BMW iX3 Storms the Transfagarasan Twice and Still Has Charge

Romania is a brutal place to test an electric SUV, which is precisely why the BMW iX3 was pointed at it. The route ran from Bucharest to the tiny village of Sona in the heart of the country, then back again over the Transfagarasan, the most theatrical stretch of tarmac in the Carpathians. Roughly 500 miles all in. The question was never whether the iX3 could manage it. The question was whether it could manage it without the driver tiptoeing around the battery gauge.

Day one set the tone. The xDrive50 left the capital with 97 per cent in its 108.7kWh pack and 353 miles showing on the range readout. Most of the leg was open-road cruising at 62mph, with a short motorway burst thrown in. By the halfway mark, the trip computer read 3.31 miles per kWh. Slower country lanes only sharpened that figure. The iX3 rolled into its overnight stop having covered 217.5 miles at an average of 3.53 miles per kWh, with 40 per cent still in reserve and another 173 miles promised. Tempting enough to consider skipping the charge entirely.

That temptation lost out to the mountain. The following morning the iX3 set off from Sibiu towards the switchbacks, sipping along at roughly 4.44 miles per kWh on the approach. Remember this is a 2.3-tonne twin-motor SUV with 463bhp. Then the road turned upwards, and the numbers went out the window. What emerged instead was a chassis that genuinely wants to be hustled. The low-slung battery kills the top-heavy roll you brace for, understeer barely registers, and you can adjust your line on the accelerator like a proper rear-driven BMW. It is a better steer than the combustion X3, which is not a sentence anyone expected to write.

One run up was not enough. After reaching Balea, the car dropped to Cartisoara for lunch, turned round and climbed all 5,200 feet again. At the southern exit, around 100 miles into the day, the battery still read 57 per cent. Consumption had settled at 2.1 miles per kWh, which counts as a bargain given two hard ascents and the regenerative freewheel between them. The run back to Bucharest included 90 miles of motorway at 87mph. The iX3 arrived home with 16 per cent left and no charging stop on the second day at all.

That last figure is the one that matters. Around 250 miles in a single day, a mountain pass attacked twice, air conditioning running throughout and no hypermiling nonsense, yet still a meaningful buffer at the door. Big batteries help, but capacity alone does not explain this. The iX3 pairs genuine real-world efficiency with a range prediction that tells the truth rather than flattering itself, and it delivers performance you can lean on without paying for it later. Charging networks remain patchy in plenty of places, so range anxiety has not vanished. In a car like this, though, the excuses are running out.