BMW i4

rodge123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118493307#Comment_118493307

Was told delivery date of mid April at latest, possibly March. Not sure about build date. That’s for the 40.

What I’d be a little worried about is the lack of chips resulting in them possibly removing certain items from packs such as wireless charging, harmon kardon surround, heads up display, auto parking. Was told by both dealers that it’s possible and that wouldn’t know until just before they start build.

sk8board

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118492438#Comment_118492438

doubt bmw have built it cheaply, he makes a bunch of references to the build quality being the best of the bunch currently

carsfan2

The i4 in the comparison had the 20” wheels which seem to have a big enough effect on range.

I know the larger wheels look better but I would have the 19” for the efficiency gains.

Richard Symons has said a full review of the i4 is coming.

I actually hope someone does a comparison of the 40 model to the m50 including performance and handling.

stesaurus

Told March for the M50 also but they don't really expect that date until they see a chassis assigned.

Chip shortage causing issues and will mean no touchscreen. BMW will be offering 500 off to compensate.

Demos due early March into showrooms

rodge123

No touchscreen, surely that’s a right pain in the arse and a big feature from a UX perspective to lose…especially when parked up using it.

Was that confirmed 100%?

A quick googling suggests the i4 was one of the few models they have not removed the touchscreen from. Maybe that’s changed though.

Think I’d be fairly likely to cancel my order if I’m told no touchscreen. Id imagine it’s simply slower and more cumbersome to quickly navigate to a widget/setting. also, how will you enter address to search for in maps or search for album/song…would defiantly not be relying on voice control!

I suspect it could affect resale value badly too when cars year younger probably will have the touchscreen.

UhOh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118497784#Comment_118497784

my dealership is fairly insistent that there’ll be no cutting of features due to chip shortage. I know it affects other models but I was lead to believe iX & i4 won’t be affected. Would be a poor state of affairs to put restrictions on their first EV saloon, especially when you consider they have removed physical buttons and added them to the new UI. Honestly I’d be tempted to cancel.

I enjoyed the Symons review, made the carwow comparison video look amateur I thought. One thing that stands out with the three cars is the presence of Taycan, certainly a step up from the other two

sk8board

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118498095#Comment_118498095

iDrive is probably the only Infotainment that works better using the upturned pie-dish imho. it’s a great system. I never ever use it as a touchscreen or the gesture control.

digiman

https://youtu.be/0KaHYo37Qd0

I really like the POV on this video, I think the dash and the screens look really great.

Considering this is a stock car and when you see what it’s in the same ballpark for on the 100-200km/hr run it’s very impressive. It was also very damp and it struggled to get the traction down, I would think it would do a lot better in the dry.

UhOh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118498095#Comment_118498095

I double checked this morning. There are restrictions on the touchscreen in the 4 series combustion engine but not on the i4

stesaurus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118498625#Comment_118498625

Yeah I did question that as I'd heard it was the ICE range being impacted a while back and that the EV range was being protected but they seemed sure so I didn't push it. Where did you double check it?

Lets wait and see, not a deal breaker for me. I won't be using gestures or voice, they are a pain in the hole in any car so lets hope idrive works well with the new setup.

UhOh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118499194#Comment_118499194

Checked with the dealership I’m getting the car from. Not the first time I’ve asked as there were rumours about HUD being removed a few months back.

carsfan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118498625#Comment_118498625

There’s no way they could ship these without the touchscreen.

the physical a/c and shortcut buttons are gone and rely on the screen unlike the combustion 4 series.

I wonder why we have no demo’s here yet when the uk and NI dealers all seem to have them?

Fitz II

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSRMsgQLl_s&ab_channel=Autocar

UhOh

I’ll feel like the i4 M50 is handicapped from the off in a lot of these reviews when the journos are expecting an electric M3 or M4. That’s never what the i4 was meant to be. No surprise that they pick the Taycan as a better drivers car, even in RWD spec. it’s a notch above the i4 I think. I don’t think BMWs expectation will be that they’re going to take from the Taycan market. For Ireland even being ultra conservative with the options as he suggests you’ll be over the €100k mark pretty easily on the entry level Taycan. Hard to see these as competitors IMO.

Fitz II

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118507842#Comment_118507842

All fair points, especially that reviewers seem to be considering the i4 m50/40 as a ///M car which its not designed to be. Funny that a poster asked for the model 3 v the beemer v the Taycan about 3 days ago...and since youtube has provided....defo reading this forum.

Only issue I see considering the price is that it work the other way on the Tesla Model 3.

rocky

https://youtu.be/wP21EVz2gLM

carsfan2

Very fair review.

I still think at its price point here in Ireland, it’s ok value. It seems more expensive relatively in the uk, where it’s not far off a M3 competition.

carsfan2

Soebody else saying the lower power model is more fun.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/big-reads/bmw-i4-vs-polestar-2-which-electric-compact-exec-best

Fitz II

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118518081#Comment_118518081

Its like car journalists go to point. The cheap one is the one to have. Its never true. The faster one is faster and has everything else the cheaper one has. They do this with the Taycan too, and the 911 and the Tesla, and just about every car out there. The "real purest choice", the "drivers choice" I call shenanigans.

unkel

Not so sure Fitz. Sometimes the base model of a car is the only one that is good value for money. See the Tesla Model 3, the Ioniq 5, etc. Of course the higher end models have more features, longer range, are faster, and better in every way. But sometimes just poor value for money. Of course the cut off point for the €5k subsidy plays a role with those cars (not relevant in case of the i4)

UhOh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118518745#Comment_118518745

there’s a lot of stuff standard on the M50 that you have to pay for on the eDrive40. Value for money if you add all the extras you get at no additional cost on the M50 to the 40 there’s only about €2k in the difference.

unkel

That's presuming you wanted all that stuff in the first place. Anyway my point was generic, as a reply to Fitz. Not per se about the BMW i4. I don't really know the difference in spec or price of the 40 and the 50.

Fitz II

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118519656#Comment_118519656

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118518745#Comment_118518745

yeah i get ya, but With standard options increasing as you go higher its nearly always the case that its the middle one is the value proposition all things considered (price being what you pay and value being what you get), the base model has usually had something major cut out to push people towards the middle and is there just to lowball the "starting from" price on the ads. I am not saying the base model is not a good car, absolutely not. What I am saying is that motoring journalists calling the base models the "pick of the lineup" is a touch disingenuous, are there to provide confirmation reassurance, and overemphasizing the value aspect on already overpriced luxury good anyway.

The conclusion on that article is "In range and efficiency the i4 is an excellent electric vehicle. As a driver's car it's the best EV you can get for anywhere near this money." So given the base model i4 is the same price as a Model 3 performance how can that be the case? BTW not tesla fanboi. Again not saying the m40 is a bad car just that you buy it for reasons other than it being the ultimate driving version, and because you are a purest.

rocky

Bjorn will be testing the M50 for a week, first week in Feb, then the ix... Looking forward to that, although he probably won't uncover anything unexpected, with what we already know.

sk8board

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118518116#Comment_118518116

I usually have the opposite problem with auto journo’s. Due to the nature or their work, (or the journalist salary), they tend to not buy many new cars themselves, and have a runabout as their family car, simply because they get so many new cars to test. The top journo’s will have multiple cars each on the driveway at any given time, especially during Covid when foreign trips to car launches were canned.

As a result they tend to never suggest the value option as the best option in a range - they’ll always wax lyrical about the most powerful, best-optioned version as ‘the one to have’ and so on - mainly because that’s the one the manufacturer has sent them to test.

in an Irish context, it drives me mad!

the pricing makes them niche sales here at best

with EVs, we have a situation where journos are recommending Korean brands, or the entry level i4 or tesla. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Fitz II

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529470#Comment_118529470

Agree recommending the base model as the one to buy is perfectly valid. Recommending it as the "drivers" choice is more suspect.

UhOh

Got confirmation this week that my car is pencilled in for a week 9 build. The end is almost in sight :)

digiman

Great news, reading in some places that some customers are not getting all the extras they had ordered.

What spec did you go for? Anything missing?

UhOh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118553451#Comment_118553451

Restrictions so far as I’ve been told are limited to the 4 series petrol/diesel models. At that M an M performance models aren’t impacted. No issues with the extras, I’ve added on the tech plus pack, comfort pack, 20 inch wheels & extended shadow line/shadow line lights.

digiman

You are now able to order white Merino leather but you can’t have it in combination with the MSports seats, but think I will swap to the merino leather, would rather the white and also it’s usually pretty decent leather. The sports seats look great though, one other advantage is that the standard seats give more room to rear seat passengers. Will have 2 car seats to fit, so probably a good thing.