Our 2024 BMW i4 xDrive40 Is All Charged Up

Introduction

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 won our 2022 Electric Vehicle of the Year award. But if the compact electric SUV with origami styling was that year’s valedictorian, the BMW i4 Gran Coupe was surely the salutatorian. The i4 M50 that participated in EV of the Year ’22 wowed us with its poise, power, and chest-compressing speed. Subsequent drives of the then-base-model eDrive40 convinced us that the i4 lineup embodies the same three core dynamic traits—supple suspension, talkative steering, and intuitive handling—that made the best BMWs of the past incandescent automobiles, ones we remember warmly. The i4 proved our initial impressions true by beating a host of impressive gasoline-powered cars to win a 2023 10Best award.

Cars that get a 10Best medal hung on them are special enough to warrent a more in-depth look. That’s even truer in the brave new world of EVs. Each new electric vehicle brings its own grab bag of pluses and minuses, any one of which could turn out to be a breakthrough or a fail. BMW gives buyers the choice of electric or gas propulsion in the same vehicle—the i4 is the electric doppelgänger of the gas-powered 4-series Gran Coupe—so we’re eager to see how that strategy plays out in a 40,000-mile test.

Going against our instinct to reach for the version with the most power, we ordered the second-most powerful model in the four-trim lineup: the 396-hp, twin-motor, all-wheel-drive xDrive40, which starts at $62,595. That was all the restraint we could muster, though. We couldn’t resist the M Sport package (19-inch summer rubber, plus a racy steering wheel and aluminum cabin trim) or the Premium, Shadowline, Driving Assistance Pro, and Parking Assistance packages. We also sprang for adaptive LED headlamps, Oyster Vernasca leather, and a Harman/Kardon surround-sound system, then topped it all off with a special order of purplish Mora Metallic paint, bringing our test car’s sticker to $77,920.

Broken in with around 1200 miles on its odometer, the i4 was a sprightly performer at the test track, with a 60-mph time of 4.4 seconds and a quarter-mile zip of 12.9 seconds at 109 mph. It stuck to the skidpad at 0.89 g and stopped from 70 and 100 mph in 161 feet and 325 feet, respectively. At a DC fast-charger, the i4 replenished its 84.3-kWh battery from 10 to 90 percent in 38 minutes, with a peak charging rate of 208 kilowatts and an average of 104 kilowatts—a solid midpack result.

Instrumented testing was the easy part; we’ve now started on the challenges posed by day-to-day living and, dare we say, a road trip or two. The miles that we’ve put on the i4 since it left the test track have reconfirmed our feeling that it’s a finely honed driver’s car. The M Sport package firms up the suspension a bit—but not too much—though we think the i4 would be almost as enjoyable to daily without the sportier chassis pieces or its summer tires.

Its behavior on winter tires is another story, however. We replaced the Hankook Ventus S1 Evo3 summer rubber with a set of Michelin X-Ice Snow winter tires of the same size—245/40R-19 front, 255/40R-19 rear—just in time for a two-week blast of single-digit temperatures, snow, and icy roads to roar through our home state of Michigan. Unfortunately, though, the winter rubber has caused the i4’s confident dry-road handling to go south along with the milder temperatures.

Suddenly, the i4 feels wobbly in normal driving on clear, dry roads; at highways speeds the tail wags at the slightest movement of the steering wheel—as if the rear tires are almost flat or the rear-steering system had gone AWOL (except, the i4 doesn’t have rear-steering). One editor termed the handling on winters “a mess.” We’ve never before seen winter tires—Michelins or from any other brand—affect the handling so negatively on any of our long-term test cars. We’re going to investigate why these normally excellent winter donuts are such a poor match for the i4’s chassis. We’ll report back when and if we unearth an answer to this rubbery mystery.

Those who’ve put early miles on the i4 have already discovered some strengths and idiosyncrasies that can only surface over time. Early on, the i4’s driving range indicator seems to be spot on. Yet, one driver put an expletive into the logbook about his frustration with being locked out of the climate-control system while charging. We’ll have to delve into the many menu options to see if there’s a way to program around that. Another editor doubted that this car’s newest iteration of iDrive is an improvement. We’ll have more definitive things to say about that, about driving range, about winter tires, and much more as the weeks and miles accumulate. And we’ll see how, in our estimation, the i4 stands up over the long haul as a BMW. We have our suspicions, and its status as a 10Best award winner couldn’t be a better start.

Months in Fleet: 2 months Current Mileage: 3637 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 71 MPGe
Service: $0 Normal Wear: $0 Repair: $0
Damage and Destruction: $0

Rich Ceppos has evaluated automobiles and automotive technology during a career that has encompassed 10 years at General Motors, two stints at Car and Driver totaling 20 years, and thousands of miles logged in racing cars. He was in music school when he realized what he really wanted to do in life and, somehow, it’s worked out. In between his two C/D postings he served as executive editor of Automobile Magazine; was an executive vice president at Campbell Marketing & Communications; worked in GM’s product-development area; and became publisher of Autoweek. He has raced continuously since college, held SCCA and IMSA pro racing licenses, and has competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona. He currently ministers to a 1999 Miata, and he appreciates that none of his younger colleagues have yet uttered “Okay, Boomer” when he tells one of his stories about the crazy old days at C/D.