BMW i5 - Boot space, comfort & practicality

The BMW i5 is available as a 5,060mm long four-door saloon for now, but a five-door Touring estate car is coming soon. The latter should make the i5 far more versatile than the Mercedes EQE, which has a small boot opening. 

As you’d expect for such a large car, there are five seats inside, and everyone has lots of space to stretch out. The driving position is spot on, with loads of adjustment in the steering wheel – although we would advise adding the affordable lumbar adjustment option to Sport Edition models (standard on M Sport and above) because it provides extra comfort on long trips. The Comfort Plus Pack has memory settings for both front seats. Oddly, for an electric car, you sit nice and low, rather than feel like your seat is perched on top of a sizable battery pack.

There’s plenty of space in the back for adults, too. In fact, there’s so much room that we wonder if many people will even see the need to step up from this to get into the bigger BMW i7. As per most cars, two ISOFIX child seat mounting points are provided on the rear bench's outer positions and are easy to reach behind some folding plastic clips.

Boot capacity is a decent 490 litres – a little down from the 520 litres in a regular petrol 5 Series, but some 30 litres up on the EQE saloon. It’s a decent shape and hides a helpful underfloor storage cubby that’s big enough for all your charging cables. It is a shame that, unlike many Tesla and Hyundai/Kia electric cars, space hasn’t been freed up under the bonnet for an additional storage area.

The standard 40/20/40 split-folding rear seats can extend the load area for the obligatory IKEA flat-pack furniture run. The EQE also has this arrangement of split-fold rear seats, but it has an awkward step in the floor, whereas the seats in the i5 have a much gentler incline, making it easier to load longer items.  

Front and rear parking sensors are provided as standard, along with a reversing camera to improve visibility. The Technology pack can upgrade this camera to a full 360-degree system with a top-down view.

An electrically deployable towbar is available as an option, and the car’s stability control safety systems include a trailer stabilisation monitor. The i5 can pull a braked trailer or caravan weighing up to 1,500kg, which is a decent figure. If you need greater capacity, you’ll need to look towards electric SUV alternatives, such as the German manufacturer’s own BMW iX, which can pull up to 2,500kg.