Yesterday I got to spend some time with my friends BMW i4 M35, and although I didn't spend to much time with it and only drove it for 20 minutes, I really came out impressed. So here is my mini review:

Pros
Smooth, supple ride you would expect from a BMW
Extremely quiet, road isolation is excellent
Excellent handling, sure footed in corners and at any speed
Comfortable, tasteful interior
Nice instrument panel layout, lots of buttons and ***** for all the luddites
Smooth, linear acceleration. With 281 horses, the single electric motor in the rear does a good job getting things going pretty quickly
Lots of useful tech, and my favorite, a really well done HUD (something I wish Tesla would offer):



Cons
Not very efficient for an EV (I'll talk about this later)
You can feel it's "heaviness" when using One Pedal Driving
Tech and screen are just way overly complicated for no reason at all
The emergency braking feature is way to touchy
Shifter is a bit confusing, and works backwards
Still has a start button????????????
Not built on a dedicated EV platform

Now that I got that out of the way, let's get into the meat. My friend lives out in the California Central Valley (Tracy), so we took it out to one of the open roads. Accelerates beautifully, and is smooth as glass. You get to speeds very quickly, and you don't feel the broken roads. He says it has air suspension, so that is probably one of the reasons. It makes an electronic sound when accelerating, which is actually very soothing. I thought it would be annoying, but it's not. The 3D HUD is very cool, and makes driving less distracting because you can see the info projected in front of you. This is one of the features I wish Tesla offered, but my friend who is an engineer for Meta (he's the lead engineer for the Oculus team) told me that he understands why Tesla doesn't offer it...he explained making a good HUD is expensive and adds complexity. I would gladly pay for this feature, but it is what it is.

So let me talk about efficiency. The M35 has an 81.5 kWh battery and can travel about 260 miles. As far as efficiency, It's a hog when it comes to EV's, averaging about 40 kWh per 100 miles. In comparison, my Model Y averages around 26 to 27 kWh per 100 miles, and my Polestar averages around 33.6 kWh per 100 miles. Keeping in mind that 1 gallon of gasoline is equal to 33.7 kWh, the M35 gets probably between 85 to 90 MPGe...still not too bad. My friend commutes from Tracy, CA to Sunnyvale, CA which is about 50 miles one way, and can go two days without charging, but tops off at work where they offer Level 2 chargers.

Comparing it to the Model Y, it's of course more comfortable. It offers better seats and amenities. It's suspension is way, way more comfortable, and in German fashion, isolates road noise way better. Technically IMO, the Model Y has superior tech, software, motor and battery tech, but in terms of what the M35 offers in luxury, there is no competition. In terms of luxury, that's not what Tesla is about, and the reason my friend chose the BMW over the Model Y.

So in summary, it's a pretty awesome car. BMW did a great job, I would love to daily drive this car. But if I had to choose between the i4 or the Model Y, it would be Model Y everytime. Now some pics:

 

I also forgot to mention, it has 3 drive modes:

Eco Mode
Normal
Sports Mode

In Sports Mode this baby really puts the power down, tightens the steering and suspension

 

i doubt that it has air suspension but almost certainly has electronically adjustable dampers.
not much point in comparing to the model y, which has way more room, but is 'optimized' in many many ways for lower cost.

and the battery being, what, 30% bigger means the car is hefty... chick and egg with battery size and range... bigger battery for more range reduces efficiency due to weight.

anyway, thanks for the review!

 

I was just going by what my friend told me. The suspension is really good regardless. That's the dilemma legacy automakers need to overcome. Right now they just stuff a huge battery to get more range. I'm not an engineer, but that's not the best way to do things...you're just basically putting a bigger gas tank in a 12 mpg car so you don't have to fill up as much. Which is why for now (and the foreseeable future) I'm sticking with Tesla who care more about efficiency and getting the most out of smaller battery packs. My friend fully understood this when he leased the i4 over the Model Y. Another reason is his wife...she's another one of those Elon haters

 

i agree giant battery packs are not the way to go, but obviously delivering vehicles with really bad range isn't good unless it's cheap like a nissan leaf was (do they still sell those even?).

putting aside the ridiculous elon hating pov of his wife, your friend obviously likes the more familiar style and ride of a bmw. bmw does make truly great chassis setups. tesla has done amazingly well in a short space of time, and obviously they hired some talent from 'legacy' auto makers but still, it must have been very challenging (not to mention stressful) to attempt to meet time, cost, and "elon" goals.

the bmw iX by the way, while no great looker, is really a pretty great effort by bmw. and the i4 is pretty good as you observed. obviously very different from tesla, but as you, jeff, and level-headed people have said, tesla isn't for everyone. doesn't mean both either tesla or bmw is objectively 'bad', just different! and then there's hyundai/kia which has gone other directions that are pretty cool too. from one of those videos i posted, it seems vw is in the worst shape with very uninspired cars (although i think the id.4 is better looking than the y respectfully) and apparently their software is straight up bad.

that's what i love about free markets though... CHOICES.

 

I’m not sure I agree with you about efficiency. I actually get 27kwh/100 miles or approx 3.7mi/kWh it’s more efficient than Model 3. It really depends on the driver and my car has 19” rim e40 which should be less efficient than default 18” on e35 so I expect E35 to be way more efficient. Unless your friend is doing 90+mph constantly he should be getting at least 4mi/kWh. I was getting 4mi/kWh average on freeway last few weeks. Some people on i4talk with M50s were even getting 5mi/kWh it’s crazy efficient for AWD 500hp car.

 

That's what he told me his calculations were. I noticed it was in sport mode when I drove it, maybe that's the reason, he's driving it in sport mode. 40 kWh per hundred miles does seem pretty high

 

God that car is so ugly. I don’t care how nice the interior is, I would never buy that car on looks alone.

 

Thanks for the review!

You can thank Hans Zimmer for that. Yes the Hans Zimmer who has two Oscars, three Golden Globes, and four Grammys. BMW hired him for sound design.

 

I was also very impressed with i4 when i got it as a loaner car.

If the car wasn’t so ugly, it would probably sell better. They have massive discounts on these plus $7,500 EV incentive.

Still can’t imagine someone owning an EV as their only car unless you never drive to a destination that is over 100 miles away.

 

Why? People take them across country with no issues. It's not 2013 anymore.

 

The only incentive offered is $7500 if you lease. If you buy there are zero incentives. And as Mike mentioned, it's no longer 2013, it's a no brainier driving EV'S long distances (at least where we live), especially if you have a Tesla. No gas stations visits, virtually no maintenance. He's now literally saving over $300 a month on fuel. I've driven both our Polestar and Tesla on numerous long distance trips, I'm now 21K on the Polestar and nearly 5K on the Tesla. It's our poor gas power Sienna that's barely driven now

 

Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I like it's looks. I can even forgive that giant grill. Drives pretty amazing, I can't imagine how much better the M50 is

 

It looks good, I believe this will sell.

 

I drove all over California last week - Laguna Beach, Newport, LA, Santa Monica, up to Big Sur, Monterey, SF and many other places. Sure EV could have done it but would take many more days which is not possible with 2 kids lol. Also up in the mountains, there were hardly any gas stations (about 50 miles apart), let alone charging stations.

BTW the Rental place was BEGGING ppl to take an EV - everyone said hell no lol