2025 BMW i5 eDrive40 First Test Review: Good Is the Enemy of Great
This well-rounded luxury EV is built for everyday driving.
Pros
- Extremely luxurious and comfortable
- Quick acceleration
- Usable range
Cons
- Busy infotainment menus
- Excessive body roll during enthusiastic driving
- Tire grip quickly falls off
As automakers continue down the path of electrification, some have chosen to invent all-new nameplates and designs to compete in the EV market. BMW has taken that approach with its iX SUV, but the Bavarian manufacturer has adopted a different route with most of its new electric cars. Rather than doing what Mercedes has attempted with its separate line of EQ models (and which it’s said to be walking back), BMW has instead introduced near-identical EVs as battery-powered alternatives to its conventional gas-powered vehicles. In doing so, the automaker’s lineup has a look and feel both familiar to returning buyers and appealing to new customers.
Enter the 2025 BMW i5, which carries over into the new model year with slight updates (most notably standard heated seats) after being introduced for 2024. Wearing a near-identical design to the internal combustion 5 Series, the i5 can most easily be identified by its badging and lack of tailpipes. We generally like what BMW has done with the gasoline versions of the 5 Series, although we’ve criticized the rear-wheel-drive 530i for its sterile driving experience and the all-wheel-drive model for sloppier body control than we expect from the automaker. Does the electric i5 capture the Ultimate Driving Machine magic missing from much of the 5 Series lineup?
Performance, Efficiency, and Charging
This 2025 i5 eDrive40 model features the entry-level single-motor drivetrain, which sends 335 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels. Tugging the Sport Boost paddle bumps torque to 317 lb-ft for 10 seconds. Although it’s fun to whip the i5 into its most athletic shape for quick stints of enthusiastic driving, we didn’t note any discrepancies in measured acceleration times in our track testing, where the electric sedan clocked a 5.1-second 0–60-mph time. In stop-and-go driving, the i5 feels as quick as it needs to be.
Aside from its battery-powered mechanicals, the i5 reads as a typical BMW. It has good ride quality, although there’s a bit more body roll than we’d like under hard cornering. The steering is light and precise. The rear wheels clearly communicate their grip levels, making for easy control during sportier stints. When you really start driving hard, the i5 is a hoot on winding roads. The nose feels light and turns in precisely. Strong stopping power enables driver confidence, with good bite under hard braking, although we noted some squirm during 60–0-mph testing. We recorded consistent stopping distances, however, with 112 feet being the best of the session.
Yet even with the M Sport package, the i5’s performance credentials are limited by its tires. Our test car’s grip fell off after a single at-pace lap of our figure-eight test circuit, so those hoping to take a similarly equipped BMW for a sustained, spirited jaunt should lower their expectations. Instead, the i5 is at its best on the open road, chugging up to freeway speeds in no time. It also has the power to haul on the autobahn. The cabin is blissful at full clip, muting tire and wind noise to a whisper.
The drive mode selections are scant, too; there’s Personal, Sport, and Efficient modes that change the i5’s responsiveness and steering feel. There’s no custom setting, either. Instead, BMW offers Expressive and Digital Art modes that configure the cabin’s settings. On the other end of the i5’s spectrum of configurations, Sport mode mostly disables ESC, so those who want electronic guard rails will have to do with less of a net. BMW’s true M cars have a lot more customization, something we’d like to see trickle down to M Sport cars like this.
On more practical terms, the eDrive40 powertrain is the most efficient within the i5’s range since all versions of the electric sedan use the same battery with 84.3 kW of usable capacity. The EPA rates total driving at 270 miles, a number we’ve verified with our road-trip range test. Traveling at a steady rate of 70 mph, the i5 achieves 268 miles per charge, within 1 percent of the government’s official measurement.
Plugging into a 350-kWh charger, BMW claims a peak charge rate of 205. However, we saw a maximum of 215 in our evaluation. You can add 135 miles of range in just 15 minutes, and charging from 5 to 80 percent takes 29 minutes. These results make the i5 reasonably easy to live with, although these figures are hardly mold breaking.
