Okay, well damn. <— that’s heckuva way to start a review ain’t it?
I didn’t want to like this i5. It’s expensive, it’s heavy, it has mediocre range, it’s an EV (meh) and I wasn’t thrilled at the way it looked at first but then….
Slap me silly and call me a dumdum because damnit to hell…I really like this thing.
Wait.
I don’t just like it.
I adore this thing!
I adore it so much that it has landed itself on my very short list of:
‘EVs I would actually buy with my own money’
So it’s taking up a slot between the Ford Lightning and the Porsche Taycan on my list. The BMW i5 M60 is a triumph in engineering and design. It’s hellaciously, literally neck snappingly quick and yet utterly composed when poking around town. Like seriously.
It’s so freakin’ comfortable and quiet, that hand to heart, it’s in the top 5 quietest cars I have ever reviewed! The only thing that comes into the cabin is a wisp of tire noise but it’s not a ‘noise’ noise…it’s more of a ‘white-noise’. Strangely soothing to be completely honest with you. So bravo to the folks over at Continental on the EcoContact Tires tires.
Adding to the luxuriousness, is the suspension. The air suspension is just a work of engineering and mechanical art. Somehow, even with the 30 series (rear) sidewall tires, it soaks up bumps without any sort of ‘crashing’ sensation whatsoever. Heck, it soaks them up so well that it’s more of a ‘soft thunk’ rather than a cringey, I-just-broke-everything-from-my-wheels-to-my-spine, ‘crash’ sound. In other words, this i5 M60 rides beautifully.
It also holds people and things in such a technowonderful abode that you feel like you have been transported 10 years forward in time. The ambient lighting is so precisely placed and lit that it doesn’t distract you at night…rather it enhances night driving. The glass controls are so exquisitely and meticulously crafted that it would make DeBeers jealous. Lastly, the rear seat room is enormous to the point that I really think the 7 series is a bit redundant. Unless you are transporting NBA athletes on a daily basis, there is no reason to move ‘upmarket’ to the 7 series at all.
Did I mention it was fast? I’m sure I did but let me mention it again and i’ll mention it further down this review for good measure…because this sucker is fast!
Just a quick verbiage refresher for you fine folks. Most cars can be ‘quick’. Even most supposedly fast cars just merely ‘quick’. This 5200 pound rolling behemoth is fracking fast! 60 mph comes up in a blistering 3.3 seconds, the 1/4 miles at an ever more blistering 11.5 seconds! Even more blistering is the 30 to 50 time of a neck snapping 1.4 seconds!! In other words, passing someone on the highway generates the same amount of G forces as launching this thing from a dead stop!
Yes, all of that power and weight does add up to ‘okay’ range. Topped off our test unit stated 260 miles till empty and we averaged 2.6 kWh in our week of testing. But it was more like 200ish at the end. As with every EV, highway driving at 80 mph will drain it’s battery quicker than fat dude at a KFC buffet. But that’s an EV thing, not really fault of the cars.
I’ll leave you with this:
The 2025 BMW i5 m60 is good that it has dawned me that I have fallen head over heals over the entire BMW lineup. In all of my years (10 years now) testing cars, every single BMW I tested…I liked. From the small 2 series all the way to the gigantic X7 and everything model inbetween! I like they way the drive, look, feel and perform. All of them.