You might not need the 536-horsepower BMW i4 M50, but the BMW i4 eDrive35 could be right for you when you want an enjoyable electric BMW sedan.
It’s not often in your daily driving that you need a highly powerful monster of a car. The much tamer 282 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque coming from the BMW i4 eDrive35 might be more than enough for your daily journey. This version of the i4 has a small 68.7-kWh battery pack to give you 276 miles of driving range, which makes it a good option for your daily drive.
Here are a few things you’ll want to know about the i4, based on Greg Rasa from Autoblog.com driving it for a week.
There’s more than enough power
You won’t ever think of this version of the i4 as a fast and exciting car, but it is good enough to get you up to highway speed pretty quickly. This base model can hit 60 mph in 5.8 seconds, which is adequate for a luxury car. You might even think the car feels faster than expected when you get behind the wheel.
The lights are really cool
BMW created an incredible environment that can be admired at night when you drive this electric sedan. You’ll see LED piping in most of the cervices in the cabin, giving you a wonderful blue glow. This makes the BMW i4 eDrive35 an attractive car with a gorgeous cabin. When a door is opened, the piping in that door changes to red. This is said to be a safety feature, but it’s more of an attention-grabbing item for this incredible car.
BMW’s regenerative braking is impressive
One of the toughest things for most drivers to get used to is the regenerative braking system of a hybrid or electric vehicle. Generally, this system feels strange and foreign, but not in the BMW i4. In this car, the system works adaptively, like a modern cruise control system, capturing energy while slowing without feeling jarring or odd. This makes the BMW EV feel much better than other vehicles while capturing some of the braking energy. There is an option to handle your braking manually and capture more energy, but you might like the way this system feels.
This car is made for people
The BMW i4 eDrive35 is a luxury sedan with a liftback body style. This means it’s an elongated hatchback with lots of cargo room behind the rear seats. It has thigh extenders, which any driver can appreciate, an impressive Harman Kardon stereo upgrade that you’re sure to enjoy, and attractive metallic interior trim. You’ll see a curved display that looks great and gives you the readings you need when you get behind the wheel and take a drive.
The voice assistant is great
The voice assistant feature found inside this BMW is excellent. It understands your inputs and questions, making it easy to adjust climate and audio settings on the go. You could have a chat with this system and gain vehicle information and display changes without ever taking your eyes off the road. This should make driving a little safer and easier for you. Additionally, you won’t need to learn the complex BMW infotainment system when you can simply talk to it.
HUD symbols
Some of the symbols you’ll see on your head-up display will confuse you inside the BMW i4 eDriv35. These symbols seem to be communicating something, but it’s not entirely certain what that might be. It shouldn’t be too surprising that a German luxury car has symbols that you won’t understand unless you read the owner’s manual, which you certainly should. Thankfully, if you get in and start driving, these symbols seem to be ignorable, and they can be turned off if you can figure out how to do this.
At-home charging takes a while
Using a Level 2 at-home charger, you’ll need as much as 12 hours to charge the i4 to 100%. Of course, most EVs aren’t supposed to be charged to 100% all of the time, which means it should take less time to reach the recommended 80% full charge when you use your at-home charger. You might not need to charge your i4 more than once or twice per week, which makes it easy to enjoy a convenient charging system, although slower than a DC fast-charger, in your garage.
The BMW i4 eDrive35 has more than enough of what you want to experience the qualities of driving a luxury electric car. Will this be the EV you drive and enjoy every day?
