A day with BMW Philippines and their EV lineup

Among any car brand in the Philippines, whether mainstream like Nissan or Hyundai, or luxury like Mercedes-Benz and Audi, BMW Philippines probably has the most number of fully-electric vehicles in its local lineup. For us members of the motoring beat, that also translates to the most number of EV test drive units to choose from for reviews.

The German automaker’s local distributor, SMC Asia Cars Distributors, invited us to experience the entire EV lineup on a short Monday drive to Silang, Cavite from their flagship Greenhills, San Juan showroom and back. Of course, I did not hesitate to say yes. 

Unlike most media drives held by other car brands, we were given the option to choose which among the available BMW EVs we would want to drive today. I chose the BMW i5 eDrive40 in Oxide Gray simply because it was what I was curious about. I would usually go for a crossover but I only recently had the BMW iX3 for a few days. You can also read my review of that here.

READ: 2024 BMW iX3 M Sport – The badge makes the difference | Car Review

Waiting for us on the dealership parking lot were the several EVs for this drive and the i5 eDrive40 did not fail to stand out, especially with it being one of the newer models in the German automaker’s lineup. 

I took on driving duties for the first leg of the drive from Greenhills to Silang, which also meant that the first 20 minutes of the drive was spent mostly stuck in heavy morning city traffic. Oh and by the way, we started the drive with a full 100% of charge showing just a little over 500 kilometers of range.

The BMW i5 eDrive40 gets an electric motor and a 84.3 kWh battery that produces a combined 340 horsepower and 430 Nm of torque, allowing it to go from 0 to 100 kph in 6.0 seconds. It can drive up to 582 kilometers on a full charge despite it showing us a lower figure on the screens.

Like I’ve said in some reviews, the downer for EVs is how they all feel like each other when it comes to performance of their electric motors, differing only slightly in how powerful they are and how much of the instant torque you feel. The i5 is no different, but like I said with the iX3, the badge makes the difference.

Comfort, quietness, sporty driving, you name it. The i5 shines in those aspects which make it undeniably BMW. Being stuck in heavy traffic did not feel like hardwork at all. Others would feel sorry that I’m driving a BMW in heavy traffic, at least I am in a BMW, enjoying its superb comfort and NVH levels.

Once we got to escape the heavy traffic and entered the open highways, the i5 continued to let us cruise in amazing comfort. Sound system-wise though, I think the standard Harman Kardon premium audio system could be a bit better. It just didn’t have what I was looking for which is a bit difficult to put into words.

Usually on media drives, we push the cars as much as we can within the legalities of road rules, this time I decided to just enjoy the cruise, following the pace of all other motorists around me, so much that despite leaving the dealership first, we arrived at our destination last.

As we pulled-up into the restaurant in Silang, Cavite, we had 82% of charge left. That means we only used 11% for the 67 kilometer drive.

After a heartful lunch made better by a Truffle Pasta, I took the opportunity to take photos of the BMW i5 and all I can really say is that it is one of my favorite iterations of the midsize executive sedan. Some close industry colleagues have been criticizing me for thinking such, but it’s my opinion. I mean, have a look for yourself.

After that photo session, it was time to head back to the city and this time, I get to enjoy it from the co-pilot’s seat. It was pretty uneventful with still light traffic conditions going back.

Our driver for that leg though did decide to push a bit harder on open stretches of highway and the i5 definitely pulls. Outside of those rare instances, I’ll just repeat that comfort and noise insulation are superb, something you would expect from this kind of sedan.

Once we parked the car in the BMW dealership’s basement parking, we drove about 140 kilometers in total. That isn’t much to test out an EV’s driving range but by that time, we only consumed about 30% of our range which left us with over 300 kilometers to spare. This is pretty much the same as driving a ICE-powered car, minus the expensive cost of fuel.

Now I’m not exactly sure how that translates into electricity consumption figures. I honestly have not figured that out just yet…so unbecoming of a motoring journalist but hey, it’s what people understand.

I’m probably repeating myself and other motoring journalists by saying EVs are not for everyone just yet. Charging infrastructure still needs to be improved outside Metro Manila, and EVs are still priced quite high despite the different tax benefits (or even exemption) that they’ve received.

Case in point, the BMW i5 eDrive 40 is priced at Php 5,790,000 or a whopping Php 800,000 more than its ICE 520i counterpart. I mean, well, it is a luxury car and it serves us like one should. What I’ll say though is that the BMW i5 (and the 5 Series in general) is the perfect balance of luxury and sport. Perhaps the BMW 3 Series may be too basic, and the 7 Series and i7 are too much. This one is right in the middle and does its job of being in the middle very well.