Ion fist ina velvet glove
The brutally fast BMW i4 M50 is the closest thing to an electric BMW M3, but has a flaw
Lately BMW has taken two distinct approaches to its electric vehicles — something like the big and bold ix is a continuation of the spirit of the original i3, which was a radical departure from BMW norms.
BMW’S second approach is far more traditional, with the likes of the ix3 and i4 being simply electric versions of more run-of-the-mill ICE cars from the company’s line-up, with the ix3 obviously being an electric X3, while the i4 is an electric version of the 4 Series Gran Coupe.
The i4 brings all the expected dynamic excellence of a 4 Series along with the silent, silky-smooth effortlessness of a BEV.
Inside it is very much a modern BMW, with high quality materials and excellent build quality, but the huge screen (well, two screens cleverly pretending to be one . . .) that dominates the dash marks it out as something a bit more special.
Under that 4 Series skin lies an 83.9kwh battery with a Wltptested range up to 465km with electric motors front and rear. But because this is essentially an electrified ICE model and the extra electric bits and pieces have to go where the engine used to go, there’s no frunk.
Still, this particular i4 has an allimportant letter stuck on its rump that also denotes something even more special. Namely, an M.
The M50 is the hottest version of the i4 you can currently get, with AWD courtesy of two electric motors and some serious shove. Like its ICE equivalents, the fact that there are two numbers following the M means it isn’t quite a full-blown M car (they only get one; M3, M4, etc), but the fact it pumps out a healthy 400kw/795nm and will rocket to
100km/h in 3.9 seconds means it isn’t far off.
In fact, the i4 M50 is more powerful than the roughly equivalent M3 Competition xdrive (AWD, four-doors) which “only” packs 375kw/650nm; although it is slightly slower to 100km/h (the M3 does it in 3.5 seconds) by virtue of the fact that it weighs a fairly hefty 435kg more, thanks to its batteries.
But that extra weight melts into insignificance when you hammer the throttle in the M50 and it smashes forward at what can honestly be described as “an alarming rate”.
The M50 is brutally, violently fast off the line, with the same sort of internal-organ rearranging force of a Tesla Model 3 Performance, but with the dynamic polish of a BMW.
And, yes, it even has a distinct RWD bias to its aggressive performance, with the rear regularly giving an enthusiastic wag out of corners or under heavy acceleration. This is clearly intentional, as there is no reason an AWD BEV would do this, except purely for fun. Kudos to BMW for that.
The steering is as sharply accurate and communicative as most modern BMWS and the extra weight is not really all that noticeable in the real world.
So, brutally fast, impressively agile and highly equipped, the BMW i4 is pretty much the perfect BEV, right?
Well, not quite, as there is one fly in that ointment in the form of the i4’s Euro NCAP safety rating. When the 3 and 4 Series were tested back in 2019 they breezed through with full five-star ratings, but when the i4 went through the system three years later, it only scored a disappointing four stars.
Why? Well, while the i4 uses the same safety assists as the 3 and 4 Series, three years makes a difference as NCAP testing has got tougher in that time.
Basically, the i4 is as safe as the ICE variants, it’s just that they probably wouldn’t get five stars now either.
Whether that actually bothers you or not is subjective, but it is a strange oversight from BMW that it got caught out; you shouldn’t really be caught out by shifting goalposts if they are always moving at a constant speed in the same direction.
And it could well be quite a costly oversight too, considering the i4 smacks right up against the Tesla Model 3, which is widely considered to be one of the safest cars in its segment, and the Polestar 2, from a relatively new brand that sprang from the loins of safety pioneer Volvo.
But the i4 M50 is a truly fantastic car to throw down a winding road, which neither of those competitors can claim quite as convincingly.