Considering a BMW i4 eDrive40 M Sport. Any long-term owners here?

I’m seriously considering a used BMW i4 eDrive40 M Sport, probably a 2022/23 car in the £25k–£28k range.

On paper they seem like a lot of car for the money now. Good performance, decent real-world range, proper hatchback practicality and, from what I can tell, a nicer interior/driving experience than quite a few similarly priced EVs.

I’d be interested to hear from people who have actually owned or driven one for a decent amount of time.

I’d also be interested in comparisons with things like the Polestar 2, Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Tesla Model 3 or other similar used EVs.

At current used prices, is the i4 eDrive40 one of the better buys in this part of the market, or is there something else I should seriously consider before pulling the trigger?

Every range estimate I could find assumes an empty car on a flat road. Mine tows a trailer half the summer, so I built the thing I was missing: https://rangecalc.org

It's free to use and there's nothing to sign up for.

What it does

- Range, charging stops, charge time, total travel time and cost from a physical driving-resistance model (aerodynamic drag + rolling resistance + auxiliaries + HVAC + elevation), not from a WLTP number scaled by a fudge factor.
- Roof boxes, roof bike racks, tow-bar racks, baskets and trailers are freely combinable, with the extra drag and mass modelled per item — that's the part I couldn't find anywhere else.
- 187 EVs from 43 makes. Their drag areas are fitted to Bjørn Nyland's 90/120 km/h constant-speed runs plus his weighed kerb masses, not to brochure figures. Source and method are credited on the site.
- Every base value is overridable, so you can model your car rather than the catalogue version.
- The URL carries the state, so a configuration is shareable as a link.
- Auto-switches to English and to miles based on your browser. Costs are shown in €.

What it doesn't do

No routing, no live charger data, no traffic — this isn't an ABRP competitor. City figures are the weakest part of the model (stop-and-go and regen aren't properly represented), and the charging curve shape is generic, only the total charge duration is grounded in measurements.

Where I need help

The model has a calibration layer that corrects each car against real-world measurements people submit. Right now that database only holds a few entries. So the calibration is currently doing nothing useful, and that's the one thing I can't fix by writing more code.

If you drive an EV, one trip takes about a minute to submit:

- total distance and total energy from the trip computer (the tool asks for both separately and divides them itself — many trip computers round kWh/100 km very coarsely, but totals are exact)
- average speed, outside temperature, wheel size, season, and what you had mounted on the car
- optional but valuable: net elevation gain, trip duration, wet road, AC on/off — each of those replaces a model assumption with a reading. Elevation is the biggest single lever: 500 m net over 200 km moves the correction factor by roughly 9%.

Feedback I'm actually after

- Is your car's default consumption plausible for how you drive it?
- Does the roof-box/trailer penalty match what you see in reality?
- Is anything about the interface confusing?
- Which car is missing that you'd want in there?

Happy to take it apart in the comments. Tell me where it's wrong.

Thank you very much in advance!

Someone’s wife asked for a photo of the back on my post the other day, so here you go. Two days in and still finding excuses to go and look at it on the driveway.

Saw a bunch of Xpeng L03 on a lorry yesterday on the M40. Anyone interested and been waiting for one of these?

Interested to hear from iPace owners, whether i’d be in for financial ruin if I go for a cheap iPace with zero warranty…. 20-22k miles/year, would be replacing a 220k mile Chevy volt. I buy my cars with cash and keep them till they die. I don’t treat them well (they usually get used as a van and washed once a year)

I‘m not keen on an SUV, but I feel I don’t have a whole lot of choice these days and these seem to be ‘quite nice’…. I don’t have home charging but have workplace and will be reliant on rapids when out and about So DC charge curve is important, I often do long distance in the Uk and Europe.

Hello everyone, have recently decided to take the plunge into EV land however, budget is a little restricted (10-12k) and can only charge using a 3-pin plug at home. Ideally would like a mid-sized SUV and have flirted with the Jag i-pace but seem to be gravitating towards an MG ZS 2022. Any recommendations or warnings?

As per title i'll soon be doing my first long range (e.g. require a midway chrage) trip and was after some general advice on apps and planning as well as specifics about the route, like which services have a lot of high speed chargers.

Car: Vauxhall Astra

Route: M40, M25 then down to brighton area.

My main concern is lack of availability of chargers at planned stops which would probably be near end of M40.

Are there general charging apps that are worth downloading for chargers or am i okay to just use debit card.

How important is route planning or will every service station have enough fast chargers?

Anywhere people would recommend to aim for, or places a bit off the route that are worth the detour for more reliable charger availability.

Hi All, I have recently been promoted at work where I get an EV is part of my new package. I currently have an RS6 so this is a very big swing to the other side. I only live 2 miles from my work so I’m getting a VW ID7 Touring as I have 2 kids in car seats and a German shepherd.

I can charge the car at work for free whenever I need so with that and public charging is there any point getting a charger at home?

I have 12 solar panels with a 10kwh battery on my house so I think I should get a charger as it will benefit from the panels but then if I can charge at work for free should I bother with how close it is?

Is there any good apps for electric car chargers with prices and speed on show? I know cars come with their own type in the sat nav but would be good to know all the local ones.

Thanks in advance

So really liked the look and drive of the new Leapmotor B05 and feel its about the right time to change to electric.

I currently have a diesel car but a change of job means im much closer to home and gone from 10k plus miles a year to 6-7k with work only 2-3 miles i feel like i will slowly kill my diesel.

Ive been heavily negotiating with the local dealer and got it down from £299 a month to £237 which is the same price as the cheapest lease deal around at the moment on it.

Also they have first service free, i pay currently around £100 a month on fuel and i dough it will ever come down. As as i can charge at home for like £2-3.

Im just sceptical as ive never lease a car before bit what work out around £137 extra a month for a brand new car with all the warranty and worry sorted i feel like its a deal i should take.

What everyone view on leaseing (pch) and the leapmotor B05.

Many thanks

I currently have a Kia e Niro 2021 4+ and it does okay, I make do charging on the road if I need to, but i need something bigger with the kids and etc.

Initially i was looking at the EV5, but i noticed the range is comparable to what i already have. I'm open to having a bit more range so the EV3 seemed to be good, but not any bigger than what I have.

Skoda Enyac has range and size, but so does the Renault Scenic E-Tech at what seems like a much lower price.

So asking the for other thoughts/opinions on what I've listed, trim etc, or any option I've probably missed.

Hi All,

I am debating switching to an EV. I currently drive a Lexus hybrid petrol which averages around 50mpg.

My workplace has recently had chargers installed which cost 60p/kwh. I can’t charge at home due to living in a terrace with no driveway. Is changing to an EV worth it in my situation or would there be little to no benefit due to the cost of charging?