BMW i3 review

BMW launches an all-electric 3 Series, with strong performance and a long range

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BMW has launched its new ICE 3 Series and electric i3 together, because presenting a united front is important. This EV is ostensibly an excellent new car – probably the best way to have electric motoring in a compact executive saloon package, even if in terms of driving dynamics and fun it’s outshone by its ICE sibling.

But the i3 will have to convince most people not to buy a 3.0-litre straight six but something else with no engine. As you'll read, it will tread those paths much more easily.

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DESIGN & STYLING

BMW i3 50 xDrive 005 WGM

The i3 is the second Neue Klasse model based on BMW’s new EV architecture, following the award-winning iX3 SUV, which, for all of its new technology, I like most because of the way it drives.

The 3 Series has the same 108.7kWh (net) battery beneath the body and four-wheel drive in this ‘50’ form, which has overall outputs of 462bhp and 476lb ft. As per BMW’s bigger EVs, there’s a separately excited synchronous motor at the rear, with an asynchronous front motor here.

They produce 322bhp and 165bhp respectively but won’t be blowing their maximums at the same time. There will be slower and cheaper versions later.

The battery case makes an integral part of the body structure – its top deck is the cabin floor – and there are MacPherson struts at the front and five-link suspension at the rear. At the moment the dampers are passive but an adaptive option is said to be coming soon.

There’s not a lot of difference in size between i3 and ICE 3 Series. At 4760mm by 1865mm, the i3 is 5mm shorter and 15mm wider than its sibling but, given the battery pack beneath the floor, it’s good to find it only 25mm taller, at 1480mm. Its wheelbase is long, at 2897mm.

With a drag coefficient of 0.21, the i3 is pretty slippery – more so than the ICE 3 Series. Neue Klasse boss Mike Reichelt told us it could have been even better if the roof had sloped more but BMW needed to retain good rear head room and wanted to keep a closer family resemblance between the two.

INTERIOR

BMW i3 50 xDrive 094 WGM

A look at a schematic drawing suggests the i3’s seating position is higher than in a regular compact executive car – something I was concerned about when BMW first showed us the iX3. But the seat base is thin, and mounted low, which limits foot room in the rear but retains head room. It didn’t strike me that I was sitting particularly high, although some of my colleagues disagreed.

The new panoramic digital instrument panel, which means you don’t have to look through the steering wheel, has allowed BMW to site the wheel lower, so it feels quite an airy interior – although the days of slamming a chair on the deck and having a steering wheel pull towards one at shoulder height are perhaps behind us.

Cabin materials are good for the class. Alongside that panoramic panel, the i3 gets BMW’s latest touchscreen and operating system, which relies in my view too much on the screen, with the absence of the old iDrive rotary controller a retrograde step. BMW says that was good for scrolling lists but not so helpful in an app-based screen layout, but at least a cursor always remained where you left it – and there’s no thumb or wrist rest here, so controlling the screen on the move means a finger dangling in the air. They say owners don’t miss the controller, but I don’t buy the idea that this is good enough.

I found head room adequate front and rear, and rear roominess acceptable (feet aside). The boot is 420 litres.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

BMW i3 50 xDrive 003 WGM

The i3 50’s drive is exceptionally slick. There’s a single-speed reduction gear, step-off is perfectly smooth and accelerator response is really deftly judged. There are variable rates of lift-off regeneration, from adaptive, then low through to high, which all behave as you’d hope. BMW has also developed a soft-stop bit of software that makes coming to rest smoothly very satisfyingly easy.

You can have the car make a whooshy noise if you want to, but you don’t have to, and it’s really quick: 0-62mph takes 4.7sec.

The big battery gives the i3 a strong range – officially 514-566 miles, depending on driving mode and style, at 3.9-4.6mpkWh. Across 120 mixed miles, including a fairly decent stint of fun twisty roads, I saw 3.77mpkWh. 

RIDE & HANDLING

BMW i3 50 xDrive 018 WGM

We’ve been impressed with how the iX3 goes down the road and, with the inherent advantages you would expect from a lower and sleeker car, the i3 is duly better for keen drivers.

It steers slickly, rolls very little and largely retains decent control of its body movements.

If anything, at low speed the ride moves all of apiece, more leadenly than in the supple ICE 3 Series, and ultimately on bad roads at speed you will feel the 2.2-tonne kerb weight. But – and I’d want a back-to-back comparison on the same road to say for sure – while this might not be the best BMW variant of this size to drive, I think it will have the class’s other cars covered.

VERDICT

BMW i3 50 xDrive 070 WGM

The i3's convincing long range plus its 400kW peak charging speed answer two of the four questions holding some potential EV buyers back, says BMW’s Mike Reichelt. The others are charging infrastructure, which is dependent on where you live, and price: from £54,925, the 50 is competitive with cars around it.

Dynamism is presumably low on the list of reasons why people buy an EV. But while the i3 isn’t peak 3 Series, it’s surely there or thereabouts among the best electric saloons. Once again a 3er threatens to become the segment’s definitive car.

Matt Prior

Matt Prior
Title: Editor-at-large

Matt is Autocar’s lead features writer and presenter, is the main face of Autocar’s YouTube channel, presents the My Week In Cars podcast and has written his weekly column, Tester’s Notes, since 2013.

Matt is an automotive engineer who has been writing and talking about cars since 1997. He joined Autocar in 2005 as deputy road test editor, prior to which he was road test editor and world rally editor for Channel 4’s automotive website, 4Car. 

Into all things engineering and automotive from any era, Matt is as comfortable regularly contributing to sibling titles Move Electric and Classic & Sports Car as he is writing for Autocar. He has a racing licence, and some malfunctioning classic cars and motorbikes.