the chassis structure and reinforcements that everyone rarely interests, and the cost is also there, such as the rear suspension material is too sufficient, still maintaining aggression to the rear row, but the more so, the more you feel that this is a pure BMW production.
There is a tendency to be "masochistic".
BMW put this test drive activity in Guizhou territory, the undulating altitude conditions pose a challenge to the endurance of pure trams, while the road conditions set winding mountain roads, highways, non-paved pavement in one, just look at the first two, you will mistakenly think that this is a Lamborghini test driving site. In this way, BMW officials also hope that everyone can have a full deconstruction of the athletic ability of the two products.
Nowadays, there are many new forces in car-making, just looking at the chassis structure, they can make people stare at the level of eyeballs, and they are often double wishbone variants or rear five linkages, but when you specifically test drive, you will find that the art industry is specialized in the end, and "tuning" still occupies an indispensable position in the car company's car-making dictionary.
From the hardware conditions, iX3 and X3 (basic) common set of things, the front double ball spring shock pillar + rear multi-link, you can see that in the pure electric products, BMW still pursues the set of suspension structure used in the 3 series and 5 series, the form of front suspension brings more main sales offset, the front servo speed although not as sharp as the car series, but also not most pure trams comparable.
Image from Pacific Motors
In the hands of BMW engineers, this set of suspension systems that have been used for many years is still evergreen, in order to make up for the challenges brought by the higher center of gravity of the SUV, BMW engineers added two reinforcements in the rear suspension, including the engine compartment, which strengthened the overall rigidity of the body; as for the angle parameters of the front and rear suspension linkages, the interaction in driving belongs to the internal strength of the engineers.
You can generally see from the structure that the rear suspension control arm is oblique, even if the part of the longitudinal control arm is not the standard facing the front of the car, you can only guess that this design probably helps to withstand both lateral and lateral pulls.
The result is that you are sitting in a high-sitting SUV, and it is an 80 kWh battery pack on the chassis, but when attacking on the mountain road, the front speed and tail followability are as close as possible to the car.
This is the charm of driving a BMW, although the sedan series is compromising on comfort, but the same structure and tuning are applied to SUVs, and the sense of integration is not comparable to ordinary urban SUVs.
Every test drive on a BMW is like an important date, in its philosophy, the best way to relieve fatigue is not to rest, but to use fun to drive fatigue, no matter how long the road, you always feel bored.
So every time I write a BMW test drive manuscript, I am also accustomed to leaving space to the chassis and the handling feeling, because in the corners can reflect the manufacturer's ability to control the body, and the power is almost a default.
But the motivation is still to be said.
First of all, if the budget is enough, at least for the X3, it will have to be a high-power version. However, the 8AT transmission from ZF also has a strong ability to speed up the low-power version in an instant.
This gearbox is still the benchmark in the same level or even higher products, the description of "benchmark" is too strong and too absolute, but ZF can afford this name.
From the throttle 1/4, 1/3 to 1/2 depth or deeper, the gearbox has a corresponding downshift reaction, and now the 8AT gearbox has become more and more pure, whether it is in the continuous oil supply (the gearbox upshift is extremely fine, from the sensory judgment can be aware of the extremely small power loss when changing gears), or in the repeated switching of the brake / throttle, the gearbox can basically calmly and calmly handle these changes.
Although the power of the 2.0T high-power version of the X3 is actually the "weakest" in the BBA (in terms of data, it can be squeezed higher, but it is not necessary), but with this gearbox and the matching power of the engineers, the X3's speed-up ability is still the fastest.
The iX3 uses an excitation synchronous motor, the more professional expression is that at high speed and low speed, can reach the peak torque - the performance orientation is obvious, this is BMW's attitude to pure trams, and my feeling is that there is still staying power in the high-speed state, and the general electric vehicle feels not the same.
Although the iX3 is heavier, it has a peak torque of 400 Nm, so it is the same as the X3 in terms of zero hundred acceleration, but in the initial stage, the former is more agile with a single-speed transmission mechanism.
In addition, in the form of drive, the iX3 adopts a rear-mounted rear drive, so that when driving on the winding road, it is difficult to have a push head. We also experienced a section of unpaved pavement, and although this is a road-type SUV, the ground clearance of the two products is basically able to ensure road passability.
But the best battleground for the iX3 and X3 is the road and the curves. In simple off-road, the test is more of the chassis's ability to filter the vibration, which is equivalent to the battery abuse test, but it does not determine anything, but such as the number and amplitude of vibrations such as "only once and very small", and the overall degree of the body when not paved, so that perfectionists are dumbfounded.
As for the interior design, configuration, and especially the driver assistance system of the iX3 series, the experience is also good, the former still maintains the DNA of the BMW family in a fine-tuned way, and the latter can play a part of the driver's role when fatigued, but whether it is driving X3 or iX3, the biggest fun is still in the square inch of the thong steering wheel.
I don't know how BMW will look at it in the future, how to choose automatic driving and driving pleasure, but as long as you sit behind the bmw's steering wheel, it is inevitable that a primitive impulse will rise from the dantian, maybe the BMW series will continue to be lengthened, maybe automatic and manual will be competing, but the mechanical quality and steering magic will always be the most essential thing of BMW.