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BMW i3

Ponty

Ponty

pfm Member
Well, we’ve tried the one car route, and it’s a PITA too often. Fabulous for touring with its 700 mile range but we could do with a second car for local trips. Range not overly important and can charge at home, so no ball ache of overpriced public charging. I quite like the look of the i3. Something like the below. Anyone have any experience of these?

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Great car we had one for 5 years. Ours was the range extender model although we only used that once. We obtained around 120 miles on a charge. Downsides are that it is only a four seater, limited luggage space and the suicide doors are a bit of a pain. If you buy one make sure it comes with the charging cable(not the 13amp plus one) as they are not cheap. Good performance and handles well.
 
A mate owned 2. The first was a lemon and he was glad to get shot of it, the second was better but some eye-watering bills under warranty before he had to pay for them thankfully and it has some gotchas.

The bills, £60 each for wiper blades, £550 each for door seals (yes really). Bespoke tyres at £220 each because of limited choice for the bespoke sizes.

The gotchas, BMW has built in 8 hours of labour at their premium rates if the battery has to be accessed, the high capacity cable is specifically excluded from warranty and eye-wateringly expensive, any minor knock to the special cell-chassis that would be a repair on an ICE car is a write off as insurers won’t spend on that, BMW has dropped the range extender that was a major selling feature for many.

As I watched his ownership journey an i3 wasn’t a car I was tempted by at any time for these sorts of reasons.
 
Had two: 2015 i3 REX 60 and a 2019 i3s BEV 120. Great cars, so much fun, personality and wonderful to drive. Both were faultless. Range is a bit on the low side by today's standards but they are very i teresting cars with a lot of forward thinking, quite unlike their horrid replacements which are in many ways a retrograde step.
 
Paul L said:
A mate owned 2. The first was a lemon and he was glad to get shot of it, the second was better but some eye-watering bills under warranty before he had to pay for them thankfully and it has some gotchas.

The bills, £60 each for wiper blades, £550 each for door seals (yes really). Bespoke tyres at £220 each because of limited choice for the bespoke sizes.

The gotchas, BMW has built in 8 hours of labour at their premium rates if the battery has to be accessed, the high capacity cable is specifically excluded from warranty and eye-wateringly expensive, any minor knock to the special cell-chassis that would be a repair on an ICE car is a write off as insurers won’t spend on that, BMW has dropped the range extender that was a major selling feature for many.

As I watched his ownership journey an i3 wasn’t a car I was tempted by at any time for these sorts of reasons.
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Christ, that doesn’t sound good! VW iD3’s are the same sort of money, might consider that instead.
 
PS. Paul has basically covered the negatives. BMW dealers are, as a breed, bloody awful and with the i3 you do run a bit of a risk should anything go wrong. Future classic though...
 
JTC said:
PS. Paul has basically covered the negatives. BMW dealers are, as a breed, bloody awful and with the i3 you do run a bit of a risk should anything go wrong. Future classic though...
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Hmm, sounds a huge potential liability. I want zero hassle and low running costs, not a world of pain!
 
The i3 was an exhibition piece, unique and an example of just how far you can take a concept into a viable production car. Company car owners at our Firm loved them although one guy managed to run out of battery and petrol in his range extender model after a tortuous journey. Perhaps he was getting cocky. The 'limp mode' under operation on the range extender is a bit dodgy on a motorway.

I agree a future classic. and a very clever design.

I wouldn't buy one mainly because I would fear for the chassis in an accident, not that it would fail to the point that I would get seriously hurt but that the car might be written off as uneconomic to repair due to the carbon chassis.
 
hifinutt said:
yes buy a honda jazz ... bulletproof !!! one reads the motoring press and the VW infotainment screens are always coming up with problems
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Agreed, get a Toyota or a Honda. That said my purchase of a 1300cc (or is it 1200cc?) 4 cylinder Fiat 500 lounge for my missus was a good one, simple mechanics, easyish to fix and maintain and people still want one after all this time, I don't expect it to be difficult to shift when we have finished with it, 13 years and counting.
 
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