{"id":1971201,"date":"2026-06-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1971201"},"modified":"2026-06-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:00:00","slug":"tesla-model-y-vs-bmw-ix3-from-lowestoft-to-lands-end-on-one-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1971201","title":{"rendered":"Tesla Model Y vs BMW iX3: from Lowestoft to Land\u2019s End… on one charge?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Mankind was built to exceed itself.<\/p>\n

Chuck Yeager smashed through the sound barrier in an experimental rocket plane. Neil Armstrong bounced on the Moon. That weird dude from France ate an entire aircraft, piece by piece.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And today, Ollie Kew and I are out to take our place in that pantheon of brave pioneers. Our death or glory mission? To make it from England\u2019s most easterly mainland point to its most westerly, on a single charge. Lowestoft Ness to Land\u2019s End, 425-odd miles, no top ups. Southern England is our sound barrier, the BMW iX3 and Tesla Model Y our experimental rocket planes.<\/p>\n

Photography: Jonny Fleetwood<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Under a bracingly bleak Suffolk dawn, our gleaming machines brimmed to the gunnels with electrons, we steel ourselves for adventure, point west and \u2013 \u201cWell obviously I\u2019m not going to make it”, Ollie pipes up over the radio. He\u2019s in the Tesla, and he may have a point. Our long range Model Y has a 75kWh battery (probably, Tesla won\u2019t actually reveal the exact numbers because Tesla) for an official 391 miles of range. The longest of long shots, then. Call it the yardstick, the benchmark for BMW to surpass.<\/p>\n

Because the iX3, in theory, might make it. Packing a 108kWh battery, it boasts an official 500 miles of range on the endearingly fictional WLTP cycle. If I drive like the accelerator\u2019s on actual fire, there\u2019s a strong chance it\u2019ll reach Land\u2019s End. But we\u2019re not going to drive like that. No hypermiling, no lorry drafting, just calm, sensible real world driving. Easy on the throttle, easy on the aircon. We\u2019re going to drive, in short, like my dad. Behind the wheel of the BMW, I\u2019m feeling far from confident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

As grey gives way to slightly less grey, we skim through East Anglian villages that sound like small time law firms (Beccles, Bungay and Botesdale: handling your family\u2019s conveyancing needs since 1922). I would love to regale you with tales of the exotic sights we see, the unusual characters we meet along the way, but I cannot. We drive steadily and relentlessly, stopping only to replenish photographer Fleetwood\u2019s snack pockets. While this fails to provide much material for the memoirs, it does at least give plenty of time to appreciate our cars\u2019 long distance comfort.<\/p>\n

The iX3\u2019s cabin is a lovely place to spend a long time. The seats are deeply comfortable, the ADAS stuff unintrusive and subtle, the screen setup far more logical and navigable than BMWs of old. OK, its steering wheel is an utter eyesore, and also very difficult to tell whether it\u2019s pointing the right way up or at 180\u00b0 of lock. OK, the awkward angles of that central screen will, I suspect, only look more awkward with age. But the pillar to pillar \u2018Panoramic Vision\u2019 display at the base of the windscreen works an absolute treat, and entirely negates the need for a head-up display. Our iX3 also has a head-up display. I cannot explain why.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As we hit the M25, I hop into the Tesla, and the morning loses a little of its colour. Try as I might, I can\u2019t get on board with the Model Y\u2019s cabin. Some might see elegant minimalism. I see a whole lot of nothing for this car\u2019s \u00a358k asking price. Tesla may claim its stick everything on the screen approach sits easy with the smartphone generation, but when you\u2019re figuring out how to\u00a0turn off, say, airplane mode on your smartphone, there\u2019s rarely the risk of rear ending a Morrisons truck at 70mph. Even the gear selector lives on the touchscreen. Just, no.<\/p>\n

The Model Y\u2019s lack of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay would be the real dealbreaker for me. Tesla says its proprietary software does the job fine. This is not true. As we pass Stonehenge \u2013 proudly confusing passersby since 3100BC! \u2013 the BMW\u2019s battery is down to 50 per cent, while the Tesla\u2019s is touching 40. Over 200 miles still to run. I subtly engineer a switch back\u00a0into the iX3.<\/p>\n

The BMW feels a weightier prospect than the Tesla. The following day, I take both cars for a range crushing blast along Cornwall\u2019s north coast road. The iX3 proves a more satisfying drive, with greater heft and linearity to its controls. BMW hasn\u2019t aimed for outright sportiness here \u2013 the next-gen M3, based on the same Neue Klasse architecture, will be along soon to cover that shift \u2013 but you can still tell the iX3 is the work of engineers with decades of experience setting up Ultimate Driving Machines.<\/p>\n

\u2018Heart of Joy\u2019 may sound like something bought from a Goop catalogue and subsequently extracted by several medical professionals, but turns out integrating all your dynamic tech into a single \u2018superbrain\u2019 delivers a driving experience unusually coherent by EV standards.<\/p>\n

But the Tesla, while far more synthetic to pilot quickly \u2013 the steering boasts all the enthusiastic feedback of a landlord asked to fix a faulty boiler \u2013 unquestionably feels lighter on the road, making fewer demands of its suspension. The Tesla officially stands around 300kg lighter than the BMW. It feels like more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Lack of mass will only get you so far. As we hit Devon, the Tesla\u2019s battery dips below 25 per cent, with the BMW\u2019s at a luxurious 40. So yes, turns out the car with less range struggles to go as far on a charge. Shocking scenes. But (at the risk of undermining this entire journey) how much does ultimate range really matter? Once you\u2019re past, say, a 300-mile buffer, arguably charge speed becomes more important, and both these cars can ingest electrons at an unseemly rate: the previous day, I saw the iX3 pull 280kW from a 300kW post.<\/p>\n

OK, it didn\u2019t sustain that rate for long, but 10 minutes to add enough juice to get from London to Liverpool will, I suspect, be sufficient for most. The Model Y can\u2019t quite hit the same peaks, but Tesla\u2019s supercharger network remains the benchmark for convenience.<\/p>\n

The Model Y taps out on the Cornwall-Devon border, with 82 miles to Land\u2019s End and six per cent battery remaining. We abandon Ollie to locate a charge point and curse the slow speed of coastal erosion \u2013 trim 20-odd miles off either end of England, maybe he could have made it \u2013 and push on west. Sorry, Ollie. It\u2019s not the end of the world.<\/p>\n

The iX3, though, soldiers on. Beyond Bodmin, beyond Truro, beyond Hayle, onto Britain\u2019s very toenail. Even with just a handful of miles to run and the iX3\u2019s range readout cheerily predicting we\u2019ve got it in the bag, I cannot unclench. Fast chargers in Cornwall\u2019s western extremity are… well, non-existent. Run out here, you\u2019re in for a wait of many hours and the high likelihood of being eaten by a cow.<\/p>\n

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\"BMW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Needn\u2019t have worried. The iX3 rolls into Land\u2019s End with a luxurious six per cent charge remaining. We\u2019ve made it: the full width of England on a single charge. The equivalent of over 200 laps of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit, with a similar amount of overtaking. It\u2019s a shellacking, a thrashing, a rout. England\u2019s extremities, you took one hell of a beating.<\/p>\n

Kew, rejoining us after a supercharger splash and dash, hands over the coveted Top Gear EV Range Champion trophy. The Model Y has been defeated. But then… has it? Yes, the Tesla managed 80-odd miles fewer than the iX3 on a charge, but on a 30 per cent smaller battery. The Model Y averaged 4.85 miles per kWh on our cross-England schlep, the iX3 4.18. So, for all BMW\u2019s claimed blank sheet efficiency gains with its Neue Klasse, the Model Y remains the more efficient electron sipper. Smaller tank, bigger mpg.<\/p>\n

In a rare moment of EV charge point convenience, there\u2019s a 50kW Osprey post in the Land\u2019s End car park. We plug in the iX3. It doesn\u2019t work, but takes \u00a3135 from my card for the privilege of revealing this. So here we are with EVs in 2026: when it comes to the cars, you have to search hard to find the inconvenience. When it comes to the infrastructure, you really don\u2019t. In Britain\u2019s less populated corners, public charging is still too sparse, too slow, too glitchy, and too expensive when it actually works.<\/p>\n

At least, as EVs become longer and longer range, we\u2019re becoming less dependent on our janky charging network to bail us out. Because if this test has proved anything (beyond \u2018bigger battery go more far\u2019) it\u2019s that range anxiety is close to becoming a niche concern. At least, that is, if you\u2019ve got the cash for a shiny new long range EV.<\/p>\n

Which of these shiny new long range EVs would I choose for my England-crossing needs? Hardly a contest. The BMW is only a mite more expensive than the Model Y, but just a nicer car all round. Rides better, comfier cabin, less baffling screenery, actual buttons for its wing mirrors. It feels, in terms of tech and sophistication, a generation beyond the Model Y.<\/p>\n

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\"BMW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Maybe Tesla has itself to blame here. Spend a decade showing the world what an EV should be, and eventually someone\u2019s going to spend 10 billion euros to knock you off your perch. From where I\u2019m standing, on the windswept edge of Britain next to a grubby EV that may not have enough charge to get back to civilisation, BMW\u2019s big investment has paid off. The iX3 is a bona fide range champ. We ran out of England before it ran out of charge.<\/p>\n

BMW iX3 xDrive M Sport<\/h3>\n

Price<\/strong>: \u00a360,250 (\u00a365,562.50 as tested)
Powertrain<\/strong>: Dual motor, 463bhp, 476lb ft
Transmission<\/strong>: 1spd auto, AWD
Battery\/range<\/strong>: 108.9kWh \/ 497 miles
Performance<\/strong>: 0\u201362mph in 4.9 seconds, 130mph
Weight<\/strong>: 2,360kg<\/p>\n

Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD\u00a0<\/h3>\n

Price<\/strong>: \u00a351,990 (\u00a357,990 as tested)
Powertrain<\/strong>: Dual motor, 400bhp (est), 390lb ft (est)
Transmission<\/strong>: 1spd auto, AWD
Battery\/range<\/strong>: 75kWh (est) \/ 391 miles
Performance<\/strong>: 0\u201362mph in 4.6 seconds, 125mph
Weight<\/strong>: 1,997kg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mankind was built to exceed itself. Chuck Yeager smashed through the sound barrier in an experimental rocket plane. Neil Armstrong bounced on the Moon. That weird dude from France ate an entire aircraft, piece by piece. And today, Ollie Kew and I are out to take our place in that pantheon of brave pioneers. Our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-1971201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1971201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1971201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1971201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1971201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}