BMW IX3 vs Geely Starray Em-I

What's the difference?

The BMW iX3 is a rarity in the market, a premium-feeling electric model that's not a whole lot dearer than petrol alternatives.

For those happy to trade some of the Tesla Model 3 and Kia EV6 GT's all-paw performance for a luxurious cabin, slick drive and badge cachet, the iX3 M Sport is a very attractive package. Until Audi's Q4 and Q6 e-tron arrive, the iX3 remains basically peerless in this part of the market.

No wonder, then, that BMW is Australia's third most popular electric car brand after Tesla and BYD. The vehicles capture everything the brand promises at a price that looks good on paper and better in the real world.

While it has a few quirks and flaws, there is a lot to like about the Starray. For starters, the value it offers at its price point is excellent and will really put pressure on its competition. The design may lack flair, but it does have a roomy cabin with a good multimedia system, so it’s family friendly and easy to live with.

Yes, it could do with some refinement of its on-road manners and driver assistance features, but for the value it offers and the frugal powertrain, it will no doubt find plenty of buyers who enjoy its substance and not just its memorable name.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals and accomodation provided.

Now that we've seen the new X3, the current model is already dated. Not that it was a cutting-edge design at launch but there is precious little offensive about this mid-size SUV.

Fussy wheel designs, strange closed in grilles and clashing blue accents aside the iX3 M Sport remains a plenty handsome option as you approach.

Inside the cabin's shapes feel positively conservative next to BMW's latest efforts like the X2 and 7 Series but, in a way, this is no bad thing.

It's also nice that you can tailor this car's appearance to your liking without spending extra, the combination here rocks a nice blue paint with tasteful brown upholstery for a classy look.

You can have Oyster white leather or simple black and the paint colour palette is refined without being restrictive.

Geely is very proud of the Starray, of course, and the company gave a very detailed presentation on the thought behind the design - involving aerodynamics, Chinese ceramics and a video that appeared to show a Geely spaceship releasing the Starray into a barren landscape.

But to be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t know how to describe it to you. The Starrary is a very generic looking car to my eyes, at least. Of course it’s subjective, and there is a clear visual connection between the Starray and the EX5, which is nice. But it just doesn’t have any real visual impact that makes it stand out.

It’s the automotive equivalent of a blank expression. Maybe it’s because the brand is so new, but if you removed the badges, there’s nothing about the Starray that screams ‘I’m a Geely’, and it could be a car from any number of brands.

By comparison, there is a distinctive visual style to Geely’s rivals, namely BYD, both externally and internally, to give it character. Obviously the same is very much true for bigger brands like Hyundai, Kia and even Toyota.

Perhaps with more time Geely will make more of a design impact on our market, but for now it’s hard to say it really has any standout design elements.

The BMW X3 was developed with family buyers in mind and that has paid dividends because it has an extremely practical cabin with lots of thoughtful storage.

Each of the four doors has a bottle holder and generously-sized pocked for extra storage. There are two cup-holders in the centre with a wireless charging pad, secure spot for the key fob and USB port in easy reach. You can slide a roller cover down to hide valuables.

Key driving controls are smartly grouped together around the iX3's unconventional gear selector. Here, you'll find the start/stop button along with hard switches for drive mode selection, stability control and exterior cameras.

Right next door is where the rotary 'iDrive' controller lives with yet more physical shortcut buttons. Including the extra option to easily interact with the multimedia system on the move is a refreshing delight that you don't see in so many touchscreen-heavy EVs. There's also a physical stack for HVAC and seat heating controls.

The 12.3-inch touchscreen is responsive and bright with BMW's slightly older system having a more conventional appearance than the latest software in the iX2. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are wireless and still work flawlessly.

If there are some negatives, they would be some build-quality niggles. On the whole the materials are high quality and the car is well screwed together but the indicator stalks feel decidedly flimsy compared to BMWs of old and I noticed a rattle from the parcel shelf on the road.

The eight-way power adjust seats with tilt and under-leg extension are classic BMW, being sporty enough to hold you in but with enough padding to stay comfy. Though we will knock this car down for lacking power lumbar adjust.

Those in the back will be plenty comfortable even if they're taller than 180cm with ample head, leg and toe-room. There doesn't appear to be a major compromise to the floor height despite BMW stacking 10 lithium-ion modules beneath.

Vision out is excellent with an expansive glasshouse and full-length sunroof.

Amenities include two USB-C charge points, a third climate zone, fold-out armrest with pop-up cup holders and generous storage in the doors.

Fitting child seats should be pretty simple with doors that open wide, two sets of ISOFIX ports (that you can't lose the covers of) and three prominent top tether anchors in the recline-adjustable backrest.

The boot is large with 510L of space at a minimum that expands to 1560L if you fold the 40/20/40 split backrest flat. There's a sense of solidity in that process, too, with sturdy levers and components.

So sturdy that the retractable luggage cover is quite difficult to remove, especially for shorter owners. Other niceties include a single shopping bag hook, LED lighting and 12-volt socket in the back.

No BMW X3 comes with a spare tyre so that should come as no surprise. The iX3 instead has a tyre repair kit. There is underfloor storage in the iX3, though, which is the perfect place to store both charging cables — Mode 2 and 3 — that are included.

The one area the designers do deserve a lot of credit for is the roomy cabin. Too often modern electric or hybrid SUVs compromise interior space in the name of aerodynamics, but the Starray has generous interior space.

The front seats are comfortable and roomy, but more impressive are the rear seats. They not only offer good kneeroom and head clearance, but the seats themselves are comfortable and supportive. 

As for cargo space, the boot has 428 litre of space, which is on par with BYD Sealion 6, but smaller than the 507 litres offered by the MG HS. Space can expand to 2065 litres with the second row dropped to load larger items.

Despite the modest boot capacity, the Starray doesn’t come with a full-size spare wheel, or even a spacesaver, and instead you have to make do with a tyre repair kit.

In terms of the multimedia system, there’s a huge 15.4-inch display that takes up a lot of space, and does look like someone just glued a big iPad to the dashboard. Then there’s the increasingly common 10.2-inch rectangular digital instrument display ahead of the steering wheel.

While this setup is highly functional, it does add to the generic design mentioned earlier. It also lacks any meaningful physical buttons, with the key audio and air-con functions all housed in the giant centre screen.

Standard on both Starray grades is Geely’s Connected Services, which includes a voice assistant, 4G connectivity, live traffic updates for the in-built sat-nav, over-the-air updates, as well as online streaming, remote vehicle functions and access to Geely’s own app store.

The over-the-air updates are important, because it will allow the company to change the car over time. For example, at launch it includes wireless Apple CarPlay, but Android Auto won’t be wireless until an over-the-air update early in 2026.

The Inspire features a premium sound system from Geely’s own Flyme brand, and it’s impressive. The 16-speaker, 1000W system is powerful and offers good clarity, so it’s worth the extra spend on the higher grade on its own.

As a mid-size SUV the Starray EM-i (which stands for E-Motive Intelligence) finds itself up against a wide variety of mid-size SUVs, including the popular Toyota RAV4, Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson hybrids, as well as the BYD Sealion 6, Chery Tiggo 7 and MG HS super hybrids.

To make sure the Starray stands out for more than just its name, Geely is hitting the market with a very sharp value proportion.

The Starray starts from just $37,490 (plus on-road costs), undercutting the BYD and MG, but not the Chery, which offers a drive-away price of $39,990. However, that’s for Geely's entry-level Complete variant, with the higher-grade Inspire starting at $39,990 plus on-road costs, to arguably make an even better value argument.

Standard equipment for the Complete includes 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and tail-lights, keyless entry and ignition, power adjustable front seats with heating and an infotainment system run through a 15.4-inch display.

While the Inspire adds 19-inch alloys, a panoramic sunroof, power tailgate, ambient interior lighting and a 16-speaker, 1000-watt premium sound system to really ram home Geely’s value push.

In this case there isn't much under the bonnet except for electric gubbins. The single electric motor – that uses no rare earth materials – resides at the back and generates 210kW/400Nm.

Those outputs are fairly close to a petrol X3 30i, though of course this model is rear-drive only.

Thanks to the rapid response of electric motors, the iX3 M Sport can sprint from 0-100km/h in 6.8 seconds (claimed).

BMW has chosen to give the iX3 a long-travel progressive throttle pedal that makes grunt easy to meter out. However, the regenerative braking could do with a little more refinement.

There are two settings, 'D' — just like letting off the throttle in a combustion car — and 'B' which is quite strong. The blending between regenerative and physical caliper-on-rotor braking is vague, though, which can make low-speed moves a bit jerky.

There is no mechanical difference between the Starray Complete and Inspire. Geely has developed a new naturally aspirated 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that pairs with an electric motor for a combined output of 193kW.

Power is sent to the front wheels only, with no all-wheel drive option. 

There are three driving modes - Pure, Hybrid and Power - with the former able to lock the car into EV-only driving, while the latter is able to combine the electric and petrol engine for maximum performance.

Even so, Geely’s 0-100km/h claim is only a modest 8.0 seconds and has a limited top speed of 170km/h, which is fine for Australian conditions.

The iX3 M Sport's WLTP rating is a respectable but not groundbreaking 461km on the combined cycle. The reality is a little bleaker, our test car displaying 316km on its digital instruments at 100 per cent charge.

Going against what you might expect for an electric car, the iX3 was not very efficient in town, we initially saw 24kWh/100km on the read-out which is quite high.

It is better suited to a longer, steady-state run. Our regular 200km country and suburban test loop dropped the consumption to 18kWh/100km for a real-world driving range of 411km.

When it's time to bring the charge levels back up the iX3 will take on AC electricity at 11kW, for flat to full in seven and a half hours.

Public fast-charging caps out at 150kW (DC) though averages to 104kW over a 10-80 per cent session. This should take 21 minutes, says BMW.

We only observed a maximum of 101kW on a DC charger though the pylon did not appear to be performing at full energy with other vehicles having similar issues.

The electric motor is powered by an 18.4kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery, which provides a claimed EV-only range of 83km, which is good for a PHEV but no longer class-leading, with some now pushing into triple digits.

Thanks to the hybrid assistance, fuel consumption is rated at just 2.4L/100km, on the combined cycle. It’s worth noting that both of those figures are to the WLTP test cycle, not the more generous Chinese testing protocol.

With a 51-litre fuel tank and the 83km EV mileage, Geely claims a total combined driving range of 943km. However, as always, we must point out that it is not really possible to achieve that 2.4L claim once the battery is depleted.

One handy feature of these plug-in hybrids with the bigger batteries is the vehicle-to-load or V2L functionality, which allows you to draw power from the battery to power small electrical devices, such as laptops or camping equipment.

Despite no saucy straight-six, V8 or twin-cam four-cylinder there is an inherent 'BMW-ness' in the iX3 M Sport. The way it steers, accelerates and rides all match the brand's DNA.

It is not a plush SUV, with some firmness to the suspension even in Comfort mode on the adaptive dampers — this may have something to do with BMW's 40PSI front and 45PSI rear tyre pressure recommendations — but without ever being crashy.

Build up a little more speed, beyond 60km/h for example, and the body settles nicely with a solid, assured stance.

There's no evidence of suspension noise and road noise is very well insulated as well, even without the up-spec M Sport Pro's acoustically insulated glass. 

The steering is light in Comfort mode which makes it ideal for urban driving. It also has three turns lock-to-lock which is a lot for a sporty-ish BMW, however that is largely down to the improved steering angle. Without an engine or AWD system, the iX3 has a great turning circle of just 12.1 metres.

Moving things up a notch into Sport adds extra weight to the steering which helps judge the grip on good roads, which is pretty decent from the 245/45R19 Yokohama Advan Sport V107 tyres.

When you approach the limit, the iX3 is very secure but significant mid-corner bumps can unsettle the car, bringing its 2180kg tare weight (a 325kg penalty over the xDrive20i) sharply into focus. Pull it back a touch, though, and the iX3 M Sport is plenty rewarding on a country road.

Mostly, the iX3 is a refreshingly natural electric car out on the road. You could put anyone in the driver's seat and they'd be smooth just like in a combustion car.

The good news is Geely gave the Starray a different ride and handling tune to what it offers in the Chinese market. The bad news is it’s the European tune.

Australian and European roads couldn’t be more different, with ours offering more potholes, bumps, dips, cracks and other imperfections that require more compliance than what’s needed for Europe’s typically smoother, less wrinkled roadways.

It means the Starray feels too firm for our back roads, but equally lacks body control at times too, so it’s not the most enjoyable SUV to drive on a winding country road. Around town the ride can get busy at times, but overall it feels better at lower speeds.

Just as importantly, the powertrain does a nice job in both conditions. It offers reasonable performance for this type of SUV, feeling slightly off the mark and effortlessly swapping between the electric motor and petrol engine.

We drove in EV mode initially and noticed the battery drained significantly in a short period, raising doubts about its ability to go 83km. However, as we switched to hybrid mode, we’ll have to reserve judgement and give Geely the benefit of the doubt when it comes to EV range.

Long story short, if Geely is serious about winning over Australian buyers, investing in local ride and handling tuning would help elevate the Starrary from just another imported SUV to something more memorable.

Geely has tried to tick all the important boxes on the safety front. In terms of passive protection the Starray has seven airbags, crucially including a centre airbag between the front occupants, which is considered necessary to achieve a five-star ANCAP score in an SUV this size.

The Starray EM-i does not currently have an ANCAP rating, however the EX5, with which it shares a platform, carries a maximum five-star rating.

As for the increasingly important active safety, there’s a comprehensive list, including autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, rear cross-traffic alert, lane keeping assist and a host of other systems reduced to a series of complicated acronyms.

However, like so many new models, while it ticks the boxes, the real-world application of these technologies is still a work-in-progress.

In particular the 'Intelligent Cruise Control' is poorly calibrated and brakes heavily for any sort of bend in the road, which is awkward and bordering on dangerous. On the freeway the Starray repeatedly slowed dramatically on gentle curves, at times wiping off more than 20km/h, leaving us feeling exposed to a potential collision from behind.

The driver attention system is another that needs more work. It’s bordering on hyperactive, sometimes activating when all you do is glance across to the central screen for a second or two. That’s not only irritating but leads you to turn off the system, thereby rendering it redundant.

In its defence, Geely is hardly alone in this department safety authorities - for now - continue to ignore real-world usage, but it’s still something the brand must address.

The iX3 M Sport is now covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty in Australia.

Servicing is due on a conditional basis with the multimedia system prompting the owner when to visit a dealer.

BMW offers serviced packages for electric vehicles that last six years/unlimited kilometres, with the iX3's pack costing a reasonable $2325 over that time.

As Geely and many other new brands are learning, it’s easy to launch a new model into Australia, but it’s a whole different story to deal with the aftersales care - servicing, warranty, etc.

“We want to ensure every day with Geely is a good day,” said Li Lei, CEO of Geely Australia.

To that end, Geely has partnered with some of Australia’s biggest dealer groups to quickly expand to 47 dealers in less than 12 months. At the same time it has built two Parts Distribution Centres in Australia and has 135 service venues, to ensure if anything does go wrong with an owner’s car it can be fixed and returned as soon as possible.

Geely is offering a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty for the Starray EM-i, along with an eight-year warranty of the battery pack. 

Servicing is annually or every 15,000km, whichever comes first, and with Geely’s Hybrid Assured Service Pricing you will pay $1932 over the first five years.

If you take up that offer and service with Geely, the company will also include seven years of roadside assistance too.