iX3
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Adrian Padeanu
November 28, 2025 / 2 minutes read
BMW hasn’t even started deliveries of the 2026 iX3, and the electric crossover is already winning awards. To be fair, journalists often have early access to unreleased vehicles, allowing them to evaluate products well before they reach the market. Case in point, Top Gear has already sampled the “NA5” ahead of next spring, when shipments to customers in Europe begin.
The renowned British magazine praises the second-generation iX3 for how it looks: “After years of mucking about, BMW’s stylists have now got it right.” The publication also liked the minimalist interior: “furniture is beautifully tranquil.” Perhaps most importantly, they found it thrilling to drive despite being a large and heavy electric luxobarge: “It drives like a BMW ought to. Not like a bulky EV crossover, or soulless digital first zombiemobile.”
“What matters to BMW matters to the rest of us because its cars have always been at the tip of mainstream excellence. Just as well the iX3 absolutely, as the kids say, smashes it, and snaffles the biggest prize of them all.”
The iX3 gets the ball rolling for about 40 new or updated models, with all arriving by late 2027. Not all of them will be EVs, as combustion-engine cars will also be part of the Neue Klasse family. Vehicles with gasoline and diesel engines are about to adopt the new design language. Inside, the iDrive X with Panoramic Vision is coming to all cars.
Even future CLAR-based electric vehicles are expected to feature BMW’s new round battery cells that debuted in the iX3. Next year’s iX5 is likely to use the sixth-generation battery tech, as will the iX7 in 2027. Similarly, the iX6 arriving in 2028 will benefit from Neue Klasse know-how. Looking ahead, it’s only a matter of time before MINI incorporates some of the technology pioneered by the revamped iX3. The same can be said about Rolls-Royce and the latest member of the BMW Group, ALPINA.
Of all the new models arriving in rapid succession, we’re most excited to see the i3. Essentially a sedan version of the iX3, the second EV from the Neue Klasse family will land in 2026. Just a few months later, the next-generation 3 Series will also break cover. The two will look nearly identical inside and out, despite having vastly different underpinnings.
Logic suggests that Top Gear will find the i3 sedan better to drive than the iX3, given how sedans are lighter and have a lower center of gravity. An electric M3 will follow in 2027, but traditionalists needn’t worry. As a refresher, BMW is still developing an inline-six M3 for a 2028 release, although it’ll likely come only with two pedals and xDrive.
Source: Top Gear
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