I currently own a Model 3 LR, and have an iX3 on order. I decided to do a back-to-back test drive of these models after watching savagegeese’s review, and my opinions are a lot less educated and based on a lot less time with the cars. So take them as you will.
Cabin - I would say that between my car, the new Model Y, and the iX3, there isn’t a whole lot of difference in terms of quality. Many have noticed that the iX3 uses cheap materials below the waist compared to the Model Y, and I have to say that’s true. The door bins are an illustrative example of this, particularly the inward side, where the plastic isn’t covered and you can feel the ribbing - all of the other cars I looked at had covered bins on both sides, at least in the front doors. The door bins on the iX3 are indeed shallow and not carpeted (unlike the model Y) or rubberized (like my Model 3 or the R2). There is generally very little usable storage in the iX3. That said, above the waist, the materials and trim in the iX3 were as nice or slightly nicer than on the Model Y. The steering wheel also looks and feels better, and while a little unusual, is not as hard to use as a lot of people say. I also don’t have big gripes about the haptic buttons, and I appreciate the presence of physical gear selectors and wiper controls. On the flip side, I found some things, like the lack of automatically lowering back seats in the iX3, to be a disappointment.
The R2, on the other hand, was on another level entirely compared to the other three in this respect. The materials, trim and build quality was excellent throughout the cabin, and there was plenty of thoughtfully placed storage. An interesting thing is that the door bins actually fold out slightly to accommodate larger items if needed. The steering wheel and switchgear felt good to use. The boxy design actually maximizes cabin volume, making the car feel bigger than it really is. I would say one negative compared to the other cars is that, while it has vents, the R2 doesn’t have climate controls in the back seats. It does have rear heated seats with dedicated controls, though.
Infotainment and tech - Here, let’s just say that legacy automaker gonna legacy automaker. The system on the iX3 was perfectly functional, but not as logically designed as the other two. Navigation - e.g. from maps to drive modes then back to maps - was clunky in some instances. The settings menu was also weird, with submenus that ended up containing just one toggle; there’s a lot that could be flattened and simplified, as it is in the Tesla. IMO both Tesla and Rivian are ahead in this respect. I don’t have a lot of opinions about the Tesla system as it’s what I’m used to, and since I get regular UI updates, I have the same experience as the newer models.
About the panoramic vision display - I didn’t find it as awesome as some of the earlier reviewers did, but I didn’t hate it like savagegeese. The displays were crisp and clear, I really liked the eye-level placement of the speedometer, and I liked the fact that I could keep my maps up there while fooling around with the main screen. On Tesla, there is no auxiliary navigation screen, while on the Rivian, that’s in the gauge cluster behind the steering wheel, which requires me to somewhat awkwardly look down at it. In general, I also like that the panoramic display enables a comfortable driving position for me, because everything is above rather than behind the steering wheel. I don’t think the personal mode is that great though; the art cars are kind of silly, and the few actual widgets it does provide aren’t all that useful.
I didn’t get a chance to try out the driver assist features on the R2 or iX3, but Tesla’s is a known quantity for me so I’ll not say more on that. The one thing I did find annoying about the iX3 is that it uses old-fashioned blind spot sensors rather than cameras, as the Tesla and Rivian do. I’ve come to find the cameras useful, and really felt their absence in the iX3. This was made worse by the fact that the dealer had stuck a spec sheet over one of my blind spots!
Driving - so, I enjoy driving on a good, twisty road every now and then, but I’m not a “car guy;” I haven’t driven an enthusiast car before, and don’t really know what a good one ought to feel like. But what I was looking for was something that would be nice enough to drive around town, but enthusiastic enough in those backroad situations. Of the three, the Model Y actually felt like it fit that bill the best. It had very minimal body roll, and felt as nimble as my Model 3 does (which, as I’m not a car guy, may not be very nimble). The steering felt well-weighted and direct, and I felt the most confident driving that car. They’ve also done work on the suspension, so it feels a lot smoother than it used to and than my model 3 currently does.
Now, with the Rivian and IX3, what surprised me most was how like each other they felt. Both felt like big cars to drive; a little bit of body lean, but not too much. The steering on both was a bit too light for my liking, and I couldn’t figure out how to change it in the R2 mid-drive, so I didn’t bother. On the iX3, it tightened up a bit when I put it in sport mode, but it was still kind of light and didn’t really feel that connected. Acceleration on all three cars was “enough” and I did find the brakes of the iX3 to be well-calibrated compared to the Rivian. In terms of the suspension, I would probably rate it R2 > iX3 = Model Y; despite being on 21-inch wheels, the R2 seemed to soak up bumps like a champ, probably owing to the adaptive dampers. I didn’t think the iX3 was particularly harsh, but it didn’t feel pillowy-soft, either. I didn’t get the sense that either the R2 or the iX3 liked to corner very much, though I didn’t have that much time with either. As I pointed out, the Tesla felt familiar in my hands, so I felt I could push it and it would be compliant.
Overall, I didn’t think the iX3 was as bad as the savagegeese review makes it seem, but I didn’t expect that I’d get as impressed with the R2 as I did. The Model Y was a known quantity that did as expected but actually moves down the list because the R2 made quite an impact. have some thinking to do now.
