BMW i4 review: The electric and stylish white BMW i4 is a car I was waiting for
THE white car is a BMW i4. The red car is a BMW 430i.
Apart from the paint, they look the same.
Both are exactly what you think a BMW should be: Stylish, well-made, sporty but practical. And just superb to drive. But they’re different.
The 430i runs on petrol, with an automatic gearbox and rear-wheel drive.
The i4 is rear-drive too. But it’s electric. No exhaust pipes, see? It’s a car I’ve been waiting for.
There are lots of plump electric crossovers around. And lots of electric small cars. But sporty family-sized electric cars are hard to find. Yes, there’s the Tesla Model 3 and the Polestar 2. Their rocketship power and widescreen interiors will impress your friends.
But once you’ve been wowed by the acceleration, the driving is a bit unsatisfying. And if all you want to do is turn the heater up or change music track, the touchscreen controls are annoying.
Whereas the BMW i4 is very good at being . . . a BMW. I’ll talk about that first, then come to the electric bit later. Settle into the driver’s seat and everything feels natural.
It’s low-slung, snug and smartly trimmed. You can control most of the electronics by the familiar iDrive system, although there’s a touchscreen too.
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Smooth and silent
It’s quick. It actually accelerates faster than the 430i petrol.
As you’d expect from an electric motor, the power is instant, smooth and silent. The suspension is just superb. It steers like an extension of your brain, confident and accurate.
It’s magnetised to the road, with all the grip you’d need. Yet it’s also playful, giving you subtle but clear feedback.
Lots of sporty cars are stiff and bumpy. But this one is serene. It’ll spear cleanly down a rough B-road, glide silently down the motorway, and do a decent job of smothering town potholes.
Now, the electric bit. In the official test it does 340-odd miles on a charge, but on a wintry motorway I got about 240.
Mixed driving gets you more, and in summer you could expect 300-ish. Those are good numbers for an electric car. Usual EV disclaimer: Frankly if you can’t charge at or very near home, you probably shouldn’t get an electric car yet.
The suspension is just superb. It steers like an extension of your brain, confident and accurate.
But if you can, a full charge would be £15. Less if you use cheap night-time juice. The slower, noisier 430i would cost at least £50 in petrol for the same distance.
And the difference in company-car tax is crippling. A 40 per cent taxpayer would pay £6,665 on the 430i. But a piffling £427 on the i4.
However good the 430i is, it looks like this red car might leave you red-faced.
Key facts: BMW i4 eDRIVE40 M SPORT
Price: £53,405
Battery: 81kWh
Power: 340hp, 430Nm
0-62mph: 5.7 secs
Top speed: 118mph
Range: 337 miles
CO2: 0g/km
Out: Now
SUND SHINES . . . AND SO WILL ROSSI
THE first half of January is always a bit of a strange time for us bikers. As I write this, there’s a fine layer of frost on everything outside. Riding in this weather is doable but not much fun.
There is still two-wheeled action going on out there though. British rider Sam Sunderland has just won the Dakar Rally on a Gas Gas.
After almost 8,000km spread over two weeks, the Bournemouth lad finished first in the toughest off-road race on the planet for the second time in his career.
Speaking of racers, news also landed this week of Valentino Rossi signing up to compete in the GT World Championship for 2022 in an Audi R8. He’s got his eye on winning the series and I don’t doubt that he’ll be at the sharp end.
More importantly, this means that he’ll race at Brands Hatch in Kent on Sunday May 1. Rossi has never raced at Brands Hatch and the fact that he’ll be in a car rather than on a bike certainly won’t put me off going to cheer him along.
I received my copy of the book that covers every single one of his races this week and can’t recommend it enough. It’s written by Mat Oxley, who in my opinion is the best racing journalist on the planet. It’s like reading the school report of the most popular kid in school, written by the coolest teacher that everyone likes. If you’ve got any Christmas money left over, spend it on this.
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In the land of road bikes, Ducati announced this week that 2021 was a bumper year for them. They sold 59,447 in total, with growth in every country they sell in. The amazing Multistrada V4 was their best-selling bike, followed by the Scrambler and then the Monster.
Ducati sold 30 per cent more bikes in the UK than they did in 2020, with 2,941 models. So it’s cold and wet outside but it’s not all bad. Unless you’re doing Dry January like me.
Braking news
Rachel Burgess
- OFF the back of a mega year for sales in the UK and Europe, Tesla will reveal a revamped product plan before the month is out. We could finally find out when the long-awaited Cybertruck, Roadster and Semi launch.
- RENAULT is the latest car maker to confirm it will go all-electric in Europe by 2030, stepping up a previous plan to achieve 90 per cent EV sales by the end of the decade. The French firm plans to launch 24 new vehicles by 2025, expanding its EV offering and reinventing Alpine as an electric-only performance brand.
- PEUGEOT’S pure-electric 308, arriving in 2023, will be sold as a hatch and estate offering around 250 miles of range. Ditto for the new Vauxhall Astra.
- THE next Range Rover Sport – fast becoming one of its most popular models – is being readied for 2023, with a full-fat 616bhp SVR variant using a BMW-sourced 4.4-litre V8. An electric version will follow. More details in this week’s Autocar mag, out Wednesday.