Did not make it to 1000 miles on the Wrangler
991.
Thanx for your iX 50 report - very much appreciate it. Over this year I've been on-and-off noodling purchasing one. With the recent 2025 reviews starting to show up I might be getting closer to a purchase (assuming my wife gets on-board).
With respect to your iX... are there any gripes/nits/irritants that bug or bother you? Also... in addition to the great range you're getting, are there other aspects/features that you find really impressive?
This was my "Here's what we own now ..." post from a month or so ago:
Well, I figured since I'm here for now, I should follow up on the thread I started in March 2022
I won't get into Musk here, his insanely shitty behavior, his anti-free speech, his anti-trans stance that caused him to disown his child, his fear of getting into a ring with Zuckerberg (saved by his equally racist, POS mother ...), his support of the orange f***wit - well, OK, maybe I will get into it a bit
First, apologies to anyone who might have motivated by my original zeal over Tesla ownership to own one themselves. At the time we got it, June '21, it made the most sense, it was...
Thought now in reading it, I see it's mostly me rambling about the acquisition process, so let me continue to ramble on with more thoughts about the iX
The entire vehicle is pretty impressive, this is our 4th BMW we've always really enjoyed the ownership experience, so right up front, we have a lot of "brand love"
Typical (at least at this market segment) excellent fit and finish, everything feels solid like the switch gear, everything is finished (like the edges of the seats), and feels heavy in a good way (like the Model 3 felt flimsy)
There's an excellent mix of physical and screen based controls, and often times both are available, and with some controls, there's several options. I can adjust the volume on the display, or the volume roller on the center armrest, or the dial on the steering wheel, or by voice command, or - and this is pretty silly - by gesture control! Some level of physical controls is our new baseline, no more "everything on the screen" for us.
CarPlay (wireless). That is all
We greatly prefer a driver's facing display in addition to the center screen. I've determined I really dislike that design choice because it's mostly just a cost reduction move. I love having driver related information in front me, the driver, while the center screen can be used for navigation searches, music selection and control, etc. The iX goes even further by offering a very nice HUD - so for example, we're navigating somewhere, and we get a full trip scale map on the center, a more tactical zoomed in map view on the driver's display and turn-by-turn cues on the HUD.
It uses blended braking, so when you press the brake pedal, that's regen, not frictional brakes (up to a certain threshold), that blends with the automatic regen, and it's perfectly seamless - and with regen in general, you can swap between drive modes on the fly, there's a D, that's sort of a coast mode, it's great on the highway as you don't want to constantly lose too much speed by lifting off the throttle - the iX you lift off at 75MPH, it will just keep coasting and coasting with really good power recovery. You can flip the switch to B and regen substantially increases and this will bring the car down to a complete halt, it's the "One Pedal Driving" often associated with Tesla.
The driver's assist systems are fantastic (for reference, the Tesla tried to murder us more than once, so I couldn't even use a basic cruise control in that car). With the Pro package you get several features for highway use, traffic specific assist, auto parking. It does some very cool things like constantly record a 100 or so feet of forward motion and allow a reverse backtrace, like if you drive yourself into a tricky dead end, external remote control. And keep in mind all this is driven by a proper set of sensors/tech: cameras, yes, but also LIDAR and USS.
It has a glorious ride, it's meets and exceeds how you would expect a vehicle from this segment to ride, though we do have the optional air suspension. That was a requirement on our "next ride", it was standard on the X5 50e we seriously considered, an option on the iX xDrive50, got a little tricky for a bit as it disappeared as an option for part of the model year. When it came back it was just the AS, it was bundled with an "active suspension" package that also included 4 wheel steering (which we don't have), that is now, once again an option (might be standalone now). The iX M60 had it standard - but now, the 50 is being replaced with the 60 and they're introducing a 70, and possibly a lower end 40 (that's offered in Europe), so not sure about the packaging and options moving forward.
OK, so back to good stuff: it has nice luxury options like heated, vented and massage seats. We have an option called Immersive Heating, where the inner doors/armrests, and center console/armrests heat up as well. You can set the loudness level of the cooling fans when charging (so it can be quieter in something like a shared garage space). Some really cool details, like it's a big carbon fiber tub and they leave the material pattern visible, around the doors openings, the hatch. The roof is electrochromic, so it goes clear to opaque on a touch (the front glass is also heat reflective and makes a huge difference). Great lighting all around, killer headlights, neat walk up path lighting, everything can change color, patterns, interior lighting is also very cool, fully adjustable, and is part of the status indicators - like red/green for lock/unlock, or pulsing blue while charging:
Lots of neat modes that change the color theme, the controls, the throttle mapping, the sounds, the display, the suspension ride height, stiffness, etc.).
Whew!
I could probably go on, but let me address a few gripes, very minor, one is more of a major "this is just the current platform", so it's not so much a gripe, but recognition there's a major improvement coming (and I was totally aware when leasing).
The initial account/key setup is unnecessarily confusing, once it's done, at least you don't have to think about it again.
The "EV system" while outstanding is based on 400V architecture, so that could/should/will move to an 800V in the near future, and improve DCFC charge time. It hasn't been an issue for us, our very few trips that require a DCFC stop, have been a long stop anyway, 20 minutes vs. 40 minutes wouldn't have made any difference, but it will still be a welcome change. The iX platform AFAIK, will not get this major architecture update (including the '26 LCI), it will be for the next major product series.
The app updates frequently and just like any other iOS app, the main car OS updates are a lot less frequent and the process is a bit clunky (doesn't support direct to WiFi connection, must go through cell or your device). We got an "apps" update today, that's just the individual apps like native Spotify, they finally added a more specific list of what was part of the update, so it's improving.
Small things that can be updated (assuming so, given what the car can do now), haven't been, but should be easy. So either it's not doable (and my previous assumption is wrong), or they need to pay more attention to the ownership improvement updates people have been requesting for months and months. For example, not having an option to disable auto lock/unlock for a specific location. You can set the charging rate, even something with the windows per location, but not prevent the vehicle from lock/unlock/lock/unlock as you walk past it in the garage.
I'd like more settings to be either tied to the profile or at least "sticky", like drive mode.
This really doesn't bother us, but since it's a "perk" with many EVs, probably worth mentioning: no frunk. And I don't even mean limited storage, I mean the hood doesn't even open
Non-Tesla DCFC, since we don't need it that much, it affects us less that it might other people, but it still needs improvement. It gets better daily, the new FPL stations in FL are excellent, the continued support for plug-and-charge is good - and - if the Tesla SuC is a major factor, then just wait another N months, and that'll be resolved too.
Bottom line though, we'd buy one again tomorrow.
Feel free to AMA else specific.
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in fact, the wife is taking it to (hot) yoga in about an hour, it's fun even in the winter (or "winter" around here), roof off, windows up, heater/seats/wheel all cranked up and a hat. Though we went to this super fun Xmas farm/event last week, sun went down, temp plummeted, hahaha, it was a little cold 
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