CAR magazine UK compares the new BMW i5 with the Lucid Air Touring and Nio ET7
Take the best of Tesla and Jaguar, and you get the Lucid Air. So, how does the hot ticket BMW i5 in its hottest M60 guise fare against the upstart start-up, as well as Nio’s super serious, super sophisticated ET7?Following the iX1, iX3, i4 and i7, the i5 is another battery-propelled BMW that shares a lot with a combustion car. A rear-wheel-drive eDrive40 model is available, but we’ve gone for the range-topping all-wheel-drive M60 xDrive.
However, we shouldn’t discount the establishment. The launch of any new BMW 5-series is a big deal, let alone the first all-electric version complete with an M-badged range-topper. Our test car has all the available suspension wizardry, combining all-wheel steering, active anti-roll bars, adaptive dampers and an air-sprung rear axle .
With its 90kWh net capacity, the ET7’s battery is ahead of the 81.2kWh i5 but slightly behind the 92kWh Air. Quoted ranges are 360, 321 and a very useful 450 miles respectively, the Lucid’s 200kg-ish weight advantage and slippery aerodynamics contributing to this impressive number. You’ll only need to drive a short distance to feel the four-wheel steer at work. It makes squeezing around tight car parks far easier than the i5’s five-metre length would suggest, and it helps turn-in at slower corners as well. It gives a slightly muted sense of connection to the front tyres and can feel a little odd, but it’s not as abrupt in its operation as Mercedes’ similar system can be.
In fact ‘drama-free’ is a good way to describe the overall handling of the ET7. There’s not even a whiff of oversteer, while the electronics subtly nibble the brakes to reduce understeer. The steering is more natural in its responses than the BMW, while giving less feedback to the driver, but there’s more roll and less fun to be had than in today’s rivals. The driving position echoes this, with flat seats that are positioned quite high, like the i5, and a lighter, more lounge-like atmosphere.
Arguably it’s more alluring than Hans Zimmer’s sci-fi noises coming from the i5’s Iconic Sounds generator. They’re amusing for a few minutes, but I soon turn them off. There’s no such gimmickry in the Nio, just a focus on hushed progress that’s overall more successful than the i5. The i5 is nonetheless easier to operate than the ET7, which has next to no physical controls and non-existent labelling for most of them. You could spend a lot of time figuring out the full list of functions that can be controlled via the steering wheel, and the touchscreen has menus that are full of options that can be hard to work out at a glance.
Its greater size compared to its rivals does make for plentiful legroom in the rear, although it’s headroom that’ll be an issue first for those beyond six feet tall. There’s a conventional three-seat bench, with the outer two seats getting heating, ventilation and even massage like the fronts. The i5 is much better here, with 490 litres of capacity and a folding rear bench, albeit no frunk. Surprisingly, though, it’s the sleek Air that’s most practical, at least on paper. It has easily the biggest opening here and – including a large underfloor cubby – has 625 litres of boot space.
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