2027 BMW i3 50 xDrive M Sport | PH Review
Over 500 miles of WLTP range and sharp Neue Klasse looks - has BMW built the most desirable EV on sale?
Can we all agree that BMW’s Neue Klasse design language looks fantastic draped over a saloon body? It looks even better in the metal, with its E21-inspired proportions (including a long bonnet and short tail) giving the car a taut appearance even before you add any M Sport details. Sure, at over 4.7 metres in length and more than two metres wide, the NAO-gen i3 is about the same size as an E39 5 Series, but it’s actually slightly more compact than Mercedes’s C-Class Electric. And if you glam things up with a set of 20-inch rims and optional illuminated lipstick around the grilles, the i3 doesn’t look overdone at all. Quite the opposite, actually.
Good design doesn’t always equal good usability in the world of EVs, however, so it’s especially promising to see just how capable – at least on paper – the new i3 is. A peak claimed range of 566 miles that only falls by 20 miles in the 50 xDrive M Sport we’re testing here means this is a battery-powered car that can theoretically go further than a similarly potent petrol one. But no less significant is the fact that service station charging sessions should also be quick, with the kilowatt equivalent of a splash-and-dash meaning 250 miles can be added to the 800-volt EV in just 10 minutes.
Okay, you could easily have the petrol tank of the similarly potent G50 M350 xDrive brimmed with several minutes to spare, but even with some mild hybrid help, that car’s turbocharged B58 can only eke out 449 WLTP miles between fuel stops. Suffice it to say, those who spend life hammering up and down the motorway with a company credit card might actually find themselves more inconvenienced in the ICE machine. While inevitably those who charge at home will find the i3, even with its bigger 108.7kWh battery, vastly cheaper to run. You could therefore say that, on paper at least, the i3 looks a bit like an old 320i.
Although unlike one of BMW’s four-banger 3s, this sensible option has some serious inboard muscle. The 50 xDrive launched first has 463hp from its twin-motor setup, meaning it can hit 62mph in 4.7 seconds and power onto a 124mph top speed. Admittedly, like with the iX3, the Launch Edition version of the i3 doesn’t have BMW’s optional adaptive dampers, but with two-inch smaller wheels, not to mention almost 80kg less kerbweight than the M Sport Pro-spec SUV that jiggled us over UK tarmac in March, it ought to fare a little better out of the box.
The Neue Klasse interior’s good and bad bits are carried over from the iX3 into the i3, with the brilliant projected display that spans the dash top being an aesthetic and (occasionally) practical advantage. Those of us who thought BMW’s previous steering wheel designs (specifically the slimmer-rimmed, non-M ones) close to perfect may find the oval-shaped and odd-centred new one a little OTT (to say the least). But our 50 - you'll have to take our word for it; the press pics show a different car - comes with a more subtle design, which looks okay against the dark leathers and fabrics wrapped over the interior’s panels.
Because almost all of the car’s ancillaries are controlled through the screen, as with the iX3, everything takes a second longer than it would have in previous-gen models. Don’t get me wrong, the tech is brilliantly fast and intuitive to use, but it’s another example of screens replacing physical controls that we could have done without. Mind you, the seating position is typically BMW, meaning the main controls tend to fit like a glove. Inevitably, you can’t get as low as you can in petrol Beemers, but it still feels right.
With no start-up procedure, you only need to press the brake to awaken the tech, flick the drive selector into D and you're away. The steering is light but pleasingly accurate, and the accelerator pedal offers acutely precise control over the 50 xDrive’s twin motors. Clicking into B mode provides similarly intuitive servings of regenerative braking. Like in the SUV, this i3 passes the 50-metre test with ease. You feel like you’re in tune with it almost immediately.
The ride, even on the Launch Edition’s passive dampers, is supple enough to deal with B-road bumps and village speed humps alike. Pick up the pace and body control – no doubt helped by the lower centre of gravity of a saloon car with its heaviest bits in the floor – is very good, with pitch and roll measured and confidence-inspiring. Sure, if you start to chuck it about or stamp on the anchors, the i3 will move about on its springs, but it’s still only a single stroke of damper away from sorting things out.
And don’t forget, the 50 xDrive is an all-wheel-drive car with 476lb ft of instantaneously available torque, so while the M GmbH involvement in this one is limited to a few badges and wheels, it’ll provide kicks of power oversteer on demand. Even with the ESC set to Sport in the tipping rain, it’s playful and eager to move about, while never being snappy or unpredictable. Power can be delivered with a thump, but the Michelin Primacy 5s have no trouble in charging you onwards. BMW’s spaceship-aping EV sounds, subtly increasing with throttle input and speed, only add to the occasion.
Given that this isn’t actually a performance variant, it’s great to discover just how naturally sporting the chassis – even without adaptive dampers – feels on an autumnal UK road. Sure, the steering lacks feel like all EVs this side of Porsches, but it feels sweetly weighted with no unnecessary resistance. The throttle, brakes and regen all let you flow down a road, while the suspension lets the car breathe at pace. For a one-size-fits-all passive set-up, that must deal with more than two tonnes of EV, it's impressively well configured for the UK. Sure, it's no teleportation device, but probably that's a good thing: it’s more than quick enough to entertain without giving you a headache. It feels polished – and nothing like a first-gen model.
Our test is too short to really gauge what real-world range is like, but in a 30-min mixed-road stint at normal road speeds, we saw four miles per kilowatt hour, equating to around 430 miles. That’s well short of the on-paper range, but almost all EVs suffer the same in the WLTP-meets-real-world conversion. And don’t forget, that's still enough mileage to get you from London to Edinburgh with kilowatts to spare, which isn’t bad going.
At any rate, this is just the beginning of the i3's stint as BMW range mainstay, and it suggests right off the bat that its fundamental abilities are very much up to snuff - certainly enough for us to feel optimistic about the 600hp-plus M60 and full-blown M3 still to come. But even if your budget or company car list only allows for a base-spec i3, knowing there’s class-leading range and rapid charge times - and no little amount of performance or dynamic finesse - means that the model is very much already in the running for the most appealing new EV on the market. Talk about a chip off the 3 Series block.
SPECIFICATION | BMW i3 50 xDrive M Sport First Edition
Engine: twin electric motors, 108.7kWh usable battery
Transmission: single-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 463
Torque (lb ft): 476
0–62mph: 4.7secs
Top speed: 124mph
Weight: 2,280kg (unladen)
Efficiency: 4.44 miles / kWh
Electric range: 456 miles
Price: £56,900 (price as tested: £63,237.50)
I feel a bit silly saying it but I’m a bit surprised by the 0-60, not because 4.7 seconds is slow at all, but this thing has 463hp, which seems like an awful lot of power. Kind of expected it to accelerate quicker.
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