The 2023 BMW i5 was Caught Testing around the streets of Northeim, Germany wearing a black camouflage. The new i5 is essentially a fully-electric 5-series, it will go against the Mercedes EQE, Audi E6 and the Tesla Model S.

2023 BMW i5 Powertrain

This Bavarian queen will come in several variants from an entry-level eDrive40 with a single motor producing 335 HP to a dual Motor 590HP M60 xDrive variant, both will share the same battery pack of 81.2Kwh, while the eDrive is only rear-wheel drive and offers a better range of 361Miles over the 320Miles from the All-wheel drive M60 xDrive. The aforementioned reduced range is due to its massive performance difference, Although eDrive40 is not a slow car doing the 0-60 Dash in 6 Seconds and the M60 clocks in at 3.8 Secs is quicker still, almost as quick as the outgoing M5. The i5 is able to charge at a peak rate of 205kW, meaning a 10-80% top-up takes just half an hour if you can find a powerful station that can support it.

Exterior

BMW i5 looks is a conventional 3-Box saloon, with big closed kidney grilles surrounded by LED Strip being the notable difference as the regular 5 series gets an open grille, the grilles are big but they are not as obnoxiously big as seen on the XM, i4 and the i7. Apart from the grilles and the closed-off bottom Vents, it looks nearly identical to the new regular 5-series.

Interior and Technology

The interior is where BMW is claiming substantial overhauls compared to the old 5-series, it offers a minimalistic design that is practical, clean to look at yet luxurious. The air vents are seeming vents rather than conventional air vents, these seem vents have an extremely low profile and are practically invisible.  

A large strip extends the full width of the dashboard with various materials to choose from. Furthermore, this strip also houses the crystalline ambient light bar and the strip extends into the doors. This bar is called the interaction bar and is another highlight of the 5 series. It has a touch-sensitive control panel for adjusting the ventilation and climate control and various other controls you’d typically see on buttons, switches, or some other form of physical control in a traditional car. The interaction bar also says welcome or goodbye to the driver when they enter or exit. It also alerts the driver for phone calls with fluid animations and indicates to them and the front passenger when it’s safe to exit the car.

Lately, BMW’s latest models have been a complete tech fest inside the cabin, the new 5 follows the same recipe. Up front, the dashboard features a curved 12.3in digital instrument panel and a curved 14.9in infotainment screen, both contained within a single housing making it look seamless. BMW is also tweaking its software for easier interactions; this new optimization is called zero-layer. which essentially means all the functions of the infotainment are under a single layer, since all the important functions are controlled in the infotainment system going through sub-menus just to change the radio station or the temperature can be annoying, this feature promises to fix those issues and add a lot more features with its new software called the BMW OS version 8.5.

2023 BMW i5 Pricing and Release

BMW is set to launch the i5 globally in the fourth quarter of 2023. Based on our estimates, the starting price for the i5 is expected to be around 1 crore.

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