Thanks BMW, now we have to hate steering wheels too...
Change is hard, especially when it's packaged in a new shape and can hurt your fingers.
It was fun reading all the glowing reviews of the new BMW iX3 everywhere. The car was generally received as being better than expected. Well, except for the design choices BMW made for the interior. The crooked screen barely passed the scrutiny of the reviewers, and the projection on the windscreen instead of the dials behind the steering wheel (Panoramic Vision as BMW calls this) took some getting used to, but were sometimes seen as an improvement. The wheel however...
When you look at the wheel of the iX3, it's nothing really weird. I can say, because I've examined the thing extensively, I've even touched it to see how it feels and how clicky the buttons are. I can proof it too! See those legs in the picture above? Those are mine.
My conclusion: it's a wheel, it feels good, it steers the car, what else do you need? But apparently I didn't get the memo we all of a sudden hate squircles (square circles) and we don't like it when we have gaps where our thumbs should be placed. I didn't know we could get our precious little meatsticks stuck in there and get a bit of a boo boo.
If you still don't know what I'm talking about, let me explain: BMW has taken the liberty of changing the design of the steering wheel a bit. Design boss Adrian van Hooydonk explained during the presentation of the iX3 that because the Panoramic Vision (the wide projection on the windscreen) displays everthing you need to see, there is no longer the need to look through the steering wheel to some dials. Not that you can do so anyway in the iX3, since those dials have been removed. That allowed the design of the wheel to be changed and be made more comfortable. That means the stalks connecting the wheel to the hub can and are now placed vertically, creating room for hands to be placed better on the wheel itself.
Makes sense, right? Not if you're a journalist trying to find something to hate next. Or, maybe, just maybe, the haters over at Edmunds really like to drive in the regular BMW-driver position. By that I mean: left hand at the top of the wheel, body leaning over to the right, while elbowing the right arm on the armrest in the middle. If you'd like to drive like that, you'll have to wiggle your fingers in between the spokes of the squircle to make that happen in the iX3.
Looking at it from another perspective, you could also argue the new BMW wheel promotes a safer driving position. Hands at 9 and 3, eyes on the road and enough space under the wheel for some longer legs (that might be a personal issue...). It fits in with the idea of the Panoramic Vision and the slanted screen, which might make it easier to reach with aforementioned meat sticks.
That said, I still hate the fact that they removed the iDrive clicky wheel on the center console. I found myself using that thing way more often while driving, than touching the damned screens.
Dammit, I'm hating change. I must be a bitter old car journalist. Don't mind me...
In other news
Did you know that a 1978 Subaru Bratt can do what a Yangwang U8? Both can float. The old pickup can do even more than the modern Chinese heavy weight: it can fly.
If there was one thing I looked forward to every year, it was Ken Block's Gymkhana's. I can't count how many times I've watched the Hoonicorn rip through LA. I figured the event died with the demise of Block himself. But I forgot about Travis Pastrana did some entries into the series too. Now that man is quitting his tenure with a bang in Australiä. The only man who is able to step up to the plate and continue Block's legendary series took his 'Brataroo' (1978 Subaru Brat) and did justice to what I think will be the last Gymkhana in the series. An end of an era and a great hommage to Mister Block.
Can you keep track of all the Chinese brands that are in or coming to Europe? I'm not doing it any more. Here are two new ones for you: Avatr and Nevo. Both part of the Changan mothership. Who? Which two brands? What are we talking about again? I don't care.
There is something else I noticed which might become a bit of a thing in the future regarding Chinese cars coming to Europe. Chinese car buyers really like premium sedans, so Chinese car makers are building them en masse. So much they are trying to sell them in the EU too. But the latest sales numbers suggest we (Europeans) don't want them. Sales of the type of car have declined by 19 percent over the last year in favor of crossovers and SUV's. Don't know if that's better or worse, I don't like either car shape. I'm firmly in camp shooting brake or station. I will however make an exception for the BMW 1M, which sits firmly at the top of my 'cars I'd like to own one day'-list.
