Our favourite cars of 2023: BMW i4 M50
2 mins read
25 December 2023
I didn’t start out liking this car as much as I now do.
I’d done quite a lot of miles in its lower-powered sibling, the BMW i4[1] eDrive40 M Sport, which has only one electric motor, not two, and packs about 200bhp less than the 540bhp of the twin-engined M50.
I’d also read what my colleagues said about the various i4 versions – that the rear-drive 40 is better balanced, lighter and for practical purposes just as quick – and accepted it.
My own drive experience in the 40 showed that it rode and steered far better than most 2.3-tonne EV saloons and had bags of poke. What use was all that extra traction and power?
Then came news that four Cornish motor clubs were combining to stage their annual hillclimb on public roads between Newquay and Watergate Bay and were accepting entries from stock electric cars[2].
Immediately, I thought about the i4 40. Then, deploying my mighty three decades’ experience of hillclimbing (lots of events, practically no success), it dawned on me that choosing a version whose 0-60mph time is 3.9sec instead of my chosen model’s 5.5sec would be an easy way of moving myself up the results.
So I opted for the slightly nose-heavier M50. It was a great decision.
In a 600-mile weekend, driving to and from Cornwall, I experienced the car in economy cruise mode (range: 300 miles) but also flat out and close to the limit in public racetrack corners.
With the air-con on and the hi-fi playing quietly, I beat three-quarters of a field packed with louder, more conventional race-prepared cars.
The acceleration was bullet-like, but the brakes and steering were right up to that mark (a rarity in today’s routinely fast EVs).
Best of all, the car could cruise economically and its ride comfort was fully comparable to that of a petrol BMW 4 Series[3].
For some reason, most EVs don’t ride well at lower speeds. Their suspensions have trouble coping with the extra mass, either wallowing a lot or controlling the heavy body with stiff springs and ineffectual dampers.
This car was different. It rode like a BMW. I’d have been happy with it as a daily driver but didn’t get the chance. Within a week or two, it was de-fleeted and sold. Lucky for someone, too bad for me.
Steve Cropley
Title: Editor-in-chief
Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business.
Cropley, who regards himself as the magazine’s “long stop”, has seen many changes since Autocar was a print-only affair, but claims that in such a fast moving environment he has little appetite for looking back.
He has been surprised and delighted by the generous reception afforded the My Week In Cars podcast he makes with long suffering colleague Matt Prior, and calls it the most enjoyable part of his working week.
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