Yahoo Autos 2024 BMW i5 eDrive40 Tested: A Great 5-Series and a Great EV
Not everyone welcomes change with open arms. When your author's mother changed his lampshades in elementary school, he cried for longer than he's comfortable admitting. Sometimes, you need to ease a person into something new by keeping it as recognizable as possible. Whereas chief rival Mercedes-Benz leapt off the tallest diving board with its funny-faced and oddly proportioned lineup of EQ electric cars, BMW chose to root its major EVs in familiarity by having one platform do double-duty underpinning both electric and internal-combustion models. The i5 is the latest Bimmer to fall under this plan, and the results have wowed just about everyone on our staff.
We've already given the high-horsepower, all-wheel-drive i5 M60 a thorough shakedown, so it's time to shift our attention to the less expensive base model. The 2024 i5 eDrive40 relies on a single motor propelling the rear wheels and producing 335 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, though the twist can rise to 317 pound-feet for brief spurts when you pull the Sport Boost paddle or engage launch control. If four driven wheels are an absolute must but the M60 is too much car for you, there's an AWD xDrive40 variant that's been added to the lineup for the 2025 model year.
Some trivial concerns about the lack of all-wheel drive when it comes to bad weather aside, it's not like this rear-driver leaves anyone wanting. With EV-specific Continental EcoContact 6Q summer tires underfoot, our 4880-pound test car got to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds. Looking at its closest competitor, the Mercedes EQE350, the all-wheel-drive, dual-motor Merc carries an extra 608 pounds, but its 60-mph sprint is still close at 5.2 seconds.
Sure, the eDrive40 is not as sprightly as the M60 and its 3.3-second sprint, but there's sufficient motivation for the usual passing maneuvers or back-road antics, especially when you consider this is the least expensive i5 on offer. Still, BMW's excellent chassis tuning and the available M Sport package's stiffer adaptive damping means every trip contains its own micro-hoot, whether or not you're trying to find the 0.87-g limit we registered on the skidpad. The biggest dynamic L comes by way of the steering, which we found to be purely artificial and disappointing, particularly from an automaker that has produced some cars with standout steering. Another fun fact: Despite disparities in weight, both i5 variants stopped from 70 mph in 158 feet.
Our eDrive40 test car also came equipped with 21-inch wheels (an $1800 premium), but we wouldn't recommend them if you're trying to maximize range. Additional unsprung weight and grippier tires tend to demolish range figures, as evidenced by the EPA's estimates. A base i5 eDrive40 with 19-inch wheels gets a 295-mile estimate, while the 21s drop that number to 270. Unfortunately, we didn't get a clean run in this i5 on our 75-mph highway loop, but we achieved 230 miles in the M60, which had the same size wheels and carried a 240-mile EPA estimate. We've found BMWs are generally very close to their government estimates in our highway testing, making their range estimates easier to achieve than the EV norm.
The cabin is about the same whether you choose gas or electric propulsion, but that doesn't mean we're completely in love with it. While the general layout should be familiar to modern BMW owners, some staffers felt things have been over-digitized a bit. Vent controls via touch sliders? Hard pass. At least BMW retains the physical dial on the center console, which is probably the easiest way to cycle through the infotainment's dense structure without driving completely off the road. But gripes about touch sliders and smudge-prone piano-black trim aside, there's ample space both front and rear, along with plenty of visibility for the driver, and everything feels as expensive as it should.
While the 2024 BMW 5-series starts at $58,895 for the gas-fed 530i, the i5 is a little dearer at $67,795. Our test car piled on the extras, including the $3000 M Sport package (M Sport suspension, M Sport exterior and interior trim, M steering wheel), the $2850 Premium package (heated steering wheel, LED lighting, head-up display), those $1800 21-inch wheels and tires, and $1350 for ventilated/heated front seats and heated rears. Throw in $650 for the Phytonic Blue Metallic paint job, $600 for the Sky Lounge panoramic glass roof, and $950 for a Bowers & Wilkins sound system upgrade, and the window sticker swelled to $78,995. That's still several thousand dollars away from the 2024 M60, which starts at $85,095.
The 2024 BMW i5 eDrive40 is one seriously compelling luxury EV. It's based on the 5-series we know and like, and despite being the entry-level variant, there's ample power underfoot, and the car delivers the kind of driving verve we'd expect from one carrying a "5" badge on the trunk.
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