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Neue Klasse IX3 from BMW is making its debut later this year, bringing new technologies and a new design language that will shed light on the appearance of each BMW for the next decade. The IX3 will also offer a radically new inner treatment for the brand, the one we have seen from the overviews through the objective of recent concept cars.
But will it be the best interior that BMW has ever done? From a technological point of view, there is no doubt that this will be the case. But what about his call to the eye, his conviviality? And if the NK cabin is not the best interior that BMW has produced, then what is it?
Related: BMW’s panoramic IDRIVE provides a pillar pillar display to future models, eliminates the button
BMW has been making cars since the 1920s, but the brand we have known up to date really dates from the 1960s and the launch of the original sedans of Neue Klasse, this is where we are going to start our history.
1960: Throw the Foundation
The first sedans had instruments in a dashboard which extended on the car, but at the end of the decade, they had adopted something closer to the configuration of the 2000c coupe. Compared to the coupe, however, the 1800 and 2000 sedans obtained a slightly smaller instrument clove and a lower dashboard on the passenger side. Even six decades later, he seems strangely familiar, don’t you think?
1970: The driver occupies the front of the stage
The BMW Neue Klasse Machines, including the 2000 and 2002, helped him cut a reputation as a driver’s car manufacturer, and as the 1970s progressed, the brand’s interiors began to reflect that the driver was the most important person. Compare these images to the E12 5 series introduced in 1972 (upper image) and the E21 3 series which landed three years later. The five console is square on the dashboard and as accessible to anyone who rolls a hunting rifle as for the driver, but the upper console of the three is strongly tilted towards the driver, almost closing the passenger.
1980: refinement and familiarity
The theme of the angular console continued in the 1980s and 1990s when BMW produced some of its most popular interiors. The dashboards in the series E30 3 (above) E34, 5-series and E-32 7-series always seem surprisingly modern, their subtle rolled edges making the atmosphere less industrial than on the old models E21 and E28 of the series 3 and 5.
1990: Peak Analog BMW?
BMW tried something a little different with the E36 3 series (high -level photo), but most fans agree that its successor E46 (average image), which returned to a more familiar territory in the late 1990s using the learned lessons in the E39 5 series, was superior. Some even believe that the configuration of Dash E46 is the best that the German brand has ever made, and a last big design before the screens and Idrive change everything.
The late 1990s also gave us one of BMW’s most distinctive interiors in the Z8. Like external design, the cabin look was inspired by sports cars from the 1950s, and in particular the own BMW fed by V8 507. Well, this is theory. The clocks of the 507 were actually in front of the driver, and the wheel looks more like a triumph or a Austin Healey, but who cares when the result is this pleasure?
2000: Enter the Idrive era
From the 1950s to the 2050s, or at least that’s what it looked like when BMW revealed the E65 7 2002 series and its Idrive controller. And boy, was the future complicated to operate. This early Idrive system and the rotating wheels combo was a confusing mess compared to the polished and simplified rotary wheel configuration, it has become in a few years and that BMW is busy eliminating today.
The interiors of that time often seemed a little austere and simply ugly on cheaper 5-series models with the small screen and a huge hood. And the new Gearshifter electronic joystick which arrived with the E70 X5 2007 and was quickly deployed on other models was considered a rear stage by some. Well, me, certainly. But the dials were always beautifully clear and the dials of the rotary climate were much more user -friendly than the pimples on the screen today. The 2000s also presented technology to us as a head -up display. We will see more later.
2010: screens take over
In the mid -2010s, infoding screens had come out of the console and were now mounted on the dashboard on most models. There was even something vaguely retro in the arrangement of the F30 3 series, the console being again tilted towards the driver. The touch screen technician finally arrived at the end of the decade (and turned out to be more useful than gesture control in twirling), but BMW has decided not to chop the Idrive rotary controller … for now. The controller even had a touchpad on certain models for the recognition of handwriting, although he is not very good for left -handed drivers in a left -hand driving car and vice versa.
Related: physical controls are back because drivers are tired of endless touch screen menus
The dashboard forms were mostly very conservative at that time, although this made intimate and intuitive controls at least. But BMW dropped his hair with the Hybrid I8 sports car (top photo) and even more with the i3, including the landscaping, the group of self -supporting digital instruments and the use of recycled materials mean that it always seems modern more than a decade of launch.
2020: the digital revolution
The traditional BMW models have never inherited the interior design of the i3, but they obtained a radical overhaul from 2021 when IDRIVE 8.0 appeared on the new IX electric. Inside the SUV, the drivers encountered a huge curved display that merged the gauge pack and the central touch screen under a single glass shutter, and the console housed a crystal idrive wheel.
Large screen technology was gradually adopted by more models, either during facelifts or replacements, and when the new G70 7 series obtained it for 2023, BMW assured that rear passengers did not miss digital pleasure. The two rear armrests on the current seven have iPhone -shaped touch screen panels and a huge 31 -inch 8K monitor hanging on the roof is available as an option.
2026 and beyond: a new klass screen like no other
This is where we are now, but we already know where we are going, and it’s wild. The launch of the Klass IX3 in 2026 this fall will launch something called Panoramic Idrive, which BMW previewed at CES in Las Vegas in January. Do not bother looking for a group of traditional instruments because there is none.
Instead, you get a solid head-up display panel that goes through the basis of the windshield that shows speed and beach, plus a ton of other information that can be personalized or silent. This is associated with a more familiar tablet touch screen perched on the dashboard, but no IDRIVE controller this time. BMW has called time on the steering wheel, saying that the data show that most people prefer to touch these days.
We do not have the space here to cover all the BMW models made since 1962, but there is enough flavor here to make you think about your favorite time or model with regard to interior design.
Sistrabit, whose Reddit Post inspired this story, says that his Gran Turismo of the F07 5 series represents the peak of BMW interior design, although we think it is a section. We are always an aspirant for the interior of the E46 M3 (below), but let a comment and let us know your favorite and if you think that Panoramic Idrive is a step in the right direction.
All images: BMW
