I’m awestruck by my 2014 BMW i3. Genuinely awestruck. It is about as close to perfect as any car I’ve ever driven, and I’ve driven lots of cars. It’s so good, in fact, that I’ve recommended the machine to pretty much everyone I know, because every time I get behind the wheel I say to myself: “I can’t believe how good this car is.” Here, allow me to explain in this rather short blog.
“Perfect” is a hell of a word, and in the case of an automobile, the term cannot be divorced from context. A Toyota Land Cruiser, for example, is perfect if you’re an overlander in the outback. A Jeep Wrangler is perfect if you’re rock-crawling in Moab. A Porsche 911 is perfect around Laguna Seca. A long-bed 1989 Ford F-150 with a 300 inline-six ant T18 stickshift is perfect on your job site. And the BMW i3 is perfect if you live in the suburbs of a big city and have a place to charge. And I mean pretty much truly perfect.
When I think about what I need when commuting in LA, it’s a few things: 1. Efficiency (gas is so damn expensive; $5! Minimum!) 2. Quickness (merging into traffic is challenging here) 3. Small exterior dimensions (parking is rough). 4. Decent size inside (so I can carry my tools/car parts/friends/cats) and 5. Comfort (sitting in traffic on the 405 in an old junker will wear you down).
The i3 nails every one of these attributes. It uses no gas for its first 70 miles of freeway driving or 85 miles of city driving. It’s so damn quick it lets me merge into traffic — even on the legendarily short on-ramps of the 110 freeway — easily. The car is tiny, so it parks great; the backup camera and park sensors help (plus, the car can parallel park itself!). There’s tons of room inside (look at the image below to see the huge shelf that I fit into the i3 in a single trip!). And it’s both beautiful and comfortable inside, so the commute is actually relaxing.
The ground clearance helps when traversing poorly-maintained roads or accidentally hitting a curb, the higher seating position makes the vehicle feel bigger than it really is, and the steering radius is shockingly small—the i3 is the ultimate “flip a bitch”-mobile
I rarely spend a drop on gas, and when I do it’s because I drive more than 75 miles. I love this setup; it allows me to have decent enough range to drive on electric-power over 90 percent of the time, but it also allows me to drive longer distances (like to San Diego) without having to lug around an expensive, heavy battery (I instead lug around a cheap little twin-cylinder gas motor). It’s a damn shame that so few vehicles today offer 70+ miles of EV range with a gasoline range-extender in case you need to travel farther. Pretty much all modern PHEVs have an electric range of under 50 miles. The i3, in my opinion, offers what most Americans want and cannot get today, despite the car being nine years old.
Of course, the i3 was expensive when new (mine cost over $52,000), but by the time I bought it it had 135,000 miles on the clock. Still, especially with the new battery BMW installed under warranty just before I took ownership, the i3 feels modern, which is why the $10,499 I paid for it is an unbelievable deal. That price plays quite a bit into my “perfect” claim; for the car to perform this well in these conditions at that price — well, that’s what makes it so special in my eyes.
I haven’t had to repair a single thing on my i3 since buying it. The electric motor isn’t made up of many components, the gearbox is a single ratio reduction that should last forever, I barely even toucy my brake pedal due to the i3’s always-on brake regen function, the batteries are new, and on and on. Obviously, five months without a repair is nothing to brag about, but the i3 has an excellent reputation for reliability. Plus, because it’s carbon fiber, the car won’t rust, and because its body panels are plastic, it also won’t dent.
I have a charger in my apartment; thanks to a kind reader, I have an extension cord that allows me to park behind my Jeep (I have a tandem spot) and still charge using the wall-box. At work, charging is free. When I’m staying at my friend’s house, I just plug into her 110 outlet and gain about 4.5 percent state of charge (3 miles) per hour. Using that standard wall-plug, if my battery is half drained from the day’s commute/shopping, it’ll be full by 8 AM as long as I plug it in by nine the night before. Not bad. With a regular level 2 charger, the vehicle charges all the way up in 4.5 hours or to 80 percent in three hours.
I haven’t had to drop $1,000 to replace its hard-to-source tires yet, so maybe I’ll change my tune, but right now — five months in — I’m just amazed by this little car. To get a reasonably-modern, safe, comfortable, usually-electric, small, practical, quick little car that I actually think looks cool even nine years after it rolled off the assembly line — and all for $11,600 all-in? It rules. The BMW i3 just rules.
The fact that it’s rear-motor/engine, rear-wheel drive, that it’s made of carbon fiber, that it can rip from zero to 30 mph as fast as an F30 M3, and that its interior is so special all make it more “fun” than many of its competition. But of course, it’s not as fun as, say, a manual 911 (no EV is in my opinion) or even a stickshift Mini Cooper S, and it’s not as soulful as my old cars. Still, the i3 is a practical commuter car that has somehow managed to tackle the “city car” formula to the point where it’s almost hard to find any flaws.
But again, I haven’t had to buy new, rare tires for it yet, so let’s see if I write a retraction next year.
Ignoring the Mr. Food title, I’m glad to read that you are so happy with your fancy Changli. As to premium price of replacement rubber, you could always sell it before it gets tired. Haha. Jeez, I crack myself up.
I love these i3 articles! I have a wrangler that I will keep until it rusts to dust or I die, and when I flirted with getting a non-stay at home job, I had decided on the i3. I loved it, and almost bought it until I found another stay at home gig. I still want the i3, but aside from camping, off-roading and snowboarding, I just don’t drive enough to justify getting another car that is so reliable. For now, I’m waiting on Mercedes to find me something silly that I desperately “need”
I had an opportunity via work to drive a whole lot of EVs and PHEVs back to back a few years ago. David says this is perfect, but in my mind the one that got away was the Audi A3 etron. It does everything David says the i3 does except it trades a lower EV-only range for athleticism and substance.
The i3 felt flimsy – by design. They took out a ton of weight for efficiency, even the turn signal stalks felt too thin.
The A3 etron felt like a GTI with an extra 200lbs in the trunk, all the standard Audi goodness, and a lot of fun to boot.
The i3 updates have been great reads. (And the cat articles haven’t been too shabby either!) Are you still going to do the final segment of your i3 series?
Yes! We’re waiting for an i3 Trade-In so we can make it into an episode of “Trade-In Tuesdays.”
Congrats man, you’ve achieved the afterglow all used vehicle purchasers hope for. The happy little tune would have played like the blues had you not so serendipitously had the batteries replaced. Other states wouldn’t get that, and I bet the rest in CA have been marked up if eligible.
How fast does it go when using the range extender? I considered an i3 a few years ago, but I heard mixed reviews about performance when using the range extender so I bought a cheap Leaf instead. I have no plans currently to replace the Leaf (I want to keep it until it has 100,000 miles), but if the range extender works well I might consider replacing it with an I3.
If you hit the “run range extender” button when the battery is at 20%, the thing will do 80 all day.
If you don’t, you just have to keep it on flat ground and not use the heater and you’ll be able to do 70 without totally depleting the battery.
Once battery dips to below 25% the REX should always automatically engage to try and maintain the sub 25%.
Just for fun once I purposely overdrove the i3 to get the battery to 1% just to see what happens. If I remember correctly it bombards you with lots of messages and warnings stating it’s on a death bed, it goes into a limp type mode when your actions demand more than it can give.
It’s 6 percent IIRC, not 25%.
Correct! Hence the coded manual toggle.
Huh. I heard stories of these struggling to maintain 60 mph on the range extender; it sounds like that isn’t typical. My Leaf’s range is adequate for how I use it, but CHAdeMO chargers are non-existent where I live so I can’t fast charge it. An i3 with a range extender sounds like a good option for me.
Does the heater not use the REX waste heat?
If the battery is 5% and the REX is going, you can easily handle the US posted speed limits, under ordinary conditions. Under the same scenario if its freezing dead winter and you are climbing a huge hill on the highway it definitely will struggle to maintain the speed limit.
The REX is designed to put out enough juice for average usage, it can not keep up with the max draw under full battery, but is above the normal low draw.
I like it, and the REx setup is particularly appealing.
I would be nervous rolling the dice on a used one, though. You really lucked out with Cali’s battery replacement program. I’m not sure most used i3 buyers (or buyers of any used battery-powered car, for that matter) would have quite such a positive experience under other circumstances.
That said, if PHEVs are still on the market when I’m shopping for my next car, they will be at the top of my list. They seem to offer all the benefits of EV ownership with the added flexibility of an ICE.
Exactly this. If he didn’t get the battery replacement program then this thing is not a great deal. I really wanted to get one of these but the battery wear was a major concern.
This particular I3 probably would not have been a good deal without the replacement program, but it isn’t hard to find one that has a good battery for a few thousand more. A lot of EVs have battery issues because the original owners didn’t treat them well. I have seen several old EVs that have degraded batteries because the owners didn’t drive them much and kept the battery fully charged at all times. Batteries usually don’t fail catastrophically, so if you find a used EV with a good battery, it will likely last a long time.
Another great used EV purchase is Chevy Bolt. Any you buy now have practically new batteries (installed last year when they all got replaced under the recall — and adding more range than the early Bolts originally had, since the newer batteries are higher capacity). My kid just bought a 2017 with about 260 miles of range from said new battery for $14k (before taxes, etc. — but also before a $4k used EV tax incentive). It’s the lower-trim model, but still comes with Apple Car Play and Android Auto.
How is this car so perfect? Well, may I interest you in the mighty twin powers of depreciation and strong, if oddly-written, consumer protection laws?
You certainly won’t be able to take advantage of the latter, but I’d love to see you exploit the former and attempt to own/buy either the cheapest Maserati or Aston Martin in the country. You know, as a control group for the i3.
A good commuter vehicle with built in cat shelf.
David, there’s little else about your i3 that I care about as much as that interior. That tweed with leather accenting oozes class. It’s like they upholstered the seats with 100% genuine tenured professor.
Hahah
COTD!
It is so great to hear that you are enjoying the i3. For the tires, we usually go to Amazon. Still not cheap, but cheaper. I have read about people successfully replacing the wheels with a more common size, but I don’t believe it is worth it.
Today, David discovered he too has an Emotional Support BMW. Non-traditional ESBMW, but it’s not how you find faith that’s important. Please consider a daily donation of 2.99, or less than the price of coffee. So, we here at Bimmer Angels can continue to give e46s to those in need.
Never change your username or these comments. 🙂 Everyone needs an Emotional Support BMW! Though, sadly, it seems you cannot bring your ESBMW on a flight. United Airlines keeps whining about “weight and balance” and “your car can’t fit in here” or whatever.
If you bring your only tow rope, I’m sure United will let pull an i3 in a wakeboard-espe scenario. FAA excepts stuff that is objectively rad.
It’s so gratifying when people like David or Mercedes own a BMW and finally “get” why there are people still loyal to the brand even though it might not have always seemed rational. My brain keeps saying “never again” when I get the repair/maintenance bills, but then when it comes time to buy the heart wins out.
And maybe we can finally get away from all of the “joke” comments about blinker fluid. (Anyway, at least where I live the BMW drivers seem no worse than anyone else when it comes to turn signal use, and I’d argue generally better than Cadillacs or
brodozerspickups with oversized tires.)What’s funny is I don’t even own a BMW anymore, because as it turns out you can only drift your e90 into a wall 4 times before rear is facing a little more west then drivable. I switched over to a Nissan chassis. But the heart wants, what the heart wants. And I find myself searching for a good 3 series everyday. I have no use for one. Life is just so much better when you can rev a straight six to moon twice a week.
Modify this car to look like a cat. It already looks like it is ready to take a whizz. And I am saying this as a person being owned and guilt tripped by 5 cats. But I do like the i3.
PHEVs are great. You’re right about EV distance being too short on newer ones. My Fusion Energi gets 25 miles on a charge in the spring/fall, that drops to 16 in winter. The trunk is already useless, double-up the HV battery and give me more EV range!
We picked up a used Fusion Energi for a song a few years back and it rocks — so smooth, and under the radar!
Sigh.
David I’ve always loved your writing and have followed you for a long time.
I know this comment will anger some folks, but as of late, I feel that you writing has been limited to i3s, i3 adjacent topics (assholes at chargers [FTR assholes are everywhere–some might even call me one for making this comment]), and cats. Lots and lots of cats.
I understand and accept that your circumstances have changed, but dude, you used to write some of the best car wrenching articles on the planet and I ate up every word.
It just makes me long for the guy with grease under his fingernails using duct tape and zip ties to make it to Moab on time.
He NEVER made it to MOAB on time
I made it there by EJS EVERY YEAR. Only once did I barely make the tail end (Project POStal), but that whole project was a miracle so I’m happy anyway.
Guess I left out the /s in this one. No shade intended
I feel you, Stink E. Jones. I do! But Project Cactus wasn’t even a year ago! That was the undertaking of the century, and I’m taking a break (OK the real reason is that I’m still transitioning into the new city, and — more importantly — figuring out how to lead this growing website. I’m management now! (Also there’s a girl out here whom I quite like, so that’s probably a small part of it — the big time-draw is the “lead this site” thing.)).
The good news is that I may soon have a solution for this problem in the form of my own hydraulic lift/garage space. If this happens, things are going to get real.
Daaaang, I’m very jealous. Is that garage space at Galpin or at the apartment?
Galpin!
Dave, Beau needs to keep your fancy Galipin digs humble, like intentionally limiting your wrenching space to the size of a 2 car garage w/a lift that could be reasonable to fit in a regular 2 car garage and regular hand tools & power tools an average wrencher might have to keep it relatable.
This (positive constraint) is a big reason I think the old new top gear with the 3 idiots was so successful, BBC had constraints which forced them to be more creative w/in their constraints
Hmm, what I read is that David has met a woman with a garage and hydraulic lift. I don’t even want to know what “things are going to get real” means, assuming it involves all the above.
When do WE get to meet her??????
Settle down, Mom!
I’m not saying you have to go 2500 miles to rescue a ’58 FC-170, but as a point of contrast, there’s a guy at the old site who’s idea of project is changing the oil in a 10 year old F800GS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
Anyhow, best of luck to you–if anything, I hoped to remind you of what a talented writer you are.
No no, you’re absolutely right.
I need to give you readers what you want! (I just also need to somehow run this website).
I’ll figure it out!
Yeah, you’re in a tricky spot. The best person to execute your vision is you. But that requires a ton of managerial/business legwork to take care of all the things that need to be addressed. But the site is (hopefully) a success because the unwashed masses love your/Jason’s unique brand of content. Hmmm…know any good MBA types/former EICs who could help fill an administrative role and free you up to be you?
We’re working on it.
One of the hardest transitions I made in my career was from a Doer to a Leader. Learning to delegate when I know I could do it better (which was somewhat incorrect) was difficult.
Maybe part of running the website is to find and foster those new voices who can also write great wrenching articles! Or in teaching them to be great writers like you are. It turns the one of you into many productive versions of you!
Good luck.
Feel free to ask me about anything should you decide to build an EV with that new-found lift and space.
> Also there’s a girl out here whom I quite like
That’s it, no more of that “friend” bs!
i3 up Hells Gate when? Carbon Fiber is somewhat repairable.
JB Weld makes a product which can do very very very minor repairs. On the rear hatch the cover mounts, one of mine broke out of the carbon fiber frame, JB Weld fixed it.
As an i3 owner for 6+ yrs I appreciate the attention it’s getting, too bad it’s 2yrs after they stopped coming to the US and axed by BMW soon after.
It’s a great example of how a car nut who’s appreciation for rust can learn to live with EV’s, one of the best EV’s made to date with the range extender.
Agree the cat stories are definitely out of hand and besides the initial one don’t really have a place here.
Or you could do what I do when I come upon a motorcycle article, don’t read it.
“Agree the cat stories are definitely out of hand and besides the initial one don’t really have a place here”
Maybe David can train the cats to help with wrenching. Every wrencher needs someone to hold the light! and get the thing, that thing over there!
(I think a cat would be just as effective at that as most kids are)
That is incredible…. I meant the cat…. What’s so great about him… he’s a cat..
Now if DT had a Walter…. eats bowls of rust..
Counterpoint: Cats are cool, and running a website as “stick to cars” is a herb move.
The “market” will decide how many cat stories are enough or too much. I favor continued cat/human interest stories.
Yes, it was very thoughtless of David to try and improve his life and start a website we love. He should still be hating his job at the old site, living with no companions and fighting tetanus every day of his life. Such a selfish move by him.
No no, I get it. Folks come here for #CONTENT. And you all do deserve some Tales of Wrenching Woe!
I gave those for eight straight years, and I don’t plan to stop. I just need to figure out a more optimal wrenching location.
I know, it was terrible of me to say that he should have stayed at the old site and not have done anything to improve his life. Silly me.
Wait, that’s not what I said at all.
Sure, but I also didn’t say I was a sarcastic asshole but based on my comment you can come to that conclusion.
Let’s all be friends!
It makes total sense for folks to want more wrenching articles from me. I promised it early on, and I WILL deliver more than I have already.
I’m still patiently waiting for the “Going Away Party” and the “Driving To LA” moving articles…
David, Good writing will show itself, regardless of the subject matter. As you have demonstrated in many venues you are a good writer. Write about cats, puppies, avg. mean rainfall in Goddard KS (33 in.), or the removal of the 3rd layer of rust from a CJ5 and the quality will show through. So write and we will enjoy your work. Listen to those who would dictate content, and your creative process will be stifled.
The i3 is awesome, especially the interior. The insurance and repair costs are not awesome though. I’m still considering getting one, but a Bolt might win out
I’ve been enjoying the David Tracy journey of discovering that not living in a junkyard and owning modern transportation is pretty great.
I miss the old David Tracy a bit. The one that required a yearly tetanus shot because his cars were so rusty.The DT that had to wrench on his daily so it would work daily. The David Tracy that was a criminal at one point because he owned too many cars.
Also, I understand he’s new to LA but I’ve lived there. I’d rather read about cars than the 405 freeway.
“flip a bitch” mobile is not a term I’m familiar with, but I believe it may translate into my dialect as ” Whip a shitty”
That’s my preferred term for it as well, though usually snow/ice is involved.
Flipping a bitch is Los Angelese for an unauthorized U-turn in traffic. I taught David that term within an hour of meeting him in LA last year.
Yes, Mark taught me that. I LOVE it.
I think my favorite is “bust a yo-yo”, learned a couple decades ago at a sketchy gas station in Dallas.
I knew you’d love it! It’s better in every conceivable way than my little FIAT 500e, and I love that thing soooo much. “Blueberry” covers the vast majority of our transportation needs (granted, my wife and I work from home), but it’s perfect as a city car and the i3 is even perfecter. I see a lot of i3’s around here. It’s second only to Rivian trucks as the most commonly sighted non-Tesla EV in central Colorado. Yeah, the tires are a bit of a pain (mine also has rear wheels 1” wider than the fronts) but it’s worth it to me. Glad you’re enjoying it and I look forward to future updates.
Edit to respond to Slower Louder’s question about “soul”: “Blueberry” is chock full of soul, and I bet the i3 is too. A car doesn’t have to make fart noises in order to have personality.
ex-coworker has one a loves it. He also mentioned how quick it was too. He quit the company because people complained “the only EV” in the parking lot was plugging into the wall outlet and getting free electricity…seriously they said if he gets free electricity, they want free gas for their cars.
People suck and that’s why we can’t have nice things.
So give them their free gas…poured over their cars and on fire.
Yes! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XchwE9zVdnw
It sounds perfect, for real. David, I want to make fun of you, of the way you feel “soul” in so many of your cars, because I suspect soul may be a function of imperfection. So does this perfect car show signs of soul? Does it have a cold Teutonic heart? No heart at all? Or is it a vehicle you can feel? What lends soul to machines?
This car has soul because of its weirdness. The carbon fiber, the rear engine/motor, the odd styling, and especially the fact that it was a dead end.
It’s an Audi A2 for the modern era.
Dead end. I feel that, in a good way. Feel Dar Khorse’s take as well. Thanks.
To more directly answer your question, I think “soul” is a function of design. The FIAT 500e is so beautifully designed, with that adorable face and unmistakable Italian cues that it’s just a joy to look at as well as to drive, and I frequently get stares, smiles and positive comments when driving it. Compare that to a soul-sucking penalty box like almost any 1980’s GM product, clearly designed by a committee of extremely bored designers who were given very little inspiration, money or time to work with. I kind of think of watches in a similar way. Sure, a plain-Jane no-name quartz might seem soulless, but not all quartz watches are without soul. I think my Breitling Navitimer mechanical and my Breitling Skyracer quartz have equivalent levels of soul because of their beautiful design.
I really like the i3 and it’s definitely on my list of potential model 3 replacement commuters. I do 50 miles a day round trip and charge for free at work.
Ah, why are you considering replacing the Model 3 if I may ask?
Dang it. I still want an i3 but I’d talked myself out of it.
I did the same thing. Had my heart set on an i3, and walked away with a Honda Clarity PHEV instead. Don’t regret it, but sometimes…
Hey, me too! The Clarity was the better choice, especially if a family is involved, as is the case with me. Can’t really fit a rear-facing baby seat with any ease or convenience in an i3.
I don’t see these on the road very often, but when I do, I am always fascinated by those rare and expensive tires you mention. Best of luck when you finally have to find a set!
I wouldn’t say they are expensive, only in past 2 years they have creeped above $200/each. $800 for tires is not a lot in my mind these days compared to other cars I have $1200-2400 a set. Though on the i3 all 4 tires are basically gone in 12-15k miles.
I just replaced the 19’s on my Mazda and that was $1200. Of course, we are talking about a guy who would source newish tires from a junkyard so that might have something to do with the sticker shock.
Agreed. They aren’t that expensive. I paid $600 installed from Costco a few years ago when I had to replace mine. They’re more expensive, now, but so are other tires.
i3 tires are probably more expensive than some econobox tires, but for premium or performance cars of similar age, it’s normal.
It’s great until you need tires. I HATE that they used weird tire sizes and no sidewalls 🙁
And worse, it’s a staggered setup!
If someone would make 15 inch wheels with a square setup and a normal tire size, that would be awesome.
Is it impossible to find aftermarket wheels for this or something?
100% Impossible
Well technically there are aftermarket wheels, but you will still be limited to the same single tire choice.
Is it difficult to find tires or are they just expensive? I checked Tirerack and there is only one option, but the tires apparently are in stock and could be delivered tomorrow.
All the talk here about their weird tires & the xost had me curious so I looked up current prices on Costco.com, right now basically two options of Bridgestone Ecopia’s at between $233 – $250 per tire or roughly $950-1k installed this was for the 19″ tires.
One of the two (the ep500) was a 440 AA rated tire, though it didn’t give a XX mile(s) expected life, I would think these should last 30-50k miles in regular driving, as long as you’re not trying to haul ass everywhere you go
https://tires.costco.com/SearchResultsByVehicle?Year=2014&Make=BMW&Model=i3&Option=Range-Extender&size=19&isStaggered=true