[Vincent]

Hi there,

After lurking in this forum for a few weeks, it's time to come up.

I've ridden bikes (fond memories of my BMW R1100S and Yamaha R1) and many different cars (Alfa Romeo 156 2.0 Selespeed, Audi A5 Sportback and current BMW 435i Gran Coupe and more) over the last 25 years and enjoyed that a lot. And I'm now ready for an EV.

Actually, I must confess I was looking for a V8 (old M6 Gran Coupe, new M550i) to follow my 435i in a few years. But then parts of the south of the Netherlands (I live in Amsterdam) flooded and the climate reports came out and I decided it was time to make a personal change, instead of just complaining about politics not fixing things (which I still do ;-)). Then I started looking around for EVs and quickly found that they are not so boring anymore. The i4 has gotten me really excited!

At the moment, I have put down €250 for a pre-order, but I still want to test drive an actual i4 M50 before ordering one. I've too often experienced that a test drive of a car that I was really enthusiastic about got that car removed from my list very fast (I'm looking at you, 3-series GT). Also, I feel I need to really have a look at the Tesla Model 3, although I can't get excited about it (maybe because there are already four in my street, but that is a little childish).

Well, that's all for now. I'm looking forward to joining the discussion. Now I'm going to replay that 0-200 acceleration video one more time.

Regards, Vincent.

 

[Rincewind]

I feel I need to really have a look at the Tesla Model 3, although I can't get excited about it (maybe because there are already four in my street, but that is a little childish).

I've owned A Tesla Model 3 Performance for nearly 2 years. I'm moving to the i4 M50. The Tesla is too noisy, has an unrefined ride, and some build quality issues. Overall, it's too rough round the edges and needs further development. It's a shame because the drivetrain is fantastic, it's just that the car on top of it isn't what it should be. Also, don't get me started on the self driving issues, or the crap auto wipers, or the crap auto high beam.

 

[Vincent]

I just came back from my test drive in the i4 M50. The very short story; it's a great car and I'm going to finalize my order soon!

And now for the longer story...

Last month I did test drives in the Tesla Model 3 Performance, Porsche Taycan 4S and BMW i4 eDrive 40. The Tesla was my first encounter with an EV and it was easy to drive. But too much like a golf cart. I was back in 20 minutes, which says enough. The Taycan 4S is a beast; it looks great, drives great and has great acceleration. But it's unpractical (boot instead of liftback), expensive (+/- 1.5x an i4 M50) and it would just stand out too much in my neighbourhood that has a lot of BMWs, Audis and Teslas. The eDrive 40 was a bit of a let down for me. It's slower than my 435i and felt lots slower because it makes no sound.

The i4 M50 on the other hand was great! The acceleration was tremendous. And I did not even dare floor it because it was a damp, misty 3 °C this morning. I can't wait to try the launch control or turn off DSC when I have it and it's warmer. Despite the conditions, the car did give me enough confidence to do some spirited overtaking and turn taking, especially after an hour or so.

Some other observations:

• The driving modes Sport and Comfort do exactly what they say they do. Sport for when I'm on my own. Comfort with passangers. My wife and 7-yo son got car sick in the Taycan 4S, even when I turned on Comfort mode (or whatever it's called). In the i4 M50, that was not the case. I was even able to sneakily accelerate quite fast and they didn't even notice. Eco Pro is just as useless as in my 435i and the 420d before that; it feels as if the accelerator is disconnected. Maybe it helps squeeze some more range out of the car when you're tight on charge. Or maybe it's good if you have bad impulse control.
• One pedal driving works as expected. I didn't use it for that long though.
• I like the Iconic Sounds. They're not overbaring, especially when you're playing music, but they add a little emotion.
• iDrive 8 is great. The navigation works very nicely. The built-in Spotify is nice, hooking up Carplay was dead simple. I was able to find out how to tweak most things while driving.
• The Driving Assistant Professional works very smoothly; the distance it keeps from a slower car in front of you is just right and the movements it makes to keep you in lane feel very natural. In fact, it was hard to tell if it was working. Maybe because I was messing about with iDrive 8 in the meantime. 🤔
• The car had cognac M Sport seats. They look great and I found them comfortable. At least for the 90 minutes I was in them. And I rarely drive for more then 90 minutes. Also my son did not feel he was stuck behind big bits of plastic as I feared. So they're back on the short list, next to the Vernasca Oyster.
• The car does need a light interior. The eDrive 40 has black leather and that made it very gloomy inside. This car also had a sunroof and while I previously thought sunroofs to be silly if you have AC, I have now seen the light (pun intended). Sunroofs are not for air, but for light. The panoramic roofs in the Model 3 and Taycan convinced me of that. On the one hand, it's a pity that this isn't a full panoramic roof. On the other hand, It's nice that you can close this when it's too hot or sunny. Oh, and I did not get it to fully open. It looks like the curvature of the roof prevents that. But I did not investigate for very long. In any case, I don't expect to open it very often anyway. Sunroofs are for light. 🌅

All in all, I'm impressed! And so was my family. Next week we're going back to pick out rims, leather and interior trims. We're already sold on Dravit Grey.

Happy weekend!

 

[JST1963]

To open the sunroof completely, you have to slide the button once more to the back. There's a "How to" clip here somewhere on the forum...

Edit: "How to" videos | BMW i4 Forum (i4talk.com)

 

[JToddK]

Vincent, We, (my wife and I) short listed the M850i. (Once I got her thinking, acceptably, about $100K+ for a new car, the rest was easy.) Our discussions revolved around old school performance V8's vs. more environmentally sound choices. The Tesla S looked interesting as an electric Grand Tourer, but I'm not a fan of the minimalist interior. They still using 8 or 9 thousand of those 18650 cells that I put in my vape? Build quality has declined (says Consumer Reports) as they've ramped up. Lucid caught my attention, but they're a complete unknown. Both Tesla (demonstrated) and Lucid (potentially) are subject to marketing vaporware. The I4 M50 hit all the buttons - performance, environmental, BMW build quality and dynamics. Once we selected the red leather seats, she was right on board.

 

[MinhSATx]

@Vincent, welcome to the "i4 M50 team". In the US, we'll probably not get to even sit in one until we take delivery of one, especially in relatively small-EV-markets like where I live in South Texas, so it is great to hear your impressions, I think you are the first one on this forum to have driven the top 4 contenders in a short period of time (i4 eDrive40, i4 M50, Tesla m3, Taycan), so your feedback is the most valuable from what I've seen. Thank you so much for that. Now let just continue discussing and entertaining ourselves during the long wait ahead.

 

[Vincent]

Last Saturday we went back and decided on an i4 M50 in Dravit Grey with 859 19" wheels, extended shadowline trim and shadow line headlights, M sport seats with Vernasca Cognac and Aluminium Rhombicle Anthrazit interior trim. It should looks something like the i4 M Sport shown at the EV event in the Netherlands a few months ago.

When the order has been finalized, I'll post the digital brochure!

Oh, and for winter use, I'll be getting the 18" 953 wheels in gunmetal grey that were also on the second i4 M50 for sale in Norway. I saw them IRL (on a new BMW 1 series I think) a while back and they looked very nice. On my 435i I also run bi-color 19" wheels in the summer and dark 18" wheels in the winter. I kinda like the dark look in the winter and then swapping that out for bright wheels when the sun comes out.

 

[Vincent]

To open the sunroof completely, you have to slide the button once more to the back. There's a "How to" clip here somewhere on the forum...

Edit: "How to" videos | BMW i4 Forum (i4talk.com)

Ah yes, that was it. I recalled there was a video about that on the forum during the test drive. But I did not take the time to search the forum while driving. Not sure if iDrive 8 has a built-in web browser.

 

[Vincent]

Not sure if iDrive 8 has a built-in web browser.

Maybe we should build an iPhone app with Carplay abilities for the forum. 🤓

 

[Vincent]

And it's been ordered! See my post on the digital brochure library topic for what my BMW i4 M50 will look like. 😁

Like @MinhSATx, I got all the technical gizmo's: all the driving and parking assist systems, comfort access, wireless charging and the BMW Drive Recorder. I can't wait to play around with them.

Delivery should be in August 2022. The dealer gave me a slot they had reserved for a demo car.

And now we wait... ⏳⏳⏳⌛

 

[Vincent]

Last week I had another test drive in i4 M50, just for fun. Still loving it and still looking forward to (finally) getting my car!

The test drive was with the 20" 868M wheels and while they do impact range negatively, the comfort level was the same for me. And they just look so much cooler than the 19" 859M wheels I had selected earlier.

So I changed my order to have the 20" 868M wheels and switched to the Carbon Fiber trim because it's just so snazzy.

Now I really can't wait...

P.S. I've posted my new digital brochure to the library.

 

[Techwhiz1]

Last week I had another test drive in i4 M50, just for fun. Still loving it and still looking forward to (finally) getting my car!

The test drive was with the 20" 868M wheels and while they do impact range negatively, the comfort level was the same for me. And they just looks so much cooler than the 19" 859M wheels I had selected earlier.

So I changed my order to have the 20" 868M wheels and switched to the Carbon Fiber trim because it's just so snazzy.

Now I really can't wait...

P.S. I've posted my new digital brochure to the library.

I wished they did digital brochure in the US.

Waiting on my Tanzanite M50!

 

[Vincent]

I wished they did digital brochure in the US.

I can imagine. I wish they did build tracking in Europe. 😉

It’s strange how some services are only available in some parts of the world. I wonder why that is.

Or why the US has no M Sport Seats but in the Netherlands you cannot get Vernasca Cognac without M Sport Seats.

 

[Techwhiz1]

I can imagine. I wish they did build tracking in Europe.

It’s strange how some services are only available in some parts of the world. I wonder why that is.

Or why the US has no M Sport Seats but in the Netherlands you cannot get Vernasca Cognac without M Sport Seats.

Is give up tracking for the digital brochure. I haven't see another car like mine so I can't even "borrow" a digital brochure.

US has no sport seats because BMW USA won't allow the M seats in anything that doesn't ship with them by default.

Frustrating since the rest of the world outside North America can get them. We also don't get heated rear seats.

They basically took the configuration decisions made for the 440ix GC and made the i4 M50 look exactly the same.

Waiting on my Tanzanite M50!

 

[Vincent]

Last week I got a call from the dealership; the 20" 868M rims (3FW) are no longer available. And the M Shadowline headlights (3MF) are now only available in the M Sportpakket Pro, in The Netherlands at least.

That pack also includes the 19" 859M rims (3FK), which I had before, and the red callipers (3M2) and the M seatbelts (4GQ) which I also liked but hadn't selected yet, so I added that to my configuration.

Can't say I'm very disappointed. The factory 20" 868M rims look great, but the decrease in efficiency and range was bothering me a little bit. And maybe I'll get the after market 20" 868M rims with Night Gold later on. I think they look great with the red callipers, and will probably go well with the gold flakes in Dravit Grey. Those rims are not so wide so I hope the impact on efficiency/range is comparable to the 20" 862I rims.

The car should still be arriving this August. 🥳

 

[Weezer]

Stick with the 19s. The tiny percentage improvement in looks doesn’t make up for the 60 miles decrease in range! (That’s the figure I’ve heard, anyway).

 

[Vincent]

Good point.

However, the after market 20" 868M rims in Jet Black Uni / Night Gold have 255 rear tyres like the 19" 859M rimes I'm getting now and unlike the factory 20" 868M rims which have 285 rear tyres. That might make the impact on range similar to the 20" 862I rims, which have an impact on range of about 15 miles, which is a lot better.

In any case, I'll start with the 19s and see how I like them. If I don't like them, at least I'll have something to ask as a birthday present. 😁

 

[Techwhiz1]

It's literally not the tire diameter that causes the issue. It's the tire compound on the 20" package being a "summer" tire. Those are sticky

My plan is to go with an all weather Conti when it's time to buy tires.

Waiting for my M50......

 

[Vincent]

True, I keep forgetting about that. 🤦‍♂️

The after market 868 M's come with Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 tyres (in The Netherlands at least) instead of the Pirelli P Zero's that the factory 868 M are shod with. According to the Goodyear website that is a "luxurious comfort" tyre with "a strong braking & handling performance on wet" which tells me nothing. But I know little about tyres.

I did find a review comparing both tyres and that says the rolling resistance of the Goodyear Eagle F1 is lower than that of the Pirelli P Zero. But the fact that they're even being compared seems to imply they are both similar tyres. Hmm..

 

[Techwhiz1]

People are hung up on diameter when what they should be looking at is parameters that affect rolling resistance.

If you are running a sticky tire, you are going to be going not as far on a charge.

Waiting for my M50......