BMW i5 long-term test: report 11

The Car BMW i5 eDrive40 M Sport Pro Run by Steve Huntingford, editor

Why it’s here To see if BMW’s latest electric car feels special enough to justify its hefty pricing when you live with it day-to-day

Needs to Combine outstanding comfort and refinement with strong performance, an enjoyable drive and a good real-world range

Mileage 6430 List price £77,105 Target Price £71,200 Price as tested £92,570 Test range 284 miles Official range 338 miles

11 August 2024 – Saloon vs SUV

When I was a kid, my father’s company car – which doubled as our main family car – was generally a saloon. And this situation wasn’t unusual; most of my school friends were transported about in traditional four-doors of one sort or another, too.

By contrast, nowadays people with young families generally choose SUVs. But while these are undoubtedly hugely fashionable, are they actually significantly more practical?

Well, as someone who generally prefers my cars low-slung but who also has a seven-year-old daughter, I’ve asked myself this quite a lot. And one of the reasons I chose to run a BMW i5 is to get a definitive answer.

First up, though, I should probably explain why I like cars shaped like the i5, and it has nothing to do with nostalgia – or even aesthetics. Instead, it’s because I value precise handling, yet even the very best SUVs don’t change direction as well as equivalent saloons, due to the former having a higher centre of gravity.

Then there’s the issue of ride comfort. This is often seen as an SUV strength, and in some ways it is, with many of them good at absorbing bumps. Again, though, having a high centre of gravity causes issues, making them more prone to the sort of side-to-side sway that can lead to travel sickness in children (and indeed my wife).

This simply isn’t something I have to worry about in the i5, particularly given that mine is an M Sport Pro car, with stiffened sports suspension. And yet it copes surprisingly well with everything from patchwork Tarmac to potholes.

So, what of practicality? Well, family SUVs do have larger boot openings than saloons, but this is no longer a huge advantage for me, because my daughter is long past the point where we need to cart around a baby buggy.

Similarly, if you have a big dog that needs to travel in the boot, choosing a saloon is obviously a no-no. However, the canine member of my family – Skye the cavapoo – is small enough to ride on the back seat, between my wife and daughter, with the i5 wide enough to make this possible without anyone feeling squashed.

And what of that oft-stated SUV attribute: that they make it easier to strap children into child seats, because you don’t have to bend down so far? Well, here the i5’s electric nature actually gives it an advantage over most petrol and diesel saloons.

You see, the need to fit the drive battery under the floor (a location that also helps lower the car’s centre of gravity) has forced BMW to mount the seats higher than it did in the old 5 Series. But while they're so high in some SUVs that my daughter struggles to climb up into her child seat without help, this isn't the case in the i5. So, here it really does give you the best of both worlds.

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