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BMW remains a focused company. Before you roll your eyes, wait, let me clarify my train of thought. When the Bavarian carmaker decided to offer electric vehicles under its “i” division, there was more than a method to the madness. The genesis of this is the i3, which was launched in SA in 2015. Since then, there have been a litany of models following this trajectory, not the least of which are the i4 and i7, both models based on the 4 Series Gran Coupe and 7 Series, the caveat being that they are fully electric.
Now the i5 has joined the lineup and, yes, you guessed it, an electrified 5 Series. On test here is the flagship variant of the i5, the M60—you also get an eDrive40 derivative—and it has a lot of the fundamental executive sedan basis licked. Upper executive sedan proportions, check! Well-appointed cabin appointments, check! Practical cabin and boot space, check! And in the instance of the M60, searing performance, check! All these conspire to make a very competent saloon that should still appease fans of the 5 Series.
While the design is somewhat contentious when viewed in pictures, in the metal, it all comes together quite eloquently. That long, sloping bonnet, roomy passenger cell, and stubby boot lend the model that classic 3-box design we have come to appreciate in sedans. Granted that the sedan segment is on the decline in Mzansi, the premium marques remain more buoyant than those outside of this realm, so cars like the i5 need to be a cut above to make absolute sense.
So, let us deep-dive into the intricacies and leave the exterior aspects for you to pore over. The i5 is interesting to behold at worst, especially with the standard M Performance specification that sees 21-inch wheels at each corner, tailored side skirts, a rear diffuser, and a liberal sprinkling of M badges. Enter the executive lounge-like cabin, and it is here that the Bavarian marque has moved the goalposts compared to the outgoing fiver. Tactility has moved up more than a few rungs up the premium ladder, while the sense of occasion is now something you can easily level at the model’s descriptive lexicon.
Cabin appointments are top-drawer, top-tier levels of loftiness, and one cannot help but sense that the designers got the upper hand during the boardroom negotiations, and all the better for them for this. Everything you touch has a tactility befitting an executive saloon of this calibre and even beyond, such is the delta in quality compared to the outgoing model. This also spills over into the sumptuous seats, with heating and cooling functions all the while offering great scope for adjustment. The infotainment screen is the heartbeat of the interior’s functions and, as such, needs a fair bit of acquaintance to navigate the labyrinth of apps, which, thankfully, once licked, is intuitive enough.
Powering the i5 M60 is an 81.2kWh battery pack, enough to give you a 512km range on the WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure) cycle. Of course, this depends on various parameters, including driving style and ambient temperature. It powers an electric motor on each axle for a combined output of 442kW and 795Nm, enough to hurtle it from 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds to a top speed of 230km/h.
As you can see from the numbers, this top-dog i5 is seriously brisk and gets on swiftly with moving this hefty 2.3-tonne sedan. Four-wheel traction means immediate and surefooted purchase off the line and on varying surfaces. That inherent immediate acceleration of EVs is truly something to behold, especially in this performance-bent derivative. It feels like a proper kick-in-the-gut acceleration that will leave you stupefied.
It is devastatingly quick in a straight line, but what of corner-tugging duties? Well, let’s just say this is where EVs are still left wanting, thanks to the heft that lithium-ion batteries still command. Braking, in particular, is where one feels the penalties as the car overshot a braking point more than once as the brake pedal, once depressed, simply could not slow down the vehicle enough due to inertia. On the flip side of the coin, it remains a serene executive sedan that imparts a feeling of calmness that needs to be experienced to be appreciated.
That aside, the i5 proved an easy car to live with, and, during the test tenure, we used the public DC fast-charging network, which worked a boon thanks to the recent electricity load-shedding respite we have been experiencing. Charging the vehicle from almost empty takes just over 2 hours on a DC charger and will be around 8 hours on a home wall box at 11kW, essentially overnight.
As battery technology improves, reducing weight and charging duration, EVs are great when the infrastructure is in place and working optimally. The only thing left now is to make EVs more viable to purchase, and this remains squarely with the Department of Trade Industry to execute the next phase of the white paper agreement on EVs - instead of the current status quo where an Ad valorem 11% tax, essentially a luxury tax, is slapped over and above the 25% VAT already imposed on imported cars into Mzansi.
The BMW i5 M60 is a precursor to what a full-fat EV M5 could do, should the Bavarian marque move that way. At R2,190,000, the i5 M60 commands a hefty price, but it offers handsomely for that princely sum in both the luxury and performance quotas.
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