► Does the i5 overcomplicate things?
► 340bhp in total
► Read month 2
There’s much to enjoy about i5 ownership. It’s utterly intuitive to drive, with superb refinement. The ride quality is impressively relaxed and smooth, with only the worst ruts and ridges disturbing the calm of the cabin. The steering and pedals are perfectly calibrated, the seats delightfully soothing.
Whether it’s nosing around town at 20mph or digging deep into its motorway capabilities, you feel protected from the world outside.
The cycle-swallowing loadbay makes me wonder why we flocked toward SUVs when estates offer greater versatility and tend to be more engaging to drive. Then there’s the performance. Quick off the mark, married to slingshot in-gear go. And an electro-mechanical brake set-up as adept at low- speed parking manoeuvres as it is at repeatedly hauling down two-and-a-bit tonnes of fast-moving metal.
If you’re thinking there’s a massive ‘but’ coming up, you’d be right. Because all this – performance, versatility, comfort – should be an absolute given on a £95,000 premium estate. The ‘but’ is because I can’t shake the feeling that there’s too much unnecessarily complex technology and compromised design that’s deployed to camouflage some unexceptional qualities.
Let’s take the range. BMW quotes a 301-mile range. No matter how timidly I drive it, I’ve never achieved more than 220 miles on a full charge. That’s an 80-mile disconnect between reality and laboratory.
For such a long and wide car with a sprawling 2995mm wheelbase, onboard accommodation is good when it should be palatial. It’s bigger than the model it replaces but with the same cargo capacity.
Plenty of the technology is borderline phenomenal, like the outstanding headlamps, the Bowers & Wilkins audio system, the seamless CarPlay hook-up (sounds simple, but not many get it right every time) and the four-zone climate control. But this is countered by technology that I instantly hate, like the enormous touchscreen shotgunned with tiny ‘app’ icons that are impossible to hit cleanly on the go.
Much of this criticism can be levelled at many EVs – too heavy, too reliant on screens, too optimistic about range, and too focused on showroom flash rather than meaningful technology. But shouldn’t a very expensive BMW be two steps ahead of all this?
Logbook (BMW i5 Touring): month 3
Price: £78,450 (£94,995 as tested)
Performance: 81.2kWh battery, e-motor, 340bhp, 6.1sec 0-62mph, 120mph top speed
Efficiency: 3.7 miles per kWh (official), 2.9 miles per kWh (tested)
Range: 301 miles (official), 215 miles (tested)
Energy cost: 2.8p per mile
Miles this month: 992
Total miles: 2484