BMW i5 M60 xDrive Touring 2025 Review

The 2025 BMW i5 M60 xDrive Touring will set you back a hefty $219,900 before on-road costs.

For that you get a traditional station wagon body underpinned by two e-motors, a mountain of performance and a heap of tech designed to ensure the i5 M60 is not only incredibly fast in a straight line but well-behaved around the corners too.

That’s no small factor, considering this thing weighs in at nearly 2.5 tonnes!

The pricing means the i5 M60 xDrive Touring is the most expensive eighth-generation 5 Series you can buy in Australia – pipping the sedan version by $4000 – apart from the mega-blast M50 plug-in hybrids.

There is only one other i5 model – the ‘i’ designating battery electric in BMW-speak these days – offered in Australia, the eDrive40 sedan. There are also two ICE sedans, the 520i and the 540d.

Logical electric competitors for the BMW i5 M60 xDrive Touring are pretty few and far between. There is no other battery-electric luxury station wagon sold in Australia today. The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo would qualify as its closest rival. It’s nominally an SUV, but really?

You could also consider the Audi e-Tron GT and Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV.

Look beyond EV and you’re into the Audi RS 6 V8 wagon as logical opposition on price and performance, if not CO2 emissions.

At this price the M60 needs to get some luxury as well as tech gear. The highlights include merino leather upholstery, ‘CraftedCrystal’ handmade glass dials and knobs and quad-zone climate control.

There’s a mind-boggling array of adjustments and options provided by a 14.9-inch infotainment touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital instrument display stitched together behind a single panel, as well as a head-up display projected onto the windscreen in front of the driver.

Embedded features included satellite navigation, digital radio and voice control (which seems to understand Aussie accents quite well) as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto wireless connection. A Bowers & Wilkins 17-speaker surround-sound audio system pumps out the tunes.

The i5 comes with the same five-star ANCAP rating based on 2023 protocols as the rest of the 5 Series range. Driver-assist features include autonomous emergency braking that can detect pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Other systems include adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping support. The latter is not intrusive and easily switchable.

The i5 is protected by BMW’s standard five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, while the 81.2-kilowatt-hour battery is protected by an eight-year/160,000km warranty.

Service periods are conditions-based, but not too expensive starting at $3350 over six years. That reflects the reduced maintenance issues for an EV compared to an orthodox ICE vehicle.

Gotta love this thing is a station wagon, not an SUV, even if the latter body style is much more popular these days.

It looks really good, even if some of that is due to the optional ($2100) metallic paint and 21-inch wheels, which are part of a $3000 M Sport Plus package.

Then there’s the actual capability. The 2025 BMW i5 M60 xDrive Touring is ballistically fast up to a high speed. How high? Sorry, I bailed out to preserve my licence.

There’s actually a boost function activated via a paddle behind the steering wheel that dumps some extra torque into the system for 10 seconds. You won’t need it.

Even in detuned ‘Efficient’ mode this thing is stupid-quick in a straight line. I mean head-slammed-into-headrest quick. I mean accidentally-bite-your-tongue quick.

In that typical EV manner, the i5’s also calm and relaxed when cruising. Of course it’s also quiet. But there’s enough sound deadening here to ensure the big rubber doesn’t fill the void.

As impressive as the straight-line go is, the handling and ride is even more startling. BMW’s chucked the kitchen sink at this thing. All-wheel drive, adaptive suspension, active roll stabilisation, rear-axle steering and rear air springs. Add in its low passenger-car centre of gravity accentuated by the big battery in the floor and it’s quite startling how it sits flat and grips surely in corners.

This long and heavy car has no right feeling this lithe and nimble. Even the sport-tuned steering seems better connected than it should be.

Nor should the i5 ride this well. Considering its weight and low-profile rubber, it irons out grumbly surfaces quite brilliantly in its most relaxed suspension mode. In sport it tightens up but doesn’t get ugly.

All of which means this is a very cool car for cruising in town or cross-country or winding up for a bit of an enjoyable blast.

As a practical vehicle its primary advantage over an SUV is a lower load height into its substantial boot, which offers either 570 litres or 1700L of space depending on whether the rear seats are split-folded.

Speaking of seats, the front sports seats are generous, comfortable, supportive and power adjustable. The chubby flat-bottom steering wheel is reach-and-rake power adjustable.

And I really appreciate the stop-start button in the i5. It’s not necessary in an EV – some automatically activate via the proximity key – but this makes it definitively clear what’s going on.

Somewhere all this weight has to bite and it happens when it comes to the range of the 2025 BMW i5 M60 xDrive Touring.

While an 81.2kWh (net) battery packs sounds pretty sizable, when combined with a vehicle of this performance capability and weight it starts to struggle.

The official economy claim is 18.1kWh/100km based on the generous ADR (NEDC) standard. But in the real world you’re going to be averaging 22-25kWh/100km. Higher if you push harder more often.

And that simply means you’re looking at 400km as a maximum range rather than 500km. It’s not a disaster but it doesn’t exactly crush range anxiety either.

If you’ve got the discipline to plug in every time you come home (presuming you can access a plug) then the inconvenience will be reduced. If you’re out on the open road BMW claims a decent 205kWh fast charging rate. With the battery half full we saw a best of 150kW when super-fast charged.

A bigger 100kWh-plus battery pack really makes sense for this thing – although you’re then talking even more weight and cost.

A couple of other minor powertrain irritants. The digitised acceleration audio sounds like a wounded vacuum cleaner and quickly got switched off. More jarringly, there was an occasional tendency for a violent shudder if quickly swapping from very light to heavy throttle application – like when dashing into a roundabout from an almost standing start. Intermittent, unpredictable and out of character with the rest of the car.

The impressive techno impression the screens make when you first sit in the i5 M60 translates to a somewhat intimidating set of controls when you start interacting with them.

Hit the apps button on the infotainment screen and literally dozens appear. BMW does offer some dropdowns and shortcuts to help with frequent tasks and there are still physical controls for audio and some – not all – air-con controls, but you do spend plenty of time stabbing at panels.

For instance, you set the adaptive cruise control gap via the screen and the level of regenerative brake effect. It would be much better if these were accessible via the steering wheel.

The whole mode thing in this car is a bit weird. There are three that impact car setup – Personal, Sport and Efficient – and a whole bunch that don’t. Despite its name, personal can’t be personalised (think of it as Comfort mode). Only Sport offers the ability to set individual choices, generally between comfort and sport across the powertrain and dynamics.

The i5 M60’s interior also underlines why people have gravitated to SUVs. The driver’s view out is lower and less clear – especially when head checking to the rear – while rear seat passengers are more enclosed and limited in space.

Surprisingly for a car of this price there are no rear map pockets, while up-front storage is adequate rather than generous. No SUV-style profusion of bins and cubbies here.

As a paid-up member of the motoring journalists station wagon fan club, your correspondent was always going to find the 2025 BMW i5 M60 xDrive Touring appealing.

But not this appealing. The i5 M60 is so well executed and very much in character. It’s a BMW powered by electricity not an EV with a BMW badge, if you get the distinction.

It was surprising how often I forgot I was driving an EV and just accepted this was a luxurious, swift and poised BMW. So enjoyable and satisfying.

Yes, there are issues: the battery size, the infotainment complexities, reduced practicality compared to SUVs including BMW’s own X5. And most of all, the price.

Look, if you can afford it, I recommend it. This is a lovely vehicle.

If you can’t – i.e. just about all of us – let’s hope the positives on display here one day translate into something more affordable but just as enjoyable to experience.

The return to popularity of the station wagon in the electric age? Wouldn’t that be great!

2025 BMW i5 M60 xDrive Touring at a glance:
Price: $219,900 (plus on-road costs)
Powertrain: Two current-excited electric motors
Output: 442kW/820Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 81.2kWh lithium-ion
Range: 503km (ADR)
Energy consumption: 18.1kWh/100km (ADR)
Safety rating: Five stars (ANCAP 2023)

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