BMWi i5 eDrive40 Touring review: Premium station wagon as a wolf in sheep's clothing
A TEST REPORT from David Wurm 
on November 04, 2024, 8:00 | Write a comment
With the BMWi i5 eDrive40 Touring, the Bavarian car manufacturer is launching an electric station wagon in the premium segment. On paper, as well as visually, it promises a lot: wicked, sporty design with gentle electric power. We have found out how it performs review from TechnikNews found out.
And finally ... BMW promises a lot and still surprises. With sophisticated software, reasonable fuel consumption, an impressive app, above-average charging capacity, impressive performance and an attractive design, the 5 Series leaves nothing to be desired. Our test vehicle was also equipped with the M Sport package, which gives it an even sportier look and is eye-catching. So eye-catching that the BMWi i5 eDrive40 Touring was photographed by enthusiastic fans or inspected in parking lots.
There are deductions for the somewhat spongy handling when accelerating in sport mode, the missing frunk and the one-pedal drive, which is not entirely intuitive - especially for electric car experts. The steering assistant also tends to sometimes swing a little in the lane, which shouldn't happen. Apart from that, the station wagon lives up to its price and shows that electric mobility does not have to mean having to forego premium quality. Our test vehicle for Austria starts at 71.952,00 euros (including 20% VAT; 0% NoVA). With the additional equipment, we then approach the 100.000 euro mark. The station wagon is therefore only affordable for very few, even if it could be the perfect electric car for many.
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Design: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Pictures say more than a thousand words - this also applies to the BMW 5 Series. Whether you're looking for a casual, all-electric cruise or a sporty drive, this vehicle appeals to those who value both style and power - a true wolf in sheep's clothing.
Picture: TechnikNews
“Sheer driving pleasure”, as printed on the license plate holder, is an understatement. The BMWi i5 eDrive40 Touring delivers 340 hp (400 Nm of torque) to the rear wheels, which allow the rear to partially go through the air when accelerating in sport mode. An all-wheel drive would also have done the station wagon good in view of this electric power. If you need an extra kick, you can also pull the boost mode, installed as a “shift paddle” lever, and get the maximum torque and power for 10 seconds. If you want to test the whole thing on the German Autobahn: it stops at exactly 193 km/h. Apropos Acceleration: the 6,1 ton 2,2 Series accelerates from 5 to 0 km/h in 100 seconds.
Picture: TechnikNews
Picture: TechnikNews
The interior is also well thought out and is no different to the other drive variants (hybrid or combustion engine). The operating concept with the large rotary wheel in a glass/diamond look makes perfect sense for menus and allows for a pleasant selection. I was not convinced by the buttons on the steering wheel, whose pressure points do not feel quite as high quality - that could be better.
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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The center console could be a bit tidier, but tastes differ here. In addition to the entertainment modes, the driving modes and volume can also be quickly adjusted there. We also particularly liked the hidden air vents, which can be adjusted using touch controls next to MAX and REAR. Below there are small controls with arrows that allow you to change the position of the air flow. There is also a smartphone holder that is equipped with wireless charging. However, none of the smartphones we tested could charge it in a reasonable amount of time - unfortunately, it cannot be used properly like this.
Picture: TechnikNews
The milky light strips provide a pleasant ambient lighting, especially at night. They convey a pleasant, subtle and indirect "living room atmosphere". Of course: brightness, colors and luminosity can be individually adjusted or automatically adopted depending on the driving mode.
Picture: TechnikNews
Also hats off to BMW for the following lighting details: when approaching the vehicle, the stripes light up from the edge and fade out as you move away. The typical "BMW kidney" is also illuminated, and with the M Sport package, the M stripes are animated on the floor next to the doors. proWhen the vehicle is started, the headlights put on a small light show and when the automatic matrix LED high beam is activated, the lights open like a “curtain”.
Consumption & charging: economical and fast
Such a sporty car does not necessarily have to mean high consumption. TechnikNews In a test of almost 1.500 kilometers under Austrian conditions (road mix of highway, country road, town; 130 km/h, 100 km/h or 50 km/h), the station wagon consumes between 18 - 21 kWh/100 km. When cruising at 130 km/h on the highway, with little wind, 18 degrees outside temperature and rare acceleration and braking maneuvers, the best times were briefly around 17 kWh/100 km.
A look at the manufacturer's information (consumption, combined WLTP in kWh/100 km: 16,5-19,2; range, WLTP in km: 483-560) shows that at least the consumption values are absolutely accurate in practice. The maximum range (according to WLTP) is difficult to achieve, but our test shows that around 420 to 450 kilometers were easily achievable in autumn conditions.
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The whole thing is not really a problem, as the BMWi i5 eDrive40 Touring also delivers top performance in terms of charging performance. From 0 to around 30 percent, it maintains the charging power with a preconditioned battery (more on that later) at a peak value of 200-210 kW (DC charging). With AC, 11 or 22 kW (depending on equipment) are possible. With a battery capacity of 81,2 kWh, this results in an outstandingly fast charging time of 10 to 80 percent in just under 30 - 35 minutes - compared to the competition.
Infotainment & Software: Convincingly good
The software on the large curved screen is convincing in most cases. Some menus don't seem to be up to date or are overloaded - for example the app overview, in which all apps are summarized in one overview. This makes it too complicated to use. Apart from that, the operation is smooth, there are no crashes and everything works seamlessly. Starting with the navigation, including charging planning, a video app with Joyn or ZDF media library, to CarPlay and Android Auto.
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Furthermore, the sound system from harman/kardon is fun and offers decent sound, deep bass, balanced mids and highs. Of course, the bass can be adjusted a little in the equalizer settings if it is missing for the feeling.
What is more essential for an electric vehicle than charging planning? There are simply not as many charging stations as there are fuel pumps and most of them are not prominently found at all traffic points. For this reason, the navigation system has to take over this planning, which the 5 Series masters almost brilliantly.
However, it does raise questions as to why the satnav suggests charging stations that are located on company premises with closed barriers or driving bans. How is it supposed to know that, some people might ask. Well, just before reaching the destination, it suddenly knows: "Please turn left at the traffic lights, then immediately right - Attention, access restricted". That shouldn't be the case and must be clear before setting off. It is also strange that in many cases the satnav automatically selects the charging points when guiding the route, in other cases it doesn't, and during the journey it asks the driver to search for a charging point themselves in a long list. In my opinion, an optimized, automatic selection should always be possible.
Despite all the criticism, the navigation system works perfectly most of the time and offers other useful functions. In the special "AR view" it even shows arrows together with a live camera image to visually indicate the intersection or direction of travel. The automatic preconditioning of the battery after entering a destination also works as it should. This means that the vehicle is always charged at the optimal temperature at the charging point.
Destinations can also be shared directly from other apps (such as Google Maps) into the BMW app and sent to the car, or the route can be put together on the smartphone. The app also uses the car's current charging capacity to automatically plan appropriate charging stops. Very few people know about this function, but this is exactly how software should work together.
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My BMW App: The icing on the cake
While we're on the subject of app functions, let's move on to the next point: app. The most useful function is - as mentioned above - the synchronization with the navigation system in the car, which works really well. For longer routes, these can be put together on the smartphone, including intermediate destinations and charging points, and then sent to the car. World class. In addition, the app offers the usual options of remotely flashing the lights, honking the horn, preconditioning the air conditioning and unlocking or locking the vehicle. You can also remotely park the car or use the vehicle as a key (unfortunately we couldn't test either of these as we were not the main owner of our press vehicle), taking a photo of the interior or preconditioning the battery.
The app can do a lot more, such as displaying past charging processes (including costs, charging curve and charging statistics) or past trips (consumption, duration, distance and departure or destination). A kind of digital logbook, which must be explicitly activated beforehand. Otherwise this data is not saved. During a charging process, the remaining charging time and current capacity are also displayed - it's a shame that the current charging speed is not transmitted.
In some cases, the data was not synchronized correctly or the app had to be closed completely so that the latest data from the vehicle could be retrieved again. This is a minor error that BMW will surely be able to resolve quickly. In my opinion, however, it is basically a perfect app that the competition can learn a lot from. The average app rating in the App Store and Play Store of 4,7/5 stars speaks for itself.
Driving assistance
Of course, the BMWi i5 eDrive40 Touring also has a range of driver assistance systems on board. These include the usual, well-known safety systems, but there are also a few other things worth mentioning:
- steering assistant: This steers the vehicle completely on its own and keeps it in its lane. However, the driver remains primarily responsible - this is not completely autonomous driving. Unfortunately, there is a slight oscillation in some situations, but otherwise it drives very well. In other countries, this works on the motorway and in similar road conditions even without touching the steering wheel.
- sign recognition: The recognized road signs are transferred and shown directly in the cockpit display for the driver. However, this does not always seem to be camera-supported sign recognition. For example, in one area of town, the speed limit of 50 km/h was always displayed and adopted too late - a few years ago, the town sign was moved a few meters forward and may not have been shown correctly in the navigation data. The adoption of priority and stop signs is also very positive, or at least the idea of it. If you "drive over" these, you get an acoustic warning. So far, so good. But since the stop sign in Austria is always a little before the stop line, you get a warning every time, even though you haven't driven over it - that's not quite ideal.
- Cruise control: The cruise control worksprochen well, even brakes automatically on bends. How strong can even be configured in the settings. In addition, depending on the setting, the speeds of the signs can be adopted automatically and the brakes can be applied in anticipation. An offset of up to 12 km/h can also be specified in the settings, which the cruise control should add to the detected traffic sign. An offset in percent would also have been a good option.
- Traffic light detection: A great feature, with some room for improvement. As with the other assistance systems, it is worth highlighting that this setting can also be configured completely individually - thank you BMW for the individual customization option. When configured, not only is the traffic light visually displayed on the cockpit, but braking is also carried out automatically in cruise control mode. If a red light is detected and braking is planned, this is indicated with "OK". However, a tap on the accelerator pedal immediately overrides this setting. Caution is advised with larger traffic light systems where there are several traffic lights next to each other - here the wrong traffic light is often interpreted (for example, the traffic light in the left lane is red; in the right lane, green) and the brakes are suddenly applied. It is precisely for such cases that you can configure whether red lights should be braked automatically or only braked after manual confirmation.
- Emergency lane assistant: Anyone with steering assistance and cruise control will know it: when a traffic jam forms, an emergency lane must be formed and the driver must steer in the correct direction. Without emergency lane assistance, the cruise control with steering assistance always steers back into the lane. This does not happen here; the BMWi i5 eDrive40 Touring automatically detects a traffic jam, even steers itself into the correct lane and stays there. Well done.
- 360-degree camera: There's not much to say here - it works perfectly. The image quality is impressive, and the arrangement with the two parallel views is also optimal.
Picture: TechnikNews
Additional
To conclude this review, let's take a look at the little things that are also worth mentioning for fans of the BMWi i5 eDrive40 Touring:
- Frunk: Unfortunately, the BMWi i5 eDrive40 Touring does not have the option to store things under the hood. A look under the hood shows that there would definitely have been space for this, but it is covered and cannot be used. What a pity.
- Trunk: The space available is really good at 570 liters, which is perfect for going on vacation as a family. The seats can of course be folded down, which then allows up to 1.700 liters of storage space. In addition, the trunk can be opened hands-free by holding a leg underneath.
- doors: I like the arrangement of the handles, which don't have to be annoyingly extended, but are always "ready to hand" but still fit nicely into the design. Only the door closing point is a bit odd, the doors could close "more firmly".
- AirConsole Games: With the help of the AirConsole, games can be played while standing still. Perfect for a charging break, which shouldn't take long anyway. Since the smartphones serve as controllers via the Internet, some latency is to be expected. My colleague David has in one article again in more detail for youprobeers.
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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- Picture: TechnikNews
