Rival: 2026 BMW iX3 reviews are impressive... R2 has its work cut out

[SASSquatch]

I get the sales pitch for newbies. Us EV OGs understand don't have that range anxiety, especially with the growing charging infrastructure. EREV are a compromise whose only plus is to promise folks that they will never run out of battery range. In the last 100,000+ miles of BEV driving, that never happened to me.

An issue for EREV, is that smaller batteries have a short range (100-150 miles of highway range) and gas motors are smaller and not super powerful. So, while generator extends battery range, it may not be enough to stop the battery from depleting on a long drive (the issue I believe with the i3 Rex), and then you're stuck with a gutless gas engine to move the car. So, one may still have to fast charge the battery after all. Obviously, OEMs can build an EREV with a more powerful gas engine, but then you're stuck lugging around a big useless engine most of the time.

I prefer lugging a larger battery and have the benefits of an EV 100% of the time. Again, to each his own. To me, EREV are a fad that will mostly disappear in 5-10 years.

You raise some valid points. The i3 REx limited when the range extender could turn on because they were trying to classify the vehicle as Zero emissions to meet strict CARB requirements. For those of us OG i3 owners, we know you can literally code the i3 (using a bluetooth dongle and an app) to basically do whatever you want.

When I use the i3 as a highway vehicle (in the rare instances I have had to do this) I can engage the range extender at 75% battery so that I'm not worried about the battery getting so low that the range extender can't keep up and you end up losing power which was a problem with the early i3s.

Modern incarnations of range extenders won't operate the way the early i3s did and they will have much larger fuel tanks (the i3 only has a 2.2 gallon tank). EREVs are far more efficient than hybrids and cheaper to build because you are reducing complexity (hybrids have redundant ICE/electric drive trains. EREVS are electric vehicles.

Until battery technology and charging infrastructure catches up to the point where the average consumer can expect ubiquitous, reliable, and fast L3 charging, EREVs are a bridge that helps range anxious consumers make the switch from a pure ICE or hybrid.

It is a perfect gateway vehicle because it exposes you to the benefits of an EV without compromising on range or worry about range anxiety.

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[sparked]

Anyway, they will be gathering a ton of data on who you are and none of it will be used to benefit you. If they ever use it, it will be to hurt you.

It would be easier just to scrape poorly secured govt websites at a federal and local level. Or even private businesses with poor security practices. They don't need your car to do damage to you. At that point it is less likely to be the Chinese govt versus some general hacker group trying to extort big entities who have money.

They already have your pictures on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. That's already plenty of free data. More data than they could possibly imagine. They have your forum name and location on this website. There are data brokers all over the USA who freely sell your info with only about 10 states allowing opt-out.

Unless you work for the CIA or someone with big military/defense secrets to protect, this mass data collection from your car would be useless to the Chinese govt anyways. Assuming you could even pass the high bar as to whether you could even technically do this at scale without anybody knowing. Just so that the Chinese govt know when you're going to grocery store or to work? or listen in on your kids? Sounds like super valuable information...

 

[mkhuffman]

It would be easier just to scrape poorly secured govt websites at a federal and local level. Or even private businesses with poor security practices. They don't need your car to do damage to you. At that point it is less likely to be the Chinese govt versus some general hacker group trying to extort big entities who have money.

They already have your pictures on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. That's already plenty of free data. More data than they could possibly imagine. They have your forum name and location on this website. There are data brokers all over the USA who freely sell your info with only about 10 states allowing opt-out.

Unless you work for the CIA or someone with big military/defense secrets to protect, this mass data collection from your car would be useless to the Chinese govt anyways. Assuming you could even pass the high bar as to whether you could even technically do this at scale without anybody knowing. Just so that the Chinese govt know when you're going to grocery store or to work? or listen in on your kids? Sounds like super valuable information...

It is super valuable if they have targeted you for some reason. All the extra data allows them to build a profile of you and use that profile to do so many bad things.

Maybe they sell the data to a criminal organization who uses it to impersonate you, steal your identity and steal all your assets. (Or maybe the CCP just does it themselves.) This type of crime is just what the CCP would exploit to destabilize our society. Which we know they are trying to do. Identify theft is real, and the more personal data they get on you, the easier it is to steal from you.

This horse is dead now, I think. You don't care and I do. I won't ever buy a CCP compromised vehicle. And I don't need to because, Rivian!

 

[sparked]

You don't care and I do.

I definitely care. I just don't see how this either technically possible or even plausible. When a bad actor could just buy the info from a data broker in the USA, or get it off a US social media website, or get it from a US govt agency. It would be easier to target you from US companies who are happy to sell and trade your info.

 

[macb00kemdanno]

I definitely care. I just don't see how this either technically possible or even plausible. When a bad actor could just buy the info from a data broker in the USA, or get it off a US social media website, or get it from a US govt agency. It would be easier to target you from US companies who are happy to sell and trade your info.

Exactly. China doesn’t need data from your car to build a profile of where you live or what places you visit. Your smartphone already does that with location data on a much more precise level.

I mean, I get that mkhuffman is skeptical of what access China would have with a car, but the car is not as lucrative or beneficial to them as what identifiable data they scrape from when you surf with your laptop or smartphone.

 

[mkhuffman]

I definitely care. I just don't see how this either technically possible or even plausible. When a bad actor could just buy the info from a data broker in the USA, or get it off a US social media website, or get it from a US govt agency. It would be easier to target you from US companies who are happy to sell and trade your info.

Exactly. China doesn’t need data from your car to build a profile of where you live or what places you visit. Your smartphone already does that with location data on a much more precise level.

I mean, I get that mkhuffman is skeptical of what access China would have with a car, but the car is not as lucrative or beneficial to them as what identifiable data they scrape from when you surf with your laptop or smartphone.

My point is simply this: the more information they have about you, the more likely it is they can copy your identity. Or do whatever they want to you. And buying a CCP sponsored vehicle is basically supporting the CCP. And I won't do that either.

 

[sparked]

My point is simply this: the more information they have about you, the more likely it is they can copy your identity. Or do whatever they want to you.

Except you haven't demonstrated in any possible way that the Chinese govt is reasonably going to want to spy from you on a Volvo when they could get your info for free or for pennies literally everywhere else. You're trivializing the complexity of mass data collection from a car without any plausible reason or path towards doing this.

And buying a CCP sponsored vehicle is basically supporting the CCP. And I won't do that either.

If you simplified your post from the beginning to "I prefer to buy US manufactured cars", then that would have vastly simplified this conversation. Country of manufacture is a relatively simple thing to prove and take a stance on. Especially for cars.

 

[mkhuffman]

Except you haven't demonstrated in any possible way that the Chinese govt is reasonably going to want to spy from you on a Volvo when they could get your info for free or for pennies literally everywhere else. You're trivializing the complexity of mass data collection from a car without any plausible reason or path towards doing this.If you simplified your post from the beginning to "I prefer to buy US manufactured cars", then that would have vastly simplified this conversation. Country of manufacture is a relatively simple thing to prove and take a stance on. Especially for cars.

The kind of info they can get from the microphones, cameras and GPS in your car is much better than what they can buy. I don't understand why you can't see that. It is very easy for them to capture everything you say and do while using the car. Google doesn't have that. Apple doesn't have that. But the CCP will.

I do care about where the money goes when I buy something. Definitely.

Both reasons are why I am sticking with Rivian.

BTW - since this is supposed to be a discussion about BMW, I am not worried what BMW will do with my personal data. So in that case it is more about who gets my money and if the product is worth it. I don't have the same security concerns.

 

[AlphaSnowbordergirl]

I try very hard to avoid electronics made in China, but you are correct. It is practically impossible. However, I don't have to guess what the Volvo is. I know. And that one is easy. Just don't buy it. Buy a Rivian instead.

It is worrisome that so many people do not care about CCP spying. They really are the enemy, and you really should do everything possible to avoid them getting your personal information.



That or they would be able to figure out all the passwords to all your accounts.

To be fair I worry almost as much as Google. Google isn't very ethical with your privacy or data either and they ruined YouTube. I will never forgive them for that.

 

[DuoRivian]

Interestingly the new Volvo EX60 which will come out after the iC3 has in paper very similar specs (400 mile EPA range, 400kWh charging) for a very similar price $60k. I had thought Volvo would have access to the subsidized Chinese parts of their owner.
This makes the iX3 even more impressive
And demonstrates the west can compete in this segment.

 

[Leesonw]

I'm on the R2 list on day 1, March 7. I continue to be very excited about it. But recently I am starting to waiver. This whole Lidar thing gives me pause. I need a car this Fall and I don't want to have buyers remorse the first month I own it. I don't care about FSD but still. Secondly, I live in NM so I will have to drive 5 hours to the nearest service center. I see no indication of new service centers popping up as I had hoped. And thirdly, this IX3 looks really nice. If it's within $5k of the launch edition R2 it will be hard to pass up. Of course this is all based on reviews and YouTube videos like this:



I am hoping I will be able to test drive them back to back but who knows?

 

[DuoRivian]

I'm on the R2 list on day 1, March 7. I continue to be very excited about it. But recently I am starting to waiver. This whole Lidar thing gives me pause. I need a car this Fall and I don't want to have buyers remorse the first month I own it. I don't care about FSD but still. Secondly, I live in NM so I will have to drive 5 hours to the nearest service center. I see no indication of new service centers popping up as I had hoped. And thirdly, this IX3 looks really nice. If it's within $5k of the launch edition R2 it will be hard to pass up. Of course this is all based on reviews and YouTube videos like this:



I am hoping I will be able to test drive them back to back but who knows?

I can u stand the service center point, Rivian are building out nicely their centers but for NM it does seem left out.

 

[derekmw]

I guess I'm the minority but I think that ix3 looks so ugly and cheap looking. Like they tried to make a BMW front on a Mazda CX

 

[MaskedRacerX]

I'm on the R2 list on day 1, March 7.

Same. We passed on an R1S, a few reasons, but the primary one was what you say below:

Secondly, I live in NM so I will have to drive 5 hours to the nearest service center. I see no indication of new service centers popping up as I had hoped.

100%. SC location is a major consideration. We're in St. Augustine, the closest has been Orlando, won't do 2+ hours. A couple of things changed though, 1) getting a SC in St. Johns County (I think in the Costco area near WGV) and b) we're likely relocating to Orlando.

It's funny, we took in our iX for service, minor fix and general service check, and even the 45 minutes to the closest BMW service center was a little far (it wound up being fun, it was Xmas Eve, no questions asked, they handed over a new iX as a loaner for as long as they had ours).

And thirdly, this IX3 looks really nice. If it's within $5k of the launch edition R2 it will be hard to pass up. Of course this is all based on reviews and

It's super interesting, but specifically the upcoming M flavor looks to be a little beast. We love our iX, easily top 2 or 3 vehicles we've owned (of 20+ in the last 20 or so years), and realize the iX3 is technically a lower tier, so the final product will make a big difference.

We'd love to pivot and try an R2, love the size, love having something that's "curb proof" (like our Wrangler), won't have SC concerns being < 15 minutes from two in the Orlando area, but on a real wait-and-see.

We also have air suspension in the iX, and after having that, I don't know if I can go back so if the iX3 or R2 don't do it for us, we'll be taking delivery of another iX inearly '27 (M70 this time )

 

[derekmw]

Yeah back in 2015 when we got our first Tesla, the only reason we committed to it was because of the service center 20 min from our house.
Once I find out Rivian built a service center right by the Tesla SC, I felt comfortable buying one.

no way would I own a brand new manufacturer car that I have to drive hours to get serviced

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