[Corals]

This thing is a hoot. I haven't driven it hard yet as I only have about 300 miles on the clock, but my first impressions below:

The exterior styling is a really nice package. It's somehow better in real life than in pictures - the wheel gaps between the fenders and wheels don't seem nearly as awkward in real life as they do in pictures and the rear somehow comes together a little better than the "CRV" you sometimes see in pictures.

The interior materials, there's spots where I go "yeah that's really nice" and "man I wish they used x/y/z instead for that." For example - the doorhandles being metal is a nice touch, but then the silver-esq hand grip on the actual door on the armrest on the door is plastic. Why couldn't they have just kept that metal to match the doorhandle?

With the M Sport Pro package, the seats are very comfortable and everyone that has seen the car has been wowed by the comfort and look of them. The bolsters for your legs on the sides of the seat are quite big - and honestly I think the one on the outside bolster on the seat is going to get worn down quickly from just getting in and out of the car. Time will tell.

The car drives a little on rails for a small SUV - coming out of a 2019 2dr Mini Cooper S, I needed something bigger for a family but wanted to keep the sporty driving characteristics. It's not 100% the same as the little go-cart but the thing takes high speed corners pretty well, it's got a pretty tight turning radius, and the suspension is pretty alive yet comfortable.

The brakes are - wow - they'll grip. I think these brakes might get the car stopped quicker than the Mini - even for how much bigger and heavier it is. I've always heard about "confidence in the brake pedal" and you can really feel it in this car. I sim-race frequently with Fanatec ClubSport V3 pedals with the brake performance kit and the feeling is somewhat the same. You don't have to get into the brake very much to get the M35i slowed down, but when you do - man the car just sits.

Two things I really hate about this car:

1. iDrive 9 is freaking terrible. Honestly it takes over 60 seconds for the screens to turn on when you start the car and I'm halfway out of the neighborhood before I can even turn the radio on. The CarPlay connection is even slower - its taking me 3-4 minutes for my car to connect to my phone and then boot up.

The "profiles" for my wife and I in the car are constantly confusing. I use my phone as the key and it defaults to my wife's profile half the time with zero consistency and she gets the same thing where she uses HER key and it loads into my profile. To change the profile, you have to be in park and it takes a good 60 seconds+ to get the thing swapped over.

The Sirius XM screen is ridiculous. There is no screen to just scroll through the channels - it's recommended channels, sort by genre, or favorites. Can't even scroll on the HUD like I can on my X5. Pretty annoying.

The only plus to iDrive 9 is that CarPlay maps work on the drivers screen - finally able to see where I'm going rather than just half-baked turn suggestions.

2. The lag on startup to car moving is pretty annoying. It takes a good 2-3 seconds for the car to turn on, engage the gear, and move forward. You have to be careful about how to get on the throttle or you'll end up with a lot more juice off the line than you thought because of the start up lag. I can get over this and just be gentle off the line, but it is kinda annoying when I compare it to the X5 which is fantastic from start up, gear engage, and onwards from the stoplight.

Only a couple hundred miles in - but I'm really happy with the car overall. I look at the price tag (fully loaded, all options M35i) at just shy of $60k all in... it's a pretty competitive package. The suspension, braking, extra performance, and cosmetics on the outside really take this one step beyond the standard X1. Hopefully they can fix some of the iDrive 9 quirks. I need to get the thing detailed and a coat of wax on the car and will grab some better pictures all around.

[Xblmppilot]

Originally Posted by Corals

This thing is a hoot. I haven't driven it hard yet as I only have about 300 miles on the clock, but my first impressions below:

The exterior styling is a really nice package. It's somehow better in real life than in pictures - the wheel gaps between the fenders and wheels don't seem nearly as awkward in real life as they do in pictures and the rear somehow comes together a little better than the "CRV" you sometimes see in pictures.

The interior materials, there's spots where I go "yeah that's really nice" and "man I wish they used x/y/z instead for that." For example - the doorhandles being metal is a nice touch, but then the silver-esq hand grip on the actual door on the armrest on the door is plastic. Why couldn't they have just kept that metal to match the doorhandle?

With the M Sport Pro package, the seats are very comfortable and everyone that has seen the car has been wowed by the comfort and look of them. The bolsters for your legs on the sides of the seat are quite big - and honestly I think the one on the outside bolster on the seat is going to get worn down quickly from just getting in and out of the car. Time will tell.

The car drives a little on rails for a small SUV - coming out of a 2019 2dr Mini Cooper S, I needed something bigger for a family but wanted to keep the sporty driving characteristics. It's not 100% the same as the little go-cart but the thing takes high speed corners pretty well, it's got a pretty tight turning radius, and the suspension is pretty alive yet comfortable.

The brakes are - wow - they'll grip. I think these [...]

Thank you for the review. Please keep posting as you get more acquainted with the car. Specifically the lag in Sport vs Comfort.

[RNorb]

Originally Posted by Corals

This thing is a hoot.


1. iDrive 9 is freaking terrible. Honestly it takes over 60 seconds for the screens to turn on when you start the car and I'm halfway out of the neighborhood before I can even turn the radio on. The CarPlay connection is even slower - its taking me 3-4 minutes for my car to connect to my phone and then boot up.

.

What version of iDrive 9 do you have?

[FlashMonkey929]

Originally Posted by Corals

This thing is a hoot. I haven't driven it hard yet as I only have about 300 miles on the clock, but my first impressions below:

The exterior styling is a really nice package. It's somehow better in real life than in pictures - the wheel gaps between the fenders and wheels don't seem nearly as awkward in real life as they do in pictures and the rear somehow comes together a little better than the "CRV" you sometimes see in pictures.

The interior materials, there's spots where I go "yeah that's really nice" and "man I wish they used x/y/z instead for that." For example - the doorhandles being metal is a nice touch, but then the silver-esq hand grip on the actual door on the armrest on the door is plastic. Why couldn't they have just kept that metal to match the doorhandle?

With the M Sport Pro package, the seats are very comfortable and everyone that has seen the car has been wowed by the comfort and look of them. The bolsters for your legs on the sides of the seat are quite big - and honestly I think the one on the outside bolster on the seat is going to get worn down quickly from just getting in and out of the car. Time will tell.

The car drives a little on rails for a small SUV - coming out of a 2019 2dr Mini Cooper S, I needed something bigger for a family but wanted to keep the sporty driving characteristics. It's not 100% the same as the little go-cart but the thing takes high speed corners pretty well, it's got a pretty tight turning radius, and the suspension is pretty alive yet comfortable.

The brakes are - wow - they'll grip. I think these brakes might get the car stopped quicker than the Mini - even for how much bigger and heavier it is. I've always heard about "confidence in the brake pedal" and you can really feel it in this car. I sim-race frequently with Fanatec ClubSport V3 pedals with the brake performance kit and the feeling is somewhat the same. You don't have to get into the brake very much to get the M35i slowed down, but when you do - man the car just sits.

Two things I really hate about this car:

1. iDrive 9 is freaking terrible. Honestly it takes over 60 seconds for the screens to turn on when you start the car and I'm halfway out of the neighborhood before I can even turn the radio on. The CarPlay connection is even slower - its taking me 3-4 minutes for my car to connect to my phone and then boot up.

The "profiles" for my wife and I in the car are constantly confusing. I use my phone as the key and it defaults to my wife's profile half the time with zero consistency and she gets the same thing where she uses HER key and it loads into my profile. To change the profile, you have to be in park and it takes a good 60 seconds+ to get the thing swapped over.

The Sirius XM screen is ridiculous. There is no screen to just scroll through the channels - it's recommended channels, sort by genre, or favorites. Can't even scroll on the HUD like I can on my X5. Pretty annoying.

The only plus to iDrive 9 is that CarPlay maps work on the drivers screen - finally able to see where I'm going rather than just half-baked turn suggestions.

2. The lag on startup to car moving is pretty annoying. It takes a good 2-3 seconds for the car to turn on, engage the gear, and move forward. You have to be careful about how to get on the throttle or you'll end up with a lot more juice off the line than you thought because of the start up lag. I can get over this and just be gentle off the line, but it is kinda annoying when I compare it to the X5 which is fantastic from start up, gear engage, and onwards from the stoplight.

Only a couple hundred miles in - but I'm really happy with the car overall. I look at the price tag (fully loaded, all options M35i) at just shy of $60k all in... it's a pretty competitive package. The suspension, braking, extra performance, and cosmetics on the outside really take this one step beyond the standard X1. Hopefully they can fix some of the iDrive 9 quirks. I need to get the thing detailed and a coat of wax on the car and will grab some better pictures all around.

iDrive9 taking that long to start up and connect doesn't sound right. Have you tried a hard reset to see if it improves things?

I have iDrive 8 and I like that Apple Maps can display on the instrument cluster, but I rarely use it because I prefer Google Maps. Apple Maps here is somewhat inaccurate at times and I can't really rely on it. I'm not sure if Apple is gatekeeping that feature from Google to entice users to use Apple Maps more, but it's nice having turn by turn directions in the HUD. Shame it won't work with Google Maps or Waze.

[richiro]

Originally Posted by Xblmppilot

Thank you for the review. Please keep posting as you get more acquainted with the car. Specifically the lag in Sport vs Comfort.

There is no more "comfort" mode for iDrive 9, it's Personal, Efficient, or Sport (+)

there are some other "modes" that are kind of pointless and just change the graphic arts/lighting color

The lag between the 2 modes (efficient/sport) are night and day, the car tends to go into "idle stop" when you brake at 1-5mph. It gets annoying in stop and go traffic, and i don't like using sport mode in traffic as there is too much "umph" when you're driving 3 feet at a time.

I find myself in personal mode most often, you can change the settings on this mode to make steering and acceleration to your liking.

There is some noticeable "lag" in this mode, but only from a dead stop at a stop light or a long pause.

I did notice that the transmission sometimes gets "stuck" when coasting down hill, normally you would assume the clutch disengages after you take your foot off the accelerator, but last night as i was driving down a windy road, in efficient mode i let it coast down the hill, and it sounded like it was reving really high as if it were stuck in a gear going down hill.

[Corals]

Originally Posted by RNorb

What version of iDrive 9 do you have?

Originally Posted by FlashMonkey929

iDrive9 taking that long to start up and connect doesn't sound right. Have you tried a hard reset to see if it improves things?

I have iDrive 8 and I like that Apple Maps can display on the instrument cluster, but I rarely use it because I prefer Google Maps. Apple Maps here is somewhat inaccurate at times and I can't really rely on it. I'm not sure if Apple is gatekeeping that feature from Google to entice users to use Apple Maps more, but it's nice having turn by turn directions in the HUD. Shame it won't work with Google Maps or Waze.

Not sure - maybe I do need to investigate more if there is an update or do a hard reset. Wouldn't think I would need to do either given I just picked up the car less than a week ago - but perhaps so.

[Xblmppilot]

Originally Posted by richiro

There is no more "comfort" mode for iDrive 9, it's Personal, Efficient, or Sport (+)

there are some other "modes" that are kind of pointless and just change the graphic arts/lighting color

The lag between the 2 modes (efficient/sport) are night and day, the car tends to go into "idle stop" when you brake at 1-5mph. It gets annoying in stop and go traffic, and i don't like using sport mode in traffic as there is too much "umph" when you're driving 3 feet at a time.

I find myself in personal mode most often, you can change the settings on this mode to make steering and acceleration to your liking.

There is some noticeable "lag" in this mode, but only from a dead stop at a stop light or a long pause.

I did notice that the transmission sometimes gets "stuck" when coasting down hill, normally you would assume the clutch disengages after you take your foot off the accelerator, but last night as i was driving down a windy road, in efficient mode i let it coast down the hill, and it sounded like it was reving really high as if it were stuck in a gear going down hill.

Thank you.

[richiro]

Originally Posted by FlashMonkey929

iDrive9 taking that long to start up and connect doesn't sound right. Have you tried a hard reset to see if it improves things?

I have iDrive 8 and I like that Apple Maps can display on the instrument cluster, but I rarely use it because I prefer Google Maps. Apple Maps here is somewhat inaccurate at times and I can't really rely on it. I'm not sure if Apple is gatekeeping that feature from Google to entice users to use Apple Maps more, but it's nice having turn by turn directions in the HUD. Shame it won't work with Google Maps or Waze.

Unfortunately it does take a long time to boot up, and most of the time it is glitchy.

I find myself not being logged into my profile even with the correct key being used to unlock the car.

The seat settings don’t always default to setting 1 for the respective drive profile either

[rocketman99]

The bootup time is HORRIBLE. But it does work when it finally finishes.

[MontyB1]

It’s so important for it to be there and quick surely that is a bug, the iD8 is up within a few seconds after the animation has finished.

[FlashMonkey929]

Originally Posted by richiro

Unfortunately it does take a long time to boot up, and most of the time it is glitchy.

I find myself not being logged into my profile even with the correct key being used to unlock the car.

The seat settings don’t always default to setting 1 for the respective drive profile either

I’m the sole driver for my car so I can’t say about the seat position, but I noticed once in a while when I walk up to the car it doesn’t load my profile, and loads the guest profile instead. This only started once I upgraded my phone to the iPhone 15 and iOS17 so I’m not sure but it could be related.

[duraz0rz]

I picked mine up on Saturday and it's been a good so far! There is a marked delay due to the start/stop as well as the DCT engaging kind of slow in Personal/Comfort mode. Not a big deal since you can always let off the brake a bit early to turn on the engine, then feather the pedal until the transmission is fully engaged. Still happens with the drivetrain in Sport and Sport+, and in Manual model, too... just seems like something to get used to. Still _plenty_ peppy and comfortable to drive, more than my previous Genesis G70.

The only major thing I'm missing right now is the Personal 5G eSim. It's on my order sheet and window stickers and I can't add it to my car nor does a Personal eSim option show up in Mobile Devices. Did anyone else get it and have the same issue?

[08-335xi]

The ID9 on our M35i is super slow to start also, has trouble recognizing the correct profile with both the key fobs and PAAK. It also takes a while to connect to Apple CarPlay and half the time we have to reselect the QR code to get it to connect to an existing profile. Apple CarPlay continues to cut in and out once connected for 1-2 seconds every minute or two with both our iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 13 with the latest iOS.

This vehicle is my wife’s primary vehicle and her mobile office. She uses her phone all the time for work usually taking calls and answering messages in parking lots. The interruptions and delays on start up are already at a point of frustration and she is starting to dislike the vehicle because of the glitchy interface. I am fairly tech savvy, so it’s not a novice user issue at this point.

Our M4 and X3 M40i which both have ID7 are much better interfaces. ID9 looks more modern and has more customization, but it is far from what I would consider a production software release. She basically has to spend 3 minutes every time she starts the car to get her profile to load.

I am going to make another visit to the genius at the dealer next week to make 100% certain we have our sequences correct, but I think this is mainly software bugs and I hope the 1-2 second interruptions once connected is not a bandwidth issue with the ID9 hardware. I truly hope that BMW sends a software update soon to fix or at least greatly improve these issues.

[BarrettDB]

Originally Posted by Corals

Not sure - maybe I do need to investigate more if there is an update or do a hard reset. Wouldn't think I would need to do either given I just picked up the car less than a week ago - but perhaps so.

Well, Idrive 9 is the first release developed using Android. It is slower than both iDrive 8 and 8.5 - but only while booting up. Once running, it’s quite perky!

[abirmaher]

Originally Posted by Xblmppilot

Thanks

Circling back on the tire discussion. My build sheet says performance, not high performance and the car was delivered with the pirelli pzeros. Rather than the eco tires mentioned by some others.

MO and Star on them, so I guess is developed for BMW and Mercedes.

[richiro]

Originally Posted by abirmaher

Circling back on the tire discussion. My build sheet says performance, not high performance and the car was delivered with the pirelli pzeros. Rather than the eco tires mentioned by some others.

MO and Star on them, so I guess is developed for BMW and Mercedes.

Glad to hear you finally got your ride, was tracking that to see how that all unfolded.

Mind sharing a photo of what those tires look like?

[abirmaher]

Originally Posted by richiro

Glad to hear you finally got your ride, was tracking that to see how that all unfolded.

Mind sharing a photo of what those tires look like?

Me too… I had just about given up hope.

Here’s the tire and a few more pics of the car.

[abirmaher]

Originally Posted by abirmaher

Me too… I had just about given up hope.

Here’s the tire and a few more pics of the car.

One more thing I am relalizing. On my window sticker, my wheels are listed under the M Sport Pro Package, while originally on my order they were separate (performance, not high performance).

For those who remember the price drop on the m sport pro package, I think that’s to do with the wheels now being included which they were not originally on the order guide. So on my window sticker it’s 1500 for the m sport pro with wheels. And I assume that the m sport pro variant of the wheels is the high performance tires. Which explains why I ended up with the pirellis. 🕵️

[richiro]

Originally Posted by abirmaher

One more thing I am relalizing. On my window sticker, my wheels are listed under the M Sport Pro Package, while originally on my order they were separate (performance, not high performance).

For those who remember the price drop on the m sport pro package, I think that’s to do with the wheels now being included which they were not originally on the order guide. So on my window sticker it’s 1500 for the m sport pro with wheels. And I assume that the m sport pro variant of the wheels is the high performance tires. Which explains why I ended up with the pirellis. 🕵️

My understanding of this is as follows:

The 872M wheels are the default choice if you choose to add the M Sport Pro Pkg.

There is a miss on BMW's end where if you had originally selected the 872M wheels in addition to the M Sport Pro Pkg, you basically got them for $1500 instead of the $1700 it would have costed "a la carte"

[abirmaher]

Originally Posted by richiro

My understanding of this is as follows:

The 872M wheels are the default choice if you choose to add the M Sport Pro Pkg.

There is a miss on BMW's end where if you had originally selected the 872M wheels in addition to the M Sport Pro Pkg, you basically got them for $1500 instead of the $1700 it would have costed "a la carte"

That’s what I’m understanding as well.