2022 BMW i4 M50 Review // Earn Your M Badge

oh is this the m4 ah no this is the i4 what's an i4 for seeing you idiot i thought it was funny you're watching throttle house i'm thomas and i'm james and this is the first bmw ev sports sedan and it's called the bmw i4 unlike the ix suv that's now available the i4 isn't built on a bespoke chassis it's on a shared platform with the 4 series and the 7 series and an x5 and an x7 and so on so somewhere along the line they've saved money which is great because apparently this time so have we with the starting price of 73 000 canadian this is some of the closest pricing we've seen to a petrol counterpart but that shared platform thing could also point to some compromises being made and yet this m50 has been heralded by many as a full m-car ev despite the fact that it's only an m performance model and to be fair despite being close in price to a normal m440i it does have more power than a full fat m3 competition and more torque but the i4 m50 weighs over a thousand pounds more than the m3 comp so how can the i4's reputation as an evm possibly be founded let's find out [Music] track tests and quite a lot of messing around so subscribe and hit the bell [Music] yeah it's it's heavy but a normal m440i grand coupe is well into the 4 000 pound range so this was never gonna be light and it hustles [Music] 586 pound-feet of torque 536 horsepower dual motor all-wheel drive it puts down the power that is almost m3 competition acceleration but instead of the belch of an inline six we have the soundtrack from inception [Music] because the sound options in this car were designed in collaboration with the one and only hans zimmer and if that name is new to you he's just a guy who's done the music for a few small movies like gladiator pirates of the caribbean cool runnings pearl harbor dune interstellar the lion king yeah okay all right yeah hans is prolific but i think that's a really cool collaboration and i think it sounds really cool it doesn't make me feel like i'm swinging around the black pearl or hanging from the ceiling inside of someone else's dream within a dream but i'm feeling the rhythm i'm feeling the rhyme that was a cool running joke don't at me but as we learned with the drift analyzer in the m3 and m4 when the germans try to have fun don't criticize them they might never do it again it's like telling a toddler to stop smiling i don't want them to stop speaking of stopping as this is an eevee we have the option in this car of one pedal driving so i switch this into b and now i can drive the car singularly with the accelerator pedal so the top portion of it is braking for more intense braking you can use the brake pedal and it is still quite a natural feel but for ease of use and speak to any tesla owner almost any tesla owner and they will use one pedal driving that is good and this is the bit where i say i've actually really got used to it um and i am used to the concept of one pedal driving but it's not as smooth in this as something like the rivian r1t we just test drove you know that blue truck that we had that's now gone up twenty thousand dollars without much warning you still use the brake pedal for more intense braking and the brake pedal itself does feel very natural the accelerator pedal though and one thing we've credited a lot of other evs for is their throttle response the way that they've calibrated the accelerator so that even if us as stupid monkeys and shoes aren't that smooth with it they've smoothed out that word the the process of acceleration if it weren't for the fact that there's a slight delay on the pedal not it's not even that slight to go it's like here it's fine you can drive around it but having to drive around something by its own nature is not a perfect thing but if you just want to drive this like a normal car stick it in drive you don't want the funky han zimmer sound you stick it in comfort then the i4 m50 along with its quite lovely ride not each one gt level which is the car we said this car would dethrone becomes a competent easy to use around town smooth highway cruising executive vehicle and if this was an audi then i would say that it's pretty much succeeded in its goal but bmw unfortunately for them are victims of their very own marketing because for all the things that audi and mercedes do better bmw's role is to be the ultimate driving machine this one even has m badges on it but listen i'll let bmw say it okay these are their words this is from the press release the bmw i4 packages the agility and dynamic authority underpinning the brand's fabled sense of driving pleasure it is the brand's first electric vehicle focused squarely on driving dynamics okay i want to dispel the notion that this is an evm3 it just it just isn't i've been hearing people say that it's actually insulting to everyone who's worked on an m3 or owned an m3 this is nowhere near that but it is a bmw sedan with a little m badge on it i say n little m badge there's like nine m badges on it and so it must have that injection of bmw dna all right so this is a multi-link suspension set up in the rear and the regular struts in the front and it is an ev so there's a motor in the front the motor in the back but they biased it the same way that they would a normal bmw sedan that is it's rear-wheel drive biased and the front motor kicks in when necessary in fact you can get a rear-wheel drive only version of this car if you get the 40. so for me i need to be able to turn off the traction control which i can do by pushing that and then pushing this and kind of have fun with it listen i know it's a big ev it's meant for cruising in the highway and all that but it's got m badges on it it is a bmw it needs to be a little bit exciting so when i chuck it around a corner it yeah no see it doesn't have a limits of differential in the rear or in the front so it just kind of peels one wheel and it doesn't it doesn't send the power around in an intuitive way for me and you can really feel the mass when you start chucking this thing around corners it doesn't feel like a four series to me it doesn't feel like a three series it doesn't feel like a little button-down sports sedan but i've driven grand coupes in the past and you know they're obvious they're not m3s but they're still bmw but for me the biggest issue and honestly i can deal with the rest of this stuff i just start to accept in my brain that an ev bmw is competent at going in a straight line keeping you comfortable in the highway because the ride is great the sound insulation from the road is top class but the biggest issue that i have is the steering every bmw i think is my opinion i guess should have engaging steering an engaging front end this is just kind of numb and it seems like bmw doesn't even seem to care about it anymore okay you know what hold on i'm gonna pull over for a second here i wasn't gonna do this but i'm gonna read this to you now this is from the press release bmw says the electromechanical steering system stands out for its excellent directional accuracy good and low sensitivity to the disruptive forces triggered by uneven road surfaces so like you know feedback now compare that to 2010 when they're talking about the bmw 335i bmw steering is just as essential to the driving experience all three series models come standard with a hydraulic power steering system whose road feel and precision are legendary apparently they've given up on road feel however i do have to give them some credit because i don't know how much they even could have done because think of it this way every 100 pounds you take off of the front end of a car the less you have to assist the steering which means that it doesn't need to be over boosted so it's not you know 50 pounds to turn the wheel there's a lot of weight in this car so maybe it has to be like this maybe they're still trying to figure it out i hope that they are because i want normal bmws to be what they always were which is ultimate driving machines a mustang machi shouldn't have better steering and a more engaging chassis than a bmw but it does okay i was just we were just kind of harsh to this car yeah um i did you know it does you've got than a lot and that's what we said we the consumer gets to experience the fact that it is just a bit of a slapdash conversion yes and that's really mean and then there's an engineer somewhere so i work my whole life but it isn't a dedicated car and we were saying it's it's one of the it might be the first in north america non-dedicated performance ev sedan yeah like it's the first like big luxury quick sedan that's not a ground-up ev and there's some some symptoms of that skating uh like check out this front oh yeah the front oh it's huge yeah there isn't one it does have a big m there though yeah there's a lot of m's there's a little him um yeah but yeah here it is in portomale blue it's a great blue great blue i really like this blue great blue i do somewhat wish that uh they'd converted a three series instead of a four grand coupe um i mean to be fair the old grand coupes looked really poopy this one doesn't look so bad profile wise it is a hatch though like go open the house yeah and show the ladies and gentlemen that it is quite useful right yeah it's good not bad and that's powered and everything right but yes the wheels look a lot like they're stolen from what is it a toyota 86 oh yeah yeah yeah yeah but but the wheels these are the 19 inches so the range on this car gets quite interesting and i've actually i didn't mention this in the car i've actually had some range anxiety with this in the winter as we would expect yeah i drove here today i think i drove about 45 kilometers yeah and i watched the range drop 120 kilometers we trying to drift on ramps right literally just highway driving in in one pedal mode and and the canada cold just crushed the range you crossed the range it's depressing but this on its best day i think the epa rating is 435km which is pretty good that's yeah on the 19 inches right if you get the 20-inch wheels which are heavier with a wider tire wider wheel wider stickier tires yeah then you go down to i think 365 kilometers so so you should you ruin the ride and the range and the range because maybe you can get cosmetics but maybe you'll yeah it must be cosmetics because you're not gonna track a five thousand no no one's gonna track this that would be like getting a piercing but piercing your own lips shut once all right it's like it's weird it's completely completely compromised what you're trying to look really cool but i couldn't eat anything so i got an appointment i got cancer really quickly i think this car's more interesting when you get to the uh the 40 the fort not the eyes sorry can't say aye it's not an m50i because that means injection it's just an m50 yes if you just get the 40 the range jumps up significantly especially when you go for the 18 inch wheels you get 484 kilometers yeah but then it's rear-wheel drive only but does that one come with an m badge on the grill nope no no c there might be an m sport package that gets you this on the side okay um but yeah i mean the other thing about it being a conversion it does it doesn't like boast new gen level charging times like i think it's like 31 minutes from 10 to 80 percent which is it's fine that's fine but like an ionic five ev6 they did in like 18 minutes right right i have noticed that i think the grill is getting smaller what do you mean no it's not i was lying it's exactly the same size do you want to go look at the interior sure okay okay i'm surprised you didn't pick apart the wing mirrors oh yeah they're putting the m wing mirrors on everything now yeah yeah it's like frank's red heart what's that over just all the different flavors no that haven't seen the commercials i don't watch my normal tv on everything you haven't seen oh yes i have seen of course everyone's seen that now i'm actually starting to be glad that my m2 doesn't have m-wing mirrors all right that's a unique way to look at it are you glad your m2 doesn't have it is the failure the s54 okay anyway this is uh the new screen stuff right yeah so this is idrive eight i drive eight so it apparently is slightly different in application to the there's different things you can get versus the ix which is also i drive eight right but yeah visually the biggest thing is we've lost the normal like we've gone to the two screen setup but it's kind of like homogenous everyone's doing it yeah i don't really like that i don't i don't like the design but i've been playing with this a little bit and i actually this i like this better i complained enough about bmw's new idrive that this is simpler it's just the same blocks of information that the old old idrive was right it's an easy button it's very easy to get home it's very easy and how is apple carplay been working it's been great yeah it's been great i've got on with it absolutely fine like it hasn't cut audio i we do say every time we get a bmw it it seems to get better every time yeah they are improving they're working out the bugs unfortunately the climate is now in a menu right like there's is there anything this is it's touch screen here but to get to the heated seats yeah it's the menu yeah you still have a heated steering wheel button on the on the wheel which is yeah thankfully but yeah the rest of this is the same as a regular four series it's all very regular four series grand coupe yeah um the you know weirdly so another symptom of it being a straight conversion yeah which is not a deal breaker it's just a bit strange is there is a transmission tunnel that doesn't have a transmission in it oh my god so the middle seat's not very comfortable i didn't even think about that and then so the drive shaft would be yeah and then not related to the ev stuff is the the rear seats yeah i've actually never sat in a four serious ground coupe so i don't know how this compares to the older ones right they're not that spacious i wonder if they had to raise the floor a little bit to fit the batteries underneath maybe the legroom is fine for me the headroom is fine just but i'd expect it to be more but our sound engineer and tall man tester yeah who's six foot six yes really doesn't fit in really really doesn't fit so again i just wish that they'd converted a three series maybe they will maybe they will maybe he wouldn't find that either you put batteries on the floor anyway that's kind of a big sunroof i like that that's that's nice otherwise it's typical bmw in here the materials are good it's well built there's blue things going on blue blue stitching oh yeah blue start stop button blue around here blue around here where they chose blue for their like ev color i feel like that's completely the normal like the lightning color is it every single brand destroys why someone used green green's a cool accent color when i think green i think like health bowl food like an acai bowl no uh yeah so this is listen listen i like this car as a daily eevee thing right right i don't i'm hard on it because it is a bmw if that was a different badge on the steering wheel i'd have a slightly different conclusion i think i i know i i agree but i think i think at some point once you get to 5 000 pounds in weight there isn't much different and especially and even with the range stuff yeah like the rain if you're just commuting to work and back it would be fine for us i think we feel the range a lot more is because we commute then we film it all day yeah we drive it really hard to film it right yeah that's a thing that's a thing it's a sacrifice you make for that that smooth power delivery and we whatever right can we do a conclusion because like i think i got some thoughts okay okay the first thought is that press releases are not gospel the second is that the i4 m50 leaves a little bit on the table it's good and well priced considering but it's not perfect unfortunately the things it does well exist in the more affordable and better ranged 40 trim but even then i'd still find myself leaning towards dedicated evs like the tesla model 3 or the polestar 2 the bmw just doesn't have them in the areas i hoped it would normally when we jump in an ev there's a next-gen feeling to it it feels like a step forward but i'm with thomas on this one the i4 does not improve on the four series and despite its m badge and not to 60 time it doesn't feel like a sports car luckily for bmw the similarly priced and far lighter m340i and m440i exist with the wonderful b-58 engine which until you hit the full m cars still feel like the most enjoyable and purposeful way to enjoy this type of bmw thanks for watching you

Channel: Throttle House

Views: 506,337

Keywords: Bmw i4 review, bmw i4 m50 xdrive, 2022 bmw i4, 2022 i4 xdrive, 2022 bmw ev, bmw sedan ev, bmw 4 series, bmw gran coupe review, bmw m3 comp, 2022 ev sedan, i4 vs model 4, i4 vs model s, bmw m3 vs i4, 2022 bmw ix, 2022 bmw edrive40, bmw xdrive 50, bmw m60, bmw rwd ev, bmw awd ev, bmw vs mercedes, bmw vs audi, i4 vs ioniq 5, bmw i4 0-60, bmw i4 40, bmw i4 vs tesla model 3, bmw electric, bmw m4 electric, electric bmw, i4 m50 sound, i4 hans zimmer, bmw hans zimmer

Id: j2ALyNBGtXw

Length: 19min 43sec (1183 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 13 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/ThePizzaDevourer]

James, I'm here to say: it was funny 🤣

[u/peaseabee]

Over 5000 pounds. Best of luck making that drive like anything we have historically thought of as dynamic or responsive.

[u/HighHokie]

Pretty much nails my thoughts on it. Another great video.

Also of note, Tesla is mentioned only once on here, at the very very end and in a meaningful way. I point this out simply because it’s good to see more and more EVs able to stand on their own.

[u/hyecbokngrx-vh]

u/throttlehouseTH As someone in the market for an EV with some semblance of steering feel, would you recommend going straight to a Mach-E or something else? Any chance the i4 40 might feel a bit better?

[u/Imakeshittycardesign]

I've seen nearly every review of this car that's out there even some in dutch and french and everybody that's driven both this and the regular RWD eDrive 40 has come to the same conclusion. If you want a car that drives and feels like a proper BMW you need to get the eDrive 40 and not the M50. That extra motor and 165 kilo added mainly to the front of the M50 does not seem to help at all handling wise. Given that the RWD is also significantly more efficient and starts at 10k less I really don't see any reason why you would go with this, unless you have to deal with regular snow and need the extra traction of course.

[u/The_Exia]

The concerns are valid but I think thanks to the price some of those can be forgiven.

Yes these cars are no longer drivers cars, the majority of BMW customers no longer care, so that won't stop these from selling.

The range also isn't there compared to a Tesla, but a lot of ground up EV's also struggle in this area as well.

What I think makes this car a decent proposition is that its a Model 3 or Model 3 Performance competitor in the M50 trim for similar money. That money gets you a dealership network, good build quality as well as a normal interior.

Yes the car is basically an electric 4 series, there's some good and some bad to that but I think this car is a good first step by BMW. I think if you don't need the supercharger network and charging at home works 90% of the time for you, this is a really good alternative to a Model 3 for the average consumer.

I'd like to see an M50 compared to a Model 3 Performance.

[u/flipper_gv]

The infotainment looks so fucking slow for a brand new car. I don't get why luxury brands still can't figure this stuff.

[u/Michelanvalo]

I really want to know what's in the transmission / driveshaft tunnel that replaced the traditional components.

[u/INutHydroxyfufu]

As someone who recently had a 2018 340i xDrive, I want nothing to do with any of the new BMW’s featuring this horrific grille.