BMW i5 TOURING

Time is up with our bells-and-whistles electric exec. How did it fare?

- MATT PRIOR

The BMW i5 Touring has returned to its maker, having spent several months on the Autocar fleet in my custody. A time that has been almost entirely pleasurable.

To recap, the i5 is an electric version of BMW's 5 Series Touring, once (perhaps still) the archetypal big executive wagon. Bigger than ever, in fact, at more than 5.0 metres long and 1.9m wide, and with a lot of architecture that's common between 5 and 7 Series BMWs.

In making the car electric, BMW has fitted it with 81.2kWh of (usable) battery, and because this is the M version, it has 592bhp deployed through all four wheels. That's enough to give it a 0-62mph time of 3.9sec and a top speed, although I didn't get near trying it, of 143mph.

As a result of the hardware, it's heavy, at 2425kg - but that is still lighter than the latest M5 Touring.

But while it says M in the name, has nearly 600bhp and acceleration figures that would have stolen many a Top Trumps hand only a few years ago, this car is very much 5 Series first and an M car only in passing. It's basically a fast and largely painless luxury estate that is big on features and pretty tidy when it comes to being comfortable.