Finally An Electric Wagon Worth Wanting

The choice of EVs has exploded over the last four years, but two body types have been almost non-existent: soft-top sports cars and station wagons. Now, finally, there is a serious contender for the latter, albeit at the premium end of the market. The brilliant BMW i5 now has a Touring version, and I recently got to put it through its paces to see if it lived up to the brand’s performance pedigree.

Like the sedan version of the i5, there are currently two all-electric versions of the Touring. There’s the eDrive40 with rear-wheel drive and 340hp. The M60 has all-wheel drive and a whopping 601hp. Both include an 81.2kWh battery. There’s also a plug-in hybrid 530e version based on the same platform, but that’s not an i5 – it’s called the 530e. There has been talk of an even more powerful i5 than the M60 for some years, which still wasn’t denied when I last mentioned it to BMW. But 601hp should be enough for most people. This was the version I drove.

In the UK there are four trim levels – Sport Edition, M Sport, M Sport Pro, and M60, with the latter unsurprisingly only available with the M60 drivetrain. The Sport Edition is a new entry point trim, but it still has 19in alloy wheels as well as 22kW AC charging – handy for corporate buyers with compatible chargers at the office location. M Sport adds Veganza vegan leather upholstery, while the Pro iteration adds a rear spoiler, 20in wheels, M Sport brakes, plus optional Merino leather and panoramic roof. The M60 has distinct exterior finishing elements to signal its performance level, plus an 18-speaker Bowers and Wilkins audio system, 20in wheels, and BMW’s Adaptive Suspension Professional.

BMW i5 Touring: A True Load Lugger

The Touring version of the BMW i5 isn’t significantly different to the sedan from the passenger perspective. BMW now produces some of the best interiors in the automotive industry, and the i5 combines traditional comfort with technology with just the right balance. There’s a strong sense of modern style, and a good compromise between discrete buttons and LCD panel operations.

A 14.9in infotainment screen combines with a 12.3in digital instrument display to form one curved expanse. This runs BMW’s Operating System 8.5, supporting video streaming including YouTube and country-specific services plus gaming through the AirConsole platform.

There’s plenty of leg and head room in the back, albeit not as much as a taller SUV like the BMW iX has to offer. Because the i5 still shares a platform with a front engine, rear-wheel drive hybrid ICE variant, there is unfortunately a hump in the middle reducing the leg space for the central passenger. The rear occupants do get their own digital controls over their air conditioning vents, and the two outer seats are heated.

Although SUVs have taken over from station wagons as the family load lugger of choice, the i5 Touring packs a punch in this category. With the rear seats up, you get 570 liters of capacity in the back, and this leaps to 1,700 liters with them down. That’s in the same ballpark as a decently sized SUV. But you can have this in the BMW i5 Touring without compromising driving dynamics, which I’ll get to next.

BMW i5 Touring: The Driving Experience You Expect

BMWs are supposed to be driver’s cars, and the i5 Touring M60 very much lives up to this in terms of specification. Its 601hp enables it to sprint to 62mph in just 3.9 seconds, although you do need give the Boost flap a prod to unleash the full power. The eDrive40’s more modest 340hp gives it a 0-62mph sprint of 6.1 seconds, which is not so exceptional but probably fast enough for most families.

My time with the BMW i5 Touring M60 was primarily spent at the UK’s Millbrook Proving Ground on the infamous Hill Route. This is an extremely challenging, undulating track that has some very steep inclines and sharp corners. Despite weighing 2,250kg (4,971lb), the Touring coped unbelievably well, with incredible acceleration and confidence-inspiring cornering. During multiple laps of the Hill Route, the BMW was having no trouble keeping up with an Audi R8 ahead on the track. The only SUVs I’ve driven that could come close would be the Lotus Eletre and Maserati Grecale Folgore, and I wouldn’t want to take corners in either as fast as you can with the BMW i5 Touring M60.

Of course, you’re not going to do an EV’s range many favors with this kind of driving, although the i5 Touring is competitive in this area, if driven more sensibly. While the 82.1kWh battery capacity is behind some cars in this size category, this will give you up to 314 miles of WLTP range with the M60 and up to 348 miles with the eDrive40. There’s 205kW DC charging, meaning you can get back to 80% capacity from 10% in around 30 minutes with a fast enough charger. However, I didn’t have enough time with the i5 Touring to assess its range, and for most of that I was “driving it like I stole it”, so the economy I experienced wouldn’t be very relevant.

BMW i5 Touring: Luxury Wagon, Luxury Price

Unfortunately, as with most other BMW EVs, the i5 Touring is not cheap. The eDrive40 starts at £69,945 ($89,000), and the M60 at £99,995 ($127,000). The car I drove had options lifting its price to a considerable £116,060 ($148,000). This is into Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo and Tesla Model S Plaid territory. The BMW i5 Touring beats both cars in terms of cargo carrying. Although the Model S has a similar amount of space, the wagon format of the BMW is more practical.

The BMW i5 Touring M60’s real competition is ICE uber wagons such as the Audi RS6 Avant, and there’s an electric version of that on the way too. The petrol version of the Audi has similar acceleration to the i5 Touring M60 and is still over 2,000kg, so there won’t be much in it dynamically. Finally, those of us who have never been fully convinced by SUVs have some choices. The BMW option may be expensive but it’s an electric station wagon that provides sedan-style driving thrills alongside SUV levels of cargo ability, at last.