BMW i4

The i4 looks almost identical to the 4 series ICE.

Thats because the sales people are just young fellas with pointy shoes who will not be there in a year yet alone 5 or 10 years. All they care about is their monthly or quarterly figures and their commission. My advice to anyone buying a car at this sort of level is go into the dealer and ask for the senior sales man who has been their the longest, dont deal with anyone else. I have had too many salesmen come and go on me and my goodwill and promises of good deals and trade ins vanished with them, its only when I went about going out of my way to establish a relationship with somebody in the dealership that mattered, that one actually developed. The stuff I am reading on this thread is terrible, lad spending a absolute fortune on a car and the experiance is turned from what should be an exciting one into a nightmare.

Driving one of these all week and I have to say, wonderful car. Steering is quite light compared to my experience in BMWs but everything else is spot on, looks, performance, build quality, handling isn’t too bad for a heavy car either. Very impressed.

Some of the best service in the industry in my opinion is in long established Toyota dealers.

By long established I mean selling Toyotas forever.

I presume its a cultural thing in the Toyota Ireland and old school Toyota dealer culture.

In general, customer service with the likes of BMW dealers is directly proportional to how far you’re willing to travel from Dublin. There are exceptions but if you’re willing to travel, it can be worthwhile.

Slightly off topic but interesting in the context of BMW customer service and premium products.

Wife has an 840d. Bought new last year. Car wouldn't start last Wednesday night. Asking for the key to be presented. We tried both keys, changing battery in the keys and the digital key. Had to leave the car in Sandyford where it was parked.

Rang BMW and they sent out a recovery truck on Thursday morning. Friday afternoon my wife got a call from BMW. The girl in BMW, and I quote, rang and asked her " what's wrong with your car?". My wife said "I was hoping you'd tell me".

Currently the car is in Dublin and the earliest they can look at it is the middle of this week. No offer of a replacement car until the wife asked. She was then asked "do you have access to another vehicle?". When she said she had, the girl was like "oh well at least you're ok then".

Premium brand.

Looks to be around mid 70s for this. HK sound is fantastic!

Cheers!

Haven't watched it yet as I'm at work but regarding the price, premium brand cars are generally pretty crap spec. Even with M Sport you have to tick a few options, I think €75k is probably realistic for a nice spec without going overboard and ticking absolutely everything. Adding a heated steering wheel, tinted windows, electric seats, park assist plus and wireless phone charging brings it to €71,500 and that's with stock white paint, 18" wheels and cloth seats. No audio upgrade, sunroof, upgraded lights, adaptive suspension etc.

I think the €6k or so jump from ICE to EV is a no brainer, you get decent range and a good performance boost.

Yes the only reasons to go for i4 40 is budget to get the base model only. Otherwise as you say with speccing it up sure you may as well get the m50.

I was looking at the only option I'd add to an M50 is the frozen blue interior and couple of the "packs"

By my calculations with the spec it has, the car Mark drove is actually about 85k on the road after the recent price rise.

comfort plus, tech plus, m sport pro, visibility pack, leather, metallic and piano black interior from what I can see.

at that money you’re mad not to go for m50 unless the bit of extra range is a deal breaker.

Is there plans for a cheaper model? I know a lot of manufacturers are producing their faster/bigger battery variants. Most people don't need the performance EVs are offering and range isn't an issue once people get rid of the mindset of wanting a 600km EV because they drive across Ireland on a weekend away once a year. Something similar to the performance of the 190hp 420d and maybe 400-450km WLTP range would probably be perfectly suitable for most people without costing as much.

BMW marketing team - Let the ordinary plebs wait another year for their cars so we can give free ones to lads that are on millions per year!

It's a clever game from the marketing department imho. BMW doesn't have the production capacity yet to meet even a fraction of demand. Give the cars away to footballers makes the cars even more desirable and in demand despite upping the price again. We all know it's a great car, despite not being an EV from the ground up. There is hope for BMW!