EV REVIEW: 2024 BMW I5 M60 XDRIVE

BMW has been pushing batteries on us longer than most. There was the partially electric, semi-supercar(ish) i8 , the oddly-accoutered-but-adorable i3 and there was even a short-lived experiment back in 1969 in which Munich stuffed a whole bunch of Varta 12-volt lead-acid batteries into an unsuspecting 1602. All fine examples in a first-stab-at-this-ZEV-thing, but not, let’s be honest, BMWs. Not an Ultimate Driving Machine between them. Even more recent examples — the iX M60 and the even newer i7 — were better electric cars than those that came before. But again, not BMWs. Not a lithe, powerful sedan amongst them, not a one that made you forget that the 1989 M5 is your favourite car of all time (if you just happen to be, say, a balding, 66-year-old autojournalist).

Until, that is, this car, the 2024 BMW i5 M60 xDrive.

There was little warning that the latest M version of the 5-Series would be so good. After all, the bare-bones rear-wheel-drive i5 sold elsewhere has received, let’s be polite and call them, middling reviews. Neither as sharp-handling as we long-time BMW fans would like nor as efficient as BMW’s reputation for engineering would have everyone believe, it has, so far, failed to make believers of the those who have tested it. Throw in a bunch of M-electric SUVs that are more blunderbuss than sniper rifle and, frankly, were it not for our own Andrew McCredie’s glowing First Drive , I might have said thanks, but no thanks to the offer to drive its multi-motored i5. That would have been a mistake. Or to quote, the Julia Roberts in her seminal Pretty Woman role, “Big mistake. Big. Huge.”

This electric car handles!

The first thing you notice — you don’t really have to get much past the parking lot for it to become evident — is how agile the i5 M60 feels compared with other EVs. Not agile as in a classically overly-boosted steering system. Not light in the-battery-lowers-the-centre-of-gravity rationalization conjured up to justify our path to electrification. Nope, no pretence or apology needed, the M60 is totally flickable. The front-end sticks to tarmac like a limpet to burnished granite and the i5 straightens twisty roads just like, well, that fantastic old E34 that turned me into such an M5 fan.

Impressively stable through high-speed sweepers and positively nimble blasting through my favourite California twisties, the muy macho version of the i5 belies its 2,380-kilogram curb weight in ways I would have never thought possible. Indeed, had I not sampled it for myself, I too would be reading these words with skepticism as well. Nonetheless, picture all of the grip that a Taycan Turbo S can generate with the flickability of a gas-powered M3. In fact, that last comparison makes me wonder…

Have we got this electric platform architecture all wrong?

Since the dawn of the modern EV, we’ve been told that maximizing battery power’s attributes requires a dedicated platform. What has since evolved is the “skateboard” architecture, the battery spread beneath the floor of the cabin and then the smaller-than-ICE-powertrains (electric motors, etc.) at each end, all of which is supposed to lower the centre of gravity and minimize the polar moment of inertia. The consensus has long been that this layout maximizes both handling and space efficiency for a happy marriage of performance and range.

And yet, some automakers are pushing back. For instance, Genesis Electrified G80 was, until we tested Lucid’s incredibly aerodynamic Air , the highest-range sedan Range Finder had tested despite sharing its platform with ICEs. Dodge’s upcoming Charger will do the very same (even though it will be the BEV version that is introduced first)

And, as luck would have it, so is the i5 which has been designed to accommodate BMW’s Turbo four ICE as well as the i5 M60’s 84.3 kilowatt-hour battery and twin electric motors. Indeed, lift the front hood and you’re greeted by a semi-familiar full engine bay. Oh, the pistons and connecting rods have been displaced in favour of permanent magnets and AC/DC invertor. But the packaging remains eerily familiar.

And I can’t help but feeling that said familiarity of layout may be why the i5 M60 handles so well. Not because there’s anything inherently superior to the configuration but simply because BMW’s chassis engineers — still the best in the world at sedans — have so much experience with this configuration. To be sure, the lowered suspension and the digitally-controlled “active” roll-bars help, but perhaps the i5 M60 is such a backroad beast simply because BMW chassis engineers are familiar with how to tune this type of chassis. In other words, the M60 “works” not despite its shared-with-ICE layout but because of it. Whatever the case, this BMW captures the magical combination of compliant suspension, excellent handling and delicate steering that many of us had been beginning to think lost. Welcome back, the Ultimate (Electric) Driving Machine!

Now, we need more brakes

The M60 may feel nimble but it still weighs a hefty-as-an-SUV 2,380 kilograms. It also boasts nigh on 600 horses (593-hp to be exact). It needs more brakes. A lot more brakes. I had the stock M Sport binders fading after less than five kilometres of serious twisties. Not only that, but even before they got heat-soaked they lacked punch. C’mon BMW, four pistons? On a 2,380-kilo sedan that can blister to 100 kilometres in less than four seconds and whose cornering grip is supercar adjacent? Surely you know better. At the very least the M60 deserves carbon ceramic discs. Big ones. Either that or some seriously powerful six-pot front calipers.

Power is instantaneous, if not quite everlasting

As I mentioned, the M60 xDrive boasts 593 horsepower. Torque wise, there’s always 549 pound-feet on hand. But, as with many recent battery-powered electric performance cars, there’s a boost function — M Sport Boost in this case — accessed by a single paddle on the rear, lefthand side of the steering wheel that can up that to 605 pound-feet for up to 10 seconds, after which, presumably, the amperage dump would overheat the battery/motor, the party only allowed to go on so long.

It’s those 605 torques that dominate the straight-line performance. Jump off the line is, as we all expect for BEVs now, fairly stupendous. The whole nailed-to-the-back-of-the- seat thing. Zero to 100 kilometres takes about 3.8 seconds. Seriously strong, if not quite Ludicrous, in other words.

That said, once you get up to speed, acceleration seems to taper off. Or, if not quite taper off, then fail to impress quite as much as that initial surge. In other words, the 605 pound-feet pushing off the M60 line is impressive, the 593-hp keeping 5,315 pounds keeping the party going not quite as much. It never feels slow, but after the initial punch, the follow-up isn’t nearly as gnarly. Don’t hate that the i5 M60 isn’t fast enough; be impressed that the chassis can handle so much more.

BMW i5 M60 is fairly efficient, if not quite overwhelmingly frugal

Perhaps the biggest compromise in the i5’s platform is that it can accommodate but 84.3 kilowatt-hours of lithium-ion. Similarly-sized cars can often pack 20 kWh more. That said, we managed to eke out some 360 kilometres in a Range Finder test in Southern California. Not quite as rigorous as our 125 km/h test on Ontario’s 407, we nonetheless averaged 23.4 kWh/100 kilometres blasting down the Golden State’s famed Highway 101. That’s better, for instance, than some lighter, less powerful cars if not nearly the magic of efficiency that is Lucid’s supremely streamlined Air. Considering its weight and power, however, it’s pretty impressive.

Charging speed is middling

The good news is that, hooked up to an appropriate DC Fast Charger , the M60 can hit 200-kilowatt charging mark. The bad news is that it can only hold that peak for a very short time. Until about 15 per cent state-of-charge, in fact. After that there’s a fairly serious drop-off to 60-kW at 80 per cent. Although BMW lists its official charging speed as 28 minutes from 10 to 80 per cent SoC, according to EVKX’s charging calculations, the M60’s sweet spot seems to be the 20 or so minutes it takes to charge between 5 and 60 per cent. That might mean running the battery lower than some might consider prudent, but such is the issue when you’re looking to minimize your charging down time.

Niggles and wiggles in the BMW i5

The inside of the i5’s cabin is, to say the least, pretty darned impressive. There’s more than adequate bolstering to the front buckets — much needed as I’ve described above — and the sound system is glorious. It is also roomier than I remember gas-fed 5-Series being and it is remarkably well sound-proofed, an important consideration when your battery-powered electric propulsions system is running silent.

Nadine Filion — Driving’s French editor and my SO — and I were divided on BMW’s artificial noise when in Sport mode. She liked the electric motors’ digitally-enhanced growl; I don’t much like artifice of any kind. I will say this, however. If you insist on having some computer digitally enhance your acceleration with a simulated soundtrack, you can do worse than BMW’s composers.

Actual ire I will however reserve for BMW’s iDrive 8.5 infotainment system. For basic operations — navigation, audio system, etc. — it is more than passable and straightforward. For playing around with vehicle settings and various apps, however, it just sucks. Sucks as in way too many apps, not logically laid out and way too freakin’ complicated when you finally find out what you want. It took me forever to find the bloody trip meter. Even longer to figure out the charging app. My God, BMW, have you not learned the lesson of the original iDrive? Keep It Simple Stupid would seem to be beyond the ken of German software engineers.

On the other hand, if you’re buying an M60 for its software interface, you’re really missing the point. The point of a hot-rod BMW — any hot-rod for that matter — is driving pleasure and this battery-powered Beemer delivers in spades. It’s been a long time — a very long time! — since I’ve enjoyed a 5-Series with an M badge on its rump. Welcome back, the Ultimate Driving Machine.

2024-03-19T10:52:48Z dg43tfdfdgfd