BMW I3 vs Volvo C40

What's the difference?

Yes, it’s pricey for a small hatch, but this little BMW is a city car like no other. The i3s is tailor made for the urban environment, and six years on retains the quirkiness and charisma that stood it apart at launch, and it can still hold its head high among the current EV crop. 

The C40 becomes a compelling option in the electrified small SUV space, offering a premium look and feel, great range and tech inclusions at the price, as well as awesome on-road dynamics.

Its main downsides are the rear seat, which is compromised by its platform and design-led roofline, and the overwhelming power and added traction of the dual-motor makes the single motor less attractive on the value front.

Still, regardless of variant chosen, the C40 looks to offer a stand-out balance of price, range, and performance, against its traditional rivals and newcomers alike.

Built around a carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) tub, the i3s is ultra-light (for a battery-electric vehicle), super strong, and unlike anything else on the road.

At just over 4.0m long, close to 1.8m wide, and a fraction under 1.6m tall, the i3s is compact, upright, and boxy. A classically polarising design, with some crossing the street to avoid it, and others (like me) loving its unique proportions and stand-out styling.

The nose is tall, short and upright, with the distance from the base of the front windscreen to the front axle (car designers call it the ‘dash-to-axle ratio’) unusually short.

That’s because the electric motor sits in the back of the car driving the rear wheels, with only a small front boot compartment required to house charging cables and other bits and pieces.

Despite the lack of anything of substance behind it, BMW’s signature ‘kidney grille’ is present and accounted for, with swoopy LED headlights (and DRLs) either side. Our test car’s ‘Fluid Black’ finish with ‘i Blue’ highlights dialed up the little car’s charismatic personality.  

One of the i3’s most impressive party tricks is its counter-opening ‘clamshell’ doors, and the engineering trickery used to create a B-pillar free side opening (including the strength of the carbon body structure) means the high window line follows a jagged path from front to back, the rearmost hatch windows shrinking the rear glass area appreciably.

The i3s’s standard 20-inch (dual) five-spoke alloy rims, although slightly wider in this performance model, are alarmingly skinny. But taking the car’s relatively light weight (1245kg) and urban-centric purpose into consideration, the narrow, low-rolling resistance rubber makes sense.

With the roofline and sides of the car tapering distinctly towards the back, the rear view is suitably idiosyncratic, highlighted by flush-fit, vaguely U-shaped LED tail-lights. 

The hatch window is small, and the bumper sits high to marry with the load space floor sitting on top of the motor and transmission.

And when it comes to moving inside, BMW offers a choice of three ‘interior worlds - ‘Loft’, ‘Lodge’, and ‘Suite’ - featuring renewable natural fibres, recycled plastics, naturally tanned leather, and open-pore wood (sourced from 100 per cent Forest Stewardship Council-certified forestry).

But irrespective of where everything comes from, the end result is inviting, comfortable and sub-zero cool. Our car’s ‘Suite’ interior was combined with ‘Oak dark matt’ wood, and ‘Vernasca’ brown leather to stunning effect.

A tunnel-free floor, gently curved dash and digital screens for instruments and media let you know you’re in something different and special. It might be six years old, but the i3 still feels contemporary and distinctive. 

Volvo has become a brand with a distinctive and consistent design language which embodies the kind of beautiful minimalism normally associated with Scandinavian brands.

I have always liked how Volvo says more with less design elements, with only gentle touches of chrome or gloss black, and a lack of over-the-top sporty pieces avoiding the temptation to over-sell the sporty potential of the brand’s range.

The C40 takes the small SUV formula, well established by its XC40 relation, and gets a bit weird and experimental. It’s slightly lower and has a more coupe-styled rear, with a strongly raked rear window giving it a sportier and more aggressive look than the rest of Volvo’s SUV range.

The styling is sold by an angular spoiler piece running atop the boot, and the rear light clusters have gone all minimalist, constructed of individual pieces rather than a single transparent housing, and they give a nod to the C30 hatchback which this car is the spiritual successor to, by name and nature.

The interior offers up no surprises, sticking to the formula Volvo has established across all of its current models. An effortlessly premium space with, again, a minimalistic dash dominated by the portrait touchscreen, the C40’s premium nature is confirmed by its finely patterned inlays, simple chrome pieces, and abundance of soft-touch surfaces.

The big upright vent fittings with clever rhomboid patterns on their adjustment dials are always a highlight piece of modern Volvos, and the pattern work is continued on the central volume adjust dial and even on the little rotating pieces of the light and wiper stalks. Clever.

Even the software is paired back on the multimedia suite and digital dashboard, with easy to use shortcuts and simple menus which suit the car.

Volvo might turn off some buyers with the more unconventional shape of the C40. But for those looking for a more traditional SUV it also offers the XC40 in the same two variants, and the Polestar 2 caters to those not looking for an SUV at all.

Wide-opening clamshell doors make getting in and out of the i3s a breeze. But bear in mind you have to open the front door to get to the latch for the back one, which can be a pain.

The driver and front passenger enjoy heaps of room, in an open environment, but there’s only a single cupholder in the centre console, so let the coffee cup wars begin.

Aside from that there are seriously big bins in the front doors, a modest glove box, and a handy elasticised pocket near the floor at the base of the bulkhead.  

Outlets for 12-volt and USB are provided, and there’s a small oddments tray at the rear of the centre console.

Slip around to the rear and you’re in anything but limousine territory. Sitting behind the driver’s seat set for my 183cm height, head and legroom are modest but do-able. And remember it’s two seats only back there.

In terms of storage, there are two cupholders between the seats but no storage pockets or bottle holders in the doors. You won’t find adjustable ventilation outlets either, but that’s not a huge factor in car of this stature.

The boot’s volume is quoted at 260 litres with the 50/50 split-fold rear seatback upright, which is enough to easily swallow the largest 124-litre suitcase in the CarsGuide three-piece set. The smaller 95- and 36-litre cases will sit side-by-side without a problem.

Fold the rear seat down and you have 1100 litres of space at your disposal, with tie-down anchors, an elasticised pocket and 12-volt power provided.

Don’t bother looking for a spare of any description, a repair/inflator kit is your only option. And not surprisingly, the i3 is a no-tow zone. 

The C40 is essentially a XC40 with a cropped down roofline, and there are some obvious downsides which this new shape brings.

The front seat throws no surprises, though, offering plenty of room for two adults with a welcome level of adjustability for the seat and wheel. The seats could be more comfortable, though, with a notable lack of padding in the base compared to some luxury (or even non-luxury) rivals. 

I’m a fan of the fabric trim which comes on both grades, bucking the trend of needing to have leather or leather-like trim for a car to feel ‘premium’.

The ample window space up front, including the massive glass roof helps the C40’s cabin feel spacious, but the view out the rear with its aggressive design is all but a very limited letterbox aspect, particularly if the rear seat headrests are in the upright position. 

While some controls are exclusively via touch interface, there is a physical volume dial, and shortcut buttons for the defogger functions. 

Temperature is controlled by touch, however, and the detail settings have some smaller toggle adjustments. Tricky to jab at when you’re on the move.

The digital dash is refreshingly simple, but minimally adjustable, with the choice of either a nifty navigation screen, a blank screen, or trip details being the only options.

Cabin storage is good but not stellar. There are bottle holders and big pockets in the doors, a set of two cupholders in the centre (beats the Polestar 2’s single cupholder), a small tray with a wireless charger under the multimedia screen, and a smallish console armrest box.

The rear seat is where the real problem exists. Unlike the XC40, the C40’s cropped roofline means my head was hard up against the roof (I’m 182cm tall). 

I did have decent knee room behind my own seating position, however the seat comfort in the back still isn’t as good as some rivals. 

The middle position is also compromised, thanks to the raised centre floor piece the C40’s platform needs to facilitate all-wheel drive in its combustion relations.

A bottle holder appears in each door pocket, and in a rare inclusion, there are heated outboard rear seats, adjustable air vents, and USB-C charging ports.

The boot has a quoted capacity of 413 litres with the rear seats up. The floor is comparatively high suggesting a smallish space when loaded with luggage cases, for instance. Stay tuned for a follow-up review so we can see how well it holds our three-piece demo set.

The floor itself has an adjustable, pop-up divider and multiple luggage hooks, making it quite versatile, and there is a cavity beneath which can hold your charging cables as well as the inflator kit in place of a spare wheel.

When it comes to electric vehicles, it’s impossible to consider price alone, as you also have to consider driving range, and the C40 manages to impress on both fronts.

Its refreshingly simplified range consists of just two highly-specified variants, a single motor which starts from $74,990, offering a 434km driving range, or a dual motor starting from $82,490 which offers a 420km driving range.

There’s much more devil in the detail, but to set the scene there are now quite a few direct rivals in this price-bracket, including everything from the Tesla Model Y (from $72,300), Mercedes-Benz EQA (from $78,513), Polestar 2 (from $63,900) and even the Kia Niro which is similarly sized and specified (from $65,300).

Interestingly, the C40 is closely related to the Polestar 2, but has a much higher base starting price. Volvo says this is because it carries a higher standard specification, and offers the C40 without option packs.

Standard gear on the base single motor C40 includes 19-inch alloy wheels, a 9.0-inch portrait multimedia touchscreen (running a Google-based always-online software suite), LED headlights, dual-zone climate control, a fixed panoramic sunroof, electrically adjustable front seats, heated seats for the front two and outboard rear seats, a powered tailgate, as well as keyless entry with touch-free ignition.

Interestingly, Volvo also told us some 90 per cent of customer interest so far has been for the more expensive dual-motor variant, which is particularly impressive for doubling the power output while adding 20-inch alloy wheels, a 360-degree parking suite, premium Harmon Kardon audio, and an alternate interior trim.

Both variants score safety equipment and items which are otherwise part of expensive option packs in the Polestar 2 range. We’ll take a look at the full safety gear later in this review.

Overall, the C40 impresses on the premium car value front compared to rivals, bolstered by solid range and impressive performance.

The i3s is powered by BMW’s ‘eDrive’ hybrid synchronous electric motor, producing 135kW at 7000rpm, and 270Nm from 0-4500rpm. Yep, that’s right, maximum torque is delivered the instant you depress the right-hand pedal, and we’ll get to what that brings to the driving experience a little later.

The unit incorporates a charging and generator function for braking energy recuperation, the latter delivering up to 50kW.

Drive goes to the rear wheels via a single-speed (fixed-ratio) automatic transmission.

The battery powering the whole show is a 352-volt/120 amp-hour (Ah) Lithium-ion unit with a (gross) energy rating of 42.2kWh.

Great news here, the C40 can be chosen with two powerful layouts, either a front-wheel drive 170kW/330Nm set-up, or a dual-motor all-wheel drive arrangement, able to make use of nearly double the power at 300kW/660Nm. The dual-motor is capable of sprinting from 0-100km/h in just 4.7 seconds.

The front-drive is backed by a 69kWh battery allowing it a 434km range, while the dual motor ups the battery size to 78kWh to allow a 420km driving range.

When it comes to an electric car’s energy use and projected range, there are two main things to consider - the motor’s power consumption and the battery’s capacity.

And according to BMW, the i3s’s power consumption for the combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle is 14.6–14.0kWh/100km.

Over a week, and roughly 250km of urban driving (with some brief freeway runs thrown in) we saw 19.3kWh/100km staring back at us from the on-board computer.

When BMW launched the i3 in Australia in 2014, the pure EV version came with a 60Ah battery pack delivering a claimed 130 kilometre range (a range extender model featuring the addition of a two-cylinder petrol motorcycle engine was also offered). 

In 2016 a 94Ah version arrived to boost range up to 183km, and the i3s launched in 2018, with its 120Ah battery pushing range out to BMW’s current, real-world estimate of 260km.

Then, there’s charging time, which is like asking how long is an electric piece of string.

According to BMW, for a 0–80 per cent charge from a (50 kW DC) fast-charging station, you’re looking at 45min.

From a (11kW/16A/380V) high-output home/office wall unit, that pushes out to 3.10h, and using a (3.7kW/16A/240V) low-output home/office unit stretches the wait time to 9.40h.

BMW offers the ‘WallBox plus’ charging suite as a dealer accessory priced from $1990 (not including GST or install costs).

Plug into a domestic (2.4kW/10A/240V) socket, and you’re staring down the barrel of 15.00h. But at least you can use low-cost, off-peak energy overnight, right? Nah, I don’t buy that line either.

Surprisingly, energy consumption is quite high for both C40 variants. The single motor is the more efficient of the two, consuming 16.8kWh/100km on the more lenient ADR testing schedule, while the dual motor officially consumes 22.2kWh/100km to the same standard. I saw around 23kWh/100km overall in my short test of the dual-motor variant.

Energy consumption could be better for both, as I have achieved more consistently impressive results particularly from Hyundai and Kia electric cars.

Where the C40 is more impressive though is its charging specs, which are exactly where they need to be for a car this size. On a rapid DC charger, the C40 can charge at a rate of 150kW meaning a 10 - 80 percent charge in 40 minutes for the dual motor, or 32 minutes for the single motor.

On the slower AC standard, the C40 charges at a rate of 11kW. Expect a 10 - 80 percent charge time of around five or six hours on this standard. 

The C40 uses a European-standard Type 2 CCS charging port, although it misses out on the handy two-way charging feature offered by some rivals.

It might not look like a conventional sports car, but the BMW i3s certainly accelerates like one, with a claimed 0-100km/h time of 6.9sec. The i3s is a smile-inducing hoot to drive.

Every one of this little hatch’s 270 newton metres of torque is available from the minute you hit the accelerator pedal, and remain in service until 4500rpm, at which point torque delivery drops off a cliff.

But peak power steps in at exactly 7000rpm, so if you’re determined to make that overtaking move you won’t be left in the lurch. In fact, BMW says it only takes the i3s 4.3 seconds to surge from 80km/h to 120km/h.

However, the i3’s forte is 100 per cent the city, rather than the open road. Its ‘point and squirt’ ability making it the perfect partner for the cut and thrust of the urban jungle.

The i3s features an upgraded ‘Sports Suspension’ incorporating firmer dampers, re-tuned springs and revised anti-roll bars. It’s also lowered 10mm, the track is widened (+21mm front / +2.0mm rear) and the wheels go plus one inch to 20-inch alloys.

The standard i3 (no longer offered in Australia) rolls on 19-inch rims shod with 155/70 rubber all around. And while the i3s’s 175/55 front and 190/50 rear tyres are still exceptionally narrow, from the side the low-profile Bridgestone Ecopias look like fan belts wrapped around pulleys rather than tyres around wheels..

No surprise then that ride comfort isn’t exactly cushy, and in signing on for the i3s experience you’ll need to be ready for more than occasional bumps and thumps.

But the pay-off is super-sharp dynamics, Suspension is by alloy struts at the front, and a five-link alloy set-up at the rear..The steering responds to inputs quickly yet smoothly, and with 48/52 front to rear weight distribution, the car always feels balanced, eager, and taut.

And if you really want to dial things up the ‘driving experience control’ allows a switch to Sport mode for a further tweak of the suspension, steering, and traction control set-ups.

A tight 10.3m turning circle makes for easy parking and stress-free U-turns. But if things get too tight, rapid three-point turns are assisted by the gear shift controller bring mounted on a chunky stalk on the right-hand side of the steering column. Too easy.   

Braking is by vented discs front and rear, but they’re tiny. That’s because the ‘Brake Energy Regeneration’ system does most of the work. 

Effectively turning the motor into a generator, the system not only slows the car dramatically but feeds energy to the battery in the process. It takes a while to get used to the sensation, but soon becomes a fun, and surprisingly easy game to use the brake pedal as little as possible… often not at all, for long periods.

If you’ve driven any kind of XC40 or even a Polestar 2 before, the C40 will offer no surprises. It’s pretty much exactly the same from behind the wheel with a few subtle tweaks.

This is a very good thing. The C40 is quiet, easy to drive, and its electric motor and regen system offer a smooth single-pedal experience.

It is also alarmingly, overwhelmingly, rapid. While its massive set of batteries under the floor make it feel heavy off the line in stop-start traffic, sticking your boot into the accelerator will remove any doubt, particularly in the dual-motor variant, that this Volvo means business.

The dual-motor also has an incredible torque-vectoring system, making it extremely difficult to elicit so much as a squeak from its tyres. It also feels as though torque is distributed quite evenly between its two driven axles, making it feel neither prone to over- or understeer.

This has the effect of making the C40 feel somewhat indestructible in the corners, with absurd levels of grip. 

The same feeling is present in top-spec versions of the Polestar 2, only the feeling of ever-present weight is more noticeable in the higher-riding C40, which can make it unsettling to take corners at the kinds of speeds it is capable of.

The steering tune is interesting. Volvo offers two software-controlled modes, either heavy or standard, and the standard mode is heavy enough. 

Despite its electrical assistance, the wheel does continue to offer some organic feedback, making the C40 a pleasure to steer on countryside roads.

The ride is also surprisingly good, despite massive wheel options. I was impressed how easily the C40 handled most bumps and undulations, communicating little to the cabin. 

The ride can approach its limits with such big wheels and the weight of its batteries, generally these are communicated via unsettling thuds from underneath the car. Regular undulations at higher speeds also had the C40 bouncing around a little.

On the whole, though, the cabin is kept relatively insulated and serene, adding an element of total confidence, similar to that offered by Teslas, whilst offering better ride quality with a softer edge. At higher speed, at least on the 20-inch wheels, road noise does pick up, however.

In terms of electric driving, there is a single adjustable setting for regen. The car either offers a full single pedal mode with maximum regenerative braking to bring the car to a halt with the motor alone, or a ‘standard’ mode which tones the regen down and offers it blended in via the brake pedal. 

Single pedal mode is more efficient. I suggest you stick to it if you want to make the most of this car’s efficiency.

I was surprised to have so few complaints about the C40’s drive experience. This is a balanced and capable EV which is yet another example of how even vehicles which use combustion platforms are improved out of sight by full electrification.

Sticking to its brand promise, Volvo offers the full range of active safety equipment on the C40 regardless of variant.

This includes freeway-speed auto emergency braking, rear auto braking, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, and one of the best adaptive cruise control systems on the market.

The only item the single motor misses out on is a 360-degree parking camera, which is exclusive to the dual motor variant.

It is notable how the adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring rear cross-traffic alert, and rear auto braking are on the options list for the Polestar 2.

These active systems combined with eight airbags (the standard dual front, side, and curtain, as well as a driver’s knee and centre airbag) make for a five-star ANCAP safety rating to the latest 2022 standards.

BMW offers a three year/unlimited km warranty, which is off the pace given the majority of mainstream brands have stepped up to five-year cover, with some at seven. And the pressure is on with Mercedes-Benz recently announcing its shift to five years/unlimited km.

That said, the BMW's body is warranted against rust (perforation) for 12 years/unlimited km, and roadside assistance is provided free-of-charge for three years/unlimited km.

Maintenance is 'condition based' with sensors and on-board algorithms (mileage, time since last service, driving style) determining whether an annual vehicle inspection is required.

The 'BMW Service Inclusive' package, offering a single, one-off advance payment to cover selected service and maintenance costs, is available in two levels - 'Basic' ($850) or 'Plus' (dealer quote)

The C40 is covered by Volvo’s five year and unlimited kilometre warranty, with a separate eight-year, 160,000km warranty for the battery. There is also eight years of roadside assistance attached.

It is pleasing to see the service intervals for the C40 are long, as they should be for an electric car with so few moving parts, set at two years or 30,000km. 

The first 24 month service is free of charge, and Volvo tells us service pricing after this period will average out to around $100 a year ($200 per visit).