2025 BMW i5 XDrive 40 First Look: A Keener 'Tweener?
Looking for more power and range? Then the new BMW i5 xDrive40 might be your ticket.
If there is one thing that makes the BMW i5 such a great electric car is that it's still a 5 Series. It drives as smoothly as the internal combustion engine version, it's brimming with forward-thinking technology, and it envelops the occupants in a luxurious interior. The issue is that the i5 really doesn't offer a good middle ground between all-out luxury AWD sedan performance in the M60 xDrive and the base eDrive40 RWD. That's about to change as BMW has announced a new xDrive40 variant that will give you AWD traction without the range penalty of the M60's juice-thirsty powertrain.
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The i5 xDrive40 will retain the same 84.3-kWh battery pack that all i5s come with, but the new dual-motor powertrain will up the total power output to 389 hp and 435 lb-ft of torque. That is 54 hp and 140 lb-ft of torque more than the single motor eDrive40, but 201 hp and 151 lb-ft of torque less than the M60 xDrive. According to BMW, that's good for a 0 to 60 mph run of 5.2 seconds and a top speed of 130 mph.
What BMW has not told us is the range. Considering it's using the same 84.3-kWh pack across all three trims, the i5 xDrive40 is going to get less range than the RWD eDrive40—as it is powering two motors instead of one—but should get far better range than the M60 xDrive and its dual motor setup.
What we're sad to see is that BMW is still using a 205-kW DC fast charge rate. While it claims that this will charge the i5 battery pack from 10 percent to 80 in about 30 minutes, even non-luxury model EVs are eclipsing that by 30 to 40-kW while many luxury EVs are often close to 1.7 times that at the upper end. The good news is that all the things we also like about the i5 eDrive40 remain on the dual motor xDrive40.
Expect to see the 2025 BMW i5 xDrive40 arrive at BMW dealers around March, and it'll take $71,095 to start out of your wallet to get your own Bimmer 'tweener.
Having experience in many forms of the automotive industry, Justin Banner has done more than just write about cars. For more than 15 years, he's had experience working as an automotive service technician—including a stint as a Virginia State Inspector—service advisor, parts sales, and aftermarket parts technical advisor (a fancy way of saying he helped you on the phone when you had trouble fitting your brakes over your aftermarket wheels and the like). Prior to his tenure as a full-time editor, Justin worked as a freelance writer and photographer for various publications and as an automotive content creator on YouTube. He’s also covered multiple forms of motorsports ranging from Formula Drift, drag racing, and time attack, to NASCAR, short course off-roading, and open desert racing. He's best known for breaking down complex technical concepts so a layperson can more easily understand why technologies, repairs, and parts should matter to them. At MotorTrend, Justin is part of the news team covering breaking news and topics while also working as a judge for MotorTrend Of the Year events and other major comparison tests.
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