First Drive: BMW i4 electric sedan lays down challenge to Tesla

Remember sedans? They used to be the dominant form of road transport. In the last couple of years, however, consumers have rushed over to SUVs, and car makers have tried to accommodate this shift by trying to make all their offerings look like a Hyundai.

And if it wasn’t for the outrageous success of the Tesla Model 3 in global markets, the sedan category would be fast disappearing.

Tesla has pretty much had the electric sedan market to itself, and even outside fossil fuel rivals in many markets. It’s captured the high end with the Model S, and the mid premium market with the Model 3. It’s only real competitor has been the relatively new Polestar 2.

Enter BMW. It was one of the first car makers into the electric vehicle market with the release of the quirky i3 in 2014, a time when the golf cart mentality meant that most car makers thought EVs should be made to look different.

Going electric at the time was something that should be seen to be done, it wasn’t really part of the mainstream. That thinking is now changing. And after the release of the iX3 and the impressive iX – both relatively bulky SUVs – BMW has now launched its first electric sedan, the i4.

And with this, it is attacking a market that sits just above the Model 3, and below the Model S. It seems a niche that is ripe for the taking, a category that still cherishes beautiful lines, and in our brief drive, the i4 could be just the EV to do it.

BMW Australia held a series of Drive Days earlier this month to introduce auto journalists to their new range of EVs, some of which have actually been available for sale since last December.

We got to drive the three different vehicles – iX3, iX and i4 – and some of their variants for around 45 minutes each. It wasn’t enough for a deep dive into these models, but ample time to come away with some firm impressions.

We gave our views of the iX3 and the iX in this report here. This review of the i4 has been held up because the series of Drive Days was disrupted by the rains that hit the Sydney area in early April and not all could be completed at the time. The embargo is only just lifted, despite the fact that customers have already been taking deliveries of their i4.

First off, let’s be clear that the i4 is not a cheap car. It’s not even in the $60,000 to $70,000 that many new customers are expanding their budgets to, just for the joy, pleasure and satisfaction of going electric, and not diving back into another fossil fuel car, or what some now call mechanisal fart boxes.

The i4 starts at $99,900 for the “base model”, known as the i4 eDrive 40. It jumps up to $125,000 for the more powerful and dual motor i4 M50. So it sits right in the middle of the long range and high performance Model 3s, and the Model S, if they ever reappear in the Australian market.

The second thing to note about the i4 is that – like the iX3 – it is basically an electric version of an existing BMW model, in this case the Series 4 Gran Coupe.

That means that it keeps its lines, but some of the obvious advantages of an electric platform, such as flat floors and a greater feeling of space, are ignored.

That’s a shame because, like the Model 3, it is not a big car. The i4 is hardly cramped, but given a dedicated electric platform, it might also offer more freedom to move.

The interior is what you expect from a BMW car costing $100,000 plus. Leather seating and steering wheel, quality finishing, Harmon Kardon surround sounds, an expanded, easy to use and intuitive dashboard, and an adjustable heads up display.

But it also has a pretty bulky centre console between the two front seats, and it retains the big lump on the floor of the rear passenger areas where the combustion engine components would normally go, but where there is currently nothing but wasted space.

Driving it is a different matter. The base model eDrive40 with a single motor RWD has acceleration of 5.9 seconds from 0 to 100kms, which is quick enough. The dual-motor AWD M50 gets there in 3.9 seconds, and it feels quick. Very quick. It has real class, great handling and response.

The range is impressive too. Both models have 84kWh batteries, which gives the base EDrive40 model an assumed range (WTLP) of 540kms, and the M50 up to 465kms as it sacrifices some range for more speed. We didn’t get to test out this range.

Regen is an interesting area for mainstream car makers. BMW, like Lexus and others, has chosen two modes – one an “adaptive” recuperation setting where the car decides when and by how much regen should apply according to the conditions.  It barely does.

But there is another option. A simple shift to the “B” option allows for “i-pedal”, or one pedal, driving for those who, like me, really love that part of the EV driving experience. And in this mode, the regen has real grip (you can adjust the levels to your taste).

The i4, like the other BMW electric offerings, features electronic “iconic” sounds orchestrated with the help of renowned composer Hans Zimmer. Each model has its own unique sound.

It really annoyed me. What’s the point of having a quiet EV if you are going to spoil it with artificial “engine” noises.

But when in “sports boost” mode, and driving through windy roads of the Royal National Park, the “highly emotive” iconic” sound was actually quite fun. It even added to the experience. There’s a latent rev-head in us all. You just don’t need it on the highway, or in the city.

Other aspects to note are the 5 years of free fast and ultra fast charging with ChargeFox (it can charge at a rate of up to 200kW), and the app for remote charging control and pre-conditioning. You can choose between 18″ and 19″ wheels.

We didn’t spend long enough in the car to go into a deep dive into its characteristics and performance. We’ll save that for another day.

But our time in the i4 was enough to make you wonder what BMW might be able to achieve when it launches a fully electric sedan on a specially designed electric platform, which can magnify performance and space, as it has done with the iX.

That’s when it will really lay down the challenge to the Tesla, combining the BMW quality and luxury fittings and finish with its engineering know-how.

The i4, though, is a pretty good start start and a great sign of things to come. Loyal BMW customers who want to go electric won’t be disappointed, and the strategy of the major car makers seems to be not to frighten the horses with step change designs.

Hyundai, with the Ioniq 5, and Kia, with the EV6, and of course, Tesla, have shown what’s possible with new platforms and new thinking.

So far, though, it’s had a reasonable reception. Somde 44 of the i4s have been sold in Australia, and the wait list is six to 12 months.

But you can’t help wondering though that BMW is having it both ways and hedging its bets between an electric future and the combustion engine. Its corporate plan assumes that half of the vehicles it offers in 2030 will feature combustion engines and still be powered by fossil fuels. Let’s hope not.