BMW i5 Touring eDrive40 joins our fleet | Long-term test

Over the past few years, we’ve been lucky to have two variants of BMW’s i4 electric premium car on our long-term test fleet, and have been enormously impressed by both of them.

This has been reflected in the range being named Best Premium Car in 2022, 2023 and 2024 in the Fleet News Awards.

Now, its bigger brother – the i5 - has joined our long-term fleet so we can see how that matches up.

First signs are really positive. We’ve taken on the eDrive40 M Sport Tourer and in the optional Individual Frozen Pure Grey (£3,000), it has plenty of kerb appeal – it looks striking and the estate bodystyle adds to its presence.

Our test model is the rear-wheel drive eDrive40 M Sport Pro Touring, which uses an 81kWh battery to power a 340PS motor, giving a WLTP range of 285 miles. I5 models produced from next month (March 2025) will benefit from some technical improvements, which boost range by up to 29 miles.

Our test car will charge at speeds of up to 11kW from an AC charger, taking around eight hours to fully replenish the battery from empty., while speeds from an appropriate DC charger will hit 205kW, enabling it to go from 10% charge to 80% in 30 minutes.

Standard equipment on the i5 M Sport Pro includes adaptive LED headlights, M Sport suspension, M Sport brakes with red callipers and a range of M Sport-specific interior features such as leather steering wheel and seat belts.

At first glance, the standard equipment list is pretty sparse, particularly for a car with a P11D price of £78,450.

Fortunately for us, our test model is fitted with a generous amount of optional extras. These include a towbar (£1,200), panoramic glass roof (£1,600), sun protection glass (£470), Bowers & Wilkins surround sound system (£1,250), M Carbon exterior styling (£920).

It is also fitted with the £3,300 Technology Plus pack, which includes an interior camera, driving assistant, professional parking and live cockpit pro with head-up display.

Finally, the £4,600 Comfort Plus pack has also been added and this includes heated steering wheel, ventilated front seats, front comfort seats, front and rear heated seats and four-zone automatic air conditioning.

In total, the cost of the extras is around £17,000, making the P11D price of our test car just over £96,000.

What this has done is make our fully-loaded test model an absolute technological tour de force – over the next six months we will be seeing if the real-world experience of running it can live up to our very high expectations.