so Mercedes has E53 PHEV and will most likely have E63 PHEV
BMW has M5 PHEV to which E63 PHEV will be a direct competitor
but what is E53 a competitor to ? the answer is i5 M60
E53 and i5 M60 line up EXACTLY on both MSRP and Horsepower but there is only one issue …
the i5 M60 is fully electric …
there is in fact NO combustion engined BMW to compete with E53
the BMW 550i is really competitor to Mercedes E450 which is only 0.1 second slower ( 4.4 sec vs 4.3 sec )
what kind of idiot at BMW decided to put i5 M60 between 550e and M5 ? how the fuck do you split two PHEVs with an EV in your line up ?
the 550e is a 100% practical car. the M5 is 100% lunatic car. the one in between them should have a been a compromise between the two … but it’s fully electric !
what if a person wants a car with a balance of performance and practicality but doesn’t want an Electric ? BMW is basically saying that person should get a Mercedes E53.
i thought only Toyota could be this stupid !
and to make it worse - BMW already has the “60” PHEV drivetrain in the 760e that is sold in Europe …
it would have cost NOTHING to offer it in 5 series and fill the gap between 550e and M5 …
instead they put an EV in that gap … WHYYYYY ? ? ? ?
some fucking executive decided it would be too confusing for customers to have two models both with “60” in the name and also that they need to sell more EVs … now some idiot will buy the M60 and pull up to a gas station and try to put gas in it …
it kills me how random and arbitrary these executive decisions are.
on the plus side for BMW the i5 M60 is actually popular - there was one parked next to me in my gym’s parking lot recently
on other hand nobody is buying those Mercedes EV “EQ” bubbles …
so ultimately Mercedes fucked up worse than BMW but in a completely different way …
anyway all this shows that it’s still early days for electrification almost 30 years after Toyota has created the Prius …
these idiots still can’t decide what they want to make, how to price it, what it should compete with and so on …
i should note that even though i5 M60 and E53 PHEV have same power and weight the i5 is half a second faster to 60 mph ( 3.3 vs 3.8 sec ) because it has no gears to shift and has full control over torque split between front and rear axle
well no surprise there - you get better 0-60 performance per dollar with EVs than ICE - we pretty much know that by now
still the two cars are clearly meant to compete with each other - you just trade 0-60 time for range
both cars are meant to balance performance with everyday usability