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BMW i5 - EV Hour
The closest you'll get to a BMW M5 in EV form is finally here, and it's basically one of the best cars on the market.
Audio transcription
"The BMW i5 is an important car. Not only does it represent the sort of mid-range, fast and exciting sedan, which is still meant to be price accessible for a lot of the people that really like BMWs in the EV sector, it also, particularly with the M Sport Pack, kind of represents the first significant step towards providing an EV version of the legendary M5, which is, by many enthusiasts, still considered one of the best line-up of cars throughout the generations of all time."
"So, has BMW nailed it down? That is the big question, isn't it?
I've been driving it for a week and I've crashed a drone driving it, which is probably the reason why you won't see as much spectacular drone footage over the course of this video.
In fact, let's see the clip where it crashes, right here."
"Yeah, it's not great, to be honest with you, but all that said and done, it's still been a great week.
And this is the BMW that I would recommend to anyone who wants to buy a BMW, really.
It's really that good. So, how about we get started?
This particular model is chock-full of extras, from the Innovations Pack, adding stuff like 360-degree camera, to the iconic M Sport Pro Pack. The basics are as follows, though."
"340hp, up to 555km of range, 10-80% of range in just 30 minutes through 205kw charging, and a top speed of 193kmh, which is, of course, electronically limited.
Oh, and it does 0-106 seconds? That's pretty cool, too.
I have, I think, driven a lot of the BMW active lineup currently, including the very exclusive and incredibly expensive i7."
"But to me, they're striking that really difficult tonal balance here in the i5.
And this, very clearly, to me, is the car BMW is currently producing, which has the most tasteful interior.
It has some of the gaudiness, for sure, it's not entirely gone, but it's incredibly tasteful, and so lovely to be in as a place, not just as a vehicle that takes you places."
"Now, let's go through it together. So, first and foremost, we have our main display here, which you can, of course, set up utilizing this really handy little panel down here on the steering wheel.
Now, you select a whole host of different pieces of content here, including range and sort of AR-assisted driving, assisted view, it's very nice, it works incredibly well, and it's very responsive to do."
"But, that pales in comparison to the main display over here.
Now, first and foremost, a lot of people will probably just use Apple CarPlay, and that works very well.
It utilizes the entirety of the display, there's no black bars or anything here, and it works just as well with Android Auto.
Now, the cool thing is that below here, we actually get a set of physical controls."
"This little dial here is actually able to control the entire user interface, so if you don't want to touch the glass of the display, putting sticky fingers all over it, this is able to control everything, including volume knobs, plan, pause, skip, modes, all of the stuff that you need is right here with physical buttons, should you be so inclined, which also makes it much easier for passengers to make those decisions when you're driving."
"Now, all of this combines with the incredible comfort of these seats.
They all have these M Sport pack little touches here and there.
You can probably tell right here with these seatbelts here that they have the M colors in there, woven in, and that's a theme that works throughout the entire cabin."
"The one thing that I'm currently missing, which you can probably see if I can inelegantly zoom up a bit, is there is no sunroof here, and it is something that I didn't think that I would miss, but turns out that I do.
But overall, an incredible place to sit, and a place that I will very much miss when I turn this car back in.
A slam dunk from BMW here, an absolute masterstroke."
"So, it has beautiful interior, particularly this M Sport model.
It looks fantastic from the outside, and even from a sort of price-to-performance perspective, it's actually not too egregious. It really isn't.
And that's without getting to the main reason why a lot of people might choose a BMW i5, which is that it just drives so superbly."
"It's unclear to me where the greatness ends and begins. It's kind of fondled throughout.
It's a part of the car's core DNA. Throttle response is certainly a part of it.
The lightness of the steering is really a characteristic of this particular car.
Throttle response and how it behaves throughout the several modes that you can select is another."
"That is a truly sort of outstanding peak of design and technical performance coming together.
But mainly, and this is going to be boring to hear as an audience member, it's all of the things, all of the time, coming together to give you immense force-speed feedback when you're driving.
It is a unique prospect, a unique coming together of sort of the strength of the chassis and the fantastic immediate response of the EV engines working together."
"I mean, I've driven some really good driving EVs over the past two years, but this is close to, if not the best, and it beats cars that are way more expensive than this one.
So it touches the Audi e-tron GT. It really is, it's that good. It's that good.
Seven days later and one expensive drone poorer, I'm set to turn in the BMW i5."
"And what a week it has been. Not only did I manage to lose that drone in a moment of carelessness, no, I drove with a big smile on my face for all of that week.
And while I think that the M Sport Pack and some of the other stuff that balloons the price are unnecessary, I would recommend the base version of this, which here in Denmark isn't that crazily priced, I would recommend that to anyone who is shopping within that particular price bracket."
"It really is that good. It's roomy, it's fast, it's responsive, the driving characteristics are basically unmatched as far as I'm concerned, and it is the strongest car in BMW's lineup. No question about it.
That should tell you everything that you need. See you on the next one."
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