BMW i3 (2026 – ) review

Cheaper single-motor versions will likely follow but for now the i3 starts just inside the £50,000tax thresholdand on a par with equivalent versions of the BYD Seal, Hyundai Ioniq 6 or Tesla Model 3. That’s a good start, the BMW then hammering all but the Long Range RWD Model 3 on range. And that’s with the smaller battery, the i3 50 xDrive driven here good for an official 567 miles, beating the Tesla by a smidge over 100 miles and the equivalent (but pricier) Mercedes C-Class Electric by even more. That should make it an absolute darling of company drivers for whom the BMW 320d was once the weapon of choice for long business miles on the motorway, the i3 combining diesel saloon range with the cost-saving advantages of electric car Benefit In Kind. It’ll also help private owners, especially those with capacity tocharge at home on cheap off-peak domestic rates. On that basis visits to expensive public chargers are – literally – going to be few and far between, even on longer journeys.

In recent times BMW’s reliability scores haven’t quite met the expectations you might have for a premium brand. The jury is out on whether this fresh generation of Neue Klasse cars will be any better but electric power means fewer moving parts and less to go wrong than combustion or hybrid equivalents, the real question being how reliable the fancy new electronics prove to be.

I was able to enjoy the i3’s self-driving abilities to the full on the French autoroute but British drivers will have to wait until regulations catch-up before the geo-fenced restrictions on the system are lifted. Which is a shame because, even as something of a sceptic, I doff my cap to the i3’s formidable ‘superbrain’ powered driver assistance systems. Maybe I’ll learn to relax in time but, in all honesty, I was probably concentrating harder on what was going on around me while on hands-free than I would have been otherwise, so I’m not sure there’s any labour-saving benefit at this stage. But, when I was at the wheel, I was super impressed at how BMW’s Symbiotic Drive system measured my attention levels and held off with the annoying lane interventions, to the point I was happy leaving the system in place rather than turning it off as I normally would. Which is how it should be. Business as usual with the speed limit bongs, though, which are just as annoying as they are in any other modern car. At least they’re easy to silence, with an obvious short-cut on the main screen.

If the i3’s trad saloon car configuration is a limitation fear not, there’s a Touring estate version on the way, too. Or you could just buy an iX3 instead, given it’s built on the same Neue Klasse tech. Personally, I prefer the low-slung format of the i3, the electric version noticeably more spacious than its hybrid 3 Series brother, especially in the back. True, while you can fold the seats down for carrying longer items and the boot is a decent size it’s never going to be as practical or family-friendly as an estate or SUV but, symbolically, I understand why BMW wanted to launch with a saloon first, given the 3 Series traditions the i3 riffs on. And it feels a lot more planted through the corners thanks to the lower stance. True, the driving position is still a little taller than the 3 Series, and I’d swear there’s a little less padding in the seat base to compensate. But in a world of tall-riding vehicles the i3 nails the classic BMW vibes. Fancy adaptive dampers will apparently be coming as an option, but it was good to drive it on the standard set-up first. You feel the i3’s weight slowing for corners and through the direction changes that follow but the balance between sportiness and comfort felt absolutely bang-on, the ‘Silent’ driving mode underlining just how smoothly it covers ground.

Highly controversial at the time, BMW’s original screen-driven iDrive system was a game-changer for in-car tech and I’d say the same for the new Panoramic iDrive on the i3. The configurable full-width display beneath the windscreen puts the information you need directly into your line of sight, the fact it’s projected rather than screen-powered meaning less eye-straining glare when driving at night. Our test cars also had the optional head-up display projecting speed and nav prompts directly onto the windscreen but I’d say this is a duplication of information you don’t need. BMW has also worked hard on the menus and software powering its infotainment, crunching the data on how drivers interact with it, what features they use and when. This informs the logical menus, tiles, widgets and shortcuts, all of which are configurable to your tastes and way more user-friendly than the gaudy full-width Hyperscreen in the equivalent Mercedes C-Class Electric. Having to control ventilation via the screen is still a faff but there are at least physical controls for volume, mirrors, seat adjustment and other basics.

There are additional models coming but for now the i3 launches with two versions, the twin-motor i3 40 xDrive more powerful and with a bigger battery than the Ioniq 6, BYD Seal or Tesla Model 3 variants it competes with on price. True, the C-Class Electric has a larger battery still. But Mercedes money would get you the i3 50 xDrive driven here, which has even more capacity and can go more than 100 miles further with its 567-mile official range. True, at the efficiency I scored that would be more like 400 miles in the real world but that’s still very impressive. The adaptive regenerative braking deserves a special shout as well, this working with the navigation and sensors to score charge for the battery having already predicted the corners, downhill gradients, junctions and slower traffic where the car can recover energy without you touching the brakes. This happens so smoothly you don’t even notice it, the manually selectable B mode there for genuine one-pedal driving in town.