BMW 550e xDrive M Sport Pro - long-term review

If you’re considering a 550e in your life, what else should be on your shortlist?

Truth is, it’ll be a short shortlist. The fast-but-not-quite-M 5 Series occupies a rarefied little niche in the market. On paper, its closest rival is the Merc E53, which also offers a turbocharged straight six and a chunky amount of hybridity.

The E53 is even more derangedly rapid than the 550e, its almost-600bhp knocking the BMW’s almost-500bhp into a cocked hat, which is definitely a thing real people say. It’ll crack 0-62mph half a second quicker than the 550e, and go further on an electric charge, too.

However. The E53 is £15,000 more expensive, has a less convincing interior, and – most crucially – left us a little cold for fast driving. Drive the 550e fast and it doesn’t leave you cold. It leaves you quite… hot. 5 versus E? Clear win for the 5.

What else? With Audi offering no A6 of comparable potency, and Jaguar having departed the fast saloon space (at least temporarily), maybe the 550e’s stiffest competition comes from the Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid. Six-cylinder petrol plus e-motor, similar performance stats. Arguably even more engrossing to drive. But the 550e is a chunk more practical and – here’s the big one – starts at some £23,000 cheaper than the Panamera. That’s a serious lump of cash.

So here’s a leftfield alternative to the 550e: how about the new iX3 50, BMW’s 500-mile Neue Klasse EV? They might not look like obvious rivals, but, having spent really quite a long time driving really quite a long way in Top Gear’s reigning car of the year recently, hear me out.

Both the 550e and iX3 offer close to 500 horsepower and all-wheel drive. Both will do 0-62mph in under five seconds. Both will do around a real-world 400 miles between refills. They’re spookily matched on kerbweight and seats-up bootspace, though I’ll concede the iX3’s trunk is a more practical configuration than the 550e’s saloon postbox. For getting families a long way at serious speed, both nail the brief.

EV edges PHEV in several regards. Though the iX3 does without the 5’s very handy iDrive wheel, instead opting for touchscreen-everything, its infotainment set-up is more intuitive and logical than the 550e’s. Looks are subjective, but it’s definitely more… calming to behold than the big 5er, too.

But, impressed as I was with the neue Neue Klasse, given the choice between iX3 and 550e, I’m taking the plug-in saloon every time. The 550e just feels more… special to drive. Steering, throttle response, handling: it does the lot with the sheen of a car built by folks who’ve spent decades fine-tuning this formula.

The ride is more sophisticated. And, adept as the iX3 is at sucking electrons on board, I still appreciate the convenience of being able to add a Britain’s-worth of range in two minutes flat.

Most of all, though, I’d choose the 550e for that glorious straight-six. I realise being impressed by lumps of metal that make nice grunty-growly noises is very shallow. But as lumps of metal go, the B58 does make really good grunty-growly noises. The iX3 proves EVs are getting more and more engaging. The 550e proves they’ve still got a way to go before matching petrol for emotional payload.

That the iX3 even gets close to the 550e is impressive. Not only because it’s fulfilling a different brief, but also because it’s some 20 grand cheaper. Electric performance as value for money? How far we’ve come.