BMW i4 Review & Prices

The BMW i4 is like a 4 Series from a decade in the future. It shares a very similar outline, but uses all-electric power and has a slightly bolder design, as well as having a more advanced interior.

It certainly won’t fade into the background, as BMW has fitted the huge kidney grille from the 4 Series Gran Coupe that the i4 is based on.

In the cabin, the i4 has a plush finish to match other BMW models – it definitely feels more upmarket in here than a Tesla Model 3, and can match a Polestar 2. Entry-level models come with cloth seat trim as standard, but leather is also on offer for those wanting a high-end feel.

Regardless, it’s a well-built and neatly designed cabin, but the infotainment is the star of the show and features the impressive curved display combining the 12.3-inch instrument and 14.9-inch infotainment screens in one sleek unit.

Compared to the 4 Series Gran Coupe, it’s 6mm taller and sits 15mm closer to the road – but remains mostly the same.

Taller passengers may struggle to fit in the rear due to the sloping roof line, but knee room is decent. As it’s based on a conventional fuel-powered car, there isn’t a flat floor in the footwell, so fitting three adults in will be a struggle. However, the door openings are a good size and it is more than comfortable enough.

You’ll be happy to hear that it’s quite spacious in the boot, with the hatchback tailgate opening up to provide a roomy load space. The rear seats fold down to reveal a flat floor, too.

Usable battery capacity of the i4 is 80.7kWh, which for the entry-level eDrive40 Sport means a claimed range of up to 366 miles. That version comes with a 340hp rear-mounted electric motor setup that also produces 430Nm.

The top-spec i4 M50 version – which was developed by BMW's M division – is fitted with two electric motors. With one fitted on each axle, the M50 comes with four-wheel drive and has a stout 544hp and 795Nm on tap. Claimed range is reduced to up to 318 miles, though.

Whichever i4 you want, performance isn’t an issue. Even the eDrive40 models can do the sprint to 62mph in 5.7 seconds. But if you want brutal electric acceleration, the M50 gets to 62mph in 3.9 seconds (we bettered that in our video, however). Top speed is 140mph, though, rather than the usual 155, because the range of an EV really suffers at high speed.

In town, the i4 feels very comfortable over bumps and cracks in the surface thanks to air suspension at the rear, and it’s pretty nimble as well. M50 models come with adaptive suspension for further comfort, meaning that even the higher-performance model can deal nicely with poorer surfaces.

As standard, the i4 features adaptive cruise control and a reversing camera – making driving on the motorway and parking much simpler respectively. Refinement is also excellent throughout the i4 line-up, with only tyre noise making an impression.

If the i4 sounds like the model for you, check out our deals page to see what price you can get for this stylish electric four-door. If you're interested in waiting to see some used examples of the BMW i4 then head over to our used BMW i4 page.

Electric cars tend to cost more than similar petrol and diesel models, and premium-badged cars are pricier than those from humble brands. So it’s no great surprise that the i4 is more expensive to buy than the conventionally powered BMW 3 Series and 4 Series Gran Coupe on which it’s based, or electric models like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 or the Kia EV6.

The cheapest route to i4 ownership is the eDrive40 Sport, but even this costs well over £50,000. Go for the range-topping M50 and the price is north of £65,000. That makes it a bit more expensive than the Tesla Model 3, which is tough competition for the i4.

Quick, quiet, and comfortable, but not as exciting as a BMW M3

In town

The BMW i4 works well around town, and not just because, as an electric car, it produces no exhaust emissions. Whether you go for the eDrive 40 or the M50, the i4 is very lively from a standing start and will leap towards any gap in traffic. It’s just as happy to be driven gently, with a smoother ride than the Tesla Model 3.

Something you’ll really notice if the i4 is your first experience of an electric car is just how quiet it is. With no engine noise you slip through urban traffic in hushed comfort.

Slip the transmission into ‘B’ instead of ‘D’ and the car increases the level of regenerative braking, capturing energy that would otherwise be lost when slowing down. In this setting you can almost ignore the brake and drive with one pedal, as the car will come to a complete stop using regenerative braking alone.

If you had to pick holes in the way the i4 drives around town, you’d say that all-round visibility could be better. The slinky four-door coupe looks are matched to a low-down driving position, so you’ll see out more easily if you choose an electric SUV instead.

On the motorway

Leave town behind and head out on the motorway, and the i4 is right at home. If anything, the quiet of the cabin is even more impressive at high speed, with just some road noise for company. There’s hardly any whine from the electric motor (or motors if you drive the M50) and very little wind noise.

Whether you are driving the eDrive 40 or the M50, there’s more than enough performance to accelerate quickly after being stuck behind slower traffic, and adaptive cruise control makes for a relaxed drive, even when the road is busy.

The BMW is very comfortable on the motorway – it’s much less fidgety than a Tesla Model Y’s, for example – so long journeys in the i4 are something to look forward to.

On a twisty road

Like most electric cars, the BMW i4 is heavy. Most of the time it disguises this bulk well, but when you get to a winding country road you do notice that the i4 needs more persuasion to change direction than the likes of a BMW M3. Some more feel from the steering wouldn’t go amiss, either.

That said, you can still enjoy driving the i4. The big tyres grip the road tenaciously and there’s very little lean when cornering.

Even the eDrive 40 is very quick indeed, while the M50’s acceleration is positively savage. While the entry-level car is rear-wheel drive, the faster model sends power to all four wheels, which helps get its power to the road in wet weather.

A decent boot size, but the i4 isn't the roomiest in the back

As a four-door coupe, the i4 tries to balance style and practicality. It’s never going to be as practical as a regular saloon, hatchback, or SUV, but for the most part it does a decent job of being roomy and good looking.

You’ll have no complaints in the front, where there’s plenty of legroom, sufficient headroom, and a really high standard of fit and finish. The car’s hefty price tag doesn’t weigh so heavily when you look at the curved twin-screens and the excellent materials used throughout.

There’s enough storage in the front of the cabin to keep most owners happy, with door bins big enough for a large bottle of water. There’s also a roomy bin beneath the driver’s arm rest, and twin cupholders at the base of the centre console.

You sit low to the ground with the seat on its lowest setting, which feels right in such a sporty car. It can be raised higher if you find that more comfortable. In fact, with a good range of adjustment to the seat and wheel, drivers of most shapes and sizes should be able to find a sound and supportive seating position. Front lumbar support comes as part of the optional Comfort Plus Pack or, more affordably, as an individual option.

Space in the back seats

More and more modern electric cars are built from the ground up to be electric and electric only. That’s not the case with the i4, which leads to certain compromises. Because it shares underpinnings with the 3 Series, there needs to be room for a regular engine, transmission, and fuel tank for models that don’t have batteries and an electric motor. Hence the big transmission tunnel, which gets in the way a bit if three try to sit in the back.

Legroom is okay for adults, so long as the driver and the passenger sat behind them aren’t too tall. However, headroom is a bit tight – blame the sloping roofline. There are ISOFIX points for mounting child seats.

Boot space

Keep the back seats upright and there’s 470 litres of luggage room. Lift the hatchback and there’s a wide opening for loading up, and only a slight lip to load items over. On the other hand, the parcel shelf is a solid unit that doesn’t lift with the hatchback, although you can always take it out if it gets in the way.

Fold the seats down and that space increases to 1,290 litres, and the seat backs lie almost flat. However, you do need to use the catches on the top of the back seat – there’s no lever to pull by the tailgate.

The back seats split 60/40, and there’s a central hatch to open if you want to carry long items like skis as well as passengers.

Lift the boot floor and you’ll find space for the charging cables. Just remember to get them out before you pack if you’re going on a long journey and will need to recharge on route.

Impressive tech in a stylish cabin, although no separate climate control buttons any more

The outside of the car, with its big kidney grille, isn’t everyone’s pint of pilsner. But you’ll struggle to find anyone who slides behind the driver’s seat of the i4 and isn’t impressed.

The dash is dominated by twin screens that curve around the driver to give the appearance of one huge display. We defy you to see them light up for the first time and not say ‘wow!’

Directly in front of the driver in place of conventional dials sits a 12.3-inch screen, which the driver can customise to their heart’s content. To the left is the larger 14.9-inch infotainment screen, which is as sharp and clear as any high-end smartphone’s. The whole twin-screen set-up – Live Cockpit Plus in BMW-speak – runs on the BMW Operating System 8.

You can use voice control, or rather you can try to. We’ve found this part of the infotainment system needs a bit more work. Otherwise, the latest version of BMW’s iDrive is the slickest yet, with a choice of touching the screen or using the iDrive rotary controller to move between menus and make selections. The iDrive control is less distracting on the move, and saves smudging fingerprints all over that expensive-looking touchscreen.

Perhaps the only area in which BMW’s infotainment has taken a backwards step is in moving the air con controls to the bottom of the screen rather than having separate buttons.

If you prefer Apple or Android’s way of doing things to BMW’s, the infotainment is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and as you’d expect of a recent infotainment system, BMW Operating System 8 is compatible with over-air software updates.

Everything you can see or touch in the cabin is of a high quality, from the materials used on the top of the dash to the seat upholstery. A mix of Alcantara and Sensatec is standard on Sport and M Sport models, although the M50 comes with leather included in the price.

Every BMW i4 is an electric vehicle, so there are no exhaust emissions at all. That’s good for the environment and for your tax bill if you are a company car driver, as the i4 sits in the 2% benefit-in-kind tax bracket for the 2022/23 tax year. If your employer offers you the keys to the i4, your monthly tax bill will cost much the same as a takeaway for four.

For private buyers, there’s no Vehicle Excise Duty to pay when the car is first registered or in later years, as a tax break to encourage more drivers to choose electric vehicles.

Whether you go for the single-motor eDrive 40 or the twin-motor M50, both cars come with the same 83.9 kWh battery. The less powerful eDrive 40 stretches each kWh further than the M50, for an official range of up to 366 miles in Sport spec. That drops to a maximum of 352 miles if you go for the M Sport spec with its larger wheels.

The M50 consumes electricity more quickly, dropping the range to 258-318 miles.

In isolation those are long distances, but it’s worth noting that the Tesla Model 3 Long Range can cover up to 374 miles.

In practice, you’ll need a gentle right foot and warm weather to get close to those figures. In winter, batteries don’t like the chilly conditions and so the real-world range will drop, as is the case with all EVs.

You should be able to top-up the batteries very quickly, thanks to a maximum charging speed of 150kW.

The i4 has been tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP and came away with a four-star rating out of five. That’s pretty good, but you get the feeling BMW’s engineers will be kicking themselves that the car didn’t earn the full five stars.

Every i4 comes with Driving Assistant. This package uses camera and radar sensors to give the driver warnings and reduce the chance of a collision.

As an optional extra, Driving Assistant Professional adds no fewer than 11 extra driver aids.

Every i4 comes with a tyre repair kit rather than a spare wheel, which may not bother you in the slightest, but could be a deal-breaker for some drivers.

It’s very early days to make a firm judgement about the BMW i4’s reliability. What we can say is that electric cars in general tend to be more reliable than cars with internal combustion engines, as there are fewer moving parts to go wrong.

BMW generally sits in the middle of the field in reliability and owner satisfaction surveys, although that does tend to vary from model to model.

From new, the i4 comes with a three-year unlimited mileage warranty, or eight years and 100,000 miles in the case of cover for the high-voltage battery.