Ok, my son surprised me for Father's day and made the 260 mile trip to our house in his 4 day old BMW i4 M50 electric. (the following statements is keeping in mind its only been 4 days of ownership, my son in the past has rented Tesla's to experience them) Also note he is a BMW employee at the worlds largest BMW plant which is in South Carolina.
This particular model was imported from Germany.
Anyway, he is a real BMW car buff, I would guess over the last 10 years he has had at LEAST 15 new BMWs from where he works with his employee plan in rough numbers, I cant keep track of them (which varies he gets a new BMW every 7 to 9+ months.He also owns an x5 for his wife.
Ok, his impressions of the i4 M50. When asked he tells me he loves it. Enthusiastically he tells me the coolest part about it is that ANYONE who is used to driving BMWs can jump in the electric i4 and feel completely comfortable. It's a BMW with a different power plant but the vehicle itself is all BMW, nothing strange about driving it except for some to get used to the regenerative braking. Since this is the only EV I ever drove I would point out the the i4 lets you pick how aggressive you want the regen braking to be. In steps from mild to aggressive, he sets it to aggressive.
He does favor physical buttons and the ones for the climate control have been removed which he misses, however he said it was easy to get used to the touch screen and along the bottom of the touch screen are "shortcuts" that take you to the proper screen so there isnt a lot of swiping. I watched as he did and it is straight forward. The air conditioning is awesome, very cold you can easily set the fan to low. Temperatures were typical warm and muggy on the coast and he tells me HOT from where he left his house.
The vehicle still has a lot of physical controls on the steering wheel and the two stalks sticking out from each side of the steering wheel base. There are also controls on the center console. I like the shift button there. The fit, finish and "workmanship" is all BMW and this is where the car excels and why my son loves their vehicles. Just beautiful seats, dash, fit, finish inside and out is something a car buff can appreciate.
Im not sure what to add, he loves the car, loves the power delivery of the 530 Hp+ motor. Range is certainly on the lower end of the M50 version. Im not sure about the other versions. All wheel drive and the power amazing (I know the others brands are too) This is in the 3.5 sec 0 to 60 range, fast enough.
It is definitely on the sports car side as far as room. You kind of slide yourself into the car both front and rear seats which are beautiful.
Ok, so he slept overnight at our house and before he left in the morning I took it out on the road with him. WOW, I can see how the power can be addicting. INSANE/
I LOVED the driving experience. The car is just so "together", tight, and well appointed. *LOL* acceleration was insane! Keeping in mind I never drove an EV before I was 100% comfortable with the regenerative braking and it was set in "aggressive mode" I actually LOVED not having to step on the brake peddle to slow down. Not kidding, I was 100% comfortable with it from the very first time I pulled out of the driveway. Now I am spoiled as far as that goes.
Still this is much like a sports car and it's awesome. But not a large SUV vehicle for sure.
Ok, I'll cover the recharge he did on his trip. I do find talking about cost of recharging on expensive cars as silly after all I think this car is pushing $80,000 However it is expensive to use super chargers and cannot be denied. AS far as his regular use when at home, over night in his garage (level2?) fully charges it in 6 or 7 hours with an almost completely drained battery. Which was just last night after returning from my house as he went out shopping with it and by the time he plugged in the charger at home I think he said he had 35 miles left on the charge. In the above mentioned hours he had a full charge again.
More on charging in the next post.
Also I found this review online for the car buffs in here.
https://insideevs.com/reviews/738023/bmw-i4-fast-charge-review/
Here are a few photos at my house.
@OVERKILL
This particular model was imported from Germany.
Anyway, he is a real BMW car buff, I would guess over the last 10 years he has had at LEAST 15 new BMWs from where he works with his employee plan in rough numbers, I cant keep track of them (which varies he gets a new BMW every 7 to 9+ months.He also owns an x5 for his wife.
Ok, his impressions of the i4 M50. When asked he tells me he loves it. Enthusiastically he tells me the coolest part about it is that ANYONE who is used to driving BMWs can jump in the electric i4 and feel completely comfortable. It's a BMW with a different power plant but the vehicle itself is all BMW, nothing strange about driving it except for some to get used to the regenerative braking. Since this is the only EV I ever drove I would point out the the i4 lets you pick how aggressive you want the regen braking to be. In steps from mild to aggressive, he sets it to aggressive.
He does favor physical buttons and the ones for the climate control have been removed which he misses, however he said it was easy to get used to the touch screen and along the bottom of the touch screen are "shortcuts" that take you to the proper screen so there isnt a lot of swiping. I watched as he did and it is straight forward. The air conditioning is awesome, very cold you can easily set the fan to low. Temperatures were typical warm and muggy on the coast and he tells me HOT from where he left his house.
The vehicle still has a lot of physical controls on the steering wheel and the two stalks sticking out from each side of the steering wheel base. There are also controls on the center console. I like the shift button there. The fit, finish and "workmanship" is all BMW and this is where the car excels and why my son loves their vehicles. Just beautiful seats, dash, fit, finish inside and out is something a car buff can appreciate.
Im not sure what to add, he loves the car, loves the power delivery of the 530 Hp+ motor. Range is certainly on the lower end of the M50 version. Im not sure about the other versions. All wheel drive and the power amazing (I know the others brands are too) This is in the 3.5 sec 0 to 60 range, fast enough.
It is definitely on the sports car side as far as room. You kind of slide yourself into the car both front and rear seats which are beautiful.
Ok, so he slept overnight at our house and before he left in the morning I took it out on the road with him. WOW, I can see how the power can be addicting. INSANE/
I LOVED the driving experience. The car is just so "together", tight, and well appointed. *LOL* acceleration was insane! Keeping in mind I never drove an EV before I was 100% comfortable with the regenerative braking and it was set in "aggressive mode" I actually LOVED not having to step on the brake peddle to slow down. Not kidding, I was 100% comfortable with it from the very first time I pulled out of the driveway. Now I am spoiled as far as that goes.
Still this is much like a sports car and it's awesome. But not a large SUV vehicle for sure.
Ok, I'll cover the recharge he did on his trip. I do find talking about cost of recharging on expensive cars as silly after all I think this car is pushing $80,000 However it is expensive to use super chargers and cannot be denied. AS far as his regular use when at home, over night in his garage (level2?) fully charges it in 6 or 7 hours with an almost completely drained battery. Which was just last night after returning from my house as he went out shopping with it and by the time he plugged in the charger at home I think he said he had 35 miles left on the charge. In the above mentioned hours he had a full charge again.
More on charging in the next post.
Also I found this review online for the car buffs in here.
https://insideevs.com/reviews/738023/bmw-i4-fast-charge-review/
Here are a few photos at my house.
@OVERKILL
Last edited:
