This year marks a great start for those of you looking to purchase an electric vehicle in Malaysia, as the government has exempted electric vehicles from import and excise duties this year. Alongside the significant downward revisions in price for the BMW iX xDrive40 is this, the BMW iX3 M Sport.
Launched in Malaysia last October, the BMW iX3 arrived two variants – Inspiring, and Impressive – priced at RM317,360 and RM336,360 respectively, on-the-road without insurance. These prices were for the standard, two-year unlimited mileage warranty, and stepping up to the five-year warranty with 120,000 km service package increased the iX3’s prices to RM330,800 and RM349,800, respectively.
Adding the Power Package brings a 22 kW BMW i Wallbox and BMW i Standard Charging Cable which are normally priced at RM5,000 before installation, and once included, the tally for the iX3 comes to RM322,360 for the Inspiring and RM341,360 for the Impressive with the two-year warranty, or ranging from RM335,800 to RM354,800 for the five-year warranty with service pack.
As mentioned, year 2022 brings some financial relief to buyers in the form of duties exemptions, and with these in effect the iX3 is priced from RM307,160 for the Inspiring and RM325,160 for the Impressive; amounting to reductions of RM 10,200 and RM11,200 respectively. Extend the warranty and add the service package, and the figures come to RM322,800 and RM340,800, and with the addition of the Power Package, the total arrives at RM327,800 and RM345,800 for the two variants, respectively.
Whichever variant you plump for, both are mechanically identical and sport a rear-mounted motor producing 286 PS and 400 Nm of torque. This setup propels the iX3 from 0-100 km/h in 6.8 seconds, and onwards to a limited top speed of 180 km/h.
The powertrain is fed by a 73.8 kWh lithium-ion battery for a range of between 453 km and 461 km on the WLTP test cycle. Charging at the maximum AC rate of 11 kW will top up the iX3 battery in seven hours, or if there is access to a DC fast charger rated at up to 150 kW, replenishing to an 80% state-of-charge will take 32 minutes.
For Malaysia, the iX3 arrives in facelifted guise as a fully imported (CBU) model, which means the inclusion of slimmer headlamps and the larger conjoined grille, while the rear gets tail lamps in a three-dimensional, pincer-style graphic. On top of the BMW i electric vehicle signifiers, the M Sport package included as standard brings a large, hexagonal air intake, L-shaped corner inlets, cladding and rear diffuser.
For the Inspiring variant, equipment includes adaptive LED headlamps, 19-inch Style 842 aero wheels, Vernasca leather, a dashboard trimmed in Sensatec faux leather, brushed aluminium trim with Pearl Chrome finishers, plus galvanised silver switches.
Inside, the cabin of the iX3 draws cues from that of the G20 3 series, such as its clustered switchgear. The iX3 gets a 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of the BMW Live Cockpit Professional that joins the similarly-sized instrument cluster, and the sporty exterior package also brings to the cabin an M Sport steering wheel, sports seats and a black headliner.
Joining the kit list are keyless entry with push-button start, adaptive dampers, power-adjustable front seats with heating (with memory for the driver’s seat), tri-zone automatic climate control, Qi wireless device charger, panoramic glass sunroof, park assist with reversing assist, a 205-watt 12-speaker sound system, reverse camera and a hands-free operation powered tailgate.
On the higher rung is the Impressive variant, which brings Laserlight headlamps, 20-inch Style 890 M alloy wheels in staggered sizes, a head-up display, acoustic glass for the front-side windows, gesture control, 16-speaker Harman Kardon sound system rated at 464 watts, a 360-degree camera system, as well as the IconicSounds Electric synthesised driving audio crafted together with renowned soundtrack composer Hans Zimmer.
Safety and driver assistance systems for the iX3 are comprised of the Driving Assistant Professional package on both variants, which here includes autonomous emergency braking, evasive steering assist, adaptive cruise control with stop and go, lane centring assist, blind spot monitoring, traffic sign recognition, emergency stop assist and adaptive high beam.
