BMW i4

The Performance not worth €10k over the LR? Worth every penny in my book. A total bargain. A BMW M3 is €80k more than a 330i 🤣

Obviously if you never want to drive like a lunatic / on a race course, you don't need an M BMW car or a P Tesla car...

Isnt the LR faster in the end? There’s a Carwow video racing them both, Performance wins the 1/4 mile but rolling start from 50 & 70 the LR beats the performance. M3/330i is like comparing apples & oranges, two different machines, unlike the Tesla.

I wonder will they do an “i2” of the forthcoming 2 coupe.

I just did the config for a i4 40 in Portimao blue MSport. Comes in at around €71k .. really sweet price point when you think of the competition.

Was able to spec it up two weeks ago with the dealer, they had all the options pricing etc. to hand. Not sure how the ordering on their end works but I guess they’re able to ‘book a production slot’ as it were. You know what you’re getting with BMW so didn’t need to see it in the flesh to be convinced. Standard kit is pretty good on the M50 alright.

And it's a hatch - which is a massive plus - I'm never buying a saloon again the hatch is so much more practical ... I'd assumed the Audi was a hatch until I went out to Sandyford to have a look at it.

hard to know, but petrolheads don’t buy new M3/4’s, they’re bought by people with lots of money who want to buy ‘a sports car’. Ditto for the 911’s.

it’s those wealthy guys who will buy the i4 m50 now instead of the m3/4, in the same way Porsche aren’t selling any 911’s here any more, but have sold literally 80 taycans this year alone.

petrolheads buy them second hard, and the price of everything is going up at the moment, not down. My own car has been worth €20-23k for about the last 3 years :D

Dealer rang me back on one today after I was in looking for a price about 6 weeks ago. Was wondering did I want to book one, expecting them in March.

Will wait to see a few reviews before I pull the trigger on one. BMWblog had a review and they were very impressed with the driving of it.

He said prices would be confirmed after the budget in October, I hope they are not expecting a VRT increase on expensive electrics.

i4 M50 was used as the safety car in the eMoto GP for the first time today, no on board shots unfortunately

Seen this, I'm very tempted by this car 😬

I was a bit shocked that 20" wheels takes about 100lms from the range !

0.4 tonnes of extra quality IMO. I see the advantages a Tesla has in some areas but I just don't like the look of them inside or out.

3.9 seconds is quicker than you'll ever need in reality.

Looks good. What's the starting on the road price in Ireland and when is it available, are these things known yet?

Well said rocky. If this car is as good as I think it is, I would love to go back to BMW too. But I'd say the price, particularly of the M50, will be quite high here (compared to Model 3 Performance). I'll quite likely stay in my Model S Performance for the foreseeable future. Which is no punishment 😂

But my car will be 8 years old in July of next year (so out of battery / drivetrain warranty) and out of bumper to bumper warranty in about 6 months time, probably a bit earlier as I will hit the 161k km mark. I'm fairly confident that my local Bosch accredited service center will be able to do any out of warranty work on it though, met with the owners yesterday who told me as much.

That's not bad at all. Well less than €10k more for the i4 M50 over the Model 3 Performance. Out of my budget for now though unless I win the lotto. And then I would buy the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo Turbo S anyway. Or the new Model S Plaid if I wanted a really fast car 😂

White isn’t to my taste. If like to see some other colours

https://youtu.be/iXrtgRMTSTE

Not sure it seemed quite sub 4 seconds as they claim though 🤔

^^^ why does anyone pay more for a car? Said it before, I’ll say it again. I have zero interest in the Tesla. Inferior build quality, dreadful interior, looks like a Dodge Neon. It might 0.3 faster to 100kph but it’s slower to 160 & 200. The video above can attest to that. I consider myself fortunate that I’m in a position to be able to consider both as my next car, and it’s a no brainer for me. It’s quite laughable the Tesla fanboys thinking Tesla is in the same league as BMW :)

Point is it's overpriced, even for a BMW fanboy. My wife has a 3 Series sitting outside and would never take it instead of the Model 3.

Great to see BMW offering EV cars rather than just SUVs as all marques are needed to meet the demand for EVs

My wife prefers the leaf to the 330e ... but that is just out of pure handiness for short hops etc

the driving seat of any new BMW is a better place to be than a Tesla in my opinion ... and when the option is pure EV it would be a no brainer

What delivery date have you been given? I heard anyone ordering now is being given a Q4 2022 date.

I ordered the M50

Late reply to this I know - but how is the Model 3 Performance very different to the Long range?

Different spec motors on each, what else? There's no suspension difference that I know of, and both are dual motor so AWD. Plus on the track the Model 3 might be quicker than an M3, but that's no indication of what each is like to drive. The Model 3 is so quick out of a corner it makes up for a lot of time, but just look at the Top Gear episode where they take it, the M3, Alfa Quadrofoglio and C63 against each other. The Model 3 is quickest time wise on the track they set up, but it looks awful in comparison to the composure of the Alfa through the tight bends. There's no comparison.

A Stopwatch isn't the only measure of a good car, if it was there'd be no point in an MX5!

Not saying the Model 3 isn't a decent car - it really is, it's a great car to be fair, and a great price - with 10grand discount thanks to subsidies helping the price even more. But I still really struggle to see the massive difference between the Performance versus LR. I probably would pay the extra 10 grand if I was in a position to and could afford it easily, but if I couldn't afford it, I wouldn't be massively upset that I'm missing out either.

80k difference between an M3 and 330i - they're completely different cars to be fair, even most of the body panels are different, before you get to chassis strengthening and suspension/drivetrain. 25k would be a better price difference though, like it would have been 10 years ago!

Fair points made in the reply.

I'd love to drive the i4 and Model3P back-to-back, it'll be interesting to see how BMW cope with the extra mass of a BEV.

My M3P did 0-60 in 3.2 all the time according to the draggy or 3.4 without the rollout. If yours was doing 4's there is something wrong.

I4 does nothing for me BMW's styling direction at the moment is "challenging" and I dont want to be challenged, also I have had less than stellar experiance with BMW;s ability to make electronics that work. The tesla was drove well, but its not a drivers car, in fact it does almost anything it can to have you avoid having to interact with the car at all. It does nothing to egg you on. The straight line speed grows old after a while and I really wish tesla looked better and felt more premium. The taycan has the looks and feel, albeit at a price. No car is perfect but unlike at the start, its the regular manufacturers are playing catchup to tesla.

First reviews of the i4 should be out Wednesday morning for anyone who’s interested