My iX thinks it's a Jeep

Once again, the iX has surprised me with its versatility, and convinced me (as if I wasn't already) that BMW made the perfect vehicle in this gem. In the past I've written about its prowess as an ice racer, as a snow machine over unplowed highways, as a daily driver (of course), and even as a competent autocrosser. Last week I was surprised yet again.

I was in the Adirondacks of northern New York, and decided to explore a remote pond that I had seen on the map to see if it might be a decent fishing spot. This pond was a few miles up an old logging road, which soon dwindled into a Jeep trail. After a couple miles of first-gear crawling around big rocks, I came upon this old washed-out culvert that had been "repaired" by dumping a bunch of boulders over it:

The picture doesn't quite show it, but there's a steep drop on both sides of the crossing. It would have been easy going for the ATVs and 4WD trucks that usually frequent this trail, but I was a bit worried about the iX, and I got out for a closer inspection. After deciding it was worth a shot, I discovered that I needn't have worried. The car climbed over the rocks like a little wannabe Jeep. It was lacking a little in the ground clearance department, but the AWD made short work of picking over the boulders, and climbing up the slope. The return crossing was just as easy. The Internet is full of pictures of lowered E30s, but I think I'll be sticking with my stock towering ride height. (These are stock iX springs with Bilstein HD shocks.)

I actually used to own a 4WD pickup for just this sort of thing, but I sold it to buy the iX. The truck was admittedly better suited for old logging roads, but the iX is about 100 times more fun to drive everywhere else, so I think I the trade-off was well worth it.

Oh, and the pond was a beautiful, remote, and secluded gem that I will be revisiting sometime with a canoe and a fishing rod.

__________
Dave
'91 325iX

Quote
Dave_G
Once again, the iX has surprised me with its versatility, and convinced me (as if I wasn't already) that BMW made the perfect vehicle in this gem. In the past I've written about its prowess as an ice racer, as a snow machine over unplowed highways, as a daily driver (of course), and even as a competent autocrosser. Last week I was surprised yet again.

I was in the Adirondacks of northern New York, and decided to explore a remote pond that I had seen on the map to see if it might be a decent fishing spot. This pond was a few miles up an old logging road, which soon dwindled into a Jeep trail. After a couple miles of first-gear crawling around big rocks, I came upon this old washed-out culvert that had been "repaired" by dumping a bunch of boulders over it:

The picture doesn't quite show it, but there's a steep drop on both sides of the crossing. It would have been easy going for the ATVs and 4WD trucks that usually frequent this trail, but I was a bit worried about the iX, and I got out for a closer inspection. After deciding it was worth a shot, I discovered that I needn't have worried. The car climbed over the rocks like a little wannabe Jeep. It was lacking a little in the ground clearance department, but the AWD made short work of picking over the boulders, and climbing up the slope. The return crossing was just as easy. The Internet is full of pictures of lowered E30s, but I think I'll be sticking with my stock towering ride height. (These are stock iX springs with Bilstein HD shocks.)

I actually used to own a 4WD pickup for just this sort of thing, but I sold it to buy the iX. The truck was admittedly better suited for old logging roads, but the iX is about 100 times more fun to drive everywhere else, so I think I the trade-off was well worth it.

Oh, and the pond was a beautiful, remote, and secluded gem that I will be revisiting sometime with a canoe and a fishing rod.

This is the first post I've seen (in my 15 years or so on Bmw boards) that used the mighty IX in the terrain it can go in. If I had the stones to own one of these cars I'm sure it would have seen duty such as this adventure you just made.... Nice going Dave!



This is the best I can do with a 325is



Cheers, Rick

Dave, I can't believe you took an E30 up there!! :surprised:

Last year I was on a road trip in the area and my navigator suggested we follow a random line on the map to a summit where "there is sure to be a lookout". Then the road got rougher and narrower and we saw signs like "summer track only", "ATVs only past this point", but it was a rental car so we pressed on. So many times I was thinking it would end in an expensive crunching sound. We made it through and it was a great adventure but I'm sure we took at least 5 years off the life of that brand new Volvo V70 T5 convertible! Shhhhh...

Good onya for putting the iX through it's paces, glad to hear it did you proud!