Our Cars: BMW i5 M60 Touring

I’d driven the BMW from home in the Wye Valley to act as camera car for our shoot of the Aston Martin Vantage GT8 and GT12. I was then to drive to London, help a daughter move flat the following day and drive home again. Had the i5 been powered by petrol, diesel or had it been a plug-in hybrid, I would not have needed to replenish the supply of on board energy.

But I knew I’d have to stop in the i5. At this time of year even if you drive very conservatively, you’ll not get more than 240 miles from a charge and as you’ll never run down to zero unless you know you’re going to reach your final destination, the real-world range is actually around 200 miles. Put another way, that’s one third of the range of the Mercedes-Benz E450d Estate that came to visit for a week a while back.

Fair enough. Forewarned is forearmed. I met up with the Astons, the i5 proved a fantastic camera platform thanks to its exceptional ride quality whereafter I set off for London. I’d done my research and knew that there were some super-fast chargers at Cherwell Valley services and, I figured, if I got almost a complete charge there, I’d get to London and home again without needing a further stop. Happy days.