Words Chris Chilton
Photography Jordan Butters, Tom Salt, Steffen Jahn and BMW

Not to an Audi A4 or Mercedes C-Class, the traditional 3-series rivals, because electric versions of those haven’t arrived yet either, though they are on the way. And not necessarily to an i4, the good-but-not-great BMW that’s been around for a few years now.

Instead, it might be time to head into new territory, where some of our five options wear badges that have never made it onto any list of BMW 3-series rivals before.

BYD Seal

BYD’s name wasn’t on anyone’s shopping list outside China until very recently. But it’s on fire right now. New-energy (electric and hybrid) export sales are up 160 per cent from a company that shifted more electric cars in Europe than even Tesla in June, and though some of that growth has been fuelled by demand for the cheap and cheerful Dolphin (now joined by the even smaller, even cheaper Dolphin Surf) and plug-in Seal-U SUV, BYD has a foot in the electric premium segment too.

The Seal saloon trashes the notion that EVs have to cost more than combustion cars, the entry-level Design model’s £45,705 price undercutting the base petrol 3-series. That buys you a Seal with a single 308bhp motor, 5.9sec 0-62mph time and 354 miles of claimed range from an 82kWh battery.
A 150kW charge rate is only average, the ride can get fidgety and the smallish cargo bay is accessed via a conventional saloon boot, not a more practical fastback hatch. But this well-built, well-equipped EV is a credible exec, whatever your lingering badge snobbery tells you.

Still not sold? Then consider that even the 523bhp dual-motor, all-wheel-drive Excellence (0-62mph in 3.8sec, 323 miles) is only a £3000 step away, and could cost you just £20 more per month than the base car on a lease deal that’s half the price of the equivalent electric BMW policy.

BMW i4

Yes, while it’s true that BMW hasn’t yet produced an electric 3-series for the US or Europe (it does sell one in China wearing i3 badges) your Western BMW dealer will sell you the next best thing. The i4 is built around the sexier five-door coupe shell of the 3-series’ more glamorous spin-off, the 4-series Gran Coupe.

A slinkier 3-series with pocket-money running costs? What’s not to like? Maybe the price, which at £51,370 for the basic eDrive 35 starts at £10k more than a basic 320i and £4k more than the 330e plug-in hybrid. Or range figures that in some versions continue to lag behind the competition’s, despite a recent semiconductor upgrade.

For that reason we’d skip the 35, which only promises up to 315 WLTP miles on one charge, and go for the eDrive 40. An £8k jump looks big at first glance but there’s only a couple of beers of difference between them in monthly leasing costs and the range jumps to 380 miles thanks to a bigger 80.7kWh battery.

It has a blend of ride, handling and braking attributes that’ll make any 3-series driver feel right at home, class-leading refinement and an interior that’s both handsome and practical. That and a top-notch touchscreen system that can still be toggled using the rotary iDrive controller that’s quickly disappearing from BMW’s other cars. Grab it while you can.

The i4 even sounds good, thanks to a feature developed by movie-score legend Hans Zimmer. Usually a £200 option, BMW IconicSounds is standard on the 593bhp, 338-mile, £71,000 M60, which is currently BMW’s most popular M-car. It’s not the best i4, though. The lighter, simpler, slower single-motor cars are more fun and feelsome. More like a 3-series.

Tesla Model 3

But there’s one big reason you might not buy any version of the i4 and it’s Tesla’s Model 3. It’s been mildly refreshed with a better quality interior, but the basic design dates to 2017. That’s not a problem, though; rather, it emphasises just how good the Model 3 was from the start, and it still punches hard where it counts.

We’d prefer a practical hatchback, like the BMW’s, but can’t argue with the generous boot that’s bigger than an i4’s, plus (unlike the German car) a frunk. It’s roomy in the cabin, too, and despite the 3’s low-slung stance the minimalist interior feels bright thanks to a standard glass roof and generous side glazing.

It’s worth making sure you can live with two post-facelift features before you sign up for a multi-year Model 3 ownership experience, though: the digital drive/reverse/neutral selector and steering wheel-mounted indicators. You get used to them, the same way you would get used to it if Tesla had decided to swap the accelerator and brake pedals round on an Elon Musk whim (shh, don’t tempt him) but that doesn’t make them better than conventional controls.

Unquestionably better on recent cars, though, is the refinement. The latest Model 3s are quieter and more comfortable than the pre-update cars, and they’re still fun to drive, if not quite i4 fun. The entry-level RWD car can breeze to 62mph in 6.1sec, feels faster still, and has a claimed 323-mile range. Those stats put in broadly on a par with the base Seal and i4, though at £39,990 it’s cheaper than both.

Another £5k gets you into the Long Range RWD, meaning 5.2sec to 62mph and 436 miles between charges, and that’s probably the sweet spot in the range. The Model 3 Performance is overkill, but thanks to its 3.1sec sprint time you’ll have fun taunting Porsches and the odd Lamborghini, as well as every other EV on our list.

At £59,990 it’s an icon-eating bargain, though the slower BMW i4 M50 has a more natural feel on twisty roads, has a little more visual flair and feels plenty quick enough, if short on steering feel.

VW ID. 7

Volkswagen’s ID. 7 won’t satisfy speed demons and it doesn’t have the brand kudos of a 3-series. But this underrated aero-frumpy fastback is the best electric car VW makes, and yes, we’re including the funky ID. Buzz in that assessment.

It’s huge, for a start, and usefully so. The space for rear passengers will seem limo-like to anyone coming from a 3-series, the boot is massive – good, because there’s no frunk – and, unlike the other EVs on our list, the ID. 7 is also available in estate form. But where the ID. 7 really moves the VW electric game on is in interior quality.

Instead of the hard, scratchy plastics that had us asking if the ID. 3 really was from the same VW that gave us the Mk4 Golf’s slush-moulded dash and damped grab handles, the ID. 7’s interior is crammed with expensive-feeling materials. And the refinement doesn’t vanish once you’re rolling. The ID. 7 is quieter than the Model 3, i4 and its ID siblings, which together with electric range claims that stretch from 380 right up to 433 miles, depending on version, makes it perfect for chewing through big motorway trips.

But when the road turns interesting, the ID. 7 fails to keep pace. It rarely invites you to exploit performance that’s modest by EV standards, if still ample by combustion ones. The base £51,005 single-motor ID. 7 makes 282bhp and gets to 62mph in 6.5sec, and even the £59,110 335bhp dual-motor GTX needs a nothing-special 5.4sec. Maybe that’s just as well: the ID. 7’s long brake-pedal travel doesn’t inspire much confidence, even if there’s nothing wrong with the braking power, and the chassis is stable but short on sizzle.

The ID. 7 could also do with a bigger, configurable driver’s display and more physical dashboard buttons, though a ChatGPT-powered voice assistant cuts out a few forays to the 15-inch touchscreen. But don’t pay too much mind to its unimpressive-on-paper 175-200kW charge rates. In our testing the ID. 7 maintained its peak charge rate for longer, and so charged more quickly than a supposedly faster-filling Tesla Model 3.

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Polestar 2

We were seriously tempted by Hyundai’s eye-catching Ioniq 6 but we’ve picked the older Polestar 2 as the last of our five electric 3-series alternatives. The Swede can’t match the Korean’s 270kW charge rate, and both are tight for rear headroom, but the £43,160 base version of the Polestar undercuts its Ioniq opposite number by £2k, its 6.2sec shames the Hyundai by 1.2sec, and though a claimed 344- vs 338-mile range difference doesn’t sound like much, we’ve found the real-world gap to be much bigger.

Step up to the £47,160 Long Range and Polestar promises you’ll cover a chunky 408 miles before needing to find a plug. Or four grand on top of that gets you the 469bhp Long Range Dual Motor, whose 369-mile range isn’t actually as long, but can hit 62mph in as little as 4.2sec with the optional Performance pack.

At a glance the 2 looks much like the car that went on sale in 2020, but Polestar has made some big changes under the skin, ramping up the sluggish charging rates to 180-200kW depending on model, and switching the single-motor version’s powerplant from the front to the back, sharpening up the handling a smidge in the process. Shame about the brittle ride and unchanged – and still awful – rear visibility, though the 2 does at least have a rear window, unlike the Polestar 4.
You can decide for yourself if you value the BYD’s price over the Polestar’s cool Scandi style or prefer the ID. 7’s easygoing nature, family-friendly practicality and massive range. The VW certainly deserves serious attention, but it’s not enough in this case. Because our mission to find an EV for a BMW 3-series fan leads us past all three and to the Model 3 and BMW i4.

The i4 makes it so easy for anyone coming out of a 3-series to switch over to EV power. The familiarity of every control, including the excellent touchscreen system, is a major asset, and so too are the style, handling, hatchback practicality and recently improved range figures. Hands up, it’s the one I’d pick. But if – and it’s a big if – you can live with the Tesla’s control quirks, the faster, cheaper, rangier and often more exciting Model 3 is still out in front.