Of course, those EV miles aren’t free, but on an off-peak electricity tariff you’ll get 40-odd miles for not far shy of £1.50. At the UK’s current average domestic electricity price of 24.8p/kWh, it’s more like a fiver. That’s a little more punchy, but (by my maths) roughly the same as a combustion car doing 45mpg.
Powertrain aside, this Touring fits that age-old cliché of ‘all the car you’ll ever need’ almost as well as any model I’ve run over the past 15 years; the boot’s massive, the seats are comfortable and there are just enough luxuries to keep my better half happy. That said, I think you’d expect electric front seats and adaptive cruise control to be standard on a £65k car, and yet they aren’t here.
That said, M Sport Pro trim certainly looks the part, especially with Oxide Grey paint and the gorgeous espresso leather – a feature I’ll touch on in a future report. The widescreen infotainment system is fantastic, too, although by defaulting to Apple CarPlay and its user-friendly touch layout, I’m finding fewer opportunities to use the otherwise intuitive iDrive clickwheel. In all honesty,
I’m not surprised BMW is phasing it out. I love the full-length glass roof, and I’m even quite a fan of the illuminated kidney grille. I don’t think this G61-generation 5 Series is as pretty as its predecessor, but it has a bit of added presence thanks to our car’s 20-inch bi-colour alloy wheels and dark trim. The Technology Pack is pricey at £2,000, but I make daily use of the myriad cameras, and the head-up display is clear and easy to read.
