For a number years, the MG5 was the only electric estate car (or station wagon depending on where you come from). This often over-looked segment of the market has a strong following in some subsections of the population (dog-owning families, mostly) and now has some serious contenders with the launch of the VW ID.7 Tourer, hot on the heels of the BMW i5 Touring.
Sure, there’s also the Peugeot e-308 and the Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer, with order books open for both, but I can’t help feeling the real attention is going to be on these German rivals, slugging it out in the higher segment. It’s north vs south, Wolfsburg vs Munich, as the Germans go head to head.
Arise, VW ID.7 Tourer
The VW ID.7 Tourer naturally evolves the VW ID.7, very much making it the Passat of the EV world (although the Passat lives on as a combustion estate). I’ve driven the VW ID.7 and it’s a wonderfully comfortable saloon with some much-needed updates to the infotainment system to make it more usable.
I’d expect the VW ID.7 Tourer to be much the same, just with 605 litres of luggage space around the back – or ample space for your four-legged friend.
IMAGE CREDIT: VW
The VW ID.7 Tourer will come with two battery options: the 77kWh battery will charge at up to 175kW while the 86kWh battery will accommodate 200kW charging rates. That larger battery is said to deliver 426 miles of range, putting this firmly in the long-range cruiser category, if that figure proves to be true. Both are rear-wheel drive at this time, a GTX version with all-wheel drive is expected in the future.
There’s a 210kW (282hp) motor driving the back wheels, claiming a 0-62mph time of 7 seconds.
Otherwise, this is very much a design tweak on the VW ID.7, including that new 15-inch touchscreen on the interior, and the promise of ChatGPT enhancement for the IDA voice assistant. From using the system in the VW ID.7, I can already say the touchscreen experience is better, particularly the ability to add shortcuts, but you’ll still find the steering wheel controls are a little odd and the main climate and volume controls are capacitive touch sliders rather than physical nobs.
Say hello to the BMW i5 Touring
The BMW i5 Touring was announced a couple of weeks before the VW ID.7, but BMW has a distinct advantage. It has had the BMW i5 on the market for longer than the ID.7, already picking up awards from the likes of Electrifying.com and WhatCar?. I’ve also driven the BMW i5 and can confirm that it deserves these accolades – but you’d expect that from BMW.
The BMW i5 Touring again evolves the BMW i5 and compared to the VW ID.7, it’s more conventional. Perhaps I should say it’s more distinctly BMW. When VW kicked off its electrification strategy, the ID.3 introduced a new design language. That’s not as distinct in BMW, where – with the exception of the BMW iX – the current models in the BMW i family aren’t too far removed from Series equivalents.
IMAGE CREDIT: BMW
As such, the BMW i5 Touring looks like the (combustion) BMW 5 Series Touring. There are two versions: the BMW i5 eDrive40 Touring is rear-wheel drive with a 250kW (340hp) motor. It will cover 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds. The big brother is the BMW i5 M60 xDrive Touring which is all-wheel drive, with a combined output of 442kW (601hp), meaning a 0-62mph time of 3.9 seconds. That’s shifting.
Both models have a usable 81.2kWh battery, with charging up to 205kW accepted. BMW reports an average of 3.6 miles per kWh is expected, delivering a range of 336 miles for the eDrive40, while the M60 is said to average 3.4 miles per kWh for 310 miles.
VW ID.7 Tourer vs BMW i5 Touring: Which should you choose?
Both the VW and BMW estates will give plenty of space for passengers, a comfortable ride and that big boot, with VW giving slightly more luggage space than BMW. But BMW’s interiors are of a higher quality; while the ID.7 is futuristic, it’s also more minimalist and BMW is more traditional, feeling a little more luxurious.
When it comes to range, true figures will only come from putting plenty of miles on all the models and seeing where the averages fall. VW is claiming a longer range, but also has a higher capacity battery than BMW offers. Conversely, BMW is likely to offer better driving dynamics, based on previous experience of the saloon versions of these cars.
BMW also offers more power across the board, with a higher power motor on the eDrive 40 Touring. We won’t be able to compare the performance of the M60 to the ID.7 GTX Tourer until more details are released, but it’s unlikely that VW will aim to match the M60’s performance.
Then you come to the price. VW hasn’t confirmed the pricing for the ID.7 Tourer, but it’s expected to be somewhere in the region of £55,000, while the BMW i5 eDrive 40 Touring starts at just under £70,000 – and the M60 is just under £100,000.
VW will almost certainly get you that hauling capacity and range for less money, but BMW might offer you more power and a more engaging driving experience.
