Like many people with eyes, I am a BMW iX hater. It isn’t because I’m still holding a grudge over BMW’s decision to put Chris Bangle in charge of design, either. I am an evolved hater who thinks the design is incoherent and bland in a way you don’t get with the XM. Everything about the XM’s styling looks intentional. You might not like what they did, but you can’t deny they did something. The iX’s styling, however, doesn’t do anything. So it brings me absolutely no pleasure to report that the EV with the highest owner satisfaction score in the latest JD Power survey is none other than the BMW iX.
OK, it actually does bring me a little pleasure because I’m also evolved enough to still be able to find joy in how mad people get about stuff like this. Sure, it’s a JD Power survey, and those aren’t always the most reliable, but it’s still just a survey. It’ll be OK. We’re also talking about owner satisfaction here, which means styling isn’t the top concern. If they already paid money for it, clearly, they were fine with the design. Plus, in addition to BMW really upping its reliability in recent years, the also-electric BMW i4 has been almost universally praised. So can you really be surprised people who bought the iX end up really liking it?
Take that, haters
Speaking of the BMW i4, would you like to guess which EV had the second-highest owner satisfaction score, both in the luxury category, as well as overall? Yep, it was the i4. Its score of 783 was also much closer to the first-place iX’s 790 than it was to the third-place Rivian R1S and its score of 770. What can I say? BMW’s figured out how to build EVs that people really like. As far as mainstream EVs go, the also-controversially styled Hyundai Ioniq 6 took the top spot with a score of 751. It was followed by the Kia EV6 at 743, while the third-place Chevrolet Equinox EV came in with a 737.
Does that mean you should buy one of the EVs that made the list if there’s something you really don’t like about them? Honestly, probably not. If the car doesn’t offer what you’re looking for, that isn’t going to change just because the people who liked it enough to buy it continued to like it after driving it for a while. Then again, if we’re just talking about styling, the answer could be a maybe. A car’s looks tend to grow on you over time, and it’s entirely possible you’ll fall in love if you can at least tolerate the design. I’m not confident I could get there with the iX, but since I can’t afford one, that will have to remain a hypothetical until depreciation hits.Â
EV owner satisfaction details
If you haven’t heard of JD Power’s U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Ownership Survey, that’s probably because it was only introduced five years ago. And while the study does separate the results into luxury and mainstream EVs, owners are asked to judge their cars based on the same criteria regardless of which category they fall into. Those categories include:
- Accuracy of stated battery range
- Availability of public charging stations
- Battery range
- Cost of ownership
- Driving enjoyment
- Ease of charging at home
- Interior and exterior styling
- Safety and technology features
- Service experience
- Vehicle quality and reliability
For this year’s study, J.D. Power surveyed 6,164 EV and PHEV owners from August through December 2024 and focused specifically on 2024 and 2025 model-year vehicles. That means the 2026 model-year refresh that definitely helped the iX’s styling wasn’t included in the results. Who knows? Maybe next year, it’ll score even higher.
