The BMW iX is an excellent EV but it’s also one of BMW’s best luxury cars, mostly for its fantastic interior. The cabin of the iX might be the best BMW’s ever made, with its unique design, gorgeous materials, and the sort of space only allowed by EVs. However, its cabin does have one flaw—its steering wheel. Thankfully, someone on Bimmerpost swapped theirs for one of BMW’s new sport steering wheels and posted a DIY on how to do it.
For the BMW iX, BMW decided to jump on the squircle steering wheel bandwagon, along with many Ferraris and the C8 Corvette. OK, so it’s more of a hexagonal wheel but you get the point. While I admittedly like the return of the two-spoke steering wheel, it should have been round. Steering wheels turn… so they shouldn’t have points. And the iX’s wheel just feels weird and unwieldy when you’re trying to drive it quickly. Which is why you might want to swap yours out.
A BMW iX owner felt the same way, especially after testing the new BMW X1 M Sport, which has a round sport steering wheel similar in design to the iX’s. It’s a similar M Sport wheel to the BMW i7’s and 7 Series’, just without the flat bottom. But it has the same airbag shape and upper two spoke design, with all of the same buttons and technology. So the iX owner realized that if they bought one of the round steering wheels, they could likely do a swap. And it worked.
It actually seemed like a surprisingly simple process, as the wiring was all pretty much the same. So the new round steering wheel not only fit perfectly but every function work still works—buttons, heating, and even the assisted driver aid’s hand sensing. It’s all perfectly functional.
The only real modification needed was aesthetic. The BMW iX’s steering wheel trim has a bronze effect, like the rest of the trim in the cabin. So the owner had to remove the silver trim on the new round steering wheel and paint it to match. However, they did a great job, as it looks stock, at least in the photos. Not only does it look stock, though, it looks fantastic, better even than the standard steering wheel despite not being made for the iX.
BMW’s new three-spoke sport steering wheel design is one of its best ever, with a skeletonized bottom spoke and hexagonal airbag inside of the round wheel. My only complaint is how thick it can be, as certain areas make you feel like you’re grabbing a python. However, it’s still better than trying to turn a hexagon and it looks significantly better, too. So if you have a BMW iX and you want to upgrade your steering wheel, check out this DIY.
[Source: Bimmerpost]
