There is not much sense to trace in the BMW i5 M60, which is the sporty and top-equipped version of the Car of the Year 2024.
Not much space was left to the fast, expensive and top-equipped BMW i5 M60 when I drove it to its world premiere in September. In fact, I was a bit harsh and called it a footnote to the big news that the more popular i5 eDrive40 was and is.
The i5 has since taken the title of Car of the Year 2024 and marked a historic victory for BMW, which has never before run with it in the award’s 54-year history. That’s why the BMW i5 deserves all the slot space it can get. Even the top-spec variant, which is a bit silly. The BMW i5 M60 is still lovely.
Why is it stupid?
Mainly because it is expensive. The entry variant BMW i5 eDrive40 Sportline starts at DKK 583,000 with enough equipment and qualities for most people. The acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h is in 6.1 seconds, which is also quick enough for most people, without the jump in power hampering the range of 581 km.
BMW i5 M60 costs much more. In fact, almost twice as much. The BMW i5 M60 costs from DKK 1,080,500, which is DKK 497,000 more than the i5 Sportline. For that money, you get an acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h that is 2.3 seconds faster and a range that is 66 km shorter.
Preserved, you also get a little more than that. You get an additional electric motor on the front axle that produces 261 hp and raises the output to 601 hp in total, as well as a completely different undercarriage. It’s called ‘Adaptive Suspension Professional‘ and provides both co-steering rear axle and a suspension which, as the name suggests, is adaptive.
On the luxury front, you get several options in the interior, where you can choose exquisite ‘Burgundy‘-cabin, which the test car here comes with. You also get things like Harman Kardon sound system (upgraded to Bowers & Wilkins in the test car), four-zone climate control and 22kW fast AC charging. But still… For half a million?
M does not rhyme with sense
There will always be something that makes more sense than a BMW with an M sticker on the back. 601 hp is too much power, DKK 1,080,500 is too much money, and yet you can count on there being buyers for it. Thats how it should be.
Because as soon as you drop the utopia of a reasonable BMW M model and stop keeping detailed accounts of what every extra kroner for the M60 buys compared to the eDrive40, you see the light. You also don’t compare an M5 with a 520i.
The BMW i5 M60 is does not a full-blooded M model, although it has the power of the latest BMW M5 F90. It thus stands as a serious taster of what the future can bring when the M department will one day put its name to an electric M5.
When that happens, BMW must be able to do more than just accelerate quickly. A quick acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h is no longer a party trick when all electric cars can do it. There must be more on the menu, and it’s clear that new tricks are being tried in the i5 M60.
Known qualities
Dizzyingly fast and surprisingly comfortable. These are rare qualities that the latest BMW M5 masters, and which can also be found in the BMW i5 M60 thanks to the chassis.
The adaptive element is invaluable. Here, the suspension is precise and resolute on the fun backroads as well as compliant in the chaos of the big city. Also on the motorway it behaves like a stable cruiser, exactly as a 5 should do. It is almost schizophrenic, and then the test car is not even equipped with the most aggressive ‘Adaptive M Suspension Professional’-undercarriage for DKK 51,249.
Also invaluable is the four-wheel steering, which I predict will become the big craze within crisp and sporty electric cars. The batteries at the bottom mean that there is a certain combat weight to contend with, which in the i5 M60 sniffs at 2.4 tonnes. That kind of weight kills agility, but not in the BMW i5 M60.
The heavy luxury sedan corners like a car half as heavy. Regardless of whether it is the corners of the big city or the pretzels of the country road, it gets around in an agile manner. Combine that with the upgraded M Sports brakes, and you have a car that changes direction like a hungry German Shepherd and brakes with an eagerness that pulls off the glasses of the visually impaired.
I get to feel all of that, even though the majority of the test takes place on freezing cold roads. A set of solid winter tires and a potent electric motor on the front axle that keeps going will get me around for sure. In snowy weather and M mode, the story is different, and after a week of playing in that kind of weather, it will look like the pictures below.
Trusted BMW
The range of 515 km is a WLTP fantasy figure, invented in a warm laboratory. As mentioned, it is freezing during the test, and so I will again refer to my sour regurgitation about sanity earlier. Because when was the last time you asked an M5 owner how far they go on a litre?
I drive a good 800 km in the BMW i5 M60 on motorways and country roads, and estimate the realistic range in freezing weather to be 200 km less than what it is rated for. It’s not as bad as it could be, and especially not when you take BMW’s credibility into the equation.
BMW is almost unrivaled when it comes to showing it realistic range in the instrumentation. When it says 315 km in range, it is 315 km that it can drive. This means that the winter loss of 200 km does not hurt, because you always know what you are dealing with.
The sport is to be overlooked
It’s hard to take your eyes off the cabin of the test car, which is more bright red than burgundy. When the eyes have readjusted, one sees a rather classic and well-organized BMW cabin. Everything is beautifully screwed together, while vital functions are within arm’s length of the driver.
It’s all very nice, but it doesn’t smell much like sports. The M seat belts are not included with the M60 as standard, but are purchased for DKK 15,000 in a so-called M Sports Package Pro. Without it and the M Sport steering wheel, the sport is overlooked.
Despite the sporting disappointment, the BMW i5 M60 is a nice place to be with leatherette so well-executed it can fool even a seasoned tanner. The sports seats, which are also included in the entry variant Sportline, provide all the support you need. After 800 km I am by no means broken.
So silly, so lovely!
No, you don’t get enough for the additional price when you go through the specifications and equipment list. But it’s also only people who can’t afford it anyway who look at it that way. If you take it for what it is; a fast, agile, technically advanced and immensely well-built BMW, it makes much more sense.
If you look at the competition, you will find both the Audi e-tron GT, which starts at DKK 1,039,990, and the Tesla Model S Plaid, which starts at DKK 1,041,350. Here, Audi is more beautiful than BMW, while Tesla beats them to the punch all dry numbers. Still, you can’t completely write off the i5 M60. It’s too nice for that.
BMW i5 M60
Engine: Electric motor (front and rear)
Performance: 601 hp / 795 Nm
0-100 km/h: 3.8 sec.
Top speed: 230 km/h
Battery Capacity: 81.2 kWh
Spending: 18.2 kWh/100 km
Range: 515 km
Charging capacity: 205 kW
Dimensions (L/W/H): 506/190/151 cm
Curb weight: 2,380 kilos
Trunk volume: 490 liters
Starting price: DKK 1,080,500
Private leasing (one-off payment/monthly payment): DKK 70,000 / DKK 15,895
Tax basis, company car: DKK 981,892
