BMW i4 review

From £51,3708

Munich’s mid-sized EV sports saloon gets an all-new range-topper

The BMW i4 might well have gone underneath the radar of a great many EV buyers when it first appeared back in 2021, when premium car makers were mostly busy producing zero-emissions SUVs. BMW’s own electric hopes were pinned on the high-rise iX and more accessible iX3.

Sheltered somewhat from scrutiny, however, Munich’s first all-electric saloon has now survived into middle age – receiving a couple of packaged revisions since we road tested one back in 2022. Time to catch up with exactly where those overhauls have left it, then. Four years is a long time, of course, especially given the pace of EV tech development during that time. So could this car’s shadowy waiting game have finally paid off?

The BMW i4 line-up at a glance

The BMW i4 can now be had in three different guises: the less powerful, single-motor, rear-wheel-drive eDrive35 and eDrive40, and the M-flavoured M60 xDrive tested here, which gets an extra motor on the front axle for 4WD. Other markets get a twin-motor xDrive40, but not the UK.

Sport, M Sport and M Sport Pro trims are available below the M Performance-branded M60.

New BMW i4 cars in stock

 BMW I4 40 83.9kWh Sport Gran Coupe Auto EDrive 5dr opens in a new tab
£49,995
 BMW I4 M60 83.9kWh Gran Coupe Auto 4WD 5dr opens in a new tab
£65,750
 BMW I4 40 83.9kWh M Sport Gran Coupe Auto EDrive 5dr opens in a new tab
£55,315
 BMW I4 M50 83.9kWh Gran Coupe Auto 4WD 5dr opens in a new tab
£64,390
 BMW I4 35 70.2kWh M Sport Gran Coupe Auto EDrive 5dr opens in a new tab
£49,990
 BMW I4 35 70.3kWh M Sport Gran Coupe Auto EDrive 5dr opens in a new tab
£48,495
 BMW I4 35 70.3kWh M Sport Gran Coupe Auto EDrive 5dr opens in a new tab
£47,900
 BMW I4 40 83.9kWh M Sport Gran Coupe Auto EDrive 5dr opens in a new tab
£52,995
 BMW I4 40 83.9kWh M Sport Gran Coupe Auto EDrive 5dr opens in a new tab
£60,965
View all 18 cars

Advertisement

DESIGN & STYLING

8
BMW i4 2026 002

The i4 was effectively developed as an electric twin of the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé pseudo-saloon – which is why, in BMW speak, both of those cars share the same model codename: G26. The EV uses an adapted take on the ‘Cluster Architecture’ model platform that is found under most of Munich’s mid- and full-size cars, made of a mix of high-strength steel and aluminium.

The car was launched in 2021 with a 81.3kWh battery and a choice of a single rear motor or dual motors for four-wheel drive. In the second half of 2022, BMW added an eDrive35 entry-level version with 67.1kWh of usable battery capacity and 282bhp of power. That version remains available now, alongside the longer-range, more powerful single-motor eDrive40. All i4s now get silicon-carbide power inverters, however, which boost the official range to up to 380 miles (depending on optional specification and wheel size).

The i4 has the same controversial kidney grille as the 4 Series Gran Coupé, in this case useful for housing the car’s array of sensors. In eDrive40 trim, it’s rigged in blue, but the M60 gets the more menacing treatment.
Richard Lane
Deputy road test editor

At the top of the model range comes our particular focus of attention: an i4 M60 xDrive performance variant to replace the old M50 xDrive. In addition to the new inverters, this version gets peak power extended from 537bhp to 593bhp, although peak torque remains the same, at 586lb ft.

All i4s come with fully independent axles, with coil springs fitted at the front wheels and self-levelling air suspension at the rear. Adaptive dampers and variable-rate steering are optional on lesser models but come as standard on the specially tuned M60. Uprated M Sport brakes are a cost option that our test car had.

Our i4 M60 xDrive weighed 2231kg on the proving ground scales – 21kg heavier than its homologated claim but lighter than both the Audi S E-tron GT and the Volkswagen ID 7 GTX we road tested in 2025.

INTERIOR

8
BMW i4 2026 009

Only details have been changed within the cabin of the i4. A bigger refresh, released in the summer of 2024, upgraded the touchscreen multimedia system with BMW’s Operating System 8.5 software and added a curved display, underneath which were added some restyled air vents and different cabin trim choices. The replacement of the car’s former larger and more easy-to-grab gear selector is a change to regret from one perspective, because the switch that has replaced it is harder to find without looking down from the road, although the slightly naff blue-coloured plastic on the departed item won’t be missed.

The car’s driving position feels low-couched and enticing compared with that of many rival EVs, BMW locating the major controls and instruments well. The sports seats are very good, being widely adjustable in both cushion and squab, although - in a theme we will return to later – BMW only gives you adjustable lumbar support as part of a cost option. The driver’s display real estate likewise only includes a head-up display if you are willing to part with an extra £2100 for the Technology Pack.

The front seats have cushion angle adjustment and cushion extension as standard; lumbar support and ‘comfort access’ are extra. Or you can pay £900 for sportier bucket seats.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

In the rear, passenger space is tighter than mid-sized executive saloon owners will be used to. Children are more likely to be happy back here than adults. The last Porsche Taycan we measured, in 2024, was actually marginally more spacious.

In the boot, however, the i4’s lift back access allows it to score better for carrying practicality and opens on some 470 litres of usable space (Audi S E-tron GT: 350 litres).

BMW i4 infotainment and sat-nav

BMW has taken a leaf from Mercedes’ book with the i4’s huge, anti-reflective curved display, which unifies the 12.3in instrument panel and the 14.9in central infotainment hub. It will divide opinion, and marks the starkest departure to date from the simplicity of BMW’s traditional orange-tinged roundels.

The graphics are ultra-sharp, which is just as well because there is an awful lot of information, and icons that can be shown at any given time. Fortunately, the rotary controller familiar to owners of all modern-era BMWs remains, and it makes short work of navigating between maps, multimedia and charging information. With a little practice - and once you know where to go looking for what, and what shortcuts are at hand - it quickly becomes one of the more slick infotainment experiences in the class.

However, there is also the option of linking your smartphone, either via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Both programmes are well integrated, making use of the entirety of the display.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

8
BMW i4 2026 022

The i4 M60 xDrive is seriously fast, but - by the top-level standards of the modern performance EV, at least - not absurdly so. We happened to test it in comparable conditions, and at an almost identical time of year, as the i4 M50 we appraised in 2022. Back then, the i4 M50 (20in wheels, Pirelli P Zeros, 2284kg as tested) needed 4.1sec to hit 60mph and 12.5sec for the standing quarter mile. The M60 (standard 18in wheels, Hankook Ventus S1 tyres, 2231kg as tested) cut those figures by 0.3sec and 0.6sec respectively.

What isn’t always quite so clear is whether the new car feels much faster. Because its motor-actuated traction control is so good (even in steady rain) and its rate of acceleration so smooth and unrelenting, the i4 M60 could easily inspire ennui about how electric cars have taken all the drama and punctuation out of going fast.

The steering wheel is a good size and has proper buttons, not capacitive switches, praise be: but still no regen paddles behind either spoke - which makes adjusting motor regen less intuitive than it ought to be.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

You can’t mistake the objective reality, though. The sheer, instant effectiveness of the throttle pedal is the powertrain’s main attraction during give-and-take road driving, doling out all that torque exactly as you see fit. When it’s in full flight at the proving ground, though – once the car has taken off, squatted slightly on its rear axle and taken on its longitudinal g – there’s actually surprisingly little to remark on.

Except for the noise. BMW’s ‘Iconic Sounds Electric’ not-quite-combustion noise makes an unusual impression. It’s not unsophisticated, varying with both load and prevailing speed, and during a full-throttle launch sounds a bit like some constantly rising and recycling electric synth glissando. Repeated exposure is a little like having spent too long in a seaside video arcade. In smaller transient doses, however, it’s interesting enough to listen to.

BMW still hasn’t gone as far as fitting regen paddles to its EVs. Instead you use the touchscreen to choose from three levels of trailing-throttle energy scavenging, though you can’t turn it off completely or switch to a one-pedal mode (B mode on the gear selector is, at least, close to the latter).

The brakes performed strongly on track (the optional M Sport stoppers, remember), resisting fade well. The car doesn’t have the sort of pedal tuning that aims to make the handover between regen and friction braking apparent in the pedal progression, but that just makes for an even and consistent actuation, which we appreciated.

RIDE & HANDLING

8
BMW i4 2026 023

There’s a BMW-typical tautness about the i4 M60’s close body control on a quicker country road, but it doesn’t come with the downside of jitteriness or any detectable restless fidgeting, and there’s enough suppleness in reserve to deal with sharper lumps and bumps when they present without any percussive thumping. The upshot is that, if you had to guess, you might put the i4’s kerb weight a good deal lower than it really is, and you can enjoy tackling quicker and more challenging stretches of road quite a lot.

There’s positivity and feel about the steering, too, and some keenness about the way the i4 changes direction, even on its standard 18in wheels. We can’t think of many performance cars with nearly 600 horsepower that would come on rims so modestly sized in 2026. The fact that this  one does probably has more to do with boosting range than mechanical grip.

Whatever explains their fitment, they certainly have a freeing influence on the car’s handling. Although they provide enough grip and traction to make for an assured feel at pace, in slightly slippery conditions – if you switch off the car’s stability controls and use B mode on the drive selector – they allow the i4 to become a lively and entertaining-handling car. The throttle-off regen of the front motor can act almost like some auto trail-brake function, helping to rotate the chassis positively as you turn into tighter bends, ready for the car’s dual-motor all-wheel drive to restabilise it under power at just the right moment.

Track notes

The M60 took to a slippery set of Horiba MIRA handling circuits with plenty of gusto and poise. Chassis balance is suggestible enough to take attitude readily on a trailing throttle, although the torque vectoring of the two-motor powertrain can be a little unpredictable once it has.

Here, it feels as if BMW would be better served sticking with a consistent 20:80 front-to-rear torque split, for example, once the DSC has been disabled, rather than shifting drive forwards and backwards constantly once the car is sliding. As it is, the i4 M60 is quite stable in a narrow-slip-angle powerslide, for example, but for some reason becomes increasingly less so at greater attitudes, when quite large and sudden corrective steering inputs can be needed.

Comfort and isolation

There are times when the i4 M60 summons comparable cruising serenity than you’d expect from the 7 Series. The ride quality is never without sporting undertones and it's never quite as filtered or isolating as in bigger BMWs, but low-speed bump absorption is particularly good, and the quietness and crisp responsiveness of the electric powertrain mean the car glides through urban environments in effortless fashion.

BMW i4 news

BMW to launch 40-plus new cars by 2028 - all with their own look
BMW to launch 40-plus new cars by 2028 - all with their own look

As speeds increase, ride comfort continues to be one of the i4’s strengths, though during motorway cruising, the effect is more class-leading junior saloon than luxury-focused mid- or full-sized executive. Even so, for a car of huge performance potential, the i4 M60 remains superbly well-mannered when covering big distances.

The BMW bolsters its credentials with fine, supportive seats, an excellent driving position, the intuitive layout of its various controls and good visibility all round, even if we would prefer the tailgate to afford the driver a broader view of the road behind. It cossets front-seat occupants in almost GT-car style but offers the sense of light and space those cars typically lack.

Advertisement

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

8
BMW i4 2026 001

Throughout the i4’s early years, comparisons with the likes of the Porsche Taycan and Audi E-tron GT were inevitable – and quite unfair. But now, in its later years, the i4 finds itself the established power in a substratum of EV sports saloons among which are the Volkswagen ID 7 GTX and Polestar 4 Performance Pack, and which is also soon to include the Hyundai Ioniq 6 N. It’s a niche that has literally grown up around the BMW, but one it can really dominate for driver appeal – at least until the Hyundai emerges to seriously challenge it.

Within it, the car’s £71k price, though quite high, isn’t outlandish, while its 235-mile real-world cruising range – as benchmarked by our touring efficiency test – is a little bit low but not problematic.

BMW should probably be more generous with the car’s standard equipment level, though. Even on a range-topping model, customers have to budget extra for things (head-up display, seats with lumbar support, wireless smartphone charging, adaptive cruise control) that really ought to be included.

VERDICT

8
BMW i4 2026 024

It might be bold to suggest a premium EV could be about to experience a commercial resurgence in middle age, but the BMW i4 deserves one. And, as newer rivals return the spotlight to its area of the market, the i4 may yet enjoy a more successful later life than BMW predicted for it. There is still room to enhance its usability and handling with software refinements, certainly. But even as they are, they'll provide strong competition as the EV sport saloon niche ripens to maturity with the arrival of the Hyundai Ioniq 6N and others. 

What the new M60 xDrive really confirms is the soundness of the i4’s underlying package. This is no point-and-squirt, one-trick EV, but a sports saloon of tangible dynamism, with diverting liveliness and entertainment thrown in; and, besides which, it remains a typically desirable and complete premium product of the kind we're so used to seeing from BMW.

 

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Tesla Roadster, Ariel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren Senna, Renault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.