BMW iX M60 2022 Review – International

Australians love top-end model variants more than most countries, and the 2022 BMW iX M60 is positioned comfortably at the top end of the still-new BMW iX electric SUV family (though there are rumours of an M70 as well).

Local pricing for the BMW iX M60 hasn’t been announced yet, but it will sit atop a range that begins with the $135,900 single-motor xDrive40 and the dual-motor $169,900 xDrive50, so expect it to rub its head on the $200,000 barrier.

The M60 shares a lot with the 50, but adds 50km/h to the top speed and peak torque from 765Nm to a mammoth 1100Nm. Yes, 1100, so 10 per cent more than that mythical king of premium SUV torque, the discontinued Audi Q7 V12 TDI.

BMW says that’s enough to fling it the 2584kg five-seat SUV to 100km/h in just 3.8 seconds, matching the quickest M versions of its own X3, X4, X5 and X6, while its 455kW (up from 385kW) is enough power to keep it accelerating until its 250km/h speed-limiter.

It’s also fruitier inside, runs a more finely tuned suspension set-up and loses nothing significant in either range or efficiency, and will still charge at up to 195kW (for the first 12 minutes, or up to 40 per cent of a full charge), so it will charge from 10 to 80 per cent in 39 minutes.

The BMW ix M60 has a cabin that is fully 5G connected to HQ via its own SIM, and it’s governed by the eighth generation of the BMW iDrive control system, which is way better than stumbling around on the touch-screen set-up.

It also has an Australian connection, with BMW buying the cobalt and lithium from Australia and Morocco, and delivering it directly to its battery makers for the 111.5kWh battery that sits between the iX M60’s axles.

BMW’s M division understands how to make elephants tap dance, and it’s done it again with the 2022 BMW iX M60.

It has form here, with the X5 M, the X6 M and even the BMW XM electric SUV prototype, which is the heaviest of them all. It’s a stretch to say they all handle like sports sedans, but they stop and change direction remarkably well for what they are.

In the case of the iX M60, there’s 2584kg of mass to propel, retard and turn, and that’s obviously a lot. It’s on-brand for big electric SUVs, unfortunately, with at least 600kg worth of batteries. In that context, the iX M60 is remarkable at what it does.

Its little siblings are also pretty adept at balancing on the line between ride comfort and cornering ability and security, and this big boy is no different.

It rides on 225/50 R21 rubber all round, with a double-wishbone front-end, a five-link rear-end, rear-wheel steering and air springs.

One of the light-bulb moments BMW had with its EVs was it couldn’t talk the talk without walking the walk, so the production of each iX M60 leaves behind less than 1kg of waste material.

It may even be waste positive, because it uses 60kg of recycled plastic inside the dash, the seats and even the doors.

We still wish BMW offered a conventional steering wheel as an option to the standard hexagonal tiller, but it gets more intuitive as you use it more.

The iX’s 14.9-inch digital instrument cluster blends beautifully into the central 12.3-inch multimedia screen behind a single curved piece of glass, and BMW claims it has halved the button count around the cabin.

The biggest issue we have in the cabin is the beautiful open-pore wood option for the control panel around the iDrive controller.

Yes, it’s lovely to look at and touch, and yes, we know the buttons are backlit, but it’s impossible to read any of the switches on it in bright sunlight. You’re groping blindly every time the sun is out, and it doesn’t even have to be directly shining on the panel.

The only upside is that the voice activation is becoming cleverer by the month and beginning to recognise and act on even slightly off-base requests like “I’m cold”.

The roof is a solid glass panel that darkens electro-chromatically, while the doors are frameless affairs that open at the push of a button, lacking even a handle.

There is a significant amount of room in the rear, as well as the front, and the car always reminds you of its high-tech place in the BMW family by making the carbon-fibre doorframes clearly visible every time you open the doors.

Like the BMW iX xDrive50, the 2022 iX M60 uses a pair of electric motors, with one on each axle to allow for constantly variable all-wheel drive.

And, like its little sibling, the iX M60 uses a fifth-generation, 190kW/365Nm electrically excited synchronous motor on the front axle. It’s exactly the same unit, with the electric motor, single-speed transmission and power electronics all fixed into the same housing.

All the added strength and urge of the iX M60 comes from the rear e-motor, which has similar engineering philosophies to the front unit, but bumps the performance up from 230kW to 360kW.

Peak torque has similarly been embiggened, but not all is what it seems.

The maximum power of 455kW is only available in 10-second bursts, which actually seems fair enough, and it normally sits at 397kW. That’s only 12kW up on the xDrive50’s peak (though that’s similarly a burst-peak).

It’s the same with the torque peak. The iX M60 claims it reaches 1100Nm, but that’s only in its Launch Control mode. Otherwise the Sport mode peaks at 1015Nm, and that’s still an impressive figure.

The motors themselves use few rare-earth minerals (hence the “electrically excited” part, rather than being magnetically excited).

There’s a six-phase double inverter system and BMW achieved the extra motor performance by stretching the rotor by 20mm, and revving to 15,400rpm.

Both motors attach to single-speed transmissions, and both recuperate energy at up to 220kW, but only from beyond 200km/h.

It regenerates at 150kW if the driver slows from 100km/h, or 180kW at 150km/h. In city life, it regenerates at 100kW from about 50km/h.

Breadth of capability is the area that most impresses with the 2022 BMW iX M60. It’s as though there’s no type of driving or driver or road surface that isn’t within its well-organised remit.

There would be few cars – combustion, hybrid or electric – that manage to feel utterly composed and secure in as many different scenarios.

For example, even deploying every scrap of thrust from its two motors and using all of the braking and grip, we never once saw the skid-control system light up to tell us it had been called upon to intervene. Not once.

It can make a good living as a near-silent limousine with immaculate ride comfort and it can double as a long-range mile-eater as well, and it’s remarkable how well it whips through a series of corners.

With this much weight, it’s clear the top-spec BMW iX prefers more open bends, but it still makes a good show of the tight stuff.

There’s a notable change in its character from each of the drive modes, but particularly between the Comfort and Sports settings. The silence in Comfort mode is superbly thought through, with the only noise coming from the front tyres and whatever swirls of wind aren’t taken care of by the mirror aerodynamics.

The iX M60 carries on the synthesized Zimmer sounds to give a background soundtrack to its acceleration efforts and, while BMW insists some people love it, we were pleased to switch it off and let the engineering authenticity speak for itself.

There is a small amount of whine at very high revs in Sport mode, but that’s reassuring, if anything, and otherwise it’s a stupendously refined transport option.

And it’s ridiculously fast, without rubbing anybody’s nose in it and without ever seeming like a one-trick pony.

There’s a depth of character here that can slam your spine into the seat like John Cena on the matt, and keep it there, yet trickle effortlessly through traffic without ever giving a hint of its performance potential.

For sure, it will shock some passengers when the driver belts the throttle, simply because it’s so serenely gentle otherwise.

If you had to have one BMW to live with for the next 20 years or so, and it had to cope with any situation you might encounter, then the 2022 BMW iX M60 is probably it.

Less boofy than the X5 M, but more refined. More versatile than a top-end 5 Series or mid-range 7 Series.

It’s just brilliant at everything it does, including body control that allows some roll, but never feels like it is struggling with what’s underneath it.

Now, if we can just have a matt finish on that iDrive surround.

How much does the 2022 BMW iX M60 cost?
Price: Up to $200,000 (estimated)
Available: July 2022
Engine: Two-motor electric
Output: 480kW/1000Nm
Front motor: 190kW
Rear motor: 360kW
Transmission: Single-speed, fixed
Gross battery: 111.5kWh
Net battery: 105.2kWh
Economy: 21.9kWh/100km
CO2: zero
Safety rating: TBC