Up close with the all-new BMW iX5: a static blackbox left us seriously impressed
We stood next to the electric X5 in a blackbox, and walked out genuinely stunned
Some cars you have to drive to understand. Others hit you the moment you walk up to them. BMW invited us to see the all-new iX5 up close in a blackbox at BMW Belux in Luxembourg, before it reaches the public, and even standing still under the lights it made an impression. This is not a mild update of the X5 we know. It feels like a generational leap, and we came away seriously impressed, if not quite convinced by absolutely everything.
What the iX5 actually is
The iX5 is the fully electric version of BMW's next-generation X5, launching first as the iX5 60 xDrive. Two motors give it all-wheel drive and a combined 570 hp, enough for 0 to 100 km/h in around 4.4 seconds. More important for a big SUV is the range and charging: a large 144 kWh battery on an 800-volt system targets somewhere around 700 kilometres between charges, and can accept up to 460 kW of DC power, so a 10 to 80 percent top-up takes roughly 22 minutes. It is part of the same next-generation X5 family that Kith previewed earlier this year, and it can be ordered in Europe from early October, with deliveries starting in early 2027.
In the metal, a real step up
The new face, with its four-eyed headlights and tall, narrow kidney grille, is a clear nod to BMW's 1960s Neue Klasse heritage, and it works far better in person than in photos. The car has genuine presence, helped by huge glass surfaces and, for the first time in X5 history, optional 23-inch wheels. What really got us, though, was the perceived quality. The materials, the switchgear, the way everything is finished, all feel a clear cut above the outgoing X5, and closer to the flagship 7 Series than to a regular SUV. It shares its design language and sixth-generation electric tech with BMW's wider Neue Klasse rollout.
The tech, the epic and the meh
Inside, the star is BMW Panoramic Vision, a full-width display projected across the base of the windscreen that stretches from pillar to pillar, paired with a new central touchscreen and BMW's Operating System X. In the metal it looks genuinely futuristic, and there are lovely touches everywhere, from soft-close doors with radar detection to a projected light carpet that greets you as you approach. Not everything convinced us, though. The optional passenger display, a 14.6-inch screen in front of the front-seat passenger, still feels like a solution looking for a problem, the kind of feature that impresses in a showroom and gets ignored in daily life. It is the one part of an otherwise dazzling cabin that struck us as more gimmick than gain.
How it stacks up
The iX5 arrives into a fast-filling class of large luxury electric SUVs, up against the likes of the Porsche Cayenne Electric, the Volvo EX90, the Range Rover Sport EV and Genesis's incoming GV90 flagship. On paper, BMW's blend of around 700 kilometres of range, 460 kW charging and that leap in cabin quality gives it a very strong hand. What it cannot tell us yet is how it drives, and in a two-and-a-half-tonne electric SUV that is the whole ballgame.
AutoNext First Take
We will be honest: we did not expect to be this taken with a static car. But the iX5 60 feels like the moment BMW's electric SUVs stop being clever alternatives and start being the obvious choice. The design finally looks resolved, the interior quality is a real step up, and the technology, passenger screen aside, mostly lands on the right side of impressive rather than gimmicky.
Ride, refinement and the way it uses that 570 hp will decide whether it is merely handsome or genuinely brilliant. But as first impressions go, this was a strong one, and it has moved the iX5 straight to the top of our want-to-drive list. Bring on the keys.
