BMW i5 World Premiere (May 24) Livestream

Jonathan S. said:

Almost time!

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Welcome to the forum @Jonathan S.! It looks like the press release is already out from BMW and the i5 looks fantastic!

ChargedUp said:

Did you already place a pre-order for an i5?

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I have placed a hypothetical deposit for a hypothetical U.S. allocation of the i5 Touring hypothetically equipped with the larger battery from the i7.
(Note that all of this is just hypothetically speaking for now.)

In all seriousness, if I wanted a medium-sized EV sedan, then yes, I definitely would have already put down a deposit for the i5. Based on BMW’s recent strong track record with creating EV versions on their shared EV/ICE platform, I’m sure the i5 will be excellent for what it is. (And I really don’t care what it looks like, although it sure does look like ... a medium-sized sedan. Which is just fine by me.)

But, compared to our household’s existing cars:

1. Better rear seat space and seats-up cargo capacity than our i4 M50, but loses the seats-down cargo versatility, and my wife wouldn’t like driving the larger i5 (whose length is quite a bit longer than even comparable medium-sized sedans), so I would not be able to wean her off of her Subaru Impreza and onto the i5. (I finally succeeded in getting her to drive about 2 miles this morning in her/our/my i4, after I’ve already driven it over 2.2k miles since taking delivery on May 10.)
2. Lacks the cargo capacity of my A6 Allroad and the range is slightly less than the i4, which has been adequate so far under the ideal conditions of perfect temps and no DCFC competition from summer tourists, fall leafpeepers, or fellow skiers: Delivery Odyssey … and possibly upcoming very special... ... but add in all those factors and going all-EV would render some trips highly unenjoyable.