The new BMW i5 Touring picks up where the old 5 Series Touring left off - being one of the most impressive all-round cars on the market. It even has decent (if variable) range and thanks to a 1,200km test drive, we really know...
In the metal
BMW has managed to steal a march on its Bavarian rival Audi, by getting this i5 Touring to the market while the A6 e-tron Avant - which really should have been on sale by now - remains delayed.
Is that a vindication of BMW’s long-standing decision to develop its electric cars using the same platforms as its combustion-engined models? Possibly so - you will be able to buy this 5 Series Touring estate with petrol and plug-in hybrid power as well, and some markets will even get diesel options - though not Ireland.
To turn the i5 saloon into the i5 Touring, BMW has done... not all that much, actually. The Touring retains the same exterior dimensions as the four-door (making it a lengthy five-metre-plus car), with only the longer roof and the extra glazing to make it an estate. Irish buyers might well remain unmoved, estate-haters, but in Germany the Touring is still a big seller for BMW, with interest in this model out-stripping that for the saloon.
In terms of practicality, the Touring expands the i5’s boot capacity from 490 litres for the saloon to 570 litres here. The back seats flip easily forward - just tug the handles inside the boot - leaving a flat load space, a low loading lip and a useful 1,700 litres of total space. There’s some especially useful underfloor storage for your charging cables and a retracting luggage blind. Impressively, the plug-in hybrid 530e and 550e retain the same 570-litre boot as this i5.
The Touring, unsurprisingly, shares the saloon’s 2,995mm wheelbase which means that space in the back is more generous than you might expect, while the extra length of the roof and the extra rear glazing help in that regard, although it brightens the rear cabin if you’ve specified the optional 1.2-metre glass roof. Rear legroom and headroom are excellent, though, and the i5 Touring only suffers slightly from having a high-set rear cabin floor.
Up front, it’s identical to the saloon, which means you get a handsome and beautifully made cabin with great front seats. It’s a largely practical cabin, too, with good door bins, generous cupholders and wireless phone charging, but the storage box under the front butterfly armrest is a bit shallow.
The big digital screens look great and are mostly good to use. Certainly, BMW has got its menus and layouts better figured out than some, and the graphics look expensive and enticing. However, we still always think it’s a mistake to put all the climate controls on the screen, even if the main temperature and seat heating (and cooling, in our test car) buttons remain visible all the time. Equally, it’s very annoying when the driver attention monitor beeps angrily at you when you’re trying to use the screen, which it does often. Using the rotary iDrive controller helps in that regard, and when it comes to keeping your eyes on the road the excellent head-up display is just as useful.
Driving it
The i5 eDrive40 Touring comes with an 81kWh (net) battery and a 340hp electric motor driving the rear wheels. That’s a combo that allows BMW to quote a 560km range on one charge (slightly down on that of the saloon, but still impressive) but the way it deploys that range is quite variable depending on how and where you’re driving, as in all EVs.
We took an i5 Touring from the launch in Munich to Dublin, via a ferry from Cherbourg. On the 1,270km route the i5 didn’t have as much range as would have been ideal, but there are some mitigating circumstances.
For instance - a failed charger at our overnight halt near Strasbourg meant having to charge on a public fast charger the following morning, which didn’t help matters. On a full charge, at motorway speeds (and in France that means 130km/h) the i5 Touring will need recharging after about 380-400km. You might be able to stretch it a bit further, but then you’re into tactics such as turning off the air conditioning or slipstreaming behind trucks.
In France - with its excellent fast-charging DC network (most that we visited had more than ten charging points, many of them capable of 300kW, and the smallest still had two 300kW chargers and two 50kW points and at no point had we to queue nor deal with a broken charger; Ireland, are you paying attention?) - that’s not so bad, and we decided the best way to do the journey, and leave enough charge left for the last leg on the Irish side of the ferry connection, was to dash in 200-250km sprints, and fast charge often to 80 per cent power.
The i5 Touring took all of that in its stride, but another 50km or so of useable range would not have gone astray. In more mixed driving, taking in some country roads and urban routes, the i5 Touring seemed capable of putting around 500km between charges, which is a bit more like it. On our journey, our average energy use worked out at 20kWh/100km which isn’t bad, and largely reflective of the extended high-speed motorway running. Our test car’s 21-inch alloy wheels and wide low-profile tyres probably didn’t help.
Thankfully, the battery does recharge at a very rapid 205kW maximum on DC power, which we saw on most of the charges we did, even if it does tail off quite quickly after an initial burst. On AC charging, as standard, the i5 charges at 7.4kW but that can be expanded to 11kW and, depending on the model, even 22kW.
Get it onto a twisty road, and the i5 Touring responds like a true BMW. It is a hearty car, tipping the scales at almost 2,300kg, but the beautifully weighted steering and classical BMW 50:50 weight distribution means that it feels more engaging than that heft would suggest. On fast, sweeping country roads it feels imperious, but also just a touch playful. It’s only on slower, tighter turns that you are reminded of the weight and the length.
The ride quality is exceptionally good, even on those 21-inch rims, and noise suppression and refinement are up there with the best, which made even our long drive entirely relaxed (the excellent Harmon/Kardon stereo didn’t hurt in that respect either).
Given that range was our priority, we didn’t use the ‘Boost’ paddle behind the wheel all that much, but with 400Nm of torque even without it (Boost mode ups the maximum torque to 430Nm for ten seconds at a time, giving you a big countdown in the speedo) the i5 eDrive40 never feels as if it’s lacking in performance. You could always upgrade to the 601hp i5 M60 model, of course...
BMW has fitted the i5 Touring with some impressive driver assistance systems too, including the Highway Assistant which in theory (and currently only in Germany, the US and Canada) allows you to take your hands off the wheel (but not your eyes off the road) for extended periods of time. In practice, this system is arguably more trouble than it’s worth, as it struggles to watch your eyes with the driver attention monitor if you’re wearing polarised sunglasses, and it’s hyper-sensitive to movements of your head. Even a tiny glance out of a side window can send the system into angry paroxysms. Much better is the standard adaptive cruise control, which automatically adjusts for changing speed limits, and which was only occasionally caught out by incorrect sign monitoring on our long journey.
What you get for your money
The BMW i5 Touring is in no-one’s estimation a cheap car, but the lofty €85,595 price tag for the most affordable Sport Edition version is not so outrageous as it once might have seemed. Standard equipment includes the big, curved digital dashboard, two-zone climate control, wireless phone charging, synthetic leather upholstery, Driving Assistant, Parking Assistant, 19-inch alloy wheels, the Harmon/Kardon stereo, heated front seats, ambient cabin lighting and adaptive LED headlights. It’s perilously easy to spec this car up to well over six figures, however,
Summary
Oh, for 50km more real-world range. If the i5 Touring had but that, I think I would be reaching for the ‘P’ section of the dictionary to make sure I was spelling ‘perfect’ correctly. To be fair, in more mixed conditions and for most motorists it has plenty of range, and it charges up quickly and reliably too. In every other aspect, the i5 Touring is a proper star - engaging to drive, comfortable, refined, roomy, practical and with seriously elevated levels of quality. Not cheap, but definitely worth it. And so much better than an SUV.
