6 Thoughts About the 2024 BMW i5
Author:
Sean Tucker.
Since the early 1970s, the BMW 5 Series has been the luxury car of choice for people who want to drive a high-end sports car but need to pretend to want a staid sedan. Now into its eighth generation, the 5 Series is the “executive car” with performance chops. It’s the automotive equivalent of a C-suite executive who fits in with the others in the boardroom but ran to work and will lift weights at lunch. The 2024 BMW i5 is the all-new electric equivalent. As unbelievable as this may sound, it is much quicker than its gasoline-powered cousin. It fits in with the others in the boardroom but passed the 5 Series on its run to work and will outlift it at lunch.
We expect BMW to unveil a 2024 M5 any day now. But until they do, this is the quickest 5 Series variant you can buy. It’s also the most expensive. After testing the 2024 BMW i5 for over a week, I found it a wonderfully expressive and deeply entertaining car. But I would still ask anyone considering it to review their budget carefully two or three times before calling the dealership. My tester was a top-of-the-line i5 M60 xDrive with a base price of $85,095, including the $995 shipping and handling. Options including the Executive Package (which adds a heated steering wheel, panoramic roof, and glass controls for the you-have-to-be-joking price of $3,350) and the Driving Assistance Pro Package pushed the total sticker to $95,395.
2024 BMW i5 Quick Facts:
- The BMW i5 is all-new for 2024
- The BMW i5’s price ranges from $67,795 to beyond $100,000
- The base i5 eDrive 40 starts at $67,795. Prices start in the mid-$90,000s range for the upscale i5 M60 xDrive.
- The BMW 5 Series is entirely new for 2024 and now includes the all-electric i5. A high-performance M5 is expected soon.
- The BMW i5 has a range From 240 to 295 miles depending on options
1. Stately And Sophisticated Is Giving Way to Brash
BMW designers have more attitude than they used to. The 5 Series long aimed to perform like a sports car but look like a staid, respectable sedan. The i5 has a slightly more brash, cocksure disposition. Behind the rear windows, a stylized “5” debossed in the trim, two inches high and three inches wide, wants to be noticed. One colleague called it something you’d see on a Subaru WRX. Another said the import tuner darling Acura Integra had more subtlety. The M Sport Professional package blacks out the big false grille and makes it look menacing in the process. This face is not quite the subtle executive sedan you’d expect of an electric 5 Series. It has a bit more punk rock in it than that.
2. 0-60 Is Quick, but 40-60 Is Almost Irresponsibly Fast
With 590 horsepower from two electric motors (one per axle for all-wheel drive grip), BMW says the i5 M60 leaps from 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds – faster than any current 5 Series. That, however, is not the car’s most impressive performance trick. Going from 40 to 60 is. Press the gas for passing power, and it comes on so quickly that the seat seems to punch you in the back. The power is so instant it’s a little hard to believe it’s real. Zero-to-60 times are for magazines and fights in the comments section. Most drivers rarely go straight to highway speed from a standstill. Forty to 60 is for all of us on a highway on-ramp. In the i5, 40 to 60 is shocking.
3. Sci-Fi Sounds Are Fun, but I’d Appreciate the Chance to Tune Them More
BMW hired two-time Oscar-winning Hollywood soundtrack composer Hans Zimmer to help compose its EVs’ sounds. He went with sci-fi. The sounds change as you change the car’s modes (more on those in a moment). They’re most prominent in a mode called “Expressive.” And, frankly, they’re fun. Tonal wooshes that call to mind spaceships and starfighters will bring out the kid in you. Still, I wanted the ability to tune them a bit. The cartoon warp speed effect when you accelerate is fun, but I wanted to hear it without having to floor the accelerator because, well, see above. And at highway speed, a constant midlevel drone bothered me, like endless vuvuzelas in the distance. Turning off Expressive mode ended that annoyance but also cost me the fun of racing speeder bikes around Endor on the way to the dentist. I’d love it if BMW let you tune the sounds a bit, and with over-the-air downloads, they probably could.
4. Select a Different Car Whenever You Want One
Perhaps the i5’s best feature is the endless variety of drive modes. Sure, there’s the standard Efficient mode for making the most of the range (about 240 miles in the M60 with 21-inch wheels) and Sport for spirited driving. But the i5 has options most cars don’t. Expressive mode brings great sounds and purple hues to the ambient lighting. Relax tones down the lighting and displays the arm of the Milky Way on internal screens. Digital Art mode displays a shifting landscape of works by artist Cao Fei. BMW says it will add new art experiences over time through over-the-air updates. Your i5 can be anything from a wildly colorful spaceship full of zoomy noises to a chill digital lounge. Plenty of cars let you modulate the throttle and steering with modes. But the i5 enables you to change the entire mood of the car. It would do a lot to make your car feel fresh across years of ownership.
5. This Is Almost M5 Money
All praise aside, $95,395 is a LOT of money for this car. If you call it an electric 5 Series, I’ll point out that a nearly equivalent 540i xDrive comes in at around $65,000 — saving you the price of an entire Honda Accord. If you call it a Tesla Model S rival, I’ll note that even the high-performance Model S Plaid is currently under $89,000. The Mercedes-Benz EQE isn’t far off that total. When the M5 comes later this summer, it may cross the six-figure barrier. But this car almost noses it. If BMW had just called it an M car, I’d have had an easier time with the sticker shock.
6. Its Wireless Charging Pad Accommodates Two Phones at Once
The double charger should become normal. Passengers have phones, too.
The Wrap
The BMW i5 accelerates like it’s headed for warp and sounds like it if you want that. It lets you change the vibe so thoroughly it’s like a garage full of cars. It’s a little edgier than you probably expect from a 5 Series in ways some might like and some might find tacky. And price will be a barrier for some. But the M60 xDrive is everything you want from an electric BMW. Related:
2024 BMW i5: Choosing the Right Trim.
Learn more
