It is fair to say that the most popular EV on display at AA HQ for staff to test drive as part of our new employee AA Lease Salary Exchange Programme designed in partnership with LeasePlan was this BMW i4 M50. This benefit offers AA employees a simple and affordable way to drive a brand-new electric car for one simple monthly payment that covers everything from tax and insurance to servicing and maintenance, it even covers accident management and breakdown.
Fatal attraction
The initial attraction could have been the fabulous mat colour that looks like a wrap but in fact was an official BMW colour described as Frozen Portimão blue metallic which comes with a £2,985 price tag. It is fair to say that my experience with BMWs has been somewhat limited although I did love my time with the BMW i8 a couple of years ago, even if it was in the snow.
Being an M version, this car does have the BMW sporty look. It has sculptured taillights and the sloping coupe style roof. The door handles are flush with the body. Despite the lack of a proper grill or exhaust It looks like a BMW rather than an electric car probably as it was based on the current 3-series/4-series Gran Coupe underpinnings.
When the AA CEO popped down, this was the car he took out and came back with a big smile on his face.
I loved the look of this car but think, for me, it had more to do with the radical paint job than the shape.
Behind the wheel
Getting behind the wheel the excitement levels rise. The door closes with a decent thud which you don’t get on all EVs. It is snug and sporty. It takes a while to get to grips with the steering wheel as both arms of the inner wheel are full of functional buttons. But the interior looks good, is comfortable with plenty of space and generous door bins.
Hollywood sounds
Pulling away in normal mode you feel and hear the sport. I loved the sound of this car especially in sport mode. It wasn’t until afterwards that I learnt that the Hollywood film composer Hans Zimmer had ‘designed’ these futuristic acoustic sounds. But even though I didn’t know this at the time, it felt like being in a cinema listening to sounds of make-believe movies around Basingstoke. Generally, I miss the engine sound in EVs so to bring in a Hollywood legend to give an electric drive sound penned by the Academy Award winner was an act of genius.
If you don’t like the sound, you get the sound of silence in eco mode but not the Simon and Garfunkel version.
Drive
As is customary this seems to be an ultimate driving machine. You feel fully in control which is not always the case in EVs as sometimes they feel like they are driving themselves.
And yes, it is fast. The 0-60mph is about 3.6 seconds which is easily fast enough. It is responsive and agile to drive. I did flick it into one-pedal mode to experience the extreme regenerative braking. I like this mode in other cars like the Kia EV6 but it really didn’t seem to feel right in the M50, so I flicked out. Perhaps if I was driving in congested urban areas or the carpark on the west side of the M25 it might have been more appropriate.
This car surprised me, and I really enjoyed the drive. For me it has been the only EV that gets close to the pure joy of driving the Porsche Taycan. From me, that is major praise.
This car could appeal to several potential markets as it is both sporty and inside pretty spacious. Depending on your mode you can switch between the smooth drive-in comfort mode to the Zimmer soundtrack in sport mode.
Technical details
- Costs from £64k
- Range 315 miles
- 544 hp
- 470L boot space
- 13 hrs to charge at 7kw
- 30 mins to charge on 150km
- Colour Frozen Portimão blue cost £2,985
Verdict:
I really liked this car much more than I thought I would. The combination of the unique colour and inspired sounds gave it a wow factor that some EVs don’t have. Despite these futuristic features, in many ways the BMW i4 M50 is more akin to driving a great sporty and fast car rather than an electric car. Impressive.