The old boss of BMW used to say that the Bavarian car maker was more Italian than German. After all, noted Bernd Pischetsrieder, Munich is nearer Milan than Berlin.
That’s why BMW has been the most Latin of all German car makers, prioritising feel and emotion over cold science. BMWs were, in effect, well-made Alfa Romeos, with the added appeal of creamy-smooth (and powerful) straight-sixes, the signature engine.
Or at least that was the case. Things went wrong when it changed its strapline. ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’ speaks to the heart. Joyless ‘Efficient Dynamics’ could be the mission statement for a German lift maker.
Plus, the Ultimate Driving Machine wasn’t just a cute ad slogan, a bit of verbal wishful-thinking fairy-floss, like most silly ad lines. It was the driving mission for BMW’s engineers. And on most cars, they delivered. The 3-series or 5-series were invariably better to drive than equivalent Audis or Mercs, or for that matter any Lexus, most Jaguars or any bloated premium Yank.
Audis may have looked better (still mostly true, at least to my eyes). And Mercs were once more meticulously engineered, although that’s no longer the case. (The company whose cars were ‘Engineered like no other car in the world’ now makes cars engineered like every other car in the world.) Just as Mercedes lost its reputation for engineering leadership in the ’90s, so BMW’s reputation for dynamic felicity began to wobble in the 2000s. It was a victim of its own success and the ensuing model proliferation. There was nothing Ultimate Driving Machine about the 2-series, early X1 and X3, or 5-series GT.
Equally, the styling began to morph from elegant Bauhaus to boxy outhouse. There is nothing refined or beautiful about the XM, iX or new X2, never mind the traditional Hofmeister kinks and twin-kidney grilles. The new 7-series is hardly wall-poster material, either, bluff-nosed and brutalist. Yet recent drives in the i4 and M2 suggest a welcome return to the old Ultimate Driving Machine ethos.
So it was with more than a keen sense of anticipation that I drove the new i5, the electric version of the new eighth-generation 5-series. The styling is not as offensive as the XM or iX, even if it still lacks the elegance of most former 5s. On the road, there is much to like. I drove both eDrive 40 rear-drive single-motor and all-wheel-drive-twinmotor M60 xDrive. They handle well, steer well, ride deftly and – unlike virtually every other BEV – are e
