Sweet!! Looks great! See you in the forum. Man you got an absolute steal on the custom paint. I looked into it on my eDrive40 and it started at $5K. Coleton, I need to road trip my sunset orange there. If/when I receive it :)
@jacobplatt3066 80% is nonsense of course. But let's not forget: At least an additional 10k will be needed to spec the BMW to the same level of options which the Tesla has by default.
Coming from a Model 3 owner, price is well worth it. Yes, size wise, its similar to a Model 3 but BMW quality is 10x better. Traded in my 2-series for a Model 3 LR; quickly regretted it in a few months. Even if my Tesla was well bolted together, the design and material feel nowhere close to BMW. I should have just gotten an i4 instead. PS. Seats have the option of Sensatec, Vernasca and Merino (that's Vernasca) Dashboard also has the option of Plastic, Sensatec or Nappa (that looks like Sensatec)
I picked up my i4 eDrive40 back in November. After the tax credit, it cost me roughly $54K.....$30K less than the M50 in your review and a much better value. I can attest to the build quality (mine is Dravit Grey, a $1700 option).....I can't find any flaws whatsoever and every time I pull up on a Tesla at a stoplight I can usually spot a misaligned body panel. Besides the superb handling with the optional adaptive suspension, that was one of the reasons I chose this over other EV's. Very happy with it. Thanks for the review!
Owner of an M440i GC here. It's expensive, but the car is built like a tank and handles beautifully. BMW build quality and engineering is top notch. Back seat room is an issue, but it's better in the regular 3 series. You get the i4 or 4 GC because you like the way it looks and hatchback. While BMW's materials aren't the best compared to Mercedes, the build quality is superior. I will take build quality any day; these cars are built to last.
Oh no. These days bmw even beats Mercedes on material quality. The new C Class for example has really poor materials and very very hard plastics on the entire lower half of the doors and dash whereas the 3 series is soft. Same for the X5 vs the GLE. The GLE is built like it's put together with glue and the materials on the lower half of the doors is cheap hard plastic. The X5 is soft there. Mercedes is really shitty these days.
Materials are some of the best. Especially in this i4 if you spec all the extended leather+merino leather seats. If this i4 had that he would not complain about the seats and dash at all i bet.
Having driven this car, I agree it’s small in the back; comfortable but small. The interior quality is above any Tesla IMO. If this car could be had for $60k in the M50 variant it would be a deal.
It’s a coupe with two extra doors, not a sedan. I think they’ve just tried to add a bit more practicality to a coupe. It’s not intended to fun as a true four door sedan.
We need to stop comparing every car that is a medium sized sedan to the Model 3. I don't get it! It's like comparing a Honda Civic with a BMW 3 series (ICE) and saying, well the Honda gets better gas mileage and that's all that matters! No, you buy the BMW for another reason. We need to stop treating EV:s like they are all the same except for their drivetrains... these are still cars after all with all that that bring with styling, build quality, suspension, handling, noise levels, features, looks, reliability etc.
Completely disagree. Tesla in most categories sets the benchmark in the EV world that on paper, money for money is extremely hard for and other EV to match.
@@OutofSpecDetailing You are comparing these EV:s like all other things considered, they are the same type of vehicle and should thus be comparable, that doesn't make sense to me. We should obviously compare the drivetrain aspects of EV:s to Tesla, they've set the benchmark. What I am saying is that a customer does not exclusively consider EV-drivetrain pros and cons (they shouldn't at least). It's not like every car buyer is doing a total cost analysis before they decide, there are other factors that matter. Tesla and BMW buyers are inherently different people. Take my father for instance, he's in the market for his last ever vehicle and he's shooting for an EV. He is a mechanical engineer and has worked at Volvo for many years and now is the CTO of an auto supplier in China, so he notices things. He's considering a Tesla Model 3, Polestar 4 (when that comes out), BMW i4 or something like a Kia EV6/IONIQ 5. All these vehicles have their own pros and cons, but none beats Tesla in the EV segment. Still, my dad has the model 3 furthest down his list of potential options. He values things like quality and fit & finish more than getting 50km more range on a charge... Do you understand my reasoning? What I am saying, in its simplest form is that car buyers are individual people with individual tastes, and the media should consider this. All I see on TH-cam is "Tesla Model 3 Killer?!" and a spicy thumbnail. BMW is not aiming for the same target group as Tesla. It is incredibly tiring to see people comparing a BMW, Volvo and Mercedes to Tesla. They are very different vehicles with different market segments in mind, and are thus built differently. Legacy car makers are catching up to Tesla in technology and I don't see how Tesla is supposed to keep growing, unless they double down on becoming something like the Volkswagen or Ford of EV:s. Because they sure ain't luxury vehicles... But those are just my two cents. I can agree to disagree and love watching your videos non the less. Have a great continuation of your week-end.
Those are good points. And yes it is super frustrating to see the Tesla killer thumbnails. I think when people compare these other EVs to Tesla, it’s not really a comparison as in a one-to-one qualitative or quantitative assessment of every attribute. It’s more of like they’re saying okay Tesla set the benchmark and here’s how these other EVs stack up against the benchmark/trend-setter in some attributes that potential buyers jump to. And each customer weights attributes differently. For example, your father cares about fit and finish over range. Does that mean that he’ll settle for something less than a Tesla in areas like drivetrain and user experience? It depends how you look at it. If Tesla is his benchmark, then probably yes. But he’s using his decision criteria to make the selection. I like to think of it as that age-old discussion of “who’s the best basketball or baseball or football player?” It depends on what attributes you weight higher than others. Regardless, the OOS crew is amazing and their viewers are passionate about EVs.
@@Dactylonian Absolutely, but rarely will you see a field dominated by reviewers only comparing products to one other product. There are usually different channels that might focus on different aspects, which is fine. But in the EV world it seems like everyone is just comparing EVs to Teslas, again - like they are all the same except for battery, drivetrain and software. Legacy automakers are catching up anyway, what will we compare it to then? Tesla hasn't set the benchmark in anything else. Fit and finish, build quality, design, comfort, handling, road feel. What will we compare to later? Will there only be one car of comparison in 5 years too? Maybe everyone will start saying "Is this the BMW killer?" all of a sudden? I don't see that as being reasonable.
I ordered one of these for my wife about 6 weeks ago and it is currently in the mid Atlantic on a car carrier. My wife likes black cars, so that is what we ordered. Also black has the advantage of hiding all the piano-black body accent pieces. If it were possible, I would delete every one of those accent bits, but hiding them with a black car works also. For me, I LOVE that yellow color. I did not even know that was possible when I ordered the car. That said, my wife would never accept that color for her car, but now I want one of the yellow ones. Good choice by the owner. One thing I did notice when seeing a sample car in the dealership is the back seats are appropriate for only for children that are 5 to 12 years old. I don't think it would be comfortable to load kids into car seats, hence the ≥5 years old. Once kids get greater than 12 years old, they are probably (1) too big for the car seats or (2) are old enough to recognize they are being squeezed into to a ridiculously small space. If it were me, I would suggest BMW lose half the length of hood, move the whole cab forward and use 1/3 of that extra room for the front seats and 2/3 for the back seats. This is exactly what Tesla does and is why there cab room is terrific relative to the car outer dimensions. We added almost all options, but like the owner of this car, we picked the manmade material seats. My impression of the seats was they were very comfortable and the look and feel of the seats was very nice. It is easy for me to say, but I also believe the car is overpriced by about $10 to $15K. The OTD price for my wife's car was 77K, but something closer to $62 to $65 would have been more competitive with the likes of Tesla. I have had a performance M3 and now have a MY. The BMW i4M50 give inline performance results that are very close to, but still less than the Tesla M3P. The biggest difference in acceleration performance is wicked torque-steer in the BMW i4M50 that is absent in the Tesla M3P. It is too bad BMW did not work that one performance flop out of the car during development. Other than that, the interior look and feel of the BMW is far and away better than the Tesla.
This car is a Gran Coupe and not a normal sedan. The rear doors and rear seats are an add-on and not a weakness. If you need a spacious back seat, don't buy a Gran Coupe...
In 2021, I purchased an M340 during the middle of the Pandemic and got almost $10K off. Low $50K out the door. That’s the price point the interior was designed to. Funny about the doors. On the M340 if you closed them to hard they were really loud closing. I’m fact many passengers apologized for slamming them.
I've got this car with Merino leather interior and it's a lot nicer than the Vernasca leather that comes with the M-Sport seats, that's the main reason why I did not choose those seats. I had once a 3 series with Vernasca and then one with Merino and I knew the difference was night and day, so it was a no brainer for me this time around (here you can briefly see it /watch?v=8Fawo-dn-XA). Other than that, everything you say about the car is true :) Nice review, thanks!
You can special order full merino leather for your i4, but it's not offered as an option on the build page. Leather conditioner is a thing because all leather will dry out, and the leather on your new car has been hanging from a rack longer than any other, because that's the factory rotation. Applying a quality conditioner will pay dividends down the road. Also, I can understand how less than the minimum paint depth is undesirable, but fail to see how having a few areas of additional depth on this i4 is reason for concern. Otherwise a good review.
I originally got approval for an individual Merino interior on my i4. But then I was told when locking in my order that BMW waan't accepting any more individual interiors in i4. (This was in Oct 22.) Maybe policy has changed since then or maybe it was just miscommunication between my dealer and BMW. I dunno.
@@IAmAPhan nope. That is what I had done originally. They told me no on the merino interior when it was time to finalize my order. Believe me I tried to push the issue, especially because they had previously given approval.
It is in the configurator in Europe. You can just order it like that. I believe it is about 3k euro extra here. Leather dash is abotu 1k. So for 4k you will have a proper 80k euro interior.
Hey, in contrast to your opinion I was very impressed with the materials in the inside also. Everything feels very sturdy and rock solid. The materials like the artificial can be optioned to be real leather. However that will be bad from a CO2-Emission perspective. Therefore they shifted away from it. However, if you press somewhere or hear the doors shutting it feels way better than other cars. Therefore one serious question: which car in that range is better? Clearly it is not fancy but the quality of everything is pretty good. If you look at Mercedes c class or even e class the 4 series is better build. For me also Audi is not better. So yes it is expensive but you can’t fold the quality. Unfortunately bmw did realize that also and the new facelift g series cars have got a serious downgrade at some places… So better cars in that range for materials are? Lexus? Please let me know.
All you have to do is wait for lease returns, get one with 5 to 10 K miles on it and you will save 15 to 20 K making it more reasonable to buy one as I am planning to do.
12:03 - the irony of this sweet "triple door" EV set up is it's NOT on the new Electric i5...? at least not on the models just debuted to the public, no the red and grey models they've been showing have the tethered "dangle cap" (I noticed it right away). granted it's a minor issue, but hopefully the units shown are pre-production and the one's arriving in the Fall will have this set up from the i4/iX (I assume this is also used on the i7).
On build quality BMW is indeed in an entirely different league than Tesla. However in regards to weight, efficiency, software, supercharging (network and integration) and don't forget price, it's a different story. The i4 is one big compromise on these points, that's why I'll be waiting until BMW catches up to Tesla with 'die neue klasse' in 2025.
@@Ron-xu9hq Agreed, though the weight of the I-5 is not too far from the Tesla Model S. Regarding charging, the only glimmer of hope is that Tesla now allows others to charge on some of their superchargers. EA, Chargepoint, etc. are clowns
@Danin4985 Yes agree, the integration of superchargers while navigating is still just so good with Tesla's though. That said, I remain a BMW fanboy at heart.
@@Ron-xu9hq I had a sport package equipped little e-46 325i before I switched to a Tesla Model S in 2013. The E46 BMW was the best damn car I ever drove. The little Bimmer was so good in ride and handling, yet felt like a tank that could nail any spot on the road with precision. However, I wanted something more environmentally friendly. 10 years on, with a Tesla S and a 3 in the garage, I’ve soured on the Tesla experience. Especially the single screen cost saving nonsense in my 3. Plus, the horrible service that deteriorated after 2017-2018 timeframe, the bad interior and exterior quality, and the cherry on top, douchebag Elon and his constant nonsense. I test drove the i5-40 yesterday, and it just wowed me with its exemplary ride and handling. Bit of body lean, soft and numb steering aside, everything else was just what I want in my next ride! Test drive the i5-40. A very, very nice car. The M50 i5 is a bit less engaging, but much more powerful, in the vein of a Plaid S.
What is this colour called? What’s the colour code? I like this colour. I also just bought a i 4 m50, i am thinking to get my car wrap to this colour. 🙏 darkar yellow ii or speed yellow?
Yeah the leather in bmw 3 series has always been subpar. Unfortunately I don’t think you can even option nicer leather. For a brief period of time you could option merino leather on the previous gen 4 series
I agree simple charge port door is far superior. Unfortunately, i4 doors are failing and when they do, they don't open. Not kidding, there is a whoopie cushion bladder the dealers have been sent to slip behind the charge port door to inflate and force the stuck door open. They may have to recall them when they finally revise the design.
@@OutofSpecDetailing it will be with a slight revision, compared to needless motorized ones. Also really like door handles avoiding needless motors or clumsy pivot designs. Keep It Simple Stupid was an expression many engineers and designers and tech bros fail to live by.
@@CheddarKungPao Really nice car, love the colour! I have a Portimao blue one, with sensatec/alcantara seats (same seat version as you). That leather really looks like sensatec, but its real leather?
@@lowelindroth7053 yeah the Vernasca leather is designed to be durable and seem similar to sensatec for interiors like mine where there is a mix of sensatec and leather. It's not high quality leather, like Coleton mentioned. Thank you! Congratz! Portimao is fantastic!
@@CheddarKungPao Thanks alot, really love that blue colour. Tip: if you wanna upgrade the interior a bit, I can really recommend the alcantara MSport armrest - it looks and feels fantastic!
I'd wait for the next generation of BMW i4 which will be built on an EV platform and hence have a flat floor and less weight. The current line is built on a gas platform hence the transmission tunnel and cramped back seat. BMW may switch to the Tesla charging standard as Mercedes has just announced.
You keep repeating 85k price. Not really a fair assessment. Base is 52k which gives you most of the same materials and build quality . Yes, m50 is more expensive, but that is same with m3 vs 330i. Same base car, more performance. Also, most i4s sold are sparsely optioned 35s, and they are leased for something like 500/month and 2k drive off.
@@OutofSpecDetailing first and foremost, really love and appreciate your content. Please keep doing what you are doing. As to my original comment, I'm not saying you should ignore the 85k price tag. Just saying that you place a lot of emphasis on the price of this one car, and it happens to be a very highly specified example of the cheapest EV that BMW currently makes.
I can only base my review on the car sitting in front of me, this customer’s bought this vehicle at $85k. Therefore needs to be judged as a $85,000 vehicle, not $52k. For example an Audi A5 and RS5 are the same chassis yes… but the RS5 is built in literally a different factory. Although the chassis is similar, there is a massive price difference between 2. Therefore they need to be evaluated separately not equally.
@@OutofSpecDetailing This ones happens to be built in literally same factory. Also, full merino leather is actually available via Individual option for about $4k, similar to the color on this car. My point is that same build quality and and nearly same options are available on all i4s, maybe not with blue contrast stitching but same leather nonetheless. Hence I say that Focusing on MSRP of a car configuration seems unfair.
I’m going to respectfully disagree. The customer paid 85k for this vehicle, not 52k as said before. I mentioned multiple time the base MSRP of M50 model when stating that. He attempted to get merino leather as an option and was not able to. The fact is the leather looks cheap and feels cheap. In all reality I vastly prefer the feel and look of the Model 3 “vegan” leather. I feel this is not of BMW quality in any standards. I would likely gripe even at 52k of the leather quality. Build quality reviews will continue to be compared and reviewed at window sticker not base price.
I have a 2023 i4 m50 with twilight purple exterior and merino ivory white interior. The finish is flawless and spec higher than this model at another 89K. But compared to other cars like Lamborghini or Ferrari, Porsche etc it holds its own without anj question. I love Dakar yellow and awesome to see this car. I don’t see your comment about fake vents as the front does not have fake vents. It’s functional and some areas that lead to airflow to the vents. My car has far better interior than this one you have. Real nappa leather dash with stitching to match. Sadly the car you have had not as good interior. Mine is merino, that one you reviewed has mediocre vernasca leather which is a major disappointment. Just saying.. my wife’s i4 m50 has dravit grey exterior with merino leather full leather Fiona red!!! Which is way way better than the spec you reviewed. I’m shocked the person who got this car with Dakar yellow didn’t know to buy merino leather Full in black etc… it’s huge upgrade from his spec…. But whatever.. what do I know…. If I got his car with Dakar yellow… I would of gone with full Tartufo merino leather, and nappa black dash!!! No brainer… he would be around 88K and no regrets….
I ordered it with full merino tartufo originally. But when it came time to finalize my order in October 2022 my dealer said BMW wouldn't do any more merino interiors on i4s and forced me to choose a sensatec or vernasca interior.
@@CheddarKungPao whoA! That dealer is wrong, my car was built 9/22 and has merino, and know of another car built 11/22 with merino Tartufo. But the problem sometimes is dealers will mess up an order when doing individual. I would guess they made a mistake when ordering it. At least you got the individual paint! I guess I should confirm, I’m in the USA.. and merino should be available here, not sure if things changed for other countries.
@@bimmer100timc those orders might have been finalized before October 22. I dunno. They had previously gotten approval from the BMW USA VIP person, but in October they said sorry they won't let us do the merino interior right now. I still love the car, but it was frustrating. The exterior color is definitely the more important part IMHO.
@@CheddarKungPao wonder if they were trying to get more orders out the door before end of year. But usually individual stuff is finalized early in the process as it cannot be done once a vin is issued. My dealer knows I would walk from the sale if things changed one my orders. We got two i4 m50’s. My wife’s was dravit grey, all options except ventilated seats, and added individual full merino Fiona red interior. Full m perf carbon front lip, rear diffuser, antenna… my car was basically same but is twilight purple with full ivory white merino interior, and instead of the 20” silver face wheels, i did m performance 20” in nightgold. Later added ACS spring kit, painted the rocker insert pieces gloss black like m3’s and added future design rocker extensions. I love that Dakar yellow! It’s seriously sharp! Do you plan to do any mods? Adding the m perf lip and m perf diffuser would look amazing on that car. I did a flexishield gloss black cosmetic PPF roof wrap and the drip rails… had the stock antenna removed and replaced with the m perf carbon one. Looks super sharp with black roof. Would think Dakar yellow.. 30% tinted windows, black roof would be very nice ;)
@@bimmer100timc thanks! I have seen pictures of your cars, they are both awesome. Only a couple very small mods so far; replaced the visors with euro sun visors to get rid of the air bag warning and swapped the i4 and M50 basges to black ones from europe as well. I thought about the carbon antenna (agree it would look good) but then thought, i have the only dakar yellow antenna on a G series that i'm aware of. There's a dakar M3 Comp in the bay area but it has a carbon roof so has the carbon antenna, IIRC. I might do the splitter and rear diffusor, i almost ordered them while waiting for the car. But I live on a dirt road and I'm concerned with how well they'd hold up. Plus at this point if I swap them on I probably would need to take the car back to Coleton to get ceramic coat applied to those new parts. Might do it, though, as I agree it'd look good. I am planning on some new summer wheels and tires next year (and making the stock ones the winter wheels.) Right now considering Martian Wheels.
What Model 3 PP are you talking about? Oh, the one without the $1,390 destination fee? Or, do you mean the one without auto pilot: $6000. Perhaps, the one with the one color standard paint? Add $1000-$2000 for anything but white. Or the one with the single standard color interior? Another $1000 if you want white plastic. You must mean the Model 3 PP that no one would ever order. Think about the resale value of a Tesla without Autopilot. I've never seen one. So, a real model 3PP is $63,130, if you don't get red. So, don't say the Model 3 PP is $53, 240, because that car won't even get shipped to the dealer.
16:33 - re: "small interior space..." translation: SPORTY. those "baby young to the world" will likely not be aware how the tag line: Ultimate Driving Machine has been BMW's claim to fame created expressly by the 3-Series sedan since the intro of the now famous E30 chassis way back in 1982, quick finger math says this was 40 years ago. understandably those who hadn't been born yet, will have little to no knowledge of this History.
Its a I4 , BMW's middle line compact car not a I7... Stick to detailing and not reviewing cars. I'm 6'1 with my weight in proportion to my height and there is plenty of room for a "compact' car even in the back seat.. This is a perfect daily driver for work and running errands, with a lot of trunk space.
FYI, the grill is not hard to clean and doesn’t get dirty easily. Any comparison to a Model 3 is negligible as the i4 is built like a Luxury car, not a run-of-the-mill EV.
Not really a fan of monotone paint schemes especially at this price. Tesla so owns this entire market for pure BEVs the smart money (cough, cough *Toyota* cough, cough) have bet on and won big by validating now #maturation_risk hybrid drive systems for Das Auto. "Clear" winner: $Uber
It's not so black and white I'm afraid. While driving BMW's for 20 years I've certainly seen the inside of BMW workshops more often than I would have liked. While driving a Tesla for the past 5 years: Not a single problem. I still love BMW, but I've learned they have their fair share of flaws too.
I really don't have like the design of this BMW. They took a car made for petrol engines and stuck electric bits in there. It's not this nor that; and I think that is the problem. For it to be appealing, I think BMW needs to start from the ground up make it a pure electric car. The super long kidney grills and the grills on the side of the front bumper are just really awkward looking in an electric. Electric cars give you the ability to really make a clean design without all the excess vents that make the front look too busy. Do not like this.
Everyone is different. I bought the I4 because of the fit and finish over the Tesla, and because it was an actual car. I don't want a ground up EV. Especially since this one is just as efficient as any ground up EV. Except a lot nicer.
After owning my Tesla for 11 months, I only used a Supercharger twice. Traded in my 2-series for a Model 3 LR; quickly regretted it in a few months. Should have just gotten an i4 instead.
Thanks for all you did on my car, Coleton. You made it perfect.
Sweet!! Looks great! See you in the forum. Man you got an absolute steal on the custom paint. I looked into it on my eDrive40 and it started at $5K.
Coleton, I need to road trip my sunset orange there. If/when I receive it :)
Let’s do it!
Stunning car, can't compare it to a model 3
Not even remotely in the same league.
literally 80% more expensive than a model 3
@@azureactivedirectory Its not though is it. Model 3 is £39,990 and the i4 is £49,995
@jacobplatt3066 80% is nonsense of course. But let's not forget: At least an additional 10k will be needed to spec the BMW to the same level of options which the Tesla has by default.
18:15 you can flip the headrests up and down. When you filmed it, they were down.
Coming from a Model 3 owner, price is well worth it. Yes, size wise, its similar to a Model 3 but BMW quality is 10x better. Traded in my 2-series for a Model 3 LR; quickly regretted it in a few months. Even if my Tesla was well bolted together, the design and material feel nowhere close to BMW. I should have just gotten an i4 instead.
PS. Seats have the option of Sensatec, Vernasca and Merino (that's Vernasca)
Dashboard also has the option of Plastic, Sensatec or Nappa (that looks like Sensatec)
re: "quickly regretted it in a few months..." that'll learn ya.
I picked up my i4 eDrive40 back in November. After the tax credit, it cost me roughly $54K.....$30K less than the M50 in your review and a much better value. I can attest to the build quality (mine is Dravit Grey, a $1700 option).....I can't find any flaws whatsoever and every time I pull up on a Tesla at a stoplight I can usually spot a misaligned body panel. Besides the superb handling with the optional adaptive suspension, that was one of the reasons I chose this over other EV's. Very happy with it. Thanks for the review!
Good buy! Got mine for around the same price, $52k, but no al it of options. How are you liking it?
Owner of an M440i GC here. It's expensive, but the car is built like a tank and handles beautifully. BMW build quality and engineering is top notch. Back seat room is an issue, but it's better in the regular 3 series. You get the i4 or 4 GC because you like the way it looks and hatchback. While BMW's materials aren't the best compared to Mercedes, the build quality is superior. I will take build quality any day; these cars are built to last.
Oh no. These days bmw even beats Mercedes on material quality. The new C Class for example has really poor materials and very very hard plastics on the entire lower half of the doors and dash whereas the 3 series is soft. Same for the X5 vs the GLE. The GLE is built like it's put together with glue and the materials on the lower half of the doors is cheap hard plastic. The X5 is soft there. Mercedes is really shitty these days.
Materials are some of the best. Especially in this i4 if you spec all the extended leather+merino leather seats. If this i4 had that he would not complain about the seats and dash at all i bet.
Holy crap, built like it's been put together by 3 perfectionists named Hans.
Having driven this car, I agree it’s small in the back; comfortable but small. The interior quality is above any Tesla IMO. If this car could be had for $60k in the M50 variant it would be a deal.
It’s a coupe with two extra doors, not a sedan. I think they’ve just tried to add a bit more practicality to a coupe. It’s not intended to fun as a true four door sedan.
@@guse1219 The trunk is really big, so I have to disagree.
BMW always had a large trunk on the 3 and 4 coupe models.
Small? Da F
@@TimRijckaert yes the rear seating area is significantly more restrictive (less room) than a Model Y…. “Duh…”
I am 6ft and my knees don't touch the seat, also I have enough head room. But I can understand larger people may be cramped.
We need to stop comparing every car that is a medium sized sedan to the Model 3. I don't get it! It's like comparing a Honda Civic with a BMW 3 series (ICE) and saying, well the Honda gets better gas mileage and that's all that matters! No, you buy the BMW for another reason. We need to stop treating EV:s like they are all the same except for their drivetrains... these are still cars after all with all that that bring with styling, build quality, suspension, handling, noise levels, features, looks, reliability etc.
Completely disagree. Tesla in most categories sets the benchmark in the EV world that on paper, money for money is extremely hard for and other EV to match.
@@OutofSpecDetailing You are comparing these EV:s like all other things considered, they are the same type of vehicle and should thus be comparable, that doesn't make sense to me. We should obviously compare the drivetrain aspects of EV:s to Tesla, they've set the benchmark. What I am saying is that a customer does not exclusively consider EV-drivetrain pros and cons (they shouldn't at least). It's not like every car buyer is doing a total cost analysis before they decide, there are other factors that matter. Tesla and BMW buyers are inherently different people. Take my father for instance, he's in the market for his last ever vehicle and he's shooting for an EV. He is a mechanical engineer and has worked at Volvo for many years and now is the CTO of an auto supplier in China, so he notices things. He's considering a Tesla Model 3, Polestar 4 (when that comes out), BMW i4 or something like a Kia EV6/IONIQ 5. All these vehicles have their own pros and cons, but none beats Tesla in the EV segment. Still, my dad has the model 3 furthest down his list of potential options. He values things like quality and fit & finish more than getting 50km more range on a charge...
Do you understand my reasoning? What I am saying, in its simplest form is that car buyers are individual people with individual tastes, and the media should consider this. All I see on TH-cam is "Tesla Model 3 Killer?!" and a spicy thumbnail. BMW is not aiming for the same target group as Tesla. It is incredibly tiring to see people comparing a BMW, Volvo and Mercedes to Tesla. They are very different vehicles with different market segments in mind, and are thus built differently. Legacy car makers are catching up to Tesla in technology and I don't see how Tesla is supposed to keep growing, unless they double down on becoming something like the Volkswagen or Ford of EV:s. Because they sure ain't luxury vehicles...
But those are just my two cents. I can agree to disagree and love watching your videos non the less. Have a great continuation of your week-end.
Those are good points. And yes it is super frustrating to see the Tesla killer thumbnails. I think when people compare these other EVs to Tesla, it’s not really a comparison as in a one-to-one qualitative or quantitative assessment of every attribute. It’s more of like they’re saying okay Tesla set the benchmark and here’s how these other EVs stack up against the benchmark/trend-setter in some attributes that potential buyers jump to. And each customer weights attributes differently. For example, your father cares about fit and finish over range. Does that mean that he’ll settle for something less than a Tesla in areas like drivetrain and user experience? It depends how you look at it. If Tesla is his benchmark, then probably yes. But he’s using his decision criteria to make the selection. I like to think of it as that age-old discussion of “who’s the best basketball or baseball or football player?” It depends on what attributes you weight higher than others.
Regardless, the OOS crew is amazing and their viewers are passionate about EVs.
@@Dactylonian Absolutely, but rarely will you see a field dominated by reviewers only comparing products to one other product. There are usually different channels that might focus on different aspects, which is fine. But in the EV world it seems like everyone is just comparing EVs to Teslas, again - like they are all the same except for battery, drivetrain and software. Legacy automakers are catching up anyway, what will we compare it to then? Tesla hasn't set the benchmark in anything else. Fit and finish, build quality, design, comfort, handling, road feel. What will we compare to later? Will there only be one car of comparison in 5 years too? Maybe everyone will start saying "Is this the BMW killer?" all of a sudden? I don't see that as being reasonable.
Technically the I4 is considered a compact car... But yes you are spot on.
That Paint is very beautiful , I loved your video 🙏🙏💯💯
I ordered one of these for my wife about 6 weeks ago and it is currently in the mid Atlantic on a car carrier. My wife likes black cars, so that is what we ordered. Also black has the advantage of hiding all the piano-black body accent pieces. If it were possible, I would delete every one of those accent bits, but hiding them with a black car works also. For me, I LOVE that yellow color. I did not even know that was possible when I ordered the car. That said, my wife would never accept that color for her car, but now I want one of the yellow ones. Good choice by the owner.
One thing I did notice when seeing a sample car in the dealership is the back seats are appropriate for only for children that are 5 to 12 years old. I don't think it would be comfortable to load kids into car seats, hence the ≥5 years old. Once kids get greater than 12 years old, they are probably (1) too big for the car seats or (2) are old enough to recognize they are being squeezed into to a ridiculously small space.
If it were me, I would suggest BMW lose half the length of hood, move the whole cab forward and use 1/3 of that extra room for the front seats and 2/3 for the back seats. This is exactly what Tesla does and is why there cab room is terrific relative to the car outer dimensions.
We added almost all options, but like the owner of this car, we picked the manmade material seats. My impression of the seats was they were very comfortable and the look and feel of the seats was very nice. It is easy for me to say, but I also believe the car is overpriced by about $10 to $15K. The OTD price for my wife's car was 77K, but something closer to $62 to $65 would have been more competitive with the likes of Tesla. I have had a performance M3 and now have a MY. The BMW i4M50 give inline performance results that are very close to, but still less than the Tesla M3P. The biggest difference in acceleration performance is wicked torque-steer in the BMW i4M50 that is absent in the Tesla M3P. It is too bad BMW did not work that one performance flop out of the car during development. Other than that, the interior look and feel of the BMW is far and away better than the Tesla.
I'd be curious to see what the paint thickness would be on a standard color BMW I4. That being said, that is one damn nice automobile.
Agreed! I’d like to get one in soon
This car is a Gran Coupe and not a normal sedan. The rear doors and rear seats are an add-on and not a weakness. If you need a spacious back seat, don't buy a Gran Coupe...
I can’t stand Tesla owners which I am that say oh Tesla is a tech company don’t expect good build quality, like what! Common
In 2021, I purchased an M340 during the middle of the Pandemic and got almost $10K off. Low $50K out the door. That’s the price point the interior was designed to. Funny about the doors. On the M340 if you closed them to hard they were really loud closing. I’m fact many passengers apologized for slamming them.
I've got this car with Merino leather interior and it's a lot nicer than the Vernasca leather that comes with the M-Sport seats, that's the main reason why I did not choose those seats. I had once a 3 series with Vernasca and then one with Merino and I knew the difference was night and day, so it was a no brainer for me this time around (here you can briefly see it /watch?v=8Fawo-dn-XA). Other than that, everything you say about the car is true :)
Nice review, thanks!
It's a coupe, that's why the rear area is tight. You don't buy a coupe, grand coupe to drive people around in the back.
You can special order full merino leather for your i4, but it's not offered as an option on the build page. Leather conditioner is a thing because all leather will dry out, and the leather on your new car has been hanging from a rack longer than any other, because that's the factory rotation. Applying a quality conditioner will pay dividends down the road. Also, I can understand how less than the minimum paint depth is undesirable, but fail to see how having a few areas of additional depth on this i4 is reason for concern. Otherwise a good review.
I originally got approval for an individual Merino interior on my i4. But then I was told when locking in my order that BMW waan't accepting any more individual interiors in i4. (This was in Oct 22.) Maybe policy has changed since then or maybe it was just miscommunication between my dealer and BMW. I dunno.
You can still order full merino by using the Canadian build book.
@@IAmAPhan nope. That is what I had done originally. They told me no on the merino interior when it was time to finalize my order. Believe me I tried to push the issue, especially because they had previously given approval.
It is in the configurator in Europe. You can just order it like that. I believe it is about 3k euro extra here. Leather dash is abotu 1k. So for 4k you will have a proper 80k euro interior.
She’s a beaut!
Interesting video! Good information and inspection.
Hey, in contrast to your opinion I was very impressed with the materials in the inside also. Everything feels very sturdy and rock solid. The materials like the artificial can be optioned to be real leather. However that will be bad from a CO2-Emission perspective. Therefore they shifted away from it. However, if you press somewhere or hear the doors shutting it feels way better than other cars. Therefore one serious question: which car in that range is better? Clearly it is not fancy but the quality of everything is pretty good. If you look at Mercedes c class or even e class the 4 series is better build. For me also Audi is not better. So yes it is expensive but you can’t fold the quality. Unfortunately bmw did realize that also and the new facelift g series cars have got a serious downgrade at some places…
So better cars in that range for materials are? Lexus? Please let me know.
Upgraded leather to merino leather with additional option to extend it to the cabin is expensive. The standard leather is more durable.
All you have to do is wait for lease returns, get one with 5 to 10 K miles on it and you will save 15 to 20 K making it more reasonable to buy one as I am planning to do.
12:03 - the irony of this sweet "triple door" EV set up is it's NOT on the new Electric i5...? at least not on the models just debuted to the public, no the red and grey models they've been showing have the tethered "dangle cap" (I noticed it right away). granted it's a minor issue, but hopefully the units shown are pre-production and the one's arriving in the Fall will have this set up from the i4/iX (I assume this is also used on the i7).
Exterior and interior quality is light years ahead of Tesla. I have two Teslas and my next EV won’t be one.
Sigh. I think I’m starting to agree with you
On build quality BMW is indeed in an entirely different league than Tesla. However in regards to weight, efficiency, software, supercharging (network and integration) and don't forget price, it's a different story. The i4 is one big compromise on these points, that's why I'll be waiting until BMW catches up to Tesla with 'die neue klasse' in 2025.
@@Ron-xu9hq Agreed, though the weight of the I-5 is not too far from the Tesla Model S. Regarding charging, the only glimmer of hope is that Tesla now allows others to charge on some of their superchargers. EA, Chargepoint, etc. are clowns
@Danin4985 Yes agree, the integration of superchargers while navigating is still just so good with Tesla's though. That said, I remain a BMW fanboy at heart.
@@Ron-xu9hq I had a sport package equipped little e-46 325i before I switched to a Tesla Model S in 2013. The E46 BMW was the best damn car I ever drove. The little Bimmer was so good in ride and handling, yet felt like a tank that could nail any spot on the road with precision. However, I wanted something more environmentally friendly.
10 years on, with a Tesla S and a 3 in the garage, I’ve soured on the Tesla experience. Especially the single screen cost saving nonsense in my 3. Plus, the horrible service that deteriorated after 2017-2018 timeframe, the bad interior and exterior quality, and the cherry on top, douchebag Elon and his constant nonsense.
I test drove the i5-40 yesterday, and it just wowed me with its exemplary ride and handling. Bit of body lean, soft and numb steering aside, everything else was just what I want in my next ride! Test drive the i5-40. A very, very nice car. The M50 i5 is a bit less engaging, but much more powerful, in the vein of a Plaid S.
Just a quick comment. The BMW does offer a tax credit for the edrive35. I just bought one. They also told me you get $3250 credit on the edrive40
Wow yellow! Never seen before
What is this colour called? What’s the colour code? I like this colour. I also just bought a i 4 m50, i am thinking to get my car wrap to this colour. 🙏 darkar yellow ii or speed yellow?
Beautiful car! 💕💕💕
i love bmw..
Yeah the leather in bmw 3 series has always been subpar. Unfortunately I don’t think you can even option nicer leather. For a brief period of time you could option merino leather on the previous gen 4 series
You can chose animal leather or synthetic.
Merino leather is available for the i4, and it's really nice. I agree with you that the cheaper leather in BMWs are quite unappealing.
Of course you can option nicer leather.... the Vernasca leather, which this is, is very thick and durable though
I agree simple charge port door is far superior. Unfortunately, i4 doors are failing and when they do, they don't open. Not kidding, there is a whoopie cushion bladder the dealers have been sent to slip behind the charge port door to inflate and force the stuck door open. They may have to recall them when they finally revise the design.
And I thought this was the ideal solution.. dang!
@@OutofSpecDetailing it will be with a slight revision, compared to needless motorized ones. Also really like door handles avoiding needless motors or clumsy pivot designs. Keep It Simple Stupid was an expression many engineers and designers and tech bros fail to live by.
Is this car equipped with the Black Vernasca leather interior with M stitching?
Yep.
@@CheddarKungPao Really nice car, love the colour! I have a Portimao blue one, with sensatec/alcantara seats (same seat version as you). That leather really looks like sensatec, but its real leather?
@@lowelindroth7053 yeah the Vernasca leather is designed to be durable and seem similar to sensatec for interiors like mine where there is a mix of sensatec and leather. It's not high quality leather, like Coleton mentioned. Thank you! Congratz! Portimao is fantastic!
@@CheddarKungPao If you wanna upgrade the interior a bit I can recommend the alcantara armrest. It feels and looks much better!
@@CheddarKungPao Thanks alot, really love that blue colour. Tip: if you wanna upgrade the interior a bit, I can really recommend the alcantara MSport armrest - it looks and feels fantastic!
I'd wait for the next generation of BMW i4 which will be built on an EV platform and hence have a flat floor and less weight. The current line is built on a gas platform hence the transmission tunnel and cramped back seat. BMW may switch to the Tesla charging standard as Mercedes has just announced.
You keep repeating 85k price. Not really a fair assessment. Base is 52k which gives you most of the same materials and build quality . Yes, m50 is more expensive, but that is same with m3 vs 330i. Same base car, more performance. Also, most i4s sold are sparsely optioned 35s, and they are leased for something like 500/month and 2k drive off.
So essentially you are wanting me to ignore the 85k price tag and base it on a base model i4? In what way does that make sense?
@@OutofSpecDetailing first and foremost, really love and appreciate your content. Please keep doing what you are doing.
As to my original comment, I'm not saying you should ignore the 85k price tag. Just saying that you place a lot of emphasis on the price of this one car, and it happens to be a very highly specified example of the cheapest EV that BMW currently makes.
I can only base my review on the car sitting in front of me, this customer’s bought this vehicle at $85k. Therefore needs to be judged as a $85,000 vehicle, not $52k.
For example an Audi A5 and RS5 are the same chassis yes… but the RS5 is built in literally a different factory. Although the chassis is similar, there is a massive price difference between 2. Therefore they need to be evaluated separately not equally.
@@OutofSpecDetailing This ones happens to be built in literally same factory. Also, full merino leather is actually available via Individual option for about $4k, similar to the color on this car.
My point is that same build quality and and nearly same options are available on all i4s, maybe not with blue contrast stitching but same leather nonetheless. Hence I say that Focusing on MSRP of a car configuration seems unfair.
I’m going to respectfully disagree. The customer paid 85k for this vehicle, not 52k as said before. I mentioned multiple time the base MSRP of M50 model when stating that.
He attempted to get merino leather as an option and was not able to. The fact is the leather looks cheap and feels cheap. In all reality I vastly prefer the feel and look of the Model 3 “vegan” leather. I feel this is not of BMW quality in any standards. I would likely gripe even at 52k of the leather quality.
Build quality reviews will continue to be compared and reviewed at window sticker not base price.
Germans use the metric system(mm) not emperial (inches)
I wish they would stop making these giant pointless fake grills and fake vents. Otherwise love the build quality.
Built quality is much better than Tesla! and the M50 is worth the 80k. Paint color well thats subjective lol!
You have you seen the KITH yet?
Check it out!
wth is kith?
I love this channel, but dude you're not even comparing apple to apple with the model 3. The BMW is head and shoulders better than the Tesla...period.
I have a 2023 i4 m50 with twilight purple exterior and merino ivory white interior. The finish is flawless and spec higher than this model at another 89K. But compared to other cars like Lamborghini or Ferrari, Porsche etc it holds its own without anj question.
I love Dakar yellow and awesome to see this car. I don’t see your comment about fake vents as the front does not have fake vents.
It’s functional and some areas that lead to airflow to the vents.
My car has far better interior than this one you have. Real nappa leather dash with stitching to match. Sadly the car you have had not as good interior. Mine is merino, that one you reviewed has mediocre vernasca leather which is a major disappointment.
Just saying..
my wife’s i4 m50 has dravit grey exterior with merino leather full leather Fiona red!!! Which is way way better than the spec you reviewed.
I’m shocked the person who got this car with Dakar yellow didn’t know to buy merino leather Full in black etc… it’s huge upgrade from his spec…. But whatever.. what do I know….
If I got his car with Dakar yellow… I would of gone with full Tartufo merino leather, and nappa black dash!!! No brainer… he would be around 88K and no regrets….
I ordered it with full merino tartufo originally. But when it came time to finalize my order in October 2022 my dealer said BMW wouldn't do any more merino interiors on i4s and forced me to choose a sensatec or vernasca interior.
@@CheddarKungPao whoA! That dealer is wrong, my car was built 9/22 and has merino, and know of another car built 11/22 with merino Tartufo. But the problem sometimes is dealers will mess up an order when doing individual. I would guess they made a mistake when ordering it. At least you got the individual paint! I guess I should confirm, I’m in the USA.. and merino should be available here, not sure if things changed for other countries.
@@bimmer100timc those orders might have been finalized before October 22. I dunno. They had previously gotten approval from the BMW USA VIP person, but in October they said sorry they won't let us do the merino interior right now. I still love the car, but it was frustrating. The exterior color is definitely the more important part IMHO.
@@CheddarKungPao wonder if they were trying to get more orders out the door before end of year. But usually individual stuff is finalized early in the process as it cannot be done once a vin is issued.
My dealer knows I would walk from the sale if things changed one my orders. We got two i4 m50’s. My wife’s was dravit grey, all options except ventilated seats, and added individual full merino Fiona red interior. Full m perf carbon front lip, rear diffuser, antenna… my car was basically same but is twilight purple with full ivory white merino interior, and instead of the 20” silver face wheels, i did m performance 20” in nightgold. Later added ACS spring kit, painted the rocker insert pieces gloss black like m3’s and added future design rocker extensions.
I love that Dakar yellow! It’s seriously sharp! Do you plan to do any mods? Adding the m perf lip and m perf diffuser would look amazing on that car.
I did a flexishield gloss black cosmetic PPF roof wrap and the drip rails… had the stock antenna removed and replaced with the m perf carbon one. Looks super sharp with black roof. Would think Dakar yellow.. 30% tinted windows, black roof would be very nice ;)
@@bimmer100timc thanks! I have seen pictures of your cars, they are both awesome. Only a couple very small mods so far; replaced the visors with euro sun visors to get rid of the air bag warning and swapped the i4 and M50 basges to black ones from europe as well.
I thought about the carbon antenna (agree it would look good) but then thought, i have the only dakar yellow antenna on a G series that i'm aware of. There's a dakar M3 Comp in the bay area but it has a carbon roof so has the carbon antenna, IIRC.
I might do the splitter and rear diffusor, i almost ordered them while waiting for the car. But I live on a dirt road and I'm concerned with how well they'd hold up. Plus at this point if I swap them on I probably would need to take the car back to Coleton to get ceramic coat applied to those new parts. Might do it, though, as I agree it'd look good.
I am planning on some new summer wheels and tires next year (and making the stock ones the winter wheels.) Right now considering Martian Wheels.
OH those, nostrils. But they have begun to grow on me. 😉
What Model 3 PP are you talking about? Oh, the one without the $1,390 destination fee? Or, do you mean the one without auto pilot: $6000. Perhaps, the one with the one color standard paint? Add $1000-$2000 for anything but white. Or the one with the single standard color interior? Another $1000 if you want white plastic. You must mean the Model 3 PP that no one would ever order. Think about the resale value of a Tesla without Autopilot. I've never seen one. So, a real model 3PP is $63,130, if you don't get red. So, don't say the Model 3 PP is $53, 240, because that car won't even get shipped to the dealer.
much cheaper than in scandinavia over 65000 euros base model
16:33 - re: "small interior space..." translation: SPORTY. those "baby young to the world" will likely not be aware how the tag line: Ultimate Driving Machine has been BMW's claim to fame created expressly by the 3-Series sedan since the intro of the now famous E30 chassis way back in 1982, quick finger math says this was 40 years ago. understandably those who hadn't been born yet, will have little to no knowledge of this History.
I4 is a Coupé.
Its a I4 , BMW's middle line compact car not a I7... Stick to detailing and not reviewing cars. I'm 6'1 with my weight in proportion to my height and there is plenty of room for a "compact' car even in the back seat.. This is a perfect daily driver for work and running errands, with a lot of trunk space.
FYI, the grill is not hard to clean and doesn’t get dirty easily. Any comparison to a Model 3 is negligible as the i4 is built like a Luxury car, not a run-of-the-mill EV.
Not really a fan of monotone paint schemes especially at this price. Tesla so owns this entire market for pure BEVs the smart money (cough, cough *Toyota* cough, cough) have bet on and won big by validating now #maturation_risk hybrid drive systems for Das Auto.
"Clear" winner: $Uber
$3750 a bit pricey 😩
Tesla has the worst quality of any car brand of any type. A BMW is among the best. Not wven sure this counts as news....
It's not so black and white I'm afraid. While driving BMW's for 20 years I've certainly seen the inside of BMW workshops more often than I would have liked. While driving a Tesla for the past 5 years: Not a single problem. I still love BMW, but I've learned they have their fair share of flaws too.
I4 way nicer car than Tesla 🚗
It’s not a Beamer anymore, more like a beaver 🤣🤣🤣
I really don't have like the design of this BMW. They took a car made for petrol engines and stuck electric bits in there. It's not this nor that; and I think that is the problem. For it to be appealing, I think BMW needs to start from the ground up make it a pure electric car. The super long kidney grills and the grills on the side of the front bumper are just really awkward looking in an electric. Electric cars give you the ability to really make a clean design without all the excess vents that make the front look too busy. Do not like this.
Everyone is different. I bought the I4 because of the fit and finish over the Tesla, and because it was an actual car. I don't want a ground up EV. Especially since this one is just as efficient as any ground up EV. Except a lot nicer.
I mean it better be for $75K+.... shit range and infrustructure tho
Correction: 85K LOL
Range/infra isn’t a very big deal in reality.
@@jayem8981 🤔
After owning my Tesla for 11 months, I only used a Supercharger twice. Traded in my 2-series for a Model 3 LR; quickly regretted it in a few months. Should have just gotten an i4 instead.
@@ildrichaseron I owned a 3 series. My 2023 M3P is way better in quality, thus far. Not to mention nearly 2 seconds faster, lol
Love BMW but this thing is butt ugly. too bad!
It's been a few years since the oversized kidney grill came out. It looked awful back then and it still looks awful today. Just can't unsee it.
I love the new I4 looks over the older ones. But everyone is different, and I am not an old BMW car owner. A new to BMW Car owner.