My Model 3 LR is coming up three years old so I'm sort of thinking about what may be next. Another Model 3 is a definite possibility since overall I've been pretty happy with the car. Despite it being a Fremont build, it's been reliable. No bits have fallen off and apart from some minor panel alignment issues on the bonnet (which I'm sure an hour or two with a spanner could fix), the build is OK. My main complaints about the car are: 1) cabin refinement, esp on noisy road surfaces and; 2) its relatively harsh/un-compliant suspension setup. It would be nice to find a car that addressed these.
In the past I've been somewhat of a BMW fan (the Tesla broke a line of four consecutive BMWs before it - both 5- and 3-series) and I said at the time I got the Model 3 that I'd go back to BMW once they came up with a decent EV. The i4 seems to tick that box, so I thought I'd go and test drive one. The model I drove was the "eDrive 40" (rear wheel drive single motor) in M-Sport trim. It had two option packs installed - the "Sport Plus" pack (adaptive suspension, bigger wheels and red brake calipers); and the "Tech" pack that adds the Harmon Kardon upgraded sound system and a HUD. Overall, I was quite impressed, but it didn't wow me. In summary:
In the past I've been somewhat of a BMW fan (the Tesla broke a line of four consecutive BMWs before it - both 5- and 3-series) and I said at the time I got the Model 3 that I'd go back to BMW once they came up with a decent EV. The i4 seems to tick that box, so I thought I'd go and test drive one. The model I drove was the "eDrive 40" (rear wheel drive single motor) in M-Sport trim. It had two option packs installed - the "Sport Plus" pack (adaptive suspension, bigger wheels and red brake calipers); and the "Tech" pack that adds the Harmon Kardon upgraded sound system and a HUD. Overall, I was quite impressed, but it didn't wow me. In summary:
- It's definitely got a higher quality feel on the interior. Materials feel better and it makes for a more luxurious place to be. Advantage i4.
- But, the interior feel is also more claustrophobic. The test car had the M-Sport trim which has a black headliner. Add in black seats, high window lines, a transmission tunnel, no sunroof, and a long bonnet, and the result is very much a feeling of lowering yourself into a cockpit rather than sitting on a seat in an airy space. I'm not saying either is better - it depends on what you like and what you're used to. I remember feeling odd in the Model 3 when I got it after the 3-series I traded in. Deuce!
- The infotainment system on the i4 is really good. The screens are big, bright, and responsive. The features are pretty good in the main with excellent CarPlay integration that just worked out of the box with my iPhone 8 over BT. The UI is more of an automotive approach than Tesla's all-touch approach, and in general it works well. I really liked the buttons for home, menu etc that the Tesla just doesn't have. However, even though the test car had the Harmon Kardon upgraded sound system, I was seriously disappointed in the sound quality. No matter what I did with the sound settings I couldn't get it to sound decent, no matter the genre of music. Classic music in particular sounded awful - thin and confused. Maybe I've been spoiled by the excellent "Premium Sound" in the Tesla. Overall - advantage Tesla, but it's a close thing. If the i4's sound quality was better I'd have gone with the i4 as the winner.
- Getting back to a car with a speedo display in front of me was a welcome return to normality. The test car also had a HUD, which was nice, but TBH, I've never really got on with HUDs, so it's not an issue for me that Tesla don't provide one. However, I really would like a steering display. Advantage i4.
- In terms of performance the i4 goes well, but the Model 3 is a bit better. Acceleration in "Sport" mode was brutally applied when I pressed the go-pedal to the carpet, but overall the Model 3 feels quicker and it puts its power down better (I guess dual motor vs single motor). Advantage Model 3.
- In terms of steering, the i4 wasn't as good as I was hoping for, feeling a bit wooden and vague. I was also amazed to see that its turning circle is worse than the Model 3 - I didn't think such a thing was possible! Advantage Model 3.
- Throttle response and regen braking was actually quite similar across the cars (the BMW in "B" mode), with both allowing one-pedal driving. The Tesla's initial deceleration seems higher, but I think most people would adjust to the differences quite easily. About the only slight complaint I have with the BMW is that there seems to be a small but perceptible delay between pressing the go-pedal hard and the car responding. Slight, but noticeable. Thankfully in "B" mode, there's no fake transmission creep like on so many other European EVs. Deuce.
- The i4's suspension is definitely superior to the Tesla's. I drove the car mostly in Sport mode (adaptive dampers remember) but even so, the ride was notably more compliant than my Model 3. When cornering, it was definitely taughter - but OTOH, the extra weight of the BMW made it feel less composed in corners than the Tesla. However, I don't drive too hard these days and I think the BMW's suspension for typical UK roads is a definite improvement. Advantage i4.
- Cabin refinement on the i4 was several steps up on the Tesla. I hit 90 a few times on dual carriageways without realising it since the cabin noise levels are significantly better than I'm used to. It's a much quieter car and as a consequence, it feels like a car from a higher quality class. I know that MIC Model 3s are a little improved in this regard (I test drove a recent Model 3 recently), but it's still a long way behind the i4. So, big advantage i4!
- Cabin space OTOH was generally worse on the i4. Rear seating feels very cramped compared to the Model 3. The hatch on the i4 is a benefit over the traditional boot of the Tesla though. Advantage Tesla.
- Efficiency wasn't great. I didn't hammer the car too much, but managed only 3.1 miles/kWh, which is 322 Wh/mi. That's really bad given that my drive to/from the BMW dealership delivered me 235 Wh/mi and mine is a dual motor. The car's display showed long-term consumption of 2.9 miles/kWh (344 Wh/mile) which isn't great either. I know that demo cars get hammered, so it's hard to draw firm conclusions from this, but even the official WLTP figures show that the single motor BMW trails the Tesla dual motor by about 10% which should really be the other way around given the drive configuration. Advantage Tesla.
- Charging etc - I didn't get chance to charge it but it seems from Google searches that it supports pre-conditioning for rapid charging and can take a max of 200kW, which I think is to all practical purposes the same as the Model 3 (yes, I know the Model 3 does 250kW in principle but I've only ever seen that rate once and it didn't stay there too long!). Of course, the Tesla network is still mostly locked out to non-Tesla cars, so it's hard to get away from that as being anything but a big advantage to the Tesla. Maybe over the next year or two things will get much more even, but I think at the moment it's still advantage Tesla.
- Price - the BMW ain't cheap. The car I test drove would be stickered at £62k with the options installed. Granted that this includes a HUD and adaptive suspension, but even so, an SR+, which has a similar performance and drive config, would come in at £48.5k. Even an LR would be under £60k and you're getting all-wheel drive.
- Availability - here is the big sting in the tail. Chances are that you're in for a year-long wait for an i4. Worse, they won't bake the price in until the build is started and given inflation right now, the price you pay will likely be another 10% on today's price. At least with Tesla, the wait is probably half this, and the price is baked in at the point of order. I think that's a big advantage to Tesla.
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