$22 grand. That’s a LOT of money. Way, way, way too much money to spend on a car. Right? I mean, the most I’ve ever spent on a car is $10,500, and I had to breathe into a paper bag while the transaction was going through. It was awful, but it paid off, because I love my i3 with all my heart. But now there’s another i3 on the horizon — the Holy Grail of i3s. It’s called the i3S, and it’s got me completely obsessed right now, and I need you all to help me snap out of it
I own a 2014 BMW i3. It’s the best car I’ve ever owned. I love it dearly. BUT, I worry, because as I fall more and more in love with my little Bavarian range-extended EV, I realize its days are numbered. After all, when I bought it in 2023 with 135,000 miles on its odometer, the high-voltage battery was toast, and only through a loophole was I able to get it replaced. That loophole ends after 150,000 miles, which means that when my battery does go the way of the Dodo, it’ll be on me to replace it. That could cost me tens of thousands of dollars.
Yes, that’s probably a decade out, but combine that nagging concern with my hatred of using gasoline (trust me, if you own an i3, you understand that the range-extender coming on means you lost), and I find myself wishing for a newer-model i3 with a better, higher-range battery. The 2017 and 2018 i3 models come with a 94Ah battery battery rated for up to 524,000 miles! Those also go about 100 miles per charge, while mine does about 70.
I guess I could try to swap one of those into my i3 sometime down the road. OR I could buy a newer i3 right now — ideally the 2019 and up model with an even bigger battery than that 524,000 miles one — 120Ah. That’s twice the size of my i3’s battery, and it should get the car about 125 miles per charge.
Having a bit more range means I’d basically never use the range extender (I think I drive about 70 miles a month on the Rex right now), and it means I could keep this car for probably 30 years, because even if the battery degraded to 50 percent, it’d offer about as much range as my current i3 (it’s a bit heavier, so it’d be a little worse than a new 60Ah model, but you get the idea). It could be my “forever car,” so to speak.
Anyway, I’ve been on the hunt for 2019 i3s for a while now, and I found this one, and it’s no ordinary i3:
That, my dear friends, is an i3S, where “S” stands for “sport.” It’s slightly more powerful, quicker, and has a sportier traction control system than the standard i3. In truth, per online forumgoers who own an i3S, the “S” should stand for “stable,” because the wider track and wider tires apparently let the i3S track down the road with more confidence and with less propensity to get thrown around by wind or cracks in the road. It’s really not that sporty, per what I’ve read, but it’s more planted on the road and it looks awesome. It probably gives up a bit of range due to the wider bodywork, and the 20-inch wheels probably require pricier tires than my i3’s 19s, but I mean, look at this thing. It’s badass!
This is unquestionably the Holy Grail of BMW i3s. It’s the best model-year, with the best exterior color (white on black is known as the “Panda” i3), and it’s got the best interior:
But it’s $22,000. Add taxes and a $2000 delivery fee, and we’re talking $26 grand! If I chose to pay it off over three years, that’d put it at 30 grand after interest. That’s almost three times what my i3 cost!
I can’t do it. But I want to; I want the ultimate i3 that I can drive for the next 30 years — there’s something about knowing your car has a shelf-life that really sucks; at least with other gas-cars I know they can do 250,000 miles and 50 years if I maintain them properly. Then again, who knows what will happen in the future. I could get the new car and immediately get rear-ended, battery technology could become 100% better than it is now, NACS chargers could go away, and on and on.
But I’m not sure why I’m trying to apply logic, here? Buying this car would not be logical. It’s just a car that I want. But I can’t.
But I want it.
But really, I can’t do it.
Probably.
Buy this one. Take current one to Jeep Easter Safari. Return various Jeeps to forest for animal procreation.
Everybody’s got to be born somewhere.
“Everybody’s got to be born somewhere.”
Not if you have Plan B…
I suggest waiting. Things would have to go very, very wrong for a new battery to go belly up within the next couple of years (or even much longer). Unlike the Leaf, i3s don’t seem to have a particularly bad track record for battery degradation.
Your i3 is close to the bottom of the depreciation curve, the panda i3s is not. In a couple of years, you can probably upgrade without as much of a jump. We did that with our base ’14 BEV i3, and the upgrade to a fully equipped ’17 REX ended up being just about $5K. Could have been much less, but we traded in rather than selling it ourselves.
By the time your current one’s battery shits the bed, you’ll be able to upgrade that one. Stick and stay and make it pay.
Do it ! Do it ! Do it ! (Some people would call me a bad influence. Luckily it’s not MY money.) Besides, conspicuous consumption is good for the Overlizards’ Great Plan.
Buy it, get rid of replacement battery anxiety, sell the present one while it has value etc etc etc Stop quibbling and BUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember when David Tracy was synonymous with “Cheap Bastard”?
And now he’s lusting after a car that costs over $20k? He’s like a junkie who’s all itchy for his next fix!
We gotta stage an intervention before he buys a Camry! A new one!
“Remember when David Tracy was synonymous with “Cheap Bastard”?”
Vaguely.
Please buy it. You’re overthinking this. It’s your dream car, it’s available, and there’s zero risk. If it turns out it’s a mistake you sell it. Sell your current i3, whose faults you have correctly assessed with engineer’s logic. Roll the money into the obviously better, and this is key, *the more personally pleasing i3*, then pay off the loan on the new i3 with our rapidly inflating dollars.
At the end of the day, you must reward yourself for all your hard work. Live a little, California Dave!
David!?? Keep the current one and put some $ into fixing 2 of your other cars. Cruise that mustang around and the J10. You got some sweet rigs.. Don’t be a total dweeb, you’re better than this amigo!
An i3 is OK, but it is NOT a grail car. Maybe the i8 qualifies as a grail, but the i3 was way too common in California to qualify. The i3 is quirky car with it’s carbon fiber monocoque, but at $26K, that’s Fisker money. You can either get a used Fisker Karma or (probably) a new Fisker Ocean for that price!
If you don’t want quirky, but want an EV then there are a ton of used options from Chevy, Hyundai, VW, Nissan, etc that will do a great job for $1000’s less than this i3.
Just do it. Write about it here and it’s a business expense/tax write-off.
If the current i3 works great for you now and you enjoy it, you’d be foolish to chase after something that is “better” while justifying it to yourself as a “forever car.” Your life is going to change A LOT in the next 10 years, let alone 30.
THIS
Not to mention the technology changes!
Buy the car. Life’s too short.
David, you can’t handle a light color interior. Trust me.
Also, you get the one with the biggest battery.
DT it’s simple to figure this out.
Cars are like women. Most of us want what we can’t have. Or can live with.
And chasing what we want, or can’t have usually results in disappointment.
Chasing something “better” can end up being really disappointing once you have it.
And sometimes we just shoot ourself in the foot in the process.
Good luck.
Three questions:
1) Is this a legit dream car of yours that you’d want to keep as long as possible, possibly for life, where you are willing to make expensive repairs along the way to continue using it even when it is 20+ years old?
2) Can you afford it without being in debt?
3) Is the car in good working order with no signs of battery degradation?
If the answer to all three questions is yes, I’d do it. If the answer to any of them is no, then at the very least, wait on it, and see if you feel the same way in another month.
If you are confident that you will come across another one in due time, the prudent thing to do would be to save up for it, then buy it in full when you have the money.
This is a good take, especially Q1.
If this is something you want to keep then go for it, if not the other questions may help you decide.
“where you are willing to make expensive repairs along the way to continue using it even when it is 20+ years old?”
I have doubts that it is doable. Sure the carbon fiber should last, basic structural components, maybe the motor.
It in all likelihood would be doable through a BMW stealership. Where minor repairs could easily and quickly go into the $X,XXX range while the guys doing the repairs get like $20/hr and most of the money goes to the C-suite assholes.
This is why I want the Chinese selling cars in the USA. To cut the C-suite assholes out. Or at the very least, have them settle for a middle-class income by US standards…
Don’t expect BMW to update/service outdated electronics and battery tech. for very long.
Surely my Moller Skycar will be delivered in the next year or two.
I fondly recall several BMWs that I didn’t buy. I’m not gonna use the word regret…but I could. About 12 years ago, a guy I knew was selling an E46 M3 2-door in Laguna Seca blue, with a 6-speed and about 120k miles. I was tempted, but I thought that it was too much money at $13,700. In the late 80’s, a friend was looking at a 320i that was modified by Korman Autoworks with a 528i big six, improved brakes/suspension and Scheel seats. It was a California car with no rust, which was a big deal in Ohio. I was a very broke college student with no possible way to get my hands on $6k. Not to mention the many driver-quality E30 M3s that could be bought for $10-15k around about 20 years ago. I’m not sure what I’m saying here. If you really want it, and you can afford it, and you want to keep it forever, you might as well buy it.
What’s the chance that anybody is going to make an affordable, carbon-fiber chassis EV ever again?
My man, if you want more all-electric range, why not put that $30k into one of the several electric conversion projects you’ve told us your plans for.
Is it $22k better than the one you have? Probably not. EV and battery technologies are improving so fast, neither of these will be cars you want to drive 30 years from now. Enjoy driving what you got now.
Seconded!
We have an i3 (60Ah BEV) that we got CPO, low miles, for dirt cheap over 5 years ago. My wife dailies it and LOVES the thing, but because of the short range she sometimes has to drive our bigger car (Kia Telluride) for medium-range trips. I’d like to swap the i3 for an i3S with the 120Ah battery, and I’ve been keeping an eye on prices for a few years now. But with a third kid on the way it probably won’t happen (since the i3 only has two rear seats).
What are those people called that always claim they are sick for attention? Whatever it is, that’s what you are doing right now, DT.
😉
Just upgrade the suspension of yours https://evolveautomotive.com/products/evolve-lowering-springs-bmw-i3-i3s-range-extender
Will you really want an i3 in 30 years? The tech is changing and before the batteries in your current i3 die, there will be something you like a lot better no doubt.
I don’t know that we’ll see a real i3 replacement anytime in the next decade or two. It was really out there, and I love that about it.
You could do better by converting a car you want even more to electric, IMO. If there’s anything small, light, nimble, and aerodynamically efficient on your mind, that would be a good place to start. The battery technology is going to improve, and possibly do so by another order of magnitude within the next 2 decades depending on what makes it into the market.
20 years ago, SION was demonstrating 400 Wh/kg LiS battery prototypes, and that’s about a 50% improvement over the best of what we have today currently available off the shelf.
There are metal-air battery prototypes that have demonstrated in excess of 2 kWh/kg. But those aren’t rechargeable, either. In theory, solid state batteries will be able to do this in the future. In practice? We shall see, but IMO current battery tech is already really good, just used in the wrong vehicle platforms…
David’s other cars have a coefficient of drag in the high .90s though.
I recently passed up a perfect Audi and kicked myself in the ass and lost sleep over it for a month. Then I did it again on another perfect Audi. It’s not a good feeling. Truth is while those specific cars are gone, I think I made the right choice. Prices aren’t done coming down, interest rates are spicy, and I already have an Audi. Now just isn’t the time for me. Will you regret the new i3 if it loses a ton of value in your first year of ownership?
Ask yourself, does your current i3 still spark joy? If so, keep it. If not, make a move.
I love it! But the idea that I cannot keep my car forever bothers me!
None of us (other than Jay Leno…) can keep our cars forever. They are (for the most part) disposable, and that’s only accelerating as they become more electric. The batteries will not last forever. Enjoy it while you have it, then move on when the time is right. Only you can decide when the time is right.
But I’m a romantic! I still have my first XJ! (Technically. It’s in the woods somewhere in northern Michigan. No clue where, really).
I know the feeling! I intended to keep my TR6 forever. It was the first car I bought with my own money, and I loved it. It was rusty and temperamental, but a ton of fun. It made the decision for me and burned itself to the ground.
Best thing that ever happened to me.
Point is, nothing is permanent except for change itself. Enjoy it while you have it, and look forward to the next adventure.
Now I have to go hug my family.
I’d love you to write that story up for this site. david@theautopian.com.
Then you should build a forever car, using components that you can service/repair yourself. Nothing from the modern auto industry does this, which is unfortunate for everyone’s pocketbooks, those who rely on inexpensive used cars, and for the environment.
Just buy the damn thing. It’s only money, and life is short.
And you’ll get good money out of your current i3 because it has a new battery.
I’ll get $10,500 I bet.
Just because people know how much you have into something doesn’t mean you didn’t add value. It didn’t have the new battery when you thought it was worth $10,500, surely it’s worth more now.
Post it for $16,000 OBO. See what offers you get.
That’ll also make your decision easier, because when (not if) you get an offer for $15,000, you won’t be able to pass up getting the newer one.
☝️