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.
I believe there is an AC issue with the 2014/2015 models. It can fail and send shards of metal through the battery cooling and it will be quite expensive (many thousands of dollars). I have heard these cars are amazing to drive.
But, I have to wonder if David would deem the car perfect if he had bought it in a state not named California which happened to get an extended battery warranty?
Say then at 5 to 6 months ownership he had to pay out of pocket for a battery. $12K-$15K to replace a battery on a $10.5K car…….doesn’t make sense in my mind to pay more for a battery than you paid for a 9 year old car…..
And this is my rub with battery vehicles. Say what you want, the battery will degrade and you are looking at replacement in 10ish years. Very rare to need that expensive of a repair on a 9-10 year old ICE car with equivalent mileage.
It’s surprising the battery was dead in a car less than a decade old with not that many miles on it. Most EVs seem to do much better than that, but I guess it wouldn’t be a BMW if it wasn’t a nightmare to own out of warranty. 😉
I’d like think that there will be better/cheaper battery options in 10-ish years with all the investment in new battery technology, but that is still a big gamble.
Keep these articles coming David, you’re making my i3s more and more valuable!
I really like the idea of an electric car, but I tend to keep a daily driver car a long time. Currently, the cost to replace a battery in a lot of these cars is more than the car is worth (Online, it looks like an I3 cost about $16K to replace the battery). If I was a person that bought a new car every 5 years, it would be a no brainer, but for those of us that buy a 2-3 year old used car and keep it 10+ years, at this point it just does not seem to be a good idea.
The i3 is also a movie car. It’s Alison Williams’ character’s ride in Megan.
Before even reading far I can’t help but laugh at Americans and their sticker shock at GASP gasoline prices exceeding $1.32/L.
Anyway I also own an i3 and DT’s bang on on every point here. Tires *hurt* though, got just rears at Costco and it set me back $1,200 CAD.
BREAKING NEWS
David Tracy finally owns a car that starts on the first try more than 6 times in a row;
Declares it “Perfection!”
Totally agree, it was this series of articles that led me to purchase my i3 Rex, just moved to CA and needed a 40 mile round trip commuter. Perfect.
Filled it with gas twice over the last 4 months (trips to LA or San Diego), and free charging at work. Love the features and is deceptively large inside
Have you done a deep dive into the programmable physical buttons yet? By far, the car’s greatest feature. You can shortcut to literally any menu or function. I live near Chicago and used it to toggle traction on/off in snow because its buried 20 menus deep, among other things.
Clearly you haven’t purchased new tires yet, I’ll warn you now. I burned through a set of Blizzak winter tires in *ONE SEASON*.. flush down to the wear indicators ~2/12. I mean, damn near bald. The bike tire shape is pretty unique, and you’ll have limited selection.
My kids hated being trapped in the back seat w/out access to a means to unlock/open a door or window.
Minor gripes, overall an amazing car.
It would be interesting to know how often that extra 20 miles actually matters though. For me, if I’m going somewhere over 50 miles away it’s probably a lot over 50 and I’m hitting the gas engine either way. My around town jaunts could all be done in 50 miles easily. As long as the EV range is enough to cover local trips that’s good enough and any more is a waste of battery.
i think it would matter to a lot of folks who live in climates that have a lot of flux, because the cold range drops so much.
that means that in January when it’s 10 below, i could still get 40-50 miles perhaps, which is enough for the commute and an errand. if it’s only 50 nominally, then i’m dipping down into the 20s as far as cold temp range.
during the summer having 70 miles of range also means i could get a little further out of the city and back before using any gas. definitely a benefit.
My daily commute is 50 miles right on the nose, so with 70 miles for seasonal HVAC usage buffer, I’d ideally never need gas during the work week.
It does matter… my Volt supposedly can do ~45 on a full charge but for most of TX summer with the AC blasting that’s more like 35. Never come close to that during the week but on weekends I’m often burning gas at the end of the day just running a couple errands. Recently car shopping I was disappointed that so many PHEV options claim more like 35 miles, which I know will really mean 25, and a lot of them don’t really get that very good mileage when running on gas. Which the Volt does, but the interior storage is sooo small.
Ha, $1k for tires, that’s low for most cars these days, especially when buying good tires.
For instance, try over $2k for tires on my wife’s Atlas I need to go pick up in an hour. Stupid oddball 265/45R21 tire.
Yeah, it’s a meme in the i3 community that the tires are SOOOO expensive, but they really aren’t compared to other, similar-age premium cars. They might even be on the low end. I’ve bought tires for a bunch of cars and never spent *less* than I spent on my i3’s tires.
I guess the thing is per pound they are very expensive. I think most people equate mass with volume. Like, how can a Colorado cost almost as much a Silverado… And the tires wear out fast, no doubt a function of the light build to get better range.
VW has been using odd sized (at least odd for the US market) for at least the past 33 years & I’m sure longer than that, since even their air cooled cars had what would be odd sized tires (again for US market).
David is used to buying lightly used tires from the junkyard
Go to Car-part.com and get yourself a used set of lower-trim OEM 18″ wheels which will be around $500. Even after the cost of the wheels, you’ll likely be hundreds of dollars… and be way ahead for every future tire purchase.
I did the same thing with my Honda Fit Sport. The Sport model had a weird tire size. Got some base-model 14″ wheels and bought the base model tire for hundreds less… and saved again when I got a new set last year.
It’s a real shame that enough Americans didn’t see the value in this form factor for BMW to continue it or for anyone else to jump in the game. It seems like the absolutely perfect 2nd car for any homeowner with a 2+ car family.
Back in March, I picked up the BEV equivalent of David’s car (same year, interior, exterior color). It’s really hard to not opt for when the alternative is our 6-cylinder GLK 350. While the latter is comfortable at highway speeds, there’s a ‘shattered glass’ effect that’s impossible to shake once you’ve gotten used to driving the i3.
You feel the pocketbook pain of every single stop sign, every application of the gas pedal when driving the GLK. Glance at the fuel efficiency, as it hoovers in the 14 mpg range for city driving, and you can almost hear the dollar bills flutter away from your bank account.
On the other hand, you delight at stop and go in the i3. It’s almost a ton lighter, so it really doesn’t require much effort to stop, or get going, and each slow down is rewarded not with brake wear, but a small replenishment of juice to the battery.
The i3 is a supreme city car, capacious enough for our family of four plus a grocery run, heck even a modest Costco visit is doable without the seats folded down.
And somewhere a Nash Metropolitan sits weeping
WOW, I forgot all about that one. His original LA car too
I look at you all
See the love there that’s for i3
While my Nash car gently weeps
Very nice haiku!
The ghost of George Harrison thanks you.
Well, the PO messaged me to tell me that the automatic transmission is kaput. And you KNOW I ain’t rebuilding an auto.
So that’s just a real bummer. I thought it just needed motor work!
PO? Is that your parole officer?
I’m going to assume, perhaps unwisely, that this is a serious question and say that PO in this case almost certainly mean “previous owner”.
Wasn’t your plan to swap it back to having a manual anyway?
Yeah that sounds like the Metro is going on the furthest back burner.
“Well, the PO messaged me to tell me that the automatic transmission is kaput.”
I just remembered something… these originally only came with manuals, no? So it was converted by an owner at some point to automatic?
I pretty much feel the same about my 2017 Volt. I really hope there’s more options out there by the time I need to replace it because as of right now I don’t know what I’d do other than get another Volt.
Just replaced my 2017, the options aren’t great if you’re replacing it because you need something bigger. Most of the new PHEVs get fewer miles than the Volt and MUCH worse mileage when burning gas. I love the Volt but it is just too small for a primary car with two growing kids and all our STUFF
My plan right now is to just go full BEV in a few years. Already tempted by either the EV6 or EX30, but just can’t quite justify it. Especially since I rarely use gas outside of road trips. The most recent tank lasted about 9 months.
If you get an EV6, get the GT-Line (not the GT). Rwd drive is the one to get. The Wind has the dumbest door handles, on the GT Line they auto present.
Aside from the door handles, I’d buy my EV6 again in a heartbeat. I do have charging at home and have road tripped with EA charging without difficulty.
If you need range look at an Ioniq 6 SE rwd , maybe look carefully, as some folks think they are not the prettiest.
With regards to the comments about most PHEVs having low range, I think an important distinction is that most of them are basically gas hybrids with extra batteries tacked on, where the i3 is an electric vehicle with a range extender. These are really two different architectures, and probably why the i3 works so well. For the hybrid based PHEVs, adding a 400lb battery (or more, I think I’ve seen the PHEV Wrangler is 800lbs heavier) for 30-40 miles of electric range just seems like a waste. However, taking a vehicle that is based on an EV, and dropping the range to use less heavy batteries, but add a small, basic range extender might give a lighter vehicle overall, that can still run as an EV 90% of the time. I think there’s a reason why the i3 is relatively light weight, but most PHEVs are just as heavy as many full EVs, if not more, the range extended EV is just a better architecture.
100% correct. Of course BMW also let their designers go hog wild on adding lightness to the i3. Plastic panels, carbon fibre monocoque, aluminium everything, unique seats… it goes on.
Agreed. If only there were more serial PHEVs available. I hate the idea of having an entire ICE power train with a motor crammed into the transmission and a battery tacked on.
An electrical vehicle with a range extender is exactly the car I would love to have, but they are, unfortunately, rare. I don’t want the weight or cost of a 100 kWh battery when I only need 50 miles of range for 90% of my use cases. A small range extender for the other 10% is perfect for me. The best of both worlds…
I have the other golden PHEV (Chevy Volt) from that time, but with less comforts and cheaper tire prices. I love that 60 mile EV range and then the option to drive wherever I want. I really is the perfect city car, except you have an easier time parking.
PHEV’s are the best until charging and battery efficiency gets worked out better across the board.
Toyota mentioned something about more PHEV’s with like ~70-100 miles of range…and that sounds great to me.
The “complexity of multiple powertrains” is an argument that always comes up, but in practice I’m not sure it’s really a thing. Cost…yes to some degree. But the overall package is just so good.
There is no absolute best between EV, PHEV and ICE, there is only best for personal use-case.
I’m 2k miles in to a PHEV Grand Cherokee and I’ve put gas in it once. Really enjoying the choice for a daily driver.
I think the i3 has one of BMW’s motorcycle engines in it, so tbh I wouldn’t even be scared to work on that thing, and David could probably fix one in his sleep.
I have a 2017 I3, I bought it as a lease return after returning my leased I3. Both with Rex. Its the best urban car to be sure.
However you can increase its usefulness by reprograming the car so you can activate the European “Hold Charge” setting. It allows you to activate the generator once you uses up 25% (first bar) of the battery.
Now I can go to Palms Spring from San Pedro, near Long Beach and back without charging and only use $10 worth of gas.
Run the gen while at freeway speed, so you wont hear it. Turn it off once in town. Works great!
Folks, The only thing that’s constant is change. Gosh knows David has gone through some CHANGES this past year! And thank goodness most appear to be for the better. All while having to move, help helm the website, rescue cats, I mean c’mon! And it sounds like a possible love interest? Don’t want to rush things, but if a certain party decides to tie the knot, I hereby volunteer to DJ the “special event”. Let’s all have a little patience, and I’m sure our favorite wrenching buddy will be back at it soon! Wishing you all the best David!
And many Happy Miles of Motoring!
David buried the headline, “… staying at my friend’s house, I just plug into her 110 outlet…”
As abnormal as David seems most of the time, he apparently occasionally slips into behavior that has taken down a lot of us.
Only trying to verify the overnight charge rate? Really?
I had no choice but to spend the night; I needed the kWh!
Is kWh German for something else?
kar-wommen-hostel
I like “kar-wommen-haus” better 🙂
Btw Congrats David
Yep….was stuck on that H for a while and not sure how my brain skipped over the obvious
..But yet you leave in the Morning feeling drained….. ` ͜ʖ´
Are you more of a fast charge or trickle charge person?
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
That’s a brand-new euphamism, right there.
Actually, I’ve found the ones that sport a 110 socket very exciting.
Right? That “friend” is now out as a “her” after a recent headless photo in the cat article, and now she has a place where DT occasionally stays.
At some point she’s going to be more than a “friend.”
Wow, David, just wow. I really thought it would take longer before you went full Californian and started placing “the” before every highway number.
Having dipped my toe into the PHEV world with a used Fusion Energi (admittedly not the best PHEV), I’m also thoroughly enjoying the experience of only occasionally fueling up without having any sort of range anxiety.
Having a fuel sipping second car as a commuter is the way to live. Then all your shitboxes can be used when you WANT to use them. Tho when they are running right, you’ll find yourself taking the commuter less and less often.
I would love to do this if I could find a simple new sipper for under 20K. I can’t see spending more than that on just a commuter.
If you have winter & salt: 1st gen Honda Insight. $3500-5500 gets you a clean one. Aluminum chassis, will never rust out, 5spd manual, S2000 steering wheel, gauges, deeply bolstered seats, it’s a more modern CRX.
If you don’t have winter/salt, the choices are endless. Miata. Civics. Integras. All are capable of high MPG, fun to drive, cheap to run. Stop thinking about only boring ass, bloated, heavy new cars.
I am a sucker for small cars. I find them all so much for engaging to drive, specially with a stick. I will have to look into the Insight. I was thinking about a new Jetta with a stick also. I am kinda leaning towards new.
The point of a second car that sips gas to save money is to…. save money. Hard to do that with a new car that is depreciating like crazy. Also way worse for the planet.
Not to mention the purchase price along with the added expenses of maintenance, insurance, property taxes (if you live in a state that charges those), etc. completely offset any fuel savings for a long time.
I love small cars (my first was a ’76 VW Rabbit that I inherited as my first car in 1982 and my most recent was an NB Miata that I put over 60k miles on in 3 years just a few years ago), but the big problem with driving small cars is you have to share the road with an ever-increasing majority of much larger, much heavier vehicles (mainly huge/heavy trucks/SUVs – and especially the even-heavier EV versions of them). If the small car driver is involved in a crash with one of them, they will certainly lose. I used to drive my Miata with the exact same mindset I use when riding one of my motorcycles… on constant absolute defense – as if everyone else on the road is actively trying to kill me. That mindset has served me well for many years. The one positive note I can add is that more and more vehicles on the road are equipped with modern safety tech (blindspot monitors, lane keep assist, automatic emergency braking, etc) that is helping to prevent accidents – especially those caused by inattentive drivers, but there are still many… TOO many… out there that aren’t.
Absolutely. I am a big proponent of having a efficient and reliable car for a daily driver. Then your project car can be fun, and not soul draining. It is no fun working on a car that have to get running or you can’t go to work the next day. No bat shit crazy idea is off the table if you don’t have to rely on it.
I would like to add the Wrangler 4xe to the perfect car list. 27 miles of electric, 330 miles using the gas engine, loads of modifications and it’s a convertible that goes almost anywhere.
Pretty damn close…a bit pricy, though not so bad with the tax credit…the overall efficiency isn’t that great (but I’m not sure a lot can be done about that), and from my understanding the pure electric mode is a bit finicky and it wants to use the gas engine more than it should…
But generally, I agree.
The only time it overrode my electric “only” mode was when it thought my gas was getting too old. I drove it around in gas only til I was near empty and put in a new 1/4 tank of gas and was good to go. And efficiency is wholly dependent on how long you daily drive. But gas only efficiency is not great at 20 mpg.
That’s good to hear – maybe it’s just the Ford’s that do that.
I’ve got the Grand and I agree. A couple teething issues when I first got it, but its a great commuter.
We have the Pacifica PHEV and its a really good car. Electric mode for 32 miles as long I dont press the gas more than 50%, it took us to Mexico from Michigan back and forth, 30 MPG highway driving with 5 passengers, 2 dogs and all the luggage.
I won’t lie, the 4xe has crossed my mind a few times. It’s just a LOT of cheddar, though.
I seriously considered the 4xe when I bought mine last year, but for two flaws: no 2-door model, no manual.
I probably would have been willing to compromise on one, but not both.
Hybrids and manual transmissions simply don’t work together. I’m a hardcore manual guy… have been all my life (at age 58) but I compromised on the manual when buying my Gladiator because the one in the JL/JT is SO bad (vague/numb cable-shifter, wonky gear ratios, and a very weak clutch) – while the ZF-designed 8-speed auto is SO good. I don’t know how Jeep got it so wrong, but they did. I’d love a 4xe version of the Gladiator (and I’m sure it’s coming soon), but the prices of them are just eye-watering.
My clutch is under a recall (I think this is the second or third so far of this generation), but there’s no fix, and I have no idea whether there will ever be one.
I think Jeep screwed it up so badly with the JL that they’re going to simply drop it for the next generation.
Yep… and they’ll claim they dropped it because demand for it was so low… when the REAL fact is that demand was low because it was (is) SO bad.
David,
I love that you’re documenting your i3 ownership here – keep it up. I feel it’s a bit of a crime that it isn’t on anyone’s car shopping radar here in LA. Also seeing your posts makes me feel that much better about owning one 😀
Tires aren’t expensive, but not a lot of places stock them. I had a flat in mine, ended up towing it to the Pep Boys off Hyperion in Silverlake. They had to order the tire, but it got there in two days. I forget what it cost, but it wasn’t much more than any other average tire. You’ll be fine.