We spent a full week with the 2025 BMW i5 to evaluate its infotainment and connectivity stack—iDrive 8.5, the curved dual-screen cockpit, wireless smartphone integration, and the latest over-the-air update system. Our focus: responsiveness, learning curve, voice control, data connectivity, and how well BMW balances touch, voice, and physical controls in everyday driving.
Our test car, a 2025 i5 eDrive40, runs iDrive 8.5 on BMW’s curved display: a 12.3-inch instrument cluster and 14.9-inch central touchscreen. The system is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon-based digital cockpit hardware, enabling a 60 fps UI, animated maps, and AR-assisted navigation. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, as are two front USB-C ports and a Qi wireless charging tray. Test conditions included a 300-mile mix of urban commuting, highway cruising, and a two-hour night drive, with two paired phones (iPhone 15 Pro and Pixel 8).
We logged boot times, voice-assistant accuracy, wireless charging heat, and CarPlay/Android Auto stability, plus ran repeated cellular and Wi‑Fi hotspot speed tests in areas with varying signal strength. Interface layout is logical once you learn BMW’s QuickSelect home screen. Large tiles provide single-tap access without digging through submenus, and the climate strip is persistently anchored at the bottom with temperature, fan, and seat heating shortcuts. Crucially, the rotary iDrive controller remains, making it easy to adjust settings without poking at the screen on bumpy roads.
There’s also a physical volume roller and programmable steering-wheel buttons for frequent functions. Performance is strong. From a cold start, the system reached a usable home screen in 11–13 seconds; full map and services loaded in ~20 seconds. Touch input is snappy, with smooth pinch-zoom in the native map and minimal lag switching between tiles.
The onboard nav produced sensible EV-aware routes and preconditioned the battery for DC fast charging when a high-power station was set as a destination. The voice assistant (wake phrase Hey BMW) handled natural commands like changing temperature, setting destinations, or opening drive modes with high accuracy; typical response time was 1–2 seconds. Connectivity proved robust. Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto stayed connected during three days of city stop‑and‑go and two highway stints; we noted one brief CarPlay audio glitch that self-corrected.
The embedded 5G eSIM delivered 40–150 Mbps down in strong-signal areas and 8–20 Mbps in weak coverage; the in-car hotspot reliably handled three devices streaming video (parked). OTA updates can be scheduled; our 1.6 GB patch took 22 minutes to download on 5G and 12 minutes to install while parked. The Qi tray charges at up to 15W with active cooling; after an hour of CarPlay streaming and nav, phone temps remained manageable. Digital Key Plus (UWB) worked flawlessly for phone-as-key entry and start.
Ergonomically, the system still asks a bit from new users. Some settings—driver assist tuning, ambient lighting, and detailed audio—are nested a few layers deep, and seat massage/ventilation shortcuts would benefit from a dedicated hard key. Glare on the central screen can appear in harsh afternoon light, though the matte coating helps, and fingerprints accumulate quickly. Overall, iDrive 8.5 in the i5 combines best-in-class responsiveness with flexible control methods and dependable connectivity.
Power users will appreciate the depth and EV-centric routing, while traditionalists can lean on the rotary controller and steering-wheel keys. If you prize seamless CarPlay/Android Auto, fast OTA updates, and strong voice control, it’s a standout. Those who want more physical climate and seat controls may prefer alternatives, but as a tech platform, this is one of the segment benchmarks.
