Ranked #194 car in the UK · Saloon (EV) · 4,271 units sold last year

BMW i5

The BMW i5 (2023 on) is the all-electric version of the latest 5 Series - a hushed, long-range executive saloon that drives with real composure. Strong real-world range and rapid charging make it a credible company-car and long-distance EV, with the dual-motor M60 adding pace. Beautifully built and spacious, it's the electric default for buyers who want a traditional executive saloon feel without the tailpipe.

BMW i5
Photo: Alexander-93 via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Body
Saloon (EV)
Years
2023–2026
Fuel
Electric
Range
— mi

WLTP

Insurance
Group 37

The short version

34/100

Forecourt score

Value 1 · Reliability 80 · Insurance 9

The BMW i5 loses value faster than most cars and is dearer to run than most. Its MOT-based reliability is excellent, 83 out of 100, ahead of 80% of the cars we track. On three-year value retention it ranks better than 1% of models.

The Forecourt score blends how this car ranks against the catalogue on value retention, reliability and insurance cost (weighted 40/40/20). Higher is better; running cost is not yet folded in.

Pick your version

Estimates are tuned to the version you choose.

Fuel

Electric

Power

340 ps

Drivetrain

RWD

Efficiency

3.5 mi/kWh

The volume electric 5-Series. 81.2 kWh battery, ~362 miles WLTP, RWD, 340 PS. Heat pump standard. Chain or belt? Neither — it's an EV. The proper rear-drive electric BMW saloon.

Tell us about the one you're looking at

2023
20232026
27,960 mi
0Expected: 27,960180k
good
PoorFairGoodExcellent

Tidy and well looked-after for its age — the typical car.

Remembered as you browse other cars.

Optional — fills in the exact year and ULEZ status for your specific car. The registration isn’t stored.

Estimated market value

How we got this number — click for the breakdown, or to challenge it.

£40,200

Range £32,700£48,250

medium confidence

When new (2023)£75,000Age-based value£34,500Mileage adjustment+£0Condition & region+£13Market calibration+£7,737Forecourt price£42,250Private sale£38,100Part-exchange£33,550
Waitthis 3-year-old

Still shedding value quickly — buying older saves the most.

At 27,960 miles it’s about the ~28,348 typical for a 3-year-old.

Seen one for sale?

£

A data-led guide from the depreciation curve, UK parc trend and reliability — not financial advice.

The depreciation curve

How a 2023-registration BMW i5 loses value over time.

What it costs to own

Over

Based on the 2023 car with 27,960 miles you entered above — worth about £40,200 today — here is the cost of owning it for the next 5 years, at roughly 9,320 miles a year.

5-year total

£24,869

Per year

£4,974

All-in per mile

£0.53

Fuel per mile

7.5p

If a company carAround £86/mo Benefit-in-Kind tax at the 40% rate (£43/mo at 20%) — 3% band (EV)

Depreciation£10,129
Fuel / energy£3,495
Servicing£2,570
Road tax£975
Insurance£7,700

If you're a company-car driver

At 3% BIK, this would cost a 40% taxpayer about £86/month in company-car tax (£43/month at 20%) — one of the strongest cases for choosing an EV via salary sacrifice. Full BIK table below for context.

Best age to buy — around 4 years

A 4-year-old example loses roughly £6,900 a year — under half the £17,150 a one-year-old sheds. The steepest drop is behind it.

Uses current UK pump and home-charging prices (DESNZ weekly), typical-driver insurance and manufacturer service intervals. "Fuel per mile" is just the energy input — so an EV at ~9p and a diesel at ~22p make running-cost comparison direct. A guide; your own costs will vary.

How it compares

Where this car ranks against the 340 vehicles in our index — higher is better.

Holds its valuebetter than 1%
Reliabilitybetter than 80%
Cheap to insurebetter than 9%

Percentile rank across our full index. A measure is shown only where the data spreads meaningfully across the index.

Petrol, diesel, hybrid or EV?

How the available versions compare on price, running cost, and the headaches each tends to develop.

eDrive40 / xDrive40

BMW's electric 5 Series. eDrive40 the volume — 357mi WLTP class-competitive. Cross-shop Mercedes EQE, Audi A6 e-tron (when launched UK), Tesla Model S. The i5 retains the 5 Series driving feel — proper BMW handling.

New price
£75,000
Annual fuel / energy
£1,000
3-yr depreciation
50%

Watch for

  • ·iDrive 9 software quirks on early units (OTA-improving)
  • ·12V battery drain when unused
  • ·Standard suspension firm on UK roads

i5 M60 xDrive

First M-badged executive electric saloon. 601 PS + adaptive M dampers + M Sport diff. Cross-shop Mercedes-AMG EQE 53, Audi RS e-tron GT, Tesla Model S Plaid. The i5 M60 makes a proper M-car EV.

New price
£105,000
Annual fuel / energy
£1,100
3-yr depreciation
51%

Watch for

  • ·M60 tyres wear quick
  • ·Brakes can feel inconsistent on hard use
  • ·Weight (~2.4 tonnes) affects dynamics despite power

Fuel/energy costs based on this week’s UK averages (w/c 22/06/2026) · Petrol 153.3p/L, Diesel 172.5p/L, Electricity 27.0p/kWh · DESNZ

Estimated insurance

Group 35 of 50 (upper-mid — pricier to insure) · Comprehensive · 3 years NCB

Indicative annual comprehensive premiums for this car, by driver age band and risk profile. Pick the combination closest to your circumstances.

3 years
0 yearsBaseline: 3 years15+
Risk profile:

Estimated annual premium · typical, age 33-39

£1,540/ year

Roughly £128 per month

Typical

Average UK driver — 3 years NCB, average postcode, no recent claims.
Age bandLower riskTypicalHigher risk
Age 17-25£3,511£4,389£5,706
Age 26-32£1,833£2,156£2,630
Age 33-39Selected£1,355£1,540£1,817
Age 40-49£1,150£1,278£1,483
Age 50+£1,026£1,140£1,345

How we estimate this

Indicative annual comprehensive premium estimates. The 'Typical' figure represents an average UK driver in each age band; Lower and Higher risk show the realistic spread driven by factors UK insurers legitimately price on (postcode, occupation, claims history, NCB, voluntary excess, modifications). Based on 10,000 miles/yr, £250 voluntary excess, and the no-claims bonus selected above. Always get individual quotes before buying.

Expected annual costs

Adjust the annual mileage to match how you'll actually use the car. Insurance is what you selected above (age 33-39, typical risk, 3 yrs NCB).

9,320 mi/yr
2,000UK avg for this model: 9,32030,000

Routine service

£290

Annual main-dealer service

Major service

£280

Every 2 years, annualised

Road tax

£195

Standard rate, post year-one

Electricity

£719

3.6 mi/kWh, 27p blended

Insurance

£1,540

Age 33-39, group 37

Clean-air zones

ULEZ compliant
  • Electric variants are compliant with London ULEZ and all UK clean-air zones.

Based on London ULEZ standards — Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Sheffield, Glasgow and other UK clean-air zones generally follow the same rules.

Total expected£3,024 / year

Excludes depreciation and unscheduled repairs (see next section).

Unexpected costs

What out-of-warranty repairs typically run, by mileage band. Your selected mileage is highlighted.

0-30k miles

£120

per year · low risk

30-60k miles

£360

per year · low risk

60-100k miles

£780

per year · medium risk

100k+ miles

£1,350

per year · high risk

Tyres

205/60 R16 · 225/50 R17 · 245/40 R18

What a full set of four will cost you (including fit and balance), and which brand each tier of buyer should pick. A typical set lasts about 24,000 miles.

Budget

£300

set of 4, fitted · £60 per tyre

Mid-range

£440

set of 4, fitted · £95 per tyre

Premium

£620

set of 4, fitted · £140 per tyre

What to fit

Optional extras worth paying for

Factory options ranked by how much of their original cost they recover at resale. Anything above 70% return tends to make money back; below 40% is paying for your own enjoyment.

OptionNew costAdded used valueReturn

Tow bar (factory-fit)

Niche, but the buyers who want one will pay for it.

£650£45069%

Parking sensors & reversing camera

Near-expected now — its absence costs more than its presence returns.

£500£30060%

Heat pump

Genuinely useful in winter; buyers increasingly look for it.

£1,000£45045%

Heated seats / cold-weather pack

£450£20044%

Adaptive / matrix LED headlights

£900£40044%

Faster on-board AC charger

£800£30038%

Metallic or premium paint

Almost universal — an unusual colour is the bigger resale risk.

£600£20033%

Panoramic / opening roof

£1,100£35032%

Advanced driver-assistance pack

£1,500£45030%

Larger alloy wheels

£700£20029%

Premium sound system

£800£20025%

Parts most likely to fail

Drawn from owner reports and warranty data. Filtered for relevance to 27,960 miles.

Watch now

Failure typically happens around your current mileage.

Upcoming

A known weak point — but you haven't reached its usual mileage yet.

Already due

Past its usual failure mileage. Either already fixed, or about to.

Tyres & wheelsWatch now

Typical at 30k-60k milesCost £80-£500low severityParts high

Recorded in 3.3% of MOT tests 30k-60k miles — from 10,066 DVSA MOT tests analysed.

SuspensionWatch now

Typical at 30k-60k milesCost £150-£450low severityParts high

Recorded in 1.1% of MOT tests 30k-60k miles — from 10,066 DVSA MOT tests analysed.

"Parts low/medium/high" indicates how easy the replacement part is to source — discontinued or specialist parts mean longer workshop time and bigger bills.

MOT outlook

How this model fares at its MOT as it ages — from 10,161 real DVSA test records.

MOT pass rate

97.5%

of 3-year-old examples pass — not yet a wide enough age span to chart a trend.

Longevity

Not enough older examples yet to gauge longevity.

Survival by registration year

25%50%75%100%20232026

Each point is one registration cohort. Older cars on the left, newer on the right. A flatter line means the model holds up over time; a steep drop means cohorts disappear from UK roads faster.

Common MOT failures by mileage

The defect categories this i5 fails on most often, and how the failure rate climbs as the miles add up — from the same DVSA test records.

Category0-30k30-60k60-100k100k+
Tyres & wheels1%3%
Suspension1%

Share of MOT tests in each mileage band with at least one defect in that category. The peak band for each is highlighted.

Typical mileage by age

The average odometer reading for a i5 at MOT, by age — measured from the same DVSA records, not assumed. A useful yardstick for whether a given car has done more or fewer miles than its age suggests.

  • 1 yr20,130
  • 2 yr27,300
  • 3 yr28,348

Mean recorded mileage at MOT by vehicle age, from DVSA test records (ages with at least 10 tests shown).

Reliability

83/ 100

Excellent

Composite of MOT pass rate, defect prevalence and cohort survival from 10,066 tests — medium confidence.

MOT outlook

Insufficient MOT history at this car's reference age — too few tests to compute a reliable percentile.

Things owners say

  • 01The eDrive40 is the efficiency and range pick; the M60 is quick but uses more energy.
  • 02Shares its cabin and refinement with the petrol/diesel 5 Series - a genuinely premium electric saloon.
  • 03It's a big, heavy car - tyres and the larger optional wheels affect both ride and running costs.

Safety recalls

Manufacturers occasionally issue safety recalls to fix a fault free of charge. You can check whether the BMW i5, or your exact vehicle, has any outstanding recalls on the official DVSA service.

Check on GOV.UK

Opens the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency recall checker. Choose the make, model and year of manufacture — no registration needed.

Theft risk

A general indicator from UK 2025 theft data and this car’s characteristics — not a prediction for any one vehicle.

Whole-car theft

Higher

Higher-value cars like this are relay-theft targets — keyless entry can be exploited from the driveway in under a minute.

Parts theft

Lower

As an electric car it has no catalytic converter, so the most common parts-theft vector doesn't apply.

Worth doing

  • Keep keys in a Faraday pouch and away from the front door to block relay attacks.
  • A visible steering lock is a cheap, strong deterrent on a frequently-targeted car.

Clean-air zones

Whether driving a BMW i5 into a UK clean-air zone will cost you anything. Rules use the same Euro standard across most zones — petrol from 2006 and diesel from 2015 onwards are exempt; pure electric is always exempt.

Charging zones for cars

CityAreaDaily chargeLikely outcome
LondonAll of Greater London (within the M25)£12.50
Likely exempt
Battery-electric — exempt everywhere.
BirminghamInside the A4540 Middleway£8.00
Likely exempt
Battery-electric — exempt everywhere.
BristolCity centre and part of the Portway£9.00
Likely exempt
Battery-electric — exempt everywhere.
GlasgowCity centre
Likely exempt
Battery-electric — exempt everywhere.
EdinburghCity centre
Likely exempt
Battery-electric — exempt everywhere.
AberdeenCity centre
Likely exempt
Battery-electric — exempt everywhere.
DundeeCity centre
Likely exempt
Battery-electric — exempt everywhere.

Zones that don't charge private cars

  • BathCity centre (Private cars and motorbikes are not charged).
  • BradfordOuter ring road and the Aire Valley (Private cars are not charged).
  • SheffieldInside the A61 inner ring road (Private cars are not charged).
  • Newcastle & GatesheadCity centres and the Tyne, Swing, High Level and Redheugh bridges (Private cars are not charged).
  • PortsmouthPart of the city centre (Applies to taxis, PHVs, buses, coaches and HGVs only).

Model-level guidance only. To check a specific registration, use the official gov.uk clean-air zone checker. Zone charges and boundaries are set by local councils and change over time.

EV reality check

64 kWh
Winter range
275 mi
Cold-weather realistic
DC charge 10–80%
30 min
Typical
Heat pump
Standard
Standard fit
Battery chemistry
NMC
Higher energy density, faster charging, charge to 80% daily
Cost to charge
~£17
full charge · ~£7.71/100mi

Winter range estimates assume ~5°C ambient with cabin heating; figures from manufacturer cold-weather testing where available, otherwise derived as a fraction of WLTP. DC times are manufacturer-claimed 10–80% on the headline charger; real-world sessions on UK rapids can be slower. Charging cost is a full battery at the home/blended electricity rate; public rapid charging costs more.

UK charging network

119,080 public chargers across the UK

As of 2026-04-01, the UK has 119,080 publicly available EV chargers, up 12.6% on the prior year (13,281 added in 2025). 23% of those are rapid (50 kW+) or ultra-rapid (150 kW+), so the network can support both home and on-route charging.

3-8 kW

50%

Standard

8-50 kW

27%

Standard plus

50-150 kW

12%

Rapid

150 kW+

11%

Ultra-rapid

Source: Department for Transport / Zapmap · Released 2026-05-21 · DfT statistics

Company car tax

What HMRC's Benefit-in-Kind charge looks like if you ran this BMW i5 as a company car, by tax year and income-tax band. Calculated from a CO₂ of 0 g/km, using £85,500 as the P11D value.

EVs sit at the bottom BIK band — currently 3% — so this is one of the cheapest ways to take a company car.

Tax yearBIK %Tax @ 20%Tax @ 40%Monthly @ 20%Monthly @ 40%
2025-263%£513£1,026£43£86
2026-274%£684£1,368£57£114
2027-285%£855£1,710£71£143
2028-297%£1,197£2,394£100£200
2029-309%£1,539£3,078£128£257

P11D value is approximated from the latest new price; the exact figure on your tax code will depend on options fitted. The 4% diesel surcharge applies only to non-RDE2 (pre-2021) diesels — we assume RDE2 compliance for current models. Bands and rates from HMRC's Autumn Budget 2024 confirmation through 2029/30.

Servicing & the dealer network

How well-supported BMW is across the UK — a practical read on how easy servicing, parts and warranty work will be to find.

Franchised UK dealers

~145

Large network

Premium mainstream

Network size relative to the UK's largest (BMW is 3.2% of all franchised outlets)

Servicing, parts and warranty work are easy to find UK-wide, and most independent garages know the brand well — which keeps maintenance competitive.

For context, the UK has roughly 4,500 franchised car-dealer outlets in total, plus about 15,500 independent garages.

Approximate figures, curated from public UK industry sources (NFDA, Car Dealer Magazine). Franchised networks shrink year on year — these indicate network size, not an exact count.

Dimensions & weight

Length

4,700 mm

Width

1,840 mm

Height

1,450 mm

Kerb weight

1,900 kg

Boot

460–480 L

Battery

64 kWh

How many are still out there

Of every BMW i5 ever registered in the UK, this is what's actively on the road, parked off the road on a SORN, or gone for good.

Total ever registered

8,435

Currently taxed & on road

8,372

99% of all registered

SORN (off road)

63

1% of all registered

Scrapped or exported

0

UK fleet trend — 2023 to 2025

+101.5% vs 2024
6528,372

Source: DfT VEH0124 vehicle licensing statistics (year-end 2025) · Updated 1 Jul 2026

Common questions

BMW i5, answered

Is the BMW i5 ULEZ compliant?
Most petrol BMW i5s from 2006 and diesels from September 2015 meet the Euro standards for London ULEZ and other UK clean-air zones, so they are generally exempt from the daily charge. Pure-electric versions are always exempt.
What insurance group is the BMW i5 in?
The BMW i5 sits in insurance group 35 of 50, towards the pricier end of the scale. Your actual premium still depends on age, postcode, annual mileage and no-claims history.
Is the BMW i5 reliable?
Our reliability score for the BMW i5 is 83 out of 100 (excellent), derived from DVSA MOT records.
What economy does the BMW i5 get?
Expect roughly around 3.6 miles per kWh for a typical BMW i5, based on official figures and our running-cost model. Real-world figures vary with driving style, load and conditions.
What are the common problems on the BMW i5?
On the BMW i5, the issues that come up most by mileage include Tyres & wheels and Suspension. The section above breaks down each one with its typical mileage, repair cost and severity.
How many BMW i5s are on UK roads?
About 8,372 BMW i5s are currently taxed and on the road in the UK, from DfT vehicle-licensing data.

Same underpinnings

Built on the BMW CLAR platform

Rear/all-wheel-drive longitudinal platform for BMW's 3-Series and above. Steel-aluminium hybrid construction. Different badges, often substantially different residuals, but broadly the same mechanicals and repair cost profile.

BMW Cluster Architecture · BMW

Common questions

BMW i5, answered from the data

Is the BMW i5 reliable?
The BMW i5 scores 83/100 on Forecourt's MOT-based reliability measure. That is computed from 10,161 real DVSA MOT test results.
How much does a used BMW i5 cost?
A 2023 BMW i5 with around 27,960 miles is worth roughly £40,200 today (typical range £34,450–£45,900). Dealer forecourt prices sit higher and part-exchange offers lower; newer or lower-mileage examples cost more.
How quickly does the BMW i5 depreciate?
A new BMW i5 typically loses about 54% of its value over the first three years, then depreciates more slowly. Buying at three to five years old avoids the steepest part of the curve.
What insurance group is the BMW i5?
The BMW i5 sits in insurance group 35 of 50 — the more expensive end of the scale. Exact premiums depend on the trim (some versions sit a few groups higher or lower), your age, postcode and no-claims history.
What goes wrong on a used BMW i5?
The most common age-related issues we track for the BMW i5 are: tyres & wheels (typically around 30k-60k miles, £80-£500 to put right); suspension (typically around 30k-60k miles, £150-£450 to put right). A full service history and a recent MOT with no advisories are the best protection.
What does the BMW i5 cost to run?
Expect around 3.6 miles per kWh, £195 a year in road tax, about £290 for a standard annual service. The full cost-of-ownership table above breaks this down per year and per mile for the exact year and mileage you choose.

Answers are generated from this car's Forecourt data — DVSA MOT records, DfT licensing statistics and our valuation model — and update with the weekly data refresh.

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