BMW i4 Review & Prices

The BMW i4 is an all-electric four-door coupe, and it’s basically a 4 Series Gran Coupe with a battery. In fact, with its metallic blue highlights and blanked-off grille, it’s almost like a futuristic Terminator 4 Series, sent back in time to kill off its petrol-powered predecessor.

The thing is, even with all that future tech, it’s not the best-looking BMW around. The grille looks like it’s trying to do a chipmunk impression, and it’s not the sleekest-looking thing, for a car that wants to be a coupe. Some colours work much better than others, too (hint; don’t get one in white).

However, inside things are much better. There’s the sort of fit, finish, and quality that you’d expect of a BMW, and so it feels a lot posher inside than the likes of the Tesla Model 3 and even the Polestar 2. A BYD Seal runs things a little closer, but ultimately the German car’s higher-quality materials shine through. As standard you get ‘Sensatec’ man-made leather seats, but that can be upgraded to actual cow if you feel like spending extra.

BMW i4: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 319-380 miles
Efficiency: 3.4-4.1 miles per kWh
Battery size: 67kwh / 81kWh
Max charge speed: 205kW
Charge time AC: 9-11hrs, 10-100%, 7kW
Charge time DC: 30mins, 10-80%, 100kW
Charge port location: Right rear
Power outputs: 282hp / 340hp / 601hp

The sweeping infotainment screen on top of the dashboard is actually two displays under one piece of glass - there’s a 12.3-inch instrument panel for the driver, and a 14.9-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system. The more options you add, the trickier the big screen becomes to navigate, but thankfully the i4 keeps the classic BMW iDrive control wheel, which makes it easier and safer to use on the move. Either way, the graphics look great, although the driver’s instruments are maybe a bit too video-game-y.

The i4 uses nearly the same body as the 4 Series Gran Coupe. It’s actually 6mm taller overall, but rides 15mm closer to the road - that’s to allow space for the bulky battery pack. Because of the struggle to match a big battery with a sleek body, space in the rear of the i4 is pretty tight, and really tall people would be better off just catching a bus.

There’s no flat floor either, so you’ll never get three people comfortably in the back. That said, the space on offer isn’t much worse off than the Polestar 2, although it’s well behind the likes of the Tesla and the BYD, or indeed the Hyundai Ioniq 6.

The i4’s boot is really practical, though. It’s a fastback, so there’s a big rear hatch, and underneath there’s a decent 470 litre boot, and more space if you fold down the back seats to reveal a flat load floor. 

BMW tweaked the i4’s battery in 2025, so while it’s no bigger than before, you can squeeze a few more miles of range out of it. The basic eDrive35, with a 282hp rear-mounted electric motor, can manage up to 319 miles on a full charge, and that’s from a 67kWh battery.

The eDrive40 gets 340hp from its single motor, and that can go for a claimed 380 miles on one charge, although you’ll probably find that it won’t quite do that in real-world conditions. Around 300 miles is more like it.

There’s a powerful M60 version at the top of the i4 lineup, with two motors, four-wheel drive, a massive 601hp and a range of up to 338 miles. The M60 is as fast as a BMW M3 - 3.7 seconds to 62mph - but it’s not as much fun to drive, and the Tesla and BYD are equally fast for much less cash.

To be honest, you’d be just as well off in the eDrive40 version, which is still brisk - 0-62mph in 5.7 seconds - and is actually a little more sweetly-balanced to drive.

Speaking of which, the i4 has standard air suspension for the back axle, which not only helps it to cope with the weight of its batteries, but also makes it super comfortable around town. The M60 gets adaptive suspension dampers too, so you can tune the balance between driving sharpness and comfort.

There’s also adaptive cruise control which takes the sting out of long journeys, although that’s a £600 option, which seems pretty stingy (especially as it used to be standard), and you have to pay extra to get the best driver assistance kit. Still, it’s a refined car overall, and the decent one-charge range and very impressive maximum 205kW DC charging speed mean that the i4 can be a true all-rounder.

If this sounds like the model for you, check out our best BMW i4 deals to see what price you can get for this stylish electric four-door - or, see how much you could save with our best BMW i4 leasing deals. You can check out used BMW i4s for sale, or other used BMWs for sale here. And remember that Carwow can even help you to sell your old car when the time comes.

The i4 is not cheap - the most affordable version starts at slightly more than £50,000 - while you couldn’t call it a bargain, that does makes an eDrive35 around £4,000 more expensive than a basic 420i Gran Coupe, which has a mere 184hp and which to be honest feels a touch weedy to drive these days, and you’ll quickly make back the extra purchase price in fuel savings if you’re charging at home most of the time.

Mercedes new all-electric CLA could make life uncomfortable for the i4, as it offers a whopping 435 mile range for a price that undercuts a basic i4 eDrive35 by £5,000 - but it’s a smaller car still. The Polestar 2 is also a worthy competitor, and if you go for the long-range single motor version you’ll undercut the basic i4 by around £1,000, but get more range - 408 miles - for your money, and the Polestar is almost as good to drive as the BMW.

Other alternatives, such as the Tesla Model 3 can also offer considerably more range - up to 436 miles - for much less cash, while the BYD can either save you around £5,000 with much more range - 363 miles - or can match the M60 for performance, while still being slightly cheaper than a basic i4 eDrive 35.

Quick, quiet, and comfortable, but not as exciting as a BMW M3

In town

The BMW i4 works well around town, and not just because, as an electric car, it produces no exhaust emissions. Whether you go for one of the rear-wheel drive models or the four-wheel drive M50, the i4 is very lively from a standing start and will leap towards any gap in traffic. It’s just as happy to be driven gently, with a smoother ride than the Tesla Model 3.

Something you’ll really notice if the i4 is just how quiet it is - even by the standards of electric cars. With no engine noise you slip through urban traffic in hushed comfort.

Slip the transmission into ‘B’ instead of ‘D’ and the car increases the level of regenerative braking, capturing energy that would otherwise be lost when slowing down. In this setting you can almost ignore the brake and drive with one pedal, as the car will come to a complete stop using regenerative braking alone.

If you had to pick holes in the way the i4 drives around town, you’d say that all-round visibility could be better. The slinky four-door coupe looks are matched to a low-down driving position, so you’ll see out more easily if you choose an electric SUV instead.

On the motorway

Leave town behind and head out on the motorway, and the i4 is right at home. If anything, the quiet of the cabin is even more impressive at high speed, with just some road noise for company. There’s hardly any whine from the electric motor (or motors if you drive the M60) and very little wind noise.

Whether you are driving the eDrive40 or the M60, there’s more than enough performance to accelerate quickly after being stuck behind slower traffic. The eDrive35 feels notably slower to accelerate at motorway speeds than its more expensive siblings, but it's only slow in context - it really doesn't lack power. The optional adaptive cruise control makes for a relaxed drive, even when the road is busy, but it seems slightly outrageous that you have to pay extra for it.

The BMW is very comfortable on the motorway - it’s much less fidgety than a Tesla Model Y’s, for example - so long journeys in the i4 are something to look forward to.

On a twisty road

Like most electric cars, the BMW i4 is heavy. Most of the time it disguises this bulk well, but when you get to a winding country road you do notice that the i4 needs more persuasion to change direction than the likes of a BMW M3. Some more feel from the steering wouldn’t go amiss, either.

That said, you can still enjoy driving the i4. The big tyres grip the road tenaciously and there’s very little lean when cornering.

Even the eDrive35 is very quick indeed, while the M60’s acceleration is positively savage. While the entry-level car is rear-wheel drive, the faster model sends power to all four wheels, which helps get its power to the road in wet weather.

A decent boot size, but the i4 isn't the roomiest in the back

As a four-door coupe, the i4 tries to balance style and practicality. It’s never going to be as practical as a regular saloon, hatchback, or SUV, but for the most part it does a decent job of being roomy and good looking.

You’ll have no complaints in the front, where there’s plenty of legroom, sufficient headroom, and a really high standard of fit and finish. The car’s hefty price tag doesn’t weigh so heavily when you look at the curved twin-screens and the excellent materials used throughout.

There’s enough storage in the front of the cabin to keep most owners happy, with door bins big enough for a large bottle of water. There’s also a roomy bin beneath the driver’s arm rest, and twin cupholders at the base of the centre console.

You sit low to the ground with the seat on its lowest setting, which feels right in such a sporty car. It can be raised higher if you find that more comfortable. In fact, with a good range of adjustment to the seat and wheel, drivers of most shapes and sizes should be able to find a sound and supportive seating position. Front lumbar support comes as part of the optional Comfort Plus Pack or, more affordably, as an individual option.

Space in the back seats

More and more modern electric cars are built from the ground up to be electric and electric only. That’s not the case with the i4, which leads to certain compromises. Because it shares underpinnings with the 3 Series, there needs to be room for a regular engine, transmission, and fuel tank for models that don’t have batteries and an electric motor. Hence the big transmission tunnel, which gets in the way a bit if three try to sit in the back.

Legroom is okay for adults, so long as the driver and the passenger sat behind them aren’t too tall. However, headroom is a bit tight - blame the sloping roofline. There are ISOFIX points for mounting child seats.

Boot space

Keep the back seats upright and there’s 470 litres of luggage room - there are SUVs with less space than that. Lift the hatchback and there’s a wide opening for loading up, and only a slight lip to load items over. On the other hand, the parcel shelf is a solid unit that doesn’t lift with the hatchback, although you can always take it out if it gets in the way.

Fold the seats down and that space increases to 1,290 litres, and the seat backs lie almost flat. However, you do need to use the catches on the top of the back seat - there’s no lever to pull by the tailgate.

The back seats split 40:20:40, allowing you to carry long items like skis as well as passengers.

Lift the boot floor and you’ll find space for the charging cables. Just remember to get them out before you pack if you’re going on a long journey and will need to recharge on route.

Impressive tech in a stylish cabin, although no separate climate control buttons any more

The outside of the car, with its big kidney grille, isn’t everyone’s pint of pilsner. But you’ll struggle to find anyone who slides behind the driver’s seat of the i4 and isn’t impressed.

The dash is dominated by twin screens that curve around the driver to give the appearance of one huge display. We defy you to see them light up for the first time and not say ‘wow!’ and they’re much better to use than BYD’s gimmicky rotating touchscreen.

Directly in front of the driver in place of conventional dials sits a 12.3-inch screen, which the driver can customise to their heart’s content. To the left is the larger 14.9-inch infotainment screen, which is as sharp and clear as any high-end smartphone’s. The whole twin-screen set-up - Live Cockpit Plus in BMW-speak - runs on the BMW Operating System 8.5.

You can use voice control, or rather you can try to. We’ve found this part of the infotainment system needs a bit more work. Otherwise, the latest version of BMW’s iDrive is the slickest yet, with a choice of touching the screen or using the iDrive rotary controller to move between menus and make selections. The iDrive control is less distracting on the move, and saves smudging fingerprints all over that expensive-looking touchscreen.

Perhaps the only area in which BMW’s infotainment has taken a backwards step is in moving the air con controls to the bottom of the screen rather than having separate buttons.

If you prefer Apple or Android’s way of doing things to BMW’s, the infotainment is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and as you’d expect of a recent infotainment system, BMW Operating System 8.5 is compatible with over-the-air software updates.

Everything you can see or touch in the cabin is of a high quality, from the materials used on the top of the dash to the seat upholstery. A mix of man-made materials - Alcantara suede and Sensatec leather - is standard on Sport and M Sport models, although the M60 comes with proper leather included in the price.

Every BMW i4 is an electric vehicle, so there are no exhaust emissions at all. That’s good for the environment and for your tax bill if you are a company car driver and paying the 20% tax rate, you could spend as little as £26 a month in Benefit in Kind (BIK) charges.

For private buyers, there’s a £10 first year VED road tax bill, but after that you’ll have to pay an extra £425 per year, for years two-to-six, as all i4 models sit on the wrong side of the ‘expensive car levy’ cutoff of £40,000.

The entry-level i4 is the eDrive35, which has a 67kWh battery and a single electric motor at the rear. Official range is 319 miles, which in the real world is likely to be around 280.

Above this sits the eDrive40 or the twin-motor M60, which both come with the same 81kWh battery. The less powerful eDrive40 stretches each kWh further than the M60, unsurprisingly, for an official range of up to 380 miles in Sport spec - or closer to 320 in the real world. That drops to a maximum of 370 miles if you go for the M Sport spec with its larger wheels.

The M60 consumes electricity more quickly, dropping the range to 338 miles. Make the most of its performance - which is very tempting to do as it's only a flex of your foot away - and this drops off very quickly, down to around 250 miles if you’re being a bit cheeky.

In isolation those are decent ranges, but it’s worth noting that the Tesla Model 3 Long Range can cover up to 436 miles.

In practice, you’ll need a gentle right foot and warm weather to get close to those figures. In winter, batteries don’t like the chilly conditions and so the real-world range will drop, as is the case with all EVs.

You should be able to top-up the batteries very quickly, thanks to a maximum charging speed of 205kW for eDrive40 and M60 models. The eDrive35 only charges at 180kW, but its smaller battery means charging times are comparable.

The i4 has been tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP and came away with a four-star rating out of five. That’s pretty good, but you get the feeling BMW’s engineers will be kicking themselves that the car didn’t earn the full five stars.

Every i4 comes with Driving Assistant. This package uses camera and radar sensors to give the driver warnings and reduce the chance of a collision.

As an optional extra, Driving Assistant Professional adds no fewer than 11 extra driver aids.

Every i4 comes with a tyre repair kit rather than a spare wheel, which may not bother you in the slightest, but could be a deal-breaker for some drivers.

Electric cars in general tend to be more reliable than cars with internal combustion engines, as there are fewer moving parts to go wrong.

BMW generally sits in the middle of the field in reliability and owner satisfaction surveys, although that does tend to vary from model to model. The current 4 Series, taking the whole model range into account, finished in a very impressive 7th place overall in the 2024 Driver Power Top 50 Cars To Own list, with owners giving the model a high rating for build quality and reliability.

From new, the i4 comes with a three-year unlimited mileage warranty, or eight years and 100,000 miles in the case of cover for the high-voltage battery.