The brand that draws driving enthusiasts keeps true to credo.

LOGICAL outcome from the world’s premium car makers getting serious about electrification is major reduction in model variants - a concept BMW New Zealand has taken to extreme with the latest Five Series. 

That the eighth gen car is the first developed as a fully electric car doesn’t mean it abdicates old ways; there are versions of this ‘G60’ with internal combustion. 

Just not in New Zealand. For us, even the ground-breaking electric selection is optimally slimmed; just one, the more powerful, of two. Body shapes? The wagon alternate to today’s sedan enters production next year … and is also unlikely. 

Five being just one means a best-of-breed M60 xDrive, which ostensibly costs $196,900 but, as presented for this first drive exercise with a tow bar - $2600 but worth considering, as it’ll haul 2000kg - and both options packs ($4700 M Pro and $2300 Comfort), also factory-fitted, is a $206,500 buy-in. That the new M5 out next year internationally, and likely here in 2025, could well cost more is also sobering. That every logical rival for i5 is no less expensive is a salvation of sorts, I suppose, yet it’s another reinforcement of sense that batteries aren’t cheap, at least when included into affluent settings.

Looks-wise, it’s familiar; a traditional three-box silhouette, with a long bonnet, a relatively flat roofline and a sloping boot lid are embedded elements of the Five form, retained here. 

There are subtle visual differentiators to signal i5 as the plug rather than pump-bound type,  including more aerodynamic wheels plus an obviously different grille. 

Which it barely is. While styled traditionally, it's a solid plastic piece set to draw attention after dark if you run Iconic Glow function. That spooky illumination is the only outright flamboyance; everything otherwise is restrained and grown up. All in it’s the epitome of a swank business express, with beautiful detailing and a classy presence.

The affluence enhances inside; this is an utterly upmarket interior that, some hard plastics on the door caps and the plain covering on the back of the front seats (which curiously lack stowage pockets) notwithstanding, makes generous use of high-quality materials. Plenty of faux and actual leather (dare ou to pick the difference) and dark silver metallic-looking trim; wood materials are optional.

The media cars had the CraftedClarity Glass upgrade, which replaces many of the plastic touchpoints on the centre stack with Swarovski cut glass, and a heads-up display that projects important information onto the windscreen to help with navigation.

As standard i5 includes a 17-speaker, 655-watt Bowers and Wilkins stereo, adaptive matrix LED headlights, a panoramic glass roof, Parking Assistant Professional, BMW Connected drive functionality, head-up display, Driving Assistant Professional pack and M High Gloss Shadowline body styling.

The M60 instrumentation and control packaging basically apes that in the preceding i7 limo, so instead of a single, tablet-style central display, you get BMW’s curved, dual-screen setup which integrates both the 14.9-inch infotainment touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital dials into one sleek unit. Having driven an i7 just weeks prior was highly useful, because though BMW has simplified most actions well, it’s a massively bold technology reach.

Still, the dashboard is a much cleaner design than that of the outgoing car, and the sleek touch-sensitive ‘Interaction Bar’ which seamlessly blends in with the ambient lighting and allows the user to change settings such as ventilation, climate control and open the glove box, with colour changes depending on the action you perform, is a show-off’s delight.

Other theatre arrives through it being among a growing count of EVs that relies on a phone app. Digital Key Plus technology turns your Apple or Android smartphone and up to five other people’s into a key to engage a widened span of remote functionalities that run from presetting lights and air con to manoeuvring the car in occupant-less state in and out of tight spots. 

That curved infotainment screen features a new Quick Select menu function that allows you to configure shortcuts to different system features. Take time to ‘learn’ this; the screen is packed with more apps you’d anyone really desiring. You’d likely want to sort them, to mitigate a potential distraction issue. 

In respect to that, in respect to overall ergonomic operability, the BMW plays sensibly; as much as there’s a lot of haptic action, it at least keeps indicator and wiper stalk controls.

All in all, it has as much future-now authority evident in the prime combatants from home turf rivals, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. 

What makes it different to Ingolstadt’s e-tron RS and Stuttgart’s  EQE is that whereas those are utterly designed for electric only, the Munich car is more a dollar each way. 

That approach asks for give and take. For instance, while the  i5 has a decent (490-litre) boot, you don’t get a ‘frunk’ like you do with some rivals.  

Also, that sleekness in silhouette is a bit of a trick of the eye, delivered from the section beneath the door sills being blackened out. That’s the battery of course, which, though slim by industry standards, nonetheless adds an extra layer. As is commonly the case, the inclusion demands a slightly raised floor. You can still sit low, but getting the chair where I wanted it reduced foot room for another ‘me’ sitting behind to point where my size 12s barely squeezed under the base.

Even though the i5 doesn’t have a gearbox or driveshaft, it still has a transmission tunnel for ICE format. So no flat floor and some mid-rear seating position discomfort.

That doesn’t mean it’s a cosy car. But neither is as enlarged inside as you might think it could have been, given that at 5060mm from nose to tail now, it is not only 97mm longer than its G30 predecessor but also takes up the same road space as the 2002-2008 E65 7 series. Width is up 32mm, height rises by 36mm and wheelbase by 20mm. Yet rear leg room increases by 5mm. 

That might suggest this is a progression of familiar form, but in overall sense, that’s not right. In regard to generational change, this latest represents a hyper leap.

Some electric cars stand criticism for being appliances; I’d dare anyone to feel that way after testing-drive this one. 

BMW claims that this generation Five offers the luxury and comfort of a 7 Series and the sportiness of a 3 Series. That demands more consideration, but clearly Munich has gone to great lengths to ensure this particular ‘i’ model meets the ‘driver’s car’ ethos. Chassis, brake and steering calibrations seemed so spot on for this first meeting, there really was very little that didn’t immediately impress.

It needs to be this way, of course. Plenty of surveys show that BMW owners contend it’s the powertrains and driving feel of their cars that are standout ingredients in comparison with others. Accordingly, how well the i5 can convince them to make the biggest change in their motoring lives is utterly vital to ongoing acceptance.

Electrics are great at making light of moving heavy vehicles; but two-point-three tonnes is a fair amount of mass. what’s most singularly pleasing about the i5, then, is that it immediately imparts as being a testament to the skillsets of Munich’s legion of engineers.

No argument, it’s probable the extra weight of the batteries will be noticed.Yet there’s simply no sense of the i5 feeling over-encumbered by having at least a tonne bolted onto the floor’s underside.

Probing for weakness on the public road can only be taken so far. In that circumstance it behaved as if it were nowhere near point where it might cry intolerance. Yet it also lent plenty of vibe that it’s a product that could get even the most one-eyed old school petrolhead intrigued; outright excited even. It’s definitely on a mission to change mindsets. 

Not even when the fellow writer I was partnered with badly misread a corner to point where a LOT of that weight would have been loading onto the outside front tyre. The Five Series has always been good on the dynamic side but, given all that is going on here, this first experience left impression this edition does a really good job of inspiring its driver.

All-wheel-drive and extremely decent P-Zero rubber means grip levels are enormous and agility is clearly helped by Integral Active Steering, or four-wheel steering, which turns up to 2.5 degrees.  But the steering itself is very communicative; no small feat not just because this is more than an electric car, but an all-wheel-drive one, as well.

With the M package, too, the suspension is 8mm lower than the base edition offered elsewhere, and undoubtedly the performance package also leans to a sportier ride. Even so, an air-suspended rear end with adaptive dampers is included as standard and, in all the modes played with, body control remained nicely in check. Never too floaty in the comfort settings; obviously harder - but not to teeth chattering level - in the firmest.

Notwithstanding the optimisation for high-speed driving, exploring the capability of such a muscular drivetrain will ask for respect. I’d approach iffy adhesion circumstances with the caution that would come with hand-feeding a shark, simply because of the performance on hand.

Performance-wise? Well, if you’ve already experienced enthusiast-oriented electrics then you’ll know that smashing the throttle from a low speed or standing start is a incitement to special sensation. 

There’s nothing going on to dispel notion the BMW stopwatch claiming 0-100 in 3.8 seconds is in need of recalibration. Using all it has to offer - Sport mode, then Boost function - for a fast overtake of a couple of truck and trailer units was sensational; in that circumstance you don’t so much light the fuse but detonate the bomb directly. All the blood goes to the back of your body and you feel a bit sick. 

As this is the car representing as a ‘carefully modulated’ ’M’ treatment,  you are left wondering how much more feral the M5 with its PHEV-assisted twin turbo petrol V8 will possibly be?

The i5 doesn’t need to be driven this way. You can run in Eco or some the quirkier relaxation settings that are supposed to make for a more soothing experience. In those the Hans Zimmer-designed Iconic Sound Electric involvements, which demand a sub-menu dive to deactivate, are much less strident and it is more of schmoozy suave sophisticate.

Even so, for some the punch and the price might seem to a point where they might ask why NZ has just this one model, when even Australia, which takes common specification BMWs to ours, achieves three: This flagship, the single motor ’40’ and a 520i, with a 2.0-litre petrol? 

BMW NZ never fully unwrapped that one, but the data it shared kind told a story. Fact is, inasmuch as the Five sedan has certainly imprinted here - not least when became the inaugural New Zealand Car of the Year, in 1988 - it has never penetrated massively in volume count. Just 2760 have sold NZ-new since type arrival in 1986, out of which just 44 added last year. That’s a small population compared to that built up by the platform and powertrain-sharing X5.

By going with the variant that expresses the best it can offer in this new era, BMW makes it easier not just for choice but also cross-shopping, because with the Tesla Model S now gone from the market and the Audi e-tron north of $200k, realistically that $195k AMG seems the only rival they’re considering.

Comparing the two would be a heck of a day out. Ostensibly, AMG-tuning to slightly more seriousness to the BMW package shows in 0-100kmh in 3.1 seconds versus 3.8, and 460kW/950Nm against Munich’s 442kW/880Nm; with Stuttgart also offering a cost extra Dynamic Plus pack that ups its oomph to 505kW/1000Nm. Efficiency-wise, they also seem close- in registering 21.5kWh consumption on this first drive, the BMW was within 0.5kWh of my EQE test outcome.

BMW’s intro day was at a familiar location, Millbrook resort near Arrowtown, taking a largely familiar route. Across the Crown Range to Cromwell, then around the ranges via Cromwell, back through the Kawerau Gorge. 

Side excursion scoots - first up the sealed access road to Coronet Peak, later in the morning out to Treble Cone - added extra flavour and, being all but devoid of traffic, lent best but brief opportunity to explore more of the performance; but basically just a few seconds on the throttle. Otherwise it was driving to conditions and sensibilities; dawdling tourists keeping the traffic stream in check well below posted limits.

Always at back of mind was a factor anyone looking to transition from fossil fuel to electric will ask about. Ours was hardly an efficiency drive, yet it was also not an all-out continuous blast either. 

Having clocked 240 kilometres start to finish in a car that was fully replenished for the trip, it was sobering to see it citing battery life of just 26 percent by journey’s end; with the best of our lot coming home with 30 percent. That latter pairing had, for part of the time, employed the Efficiency Trainer, which offer tips on eco driving if you think your own style is left wanting.

Beyond that, there’s the Max Range Function, which disables all extraneous draws on the battery - most notably the air con - to enhance range, at best by up to 25 percent. It’s a failsafe envisaged for owners who get to a charger, find it’s not accessible, and need to locate another. The car will precondition the battery for faster charging if if it identifies you as having set a waypoint to a charger via the sat nav.

On evidence from our day, the best of the cars likely wouldn’t have had more than 200kms’ range remaining, if driven cautiously. Which conceivably means that as well-meaning as WLTP cited ranges are, the i5’s cited 505km optimal - on the test car’s 21s (with 20s, it’s 516km) - might be extremely elusive in our conditions. 

Then again, perhaps opportunity to run it in a European-style driving setting - cruising at constant speed with minimal throttle alternation or braking - might make a world of difference? That’s a scenario in which the clever aero optimisation word benefit. A flat floor, active vents, air curtains in the wheelarches and aerodynamic alloy wheel designs all contribute to a drag co-efficient of 0.23Cd, which is pretty good for something seems a bit bluff-nosed.

The EQE AMG is even more aero, of course, and has a larger battery; interestingly that car when I road tested in lent more than 400kms’ from a charge.

When it comes to replenishing the i5, there’s the choice of a wallbox, which BMW provisions, but it’s a long, slow drink; 10 to 80 percent requiring 13 hours by brand estimation. 

Hyperchargers are its best friend; the i5 can accept DC ultra-rapid charging at up to 205kW, which makes it a 30 minute job for a full refill, and 186kms’ range onboard in 10 minutes. 

The more prevalent 50kW chargers will require a longer break, but for those moments the car has AirConsole in-car gaming where you can use a smartphone or two as wireless controller for action on the 14.9 inch centre screen.  This utilises local wifi and the latency when playing is reassuringly low.

The writer attended this event as a guest of the distributor, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.