BMW i5 (2023 - ) Electric review

Even in an age of spiralling new car prices the £115,000 bottom line for our i5 M60 xDrive test car made us double-take, the options pushing it from a starting price just under six figures and into something closer to 7 Series territory. Numbers like that put the i5 up against some very serious rivals, like the Audi e-tron GT and Porsche Taycan, or spicier versions of the Mercedes EQE. Read on for more detail of why but it feels like the i5 lives up to that burly price, while the single-motor version comes in at a slightly more reasonable figure. Beyond that the electrified 5 Series will pay company drivers back with huge Benefit In Kind savings, and we’d expect most people running a car like this to have the luxury of off-street parking to install a home charger and benefit from cheap off-peak electricity rates for the bulk of their ‘fuel’ costs.

As ever, premium brands like BMW often struggle on reliability surveys due to the complexity of their products and costs of repair when things do go wrong. At the time of writing the 5 Series and this i5 electric derivative are fresh to the market as well, so we’ll have to wait and see how they fare for reliability.

The zero-tolerance bonging if you dare go even 1mph over the posted limit is something BMW, like other manufacturers, is now legislatively obliged to include. So, annoying as it is, we can’t deduct a mark for that, and you can at least turn it off. Though, like the lane keeping, it comes back every time you restart. The sheer width of the i5 means the latter is also quite intrusive on even relatively big roads. We should be more grateful, really, because BMW has gone big on the tech to keep you on the straight and narrow and all of it, even the slightly creepy semi-automated lane changes initiated by clicking the indicator and looking in the mirror, works with a level of slick accomplishment.

The classic, low-slung saloon format may have traditional appeal but the gaping hole in the bodywork if you lift the ‘bonnet’ reveals just how much wasted space it leaves. Surprising, then, BMW didn’t choose to repurpose this space as additional storage, though there is a big boot at the other end. And if accommodation for a fifth passenger is compromised by the lump in the middle of the rear bench there’s tons of space for four full-size people to travel in comfort, the 5 Series on which the i5 is based pretty much as big as a 7 Series from a generation ago. The blissful silence and effortless power of the electric propulsion works well in this luxurious environment, the lower seating position meaning less of the top-heavy rolling through the corners than in equivalent SUVs. If we’re being super fussy there was a little too much tyre roar on noisy British roads than we’d like, and BMW’s traditional sportiness means it’s not as wafty smooth as its Mercedes equivalents. But the (optional) Comfort Plus Pack on our test car meant the front seats were all power adjustable, heated, ventilated and generally cosseting, while a new non-animal based ‘Veganza’ upholstery makes a play for sustainable cred, even if the reality suggests these materials could actually be worse for the environment than using real leather.

Having realised most buyers chose the fancier grades anyway BMW has slimmed its trim options down to just M Sport and M Sport Pro, additional extras bundled into packages to simplify the buying process. Even the base model (all things relative) looks good, with a fully digital driving environment based around paired digital instruments and a massive central screen. BMW has been refining the operating system powering them to the point where it’s now as slick to use as it is good looking, with a combination of swipeable tiles for major functions and a phone-like ‘widgets’ page for more detailed settings. There aren’t many factory systems we’d prefer using over our phone apps but this is one of them. Impressively, if you still prefer CarPlay or Android Auto based navigation you’ll find it fully integrated into the instruments and driver information projected onto the windscreen. You can even pair your phone via a QR code to turn it into a games controller and play while the car charges, should you choose. Nice-to-haves like a Harman Kardon surround sound stereo (the easier to appreciate given the silence of the electric drive) and the ‘Interaction Bar’ of touch-sensitive dashboard are also included, though there are of course plenty of ways to make your i5 even more luxurious – and expensive – if you choose. Which you may want to indulge, given some of the standard trim feels a little cheap for a six-figure car.

Like the i4, the i5 is available with a single motor driving the rear wheels to mimic the feel of BMW’s traditional combustion-engined saloons or as an M60 xDrive version with two motors, all-wheel drive and a lot more power. Its 601 horsepower puts it right in the fight with cars like the Audi e-tron GT and Porsche Taycan, the i5 slotting between 4S and GTS versions of the latter. Like all electric BMWs there are lots of driving modes, each with their own ‘sound’ created by Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer. It’s an impressive feature we’ve enjoyed in other electric BMWs, and while it doesn’t try and simulate the sound of an internal combustion engine it conjures up much of the same excitement, the intensity of the sound effects changing depending on how hard you press the throttle. And when you come off it the i5 cleverly adjusts the force of the regenerative braking according to what it knows the road is doing from the nav, or from the various cameras and sensors around the car. So, if there’s a bend, junction or traffic ahead it will automatically ‘scavenge’ some charge before you need to use the brakes. It's all very impressive but there’s so much power you often find yourself going way faster than you thought, and on that basis we’d like to try the single motor model in the hope its performance is more relevant to everyday driving. It’s also got over 300 miles of official range according to BMW’s claims, which is a bit more than you get from the M60 xDrive.