The 2025 BMW i4 M50 Understood The Assignment

We speak about numerous issues when as we cowl the electrical automobile transition. It’s about local weather, vitality, infrastructure, manufacturing jobs, the battery provide chain and a lot extra. However once in a while, it’s good to get away from all that Severe Enterprise® to debate an electrical automotive that merely kicks some ass. 

The BMW i4 M50 is such a automotive, a really nice instance of the style. Together with the also-excellent i5 and iX, it’s additional proof that whereas not each automotive firm will discover methods to thrive within the electrified period, BMW in all probability has issues coated.

Photograph by: InsideEVs

(Full Disclosure: BMW loaned me an i4 M50 for every week with a full cost for analysis functions.) 

What Is It?

Its full, authorized title is the BMW i4 Gran Coupe, however let’s be actual about what this truly is: it’s an all-electric 3 Sequence. The one main distinction between automobiles with that title and the 4 Sequence Gran Coupe is the latter’s hatchback physique and varied minor adjustments in dimensions that brings. It even rides on the identical Cluster Structure (CLAR) platform as the three Sequence and varied different gasoline and hybrid BMWs, simply fitted with batteries within the flooring.

It’s so good in general execution that it blows up the concept that a superb EV at all times needs to be constructed on an EV-specific platform—though BMW has that within the super-efficient iX and the upcoming Neue Klasse automobiles. However the Neue Klass is a methods off, and the iX is an enormous SUV; the i4 is the electrical BMW sports activities sedan you will get proper now.

It is available in three flavors: the i4 eDrive40, with 335 horsepower, rear-wheel drive and as much as 318 miles of vary; the dual-motor i4 xDrive40, with 396 hp and as much as 287 miles of vary; and this automotive, the range-topping i4 M40, with dual-motor all-wheel drive and 536 hp. A fourth variant, the entry-level i4 eDrive35, is on the way in which. Specs and pricing for the eDrive35 haven’t been introduced but. 

Except for the 68.7-kilowatt-hour battery on the bottom automotive, all different i4 variants are powered by an 81-kWh unit. Your chosen wheel dimension will affect your vary. My i4 M50 tester had 20-inch wheels, which yielded as a lot as 245 miles of vary on a full cost; a bit higher than the 227-mile EPA estimate. 

Photograph by: InsideEVs

Granted, that’s not an excellent determine. However the i4 M50 is the high-performance variant: it’ll do zero to 60 mph in simply 3.7 seconds and looks like it may possibly put up an excellent combat towards the gas-powered M3. At this level, it’s clear that EVs present higher effectivity and acceleration than gasoline automobiles, however I’ll remind everybody that the M3 is to not be trifled with, so I imply that as excessive reward for the i4 right here.

All through my check, nonetheless, the up to date Tesla Mannequin 3 Performancewas on my thoughts fairly a bit. It is much less highly effective, however cheaper and—on paper at the least—faster. I must put some type of comparability on my to-do checklist. 

What’s Good?

I do know I ought to primarily be speaking about effectivity and vary and know-how right here. And I’ll. However let me get the essential factor out of the way in which first: the i4 M50 is an absolute blast to drive. It’s fast as hell in a straight line, it handles astoundingly nicely, it has extra steering really feel than most EVs and it very firmly secures a future for visitors courtroom within the electrical period. (Not that I obtained nailed, however I in all probability had just a few moments the place I deserved to.) 

I obtained a bit hooked on the i4 M50’s energy early on, holding it in Sport Mode to get probably the most out of all 536 hp. It’s additionally refreshing to drive one thing that isn’t one other electrical crossover, like so many different choices on the market. The decrease heart of gravity within the i4 retains issues actually fascinating. And it one way or the other by no means feels as heavy as its 5,000-pound curb weight would recommend.

When the novelty of smoking C8 Corvettes on a again street wore off (I’m simply kidding—it by no means did!), I switched to Consolation to get a really easy, pleasing and certainly comfy expertise. Just like the i5 or another BMW, that’s the entire level: a automotive that behaves like a sports activities automotive with the practicality of a sedan or SUV. 

It additionally reveals that BMW’s general tech recreation could be very strong. The voice-based controls are wonderful and so is route-planning and charger location. The vast panoramic display screen is gorgeous and the interface, whereas full of an assortment of difficult options, helps you discover what you need with a Google-like search perform. 

Photograph by: InsideEVs

All BMW i4 fashions, besides the bottom one, have a max DC fast-charging velocity of 205 kW. That’s not mind-blowing by 2024’s requirements but it surely’s higher than many others. I didn’t have time for a full fast-charging check, however when hooked as much as a 250 kW Tesla Supercharger Magic Dock station, my i4 went from about 35% to 80%—including 100 miles of vary—27 minutes. That was sufficient time for me to run a pair errands in a close-by purchasing heart and get again on the street. 

What’s Not So Good?

Apparently, my largest beefs with the automotive weren’t even EV-specific. They had been M-car points. The seat backs are agency, and the experience is simply too. You pay a value for all that efficiency while you drive over potholes and tough roads. Nearly each gas-powered M3 or M5 I’ve pushed in my profession has felt equally jarring, and that edge is probably not for everybody. 

Be suggested that the again seat is somewhat tight for each headroom and legroom, particularly for an EV—becoming that huge battery right into a gas-car platform actually did not assist. The pliability of the 4 Sequence’ hatch is good, however for households, it is no wagon or crossover substitute. 

The 4 Sequence fashions are additionally on a type of Tesla-esque path now, with fewer buttons and bodily controls than earlier fashions. There’s nonetheless a superb array of these, particularly on the steering wheel, however frustratingly, local weather controls at the moment are screen-based. (And but there are nonetheless ahead and again buttons on the sprint for audio controls… why?) Not less than you do get bodily toggles for the air vents, which is a much less irritating interface than the final i5 I drove. 

Photograph by: InsideEVs

Apparently—and that is much less of a criticism and extra of an statement—I feel the iDrive management knob’s time has come. As soon as BMW obtained the knob actually dialed in, it spent years as an outstanding solution to function varied menus and capabilities on the automotive; my Mazda 3 has one thing related and it really works nicely. However on this i4, I don’t suppose I used it even as soon as. The voice controls are too good, the touchscreen is simply too good and the few different bodily controls on the sprint greater than made up for it. It’s no marvel that BMW appears to be shifting on from it. 

The opposite bodily controls may use some work: After I tossed my spouse the keys (which she didn’t wish to give again later) I instructed her you set it into park by urgent the P button. However there are three totally different buttons marked P on the middle console. She hit the parking digital camera swap by mistake and fortunately caught her mistake when she lifted off the brake pedal. That would maybe use some rethinking, although you’d positively get used to it as an proprietor. 

Maybe the most important downside to the i4 M50 continues to be the vary. Positive, efficiency EVs aren’t precisely nice at this, and neither are efficiency gasoline automobiles. An AWD M3 will get solely 22 mpg on the freeway, in any case. However my vary dropped to 229 miles on a 49-degree chilly fall morning. If distance is your aim, think about one of many eDrive40 or xDrive40 fashions. It’s not like these are gradual. 

As anticipated, electrical effectivity wasn’t nice, though that actually has quite a bit to do with how exhausting I drove this factor. I principally averaged 2.5 to 2.7 miles per kWh. I’d additionally say that even in its highest setting, the one-pedal driving setup looks like a little bit of an afterthought.

Pricing And Verdict

Till the eDrive35 arrives, the most affordable 2025 i4 begins at $57,900. An i4 M50 will begin at $70,700, and with a load of choices—the Driving Help Package deal, Premium Package deal and Cooling and Excessive-Efficiency Tire Package deal—my tester got here in at $80,775. 

It’s actually not low-cost, and if electrical efficiency is your sole aim, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N and Tesla Mannequin 3 Efficiency will get you extra of that for much less cash. I don’t suppose many individuals will cross-shop the BMW and the Hyundai, at the least. And I do suppose you get a nicer, extra premium and extra comfy expertise right here than you do with any Tesla Mannequin 3. It’s a beautiful, quick, high-tech and high-performance sport sedan, precisely what BMW made its bones on and continues to do at the moment. 

The i4 M50 feels extra designed to persuade the BMW devoted to think about an electrical automotive than to herald whole newcomers to the storied German model. However that shouldn’t be the case; the i4 is critically good at what it does and it deserves extra consideration than it appears to get in wider conversations concerning the EV house proper now. 

And the i4 M50 doesn’t simply show that we now have nice issues to count on from BMW within the electrical period; it proves that these nice issues are right here proper now. 

Contact the creator: patrick.george@insideevs.com