BMW i5 2024 Review

Intro, Price, Options and Verdict

Introduction

If there's a car that sums up what BMW is all about, it's the 5-series. It has always aimed to be the ultimate balance between highway mile muncher, driver's car, and luxury. It’s the quintessential “super saloon”, giving you the best of many worlds in one vehicle. At last, there's an electric version, called the i5, and there’s even a Touring version that adds massive luggage space to the i5’s embarrassment of capabilities. Can this new electric 5-series deliver the features BMW lovers have enjoyed for decades?

Price and Options

In eras gone by, the 5-series typically sported a six-cylinder or V8 engine, with the eight-pot turning it into the ultimate German muscle car. However, while there is no all-electric M5 yet, the i5 is decidedly potent whichever version you go for. The one we spent the most time with was the eDrive40, which is rear-wheel drive with 340hp and 400Nm of torque. However, there’s also the all-wheel-drive M60 with 601hp and 795Nm.

We’ve driven the latter in Touring version, too, which is frankly insane for an estate car and already feels like an Audi RS6 Avant competitor. Both UK cars use an 81.2kWh net capacity battery. There's also a dual motor xDrive40 in the USA, but we don't get that in the UK. An all-electric M5 version coming, too, apparently, with even more power than the M60. The recently launched hybrid M5 already has 717hp.

The eDriv40 comes in M Sport, M Sport Pro and Sport Edition models, whereas the M60 is a model on its own. The Sport Edition is a newer more cost-conscious part of the range, but it’s still well specified. There isn’t really a “poverty spec” version of the i5 at all. Either way, you get up to 13 paint options to choose from, costing from £900 to £3,300, up to 5 different alloy wheel designs from 19in to 21in costing up to £3,000, 8 upholstery materials (most free but the “BMW Individual” ones are £2,100), and 7 interior trims costing up to £400. All very German, with lots of decisions to make when specifying your i5, although the Sport Edition has fewer options.

There's even more to consider, because as usual for a BMW, you can add multiple feature packs, increasing the sticker price by £10,000 or even £20,000. These include the Comfort Pack for £1,700, the Technology Pack for £2,000 or the Plus version for £3,300, and the Comfort Plus Pack for £5,000. This is on top of an already high starting price. All electric cars are still at a premium. But it’s particularly true of BMWs, although UK buyers still seem happy to pay. In July, BMW sold more EVs than Tesla in Great Britain, although if you add all the Volkswagen Group brands together, they exceed both.

The Sport Edition starts at a few hundred below £67,695. The M Sport is just over £74,105, or three grand more for the Pro version, which was what we had for testing. The M60 comes in at a touch under £97,745. You can add a lot on top of this with the options list. Our review car had over £17,000 of extras bringing its total to a princely £94,375.

The most obvious alternative is a Mercedes EQE, which starts at a cheaper price. But despite having a similar range, it's a bit slower, less engaging to drive, and if you want the same performance, you'll need to spend more than you do with BMW. We also prefer the BMW’s interior, which is a shocking thing to say when Mercedes has traditionally been the interior king in the past. Overall, then, the BMW i5 stands up reasonably well against its peers, at least until more premium Chinese brands arrive.

Design, Comfort and Storage

Exterior Design

There are no iX-style futuristic looks with the i5, although it is quite angular. It has a typical side profile compared to recent 5-series models. It’s also a relief that BMW hasn’t gone to town with the grille, unlike the iX and i4. So the front of the car looks more classic BMW and not like an angry beaver.

Aside from the fact this grille is closed, the green numberplate, and few exterior flashes, there's not a lot tell you this car is electric. There’s just a blue ring around the BMW logo and the i5 badge. But there are hybrid versions of this 5-series still, which share the same platform.

So this car doesn’t shout about its electrification. Its EV drivetrain is more incidental to the external appearance. Overall, the i5 is a big car but has the muscularity you expect from a 5-series. It's aimed at taking autobahns and fast A roads by storm, with four adults inside, in supreme comfort.

Interior Comfort

The i5’s interior experience sits somewhere in between the more utilitarian i4 and the ultimate luxury of the i7, edging a bit more towards the latter. There are up to eight upholstery choices, including Merino leather. Our review car came with black Veganza leatherette, a synthetic material but a far cry from the artificial PVC coverings of yore. You can partner the upholstery with up to 7 trims. Our car had dark silver with carbon fibre.

The seats are very comfortable, and electrically adjusted. Both driver and passenger side at the front have two memory positions. Our review car had the £5,000 Comfort Plus Pack which means the front seats are ventilated as well as heated, and the rear seats are heated too. The steering wheel is heated as well.

The central console has what looks like two wireless car charging pads at the front, but only one of the positions actually offers charging. The other is unpowered. The usual array of BMW control buttons and knobs sit behind this, and then there’s a cubby underneath the central armrest. This includes a traditional 12V car power port but no USB. There’s a decently sized glovebox in the dashboard.

Because most BMW EVs used shared ICE platforms, the rear space usually isn't class leading. But the i5 is a long car, so there's still plenty of knee and head room so long as the person in front isn't too tall. Our review car had the panoramic glass roof, which is a £1,600 extra. It has a blind, but the glass can't open. It still gives a much greater sense of space in the back of the car.

The i5 unfortunately has a plug-in hybrid variant, so there's still a pointless transmission tube restricting the central rear seat's leg space. But at least there are vents for rear passengers and an LCD panel for controlling the four-zone air conditioning. USB C ports are available here too. If you don't have a middle passenger, you can pull the seat back forward to make an armrest with two cupholders.

There are USB C ports on the back of each front seat too, and a mysterious slot with a cover, presumably for holding a mount for a device such as a tablet. The two outer rear seats have ISOfix points and there’s a top tether behind each seat as well.

Storage and Load Carrying

The i5 is a saloon, not a hatchback disguised as a saloon like the i4, but the boot space is still spacious. The basic capacity is 490 litres, which will match a compact estate car or SUV with the rear seats up. That will be plenty for a couple of suitcases on a trip away.

But you can also drop the rear seats forward, with a 40/20/40 split. This means you can carry a long item (set of skis?) and still have two rear passengers. We’ve not been able to find a figure for the space with the rear seats forward, but apart from the narrow boot opening, it’s going to be plenty. You can also tow 750kg unbraked, or 1,500kg braked with the eDrive40 and 2,000kg with the M60. So that’s definitely caravan territory.

In-Car Entertainment and Controls

The steering wheel and stalk cluster are traditional, with cruise control buttons on the left plus menu and entertainment on the right. There are traditional stalks for windscreen wipers, lights and indicators. There’s an additional paddle on the left, a feature of most BMW BEVs, which enables Boost mode, giving a brief 10 seconds of full power for performing an overtake.

The screen behind the steering wheel looks like one ultra-wide LCD panel but is in fact two next to each other – a 12.3in display for the instrument cluster plus 14.9in for the infotainment. The instrument panel has lots of customisation options, including ADAS information, Augmented Reality which shows a view from the front camera, and maps. There's a high-quality head-up display as well. BMW was one of the first carmakers to offer a HUD, and the design is exceptional. It can even project arrows on the windscreen, so you know where to turn about town. This is part of the £2,000 Technology Pack option.

There’s a start stop button in the central console to get the system going. Then a jog control selects reverse, neutral, drive and B-mode with greater regeneration. There's a button for park and another for engaging auto hold. You also get media controls and a few additional menu buttons plus a dial for operating the infotainment screen, but you don't need to use these because this screen is touch sensitive.

There are some separate touch controls for media and key climate functions like window demisting. But the rest of air conditioning comes via the 14.9in infotainment screen. This is a responsive system with a competent connected satnav. There are lot of functions available as apps and it’s possible to download more. You can watch YouTube on the infotainment screen, which requires you to have logged into the BMW system. However, one of the flagship capabilities is Air Console gaming, which allows gaming on the infotainment screen. You use a QR code to connect your smartphone for use as a controller, and then two people can play against each other. Overall, this is not Tesla levels of infotainment, but the BMW OS 8.5 is pretty slick and functional.

Performance, Running Costs, Range, and Safety

Performance and Driving

BMWs are meant to be drivers’ cars, and the 5-series is the ultimate executive road version of this. The good news that even with the rear-wheel-drive version we mostly tested, there's a lot of fun to be had. We've also driven the M60 in both saloon and estate car formats and it's an absolute beast. It can hit 62mph in 3.8 seconds.

The eDrive40 we spent longer with takes a more pedestrian 6 seconds, but that will be plenty for a car intended for carrying adult passengers. Straight line speed is only part of the story, however, even in a German muscle car like the 5-series. Despite weighing 2.2 tons in eDrive40 form and 2.4 tons for the M60, the handling is tight and engaging. It's fantastic on fast A-roads and totally dominates motorways.

The size is a bit of an issue in urban environments, though. The i5 is over 5m long, so it sticks out at the end of typical car park spaces. It's not especially wide, but it still feels like a big hunk of metal in tight city streets. The i5 is more for long distance luxury than tootling around town. Having completed a few long-distance journeys in the i5, we can confirm that it is excellent for this task.

Range and Charging

While some of BMW's EV have an Achilles heel of battery size and range, the i5 isn’t one of them. The 81.2kWh battery delivers a healthy 357 WLTP miles of range in the eDrive40 car, although this drops to 315 miles with the M60.

On a couple of long journeys involving A-roads and motorways, we managed 2.9 miles per kWh, equating to about 235 miles of real-world range. That’s not massively efficient, but it’s going to be good for the lengthy journeys this car is meant for.

The solid range is matched by decent if not class-leading charging. There's 11kW AC capability, enabling replenishment from 0 to 100% in 8.5 hours, although this will be more like 12 hours on a regular 7kW wall box. DC charging maxes out at 205kW, allowing the car to go from 10 to 80% in about 30 minutes. That's ample for those long journeys, where this car is particularly at home.

Running Costs

The WLTP rating would equate to 4.4 miles per kWh for the eDrive40 and 3.9 miles per kWh for the M60. Our real-world results were two thirds of the eDrive40’s WLTP rating, which is about what we normally see with most BEVs. Not hugely efficient, but as expected for such a large and heavy car.

Although the BMW's basic warranty is only for 3 years, it's for unlimited miles. The battery only has a 100,000-mile guarantee but covers eight years – pretty typical. Insurance groups are 43 for the eDrive40, and 49 for the M60, so this won’t be a cheap to insure.

Safety

Standard safety tech includes front collision warning with brake intervention. This also incorporates pedestrian and cyclist detection. There is cruise control with a brake function, plus lane departure warning with lane return. Parking assistance includes sensors and a reversing camera as standard.

If you add the £3,300 Technology Plus Pack, you get Driving Assistant Professional, which includes lane change warning and rear cross traffic warning. This also adds Active Cruise Control with traffic stop and go. Considering the range capabilities of this car, the Active Cruise option is highly recommended. We found it very effective for motorway average speed zones and jams.

Key Specifications