[J78]

Yesterday I had a chance of being inside an i4 m50 and also test drive an iX50. It was a single day event in Lisbon, Portugal. The i4 and iXs had German plates, the first press cars should only arrive in Portugal in Jan22.

Here are my initial 25 thoughts on the i4 m50, after 35-40 min walktrough (multiple posts as there is a max of 10 pics/post):

1. Frozen Portimao Blue - this color is amazing. Although the car was indoors the effect works very well and it’s very different from almost colors around. It has a very smooth texture that doesn’t feel like car paint. It feels like a smooth matte surface.
   
   
   
2. Grill design - the front grill design works well on the car. It makes the front “bigger” and results in a modern car appearance. There was an ix3 pre-lci with a smaller grill that felt older. The rader is clearly visible on the right side which could have been avoided by fully covering the lower part or placing the radar integrated on the top part, which is already covered. It’s a detail and somewhat hidden but takes away the symmetry for the eagle eye.
   
   
   
3. Door closing sound - it sucks. Front and rear. I have a 6 series coupe from 2011 also with frameless doors and it’s incomparable. 6 series still feels a solid door (although is in fact much bigger and heavier) even with the window opened. The i4 the door feels light (also smaller) and has a horrible cheap plastic closing sound. My hopes would be for this to be tuned in the final version, as the door sound is usually engineered. Let’s see.
4. M sport seats - they feel very comfort and also tighter than the normal Sport seats (I have the sport seats on a g01 x3). Adjustments are the same. Although the car had only 500km the driver seat leather felt a bit worn, probably due to many tryouts during the car roadshow. My x3 has almost 3 years and 50k km and the vernasca leather seats look like new, this wasn’t the case. The back visibility is somewhat limited by the seats format but I don’t think it’s different from the normal sport seats (I have to try later). You see a whole plastic cover instead of the back leather and head rest on sport seats.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Sunroof opening - it doesn’t open all the way. For a moment I had the keys in the car so I could test a close and open and tried to do the “second” push in the button but it doesn’t open further. This is the maximum.
   
   
   
   

 

[J78]

(Cont)

6. HK sound - it was too loud outside with cocktail music, the windows were opened because of covid restrictions and the radio sources had bad reception as we were inside a hotel. It seemed ok the bass and sound when I pulled the sound up but couldn’t say much about it. The speaker covers are made of a nice metal grill.

7. HK subwoofer and cable storage - as already mentioned by @Inside the subwoofer is visible in the trunk space by removing the black cover. The space left should be sufficient to store a smaller cable (eg the yellow with the charger). The thicker ones (gray) should be more difficult and probably have to go into the side pockets.

8. Rear seats - I’m 1,75m and had some 3 or 4 fingers left to the roof. The floor is raised so your legs rest on a higher position. It shouldn’t be very comfortable for long rides (Porsche/Audi solved this by not putting battery cells on the feet resting place in the back).

9. Ambient light - it seemed to me brighter and more refined than my x3 g01. The line in the door is thinner and results on an upper class feeling. The “carpet lights” also have a different pattern than the x3’s.

10. Auto lock / unlock - I activated the lock + unlock if move away / approach the car on idrive and the car started locking and unlocking. The key was in the salesman pocket who was 2 or 3 meters apart. I opened the door with the car locked and alarm came off. The doors still opened though, I though they would remain closed (it works that way on Vw/Audi so you can’t open the door if a thief breaks a window). If you have the key in your pocket and leave someone in the car (eg on a highway pitstop) the car will be locked with people inside. And if you are hanging near the car it will lock/ unlock randomly. Something to consider.

11. M Steering wheel - the grip feels like a normal M wheel of G series and center design is identical. The m50 has a different lower silver part with an opening. If you slide your finger inside it feels like plastic and it ends on a thin sharp plastic edge. I would expected it to be more solid and in metal or metal feeling. Doesn’t match the quality of the rest of the wheel, best if they kept it closed in the lower part.

12. Door handles. They feel huge because don’t have lateral endings. Some times my hand slipped and failed the opening making a loud sound but it’s something that you should get used to. With the matte paint they feel very modern.

13. Rear doors - the door size and opening is okish but not very wide. There is a part of the rear door that extends beyond the window and you might close the door with your fingers on in, as it is a good spot to grab. But don’t do that rear frameless doors add a nice sporty touch.

14. Tinted windows - they seemed darker than normal bmw’s. Although it was indoors I couldn’t see nothing on the rear mirror and on the back of the car there was a white wall.

15. Rear headrests - the three had rests are foldable. This is nice to give additional rear visibility, which is scarce. The have the same folding system by button as in the middle rear seat in x3.

 

[J78]

16. Plastic covers. There a lot of them - entry sills, trunk sill and upper parts, hk subwoofer cover all look very cheap and unfinished black shinny plastic. Salesman mentioned that it would be upgraded in the final version.

17. Interior plastic buttons center console. The drive modes and I drive controller are made of a matte plastic and don’t have individual buttons. Honestly they feel cheaper on the touch and clicking sound than the same piano black buttons of the x3. And also cheaper than the F series buttons (both 6 series and 1 series) - which were sturdier and also matte plastic. This is a step backwards.

18. “Gear” selector. I know this is identical to newer g series but it’s much smaller than the F series or original G series (5 series, x3). I usually rest my arm in the armrest and like holding the gear selector. And it feels cheaper (plastic) material wise.

19. Id8 screen - it’s big and feels high quality. It has a glossy surface. It’s super crisp, sharp and colors are vivid. I test drove the iX with the same screen and works well in day light (cloudy day though).

20. HUD - I test drove the iX and it’s larger and much brighter than the old F series color hud. Didn’t test the navigation though, just speed, speed limit and a wide lower colored line.

21. Id8 - the icons actually appear much larger than in videos or pics. Ie are about the size of 4 icons of an iPhone, so they are easy to press. The screen is responsive although I encountered some bugs - glitches in center display while pressing the wheel commands, Russian? Text, BMW X5 rendered in display, when turning the fan to 0 didn’t t ur n on again but if you exited the menu and come back it turned on… salesman said the software wasn’t final. Most of the times while swiping down through the options it selected the option where the finger was, as if I had pressed it. Repeated several times and it seemed a bug in sw… Maybe there is a sensitivity/ press to select option, or way to swipe down without select, I didn’t have much time inside it to explore.

22. Augmented view - as mentioned by @Inside the option is missing in nav configuration menu. In iX the option is there, I saw it the menu (didn’t have time to test the AR though). Salesman mentioned that iX uses front parking camera but was clueless if AR would make it in the i4.

 

[J78]

23. Rear bumper - the “diffuser” really looks cool and sporty. The fake entries on the sides don’t look good, as they go inside the bumper and you can see an “uneven” finish of the lines. This version had the carbon exterior pack. Maybe its greyish color results better with the blue color than the normal black on the rear bumper.

24. Laser headlights style - they look ok but it isn’t a great evolution from my 2011 6 series with adaptive leds. The last year 5 series lci look more modern to me. They could have made it thinner as in the i4 concept - maybe for the lci as they did on the x3 lci.

25. Underside - finally, the underside seemed robust and clean. There were lots of blue lights on the floor and the photos show what Was visible (not much detail )

Overall it didn’t change my mind in ordering it before seeing it. There are some issues to fix for the production series and others might be sw upgradable in the future. Looking good

 

[Lord]

Magnificent post(s) @J78 !
BMW's excuse for many of their mishaps might be that "this is a pre-production model".
We even get an ...X5 in the iDrive 8, so there is hope from more than a "fine tuning" for the production model.
Yet, they clearly cut corners when they made the i4 to keep the cost low and the package still attractive.

 

[460]

THX !!!!

That's a lot of complaints!

drive modes and I drive controller don’t have individual buttons

🤬

seat leather felt worn.. shouldn’t be very comfortable for long rides... cheap plastic covers... doesn’t match the quality of the rest of the wheel...horrible cheap plastic closing sound

😨 Wasn't it supposed to be a luxury car?

bugs - glitches

I don't expect much from idrive8, car manufacturers are not software manufacturers. I hope one day they will give up and use Android / Apple for their OS.

Salesman said the software wasn’t final... Salesman mentioned that it would be upgraded

we are still talking about a car? You weren't in a smartphone store?

 

[460]

cut corners when they made the i4 to keep the cost low

we don't have the same definition of "low" 😅

 

[Inside]

Great write-up!

Its a bit shocking to see the seats worn so fast. I have opted for the sensatec perforated seats, and really hope they can keep its shape for a long time.

The VW ID3 also launched with a long list of bugs and lagging interface. They have manged to make the system much better after launch. Lets hope most of the idrive8 bugs will be gone once the car releases, and what is eventually still a issue will be fixed OTA

 

[Inception]

Thank you so much for this.
I am so very surprised how bad those seats look after so little time, with all those creases and wrinkles. they have a lot of shape and angles compared to the more plain seats. If this is a general problem, maybe it would be also apparent in the M3 and M4 on the models that aren’t optioned with the carbon fiber testicle storage system seats.

The black plastic trims you are commenting surely must be only temporary. Disappointed about the feel of the buttons, unfortunately not surprised..

The gear selector cover is something many people will replace immediately upon delivery.. the cheap blue plastic cover accents doesn’t do the interior any favors. did the mechanical action feel cheap as well?

Glad you could figure out the #sunroofgate mystery! As someone who has a panorama roof now, to its defense, you don’t really have eyes in the back of your head and only see the part in front of and directly above you. It’s not that it doesn’t open a lot, it’s more that they chose to make the glass bigger to let in more light. It would probably have taken an unacceptable amount of space for rear passenger if it would have gone further back.

I get the point about legs for rear seat.. it simplifies packaging a lot to not make it lower at rear seat well. Also probably helps on making the battery a more structurally rigid element. But I don’t think I’d be comfortable there.

It is however fair to point out that this is NOT an e-tron GT, it is a jazzed up 3-series, and I’d expect it to have some cheaper details than 5-series or higher. It’s also a ‘coupe’ with rear doors, just look at it, it’s not really a family car. Perfect for me without kids but still want to have a great functional boot and ski hatch. It’s only my friends that will need to suffer.

Touch points of high quality inside the car is something I care about, and I hope it will be leagues above the 225xd I always get at the rental company. I was considering an old Panamera Turbo before this, but then realized I didn’t have the national budget of a small African country required to keep it on the road.

 

[J78]

The gear selector cover is something many people will replace immediately upon delivery.. the cheap blue plastic cover accents doesn’t do the interior any favors. did the mechanical action feel cheap as well?
(...)
It is however fair to point out that this is NOT an e-tron GT, it is a jazzed up 3-series, and I’d expect it to have some cheaper details than 5-series or higher.

Here's a pic of an online review of a i4 M50. For driving modes and idrive controller (and also camera/parking/traction), it's a single plastic piece and when you press the "button" it works. But it has a cheap clickin sound, since there is no individual button going down. The mechanical action feels ok, there's a first and a second pressure point (didn't switch to B as the car was off). The lever is however shorter than the older models, so you don't grab it with the full hand / all the fingers.

The 5 series has the same center console style as the x3 (and also 7 series) on the first generation G series. For idrive there are individual button on pairs and the drive modes + parking/camera have common button but in groups. This allows the whole button group to lower further and results in a better feedback.

However it may not be due to higher / lower class models - the new 8 series has already the "new center console" and it's identical to the i4 but with glossy looks.

 

[J78]

Touch points of high quality inside the car is something I care about, and I hope it will be leagues above the 225xd I always get at the rental company.

I guess you are referring the 225xd AST, so this type of interior.

This is pretty much the 2011 1 series F20/F21 interior.

My wife had one and the overall quality of the i4 is higher.

Some points to consider:
1) the idrive display makes a big difference, as the 1/2 series didnt have even full digital displays.
2) the seats are much more comfortable and nicer
3) the sensatec leather dash has upper class finish
4) the door trims on the old 1 / 2 have more plastic. And center console sides.
5) the sound isolation should be much higher (although this is ev vs ice)
7) there's ambient light strips on the i4, which also add to the experience
8) there's more standard equipment on the i4 (parking sensors, rear camera, led lights, navigation, carplay, 17/18" wheels, electric trunk, sport seats, auto lights)
9) there's additional optional equipment available on the i4 (hud (a real one), driving assistant pro, laser light, leather dash (and latter in 2022 leather doors), ventilated seats, adaptive suspension ...)

10) the idrive buttons on old 1 / 2 series are still better than the ones in i4 / newer bmw's

 

[J78]

Great write-up!

Its a bit shocking to see the seats worn so fast. I have opted for the sensatec perforated seats, and really hope they can keep its shape for a long time.

The VW ID3 also launched with a long list of bugs and lagging interface. They have manged to make the system much better after launch. Lets hope most of the idrive8 bugs will be gone once the car releases, and what is eventually still a issue will be fixed OTA

I was also a bit surprised / disappointed of the seats condition. The passenger and rear seats were as new. A note that the car didn't smell as new (as opposed to the iX I driven and even with the mask ), so it must have a prolonged in/out testing on car shows. As mentioned, my X3 has the same vernasca leather and the base of the sport seats is identical to the M sport seats, and my seats look as new after 3 years and ~50k km. Or maybe it was sourced from a pre-production cow as well

 

[460]

it's a single plastic piece and when you press the "button" it works. But it has a cheap clickin sound

Using a single piece of plastic for all the buttons is an economic choice, or it is pure bad taste, or both.

parking sensors, rear camera, led lights, navigation, carplay, electric trunk, sport seats, auto lights, hud, driving assistant pro, laser light, leather dash, ventilated seats

All I want is clickable buttons, comfortable seats, usable door handles and a non-beta OS... I wonder if this is still possible in 2021.

 

[J78]

THX !!!! That's a lot of complaints! 😨 Wasn't it supposed to be a luxury car?
I don't expect much from idrive8, car manufacturers are not software manufacturers. I hope one day they will give up and use Android / Apple for their OS.
we are still talking about a car? You weren't in a smartphone store?

i guess some points depend what is your comparison reference, I have a G01 X3 (which has the interior much like the 5 series) and a F13 6 series (which although older has what was at the time one of the best finishes from BMW - it was a ~ €150k car w/ taxes here). If you compare with Tesla 3 or S, most of these complaints are several notches above what you find in Tesla. That being said, i think that comparing the i4 with an x3 or 5 series is adequate since the price range of this car (40 and 50 models) is comparable. 3 series starts in a lower price range.

 

[J78]

All I want is clickable buttons, comfortable seats, usable door handles and a non-beta OS... I wonder if this is still possible in 2021.

I bet that going forward only comfortable seats may survive as

1) buttons are on the extinction path, even in BMW (these days "le gaulois")
2) door handles are becoming clickable buttons - think iX and Tesla (at least a good news for you) and
3) beta OS - this will be more and more common, as the functions (and bugs) are intensified (battery management, driving assists, AI, ...) - think Tesla with weekly upgrades.

 

[J78]

I forgot to mention a "one last thing" observation:

26 - the parking cameras in front and side mirrors were mildly warm even with the car off and no camera's images showing in the idrive. I guess this would be for them to still provide good image with snow, ice, rain. Not sure if it can be configured (as it wastes some energy and in warm/sunny days shouldn't be needed). My F13 6 series has the surround cameras and the cameras in side mirrors or front side bumper don't get hot after a drive - tested afterwards

 

[460]

think Tesla

I bought a BMW to avoid thinking about tesla

 

[460]

the parking cameras in front and side mirrors were mildly warm even with the car off and no camera's images showing in the idrive.

You mean there's an additional heating system?

 

[460]

i guess some points depend what is your comparison reference

My reference point is the average salary I see that "luxury" is moving further and further away from the middle classes

 

[J78]

My reference point is the average salary I see that "luxury" is moving further and further away from the middle classes

indeed, luxury on EV have to go to Taycan / Etron GT (or EQS if you close your eyes after exiting or before entering the car ).

i4 is more a tech / sporty offer with bits and peaces of luxury and a good alternative to Tesla.

Currently, a 530e /mercedes 300e / audi a6 tfsie might be a compromise of luxury class but midway of EV.

For another step in BMW EV, we have to wait for an i5 class but probably more expensive (taycan range) and possible iX inspired (hope not)