It has come to my attention that there is a SMOKING HOT deal on a BMW i3 here in California, and I’m struggling to resist it. I should, because $15,000 isn’t cheap, but it’s for a 2019 BMW i3, which has twice as big a battery as my 2014, yielding twice the EV-only range. I could probably sell mine for $10,000ish, but would it be worth it? Help me decide!
Apple Carplay, twice the range, roughly half the odometer mileage, the new fascia, a less-worn steering wheel — these are a few of the benefits I would get if I bought the 2019 BMW i3 for sale near me. I’d have to plunk down $15 large, which will be a hard pill to swallow, but I’d get a $1000 rebate from my power company, so that’d be $14,000 plus tax, probably bringing me to about $15,500. I could sell my current i3 for probably $10,500, so all in I’d probably have to drop $4 or 5 grand to get those benefits. Is it worth it?
It might be? I mean, look at this beautiful golden-brown carbon fiber range-extended electric car:
Here’s the interior:
I love my dark gray 2014, too, and I prefer both its 19-inch wheels and its Giga World interior to the 2019’s above:
In fact, I love the car so much, I just made this effusive Instagram reel:
View this post on Instagram
You’ll notice that my i3 has the bigger screen and Harman Kardon audio system. Really, when it comes to the interior, this 2019 would be a downgrade. But the cabin still looks cool, plus it has Apple Carplay and I guess I could swap the seats and door panels…
But I don’t really need 150 miles of range. My i3’s 70-80 miles gets the job done 99 percent of the time, and that once percent isn’t using so much fuel that spending $5 grand on the 2019 would pay off anytime in the next decade.
That said, my i3’s original battery only lasted 135,000 miles and nine years; if I plan to keep this car for a while (and I do), buying a 2019 could allow me to put off replacing a battery for at least another nine years. In truth, I think the 2019’s battery pack will last even longer, as it’s an improved chemistry.
But now we’re talking almost a decade in the future. Who knows what the world’s battery situation will look like then; maybe I should just hold onto my $4-5 grand, keep enjoying a car whose problems I’m familiar with (it’s pretty much problem-free), and Love The One I’m With?
But that bigger battery and Apple Carplay are so tempting.
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Images of 2019 i3: Facebook Marketplace
Only $1000/year newer, YES. Plus, I can imagine this job requiring more milage at some point, don’t you? I mean, you write about cars. And, that 5 years makes a difference, IMO. It may not now, but will soon.
Newer is not as valuable as you seem to think it is.
I’ve got a 2012, I’d much rather have a 2017. In general, I agree, but my point was newer means less wear and fresher rubber, which is all good.
I am for it for getting a longer warranty as well as more range. My 19 e-Golf battery will be under warranty through most of 27. You’ll get even longer in California as you’ve shown.
I am against it because car play is nice, and I’m sure maps are helpful in a new city, but the screen is now smaller, also I don’t believe in trading a vehicle for infotainment.
I have a few questions before final judgement can be rendered.
Are there aftermarket car play/android options? There’s some for my Lexus, but all are wired car play only and cost $700+
How often do you use public charging in you current i3? Extra range can go a long way in time savings.
Check if you’re eligible for the larger $4k incentive, the income limits can be pretty high. In Santa Clara county near me your AGI from your last tax filing needs to be under $93k. In my county the limit is $61k(I live less than 10 minutes from the other county.) Fortunately we were not married for 2022 taxes and my wife was out on disability part of that year, so we put her first on the title and got $4k back! Only took them about 6 months to get us the check, so if someone is actually low income they are still SOL. Also getting the $4k federal but a little nervous as the fine print is sketch about the dealer reporting the sale. Then an additional $1k from our local community choice power for a total of $9k in incentives on a $21k car.
Here’s the IRS page for the used EV tax credit. The upper limit for a single filer is an adjusted gross income of $75,000, and (not that he isn’t worth it, but…) if David’s AGI is higher than that, I have to wonder why I paid for membership that’s all about redistricting income upward like everything else in this allegedly socialist economy of ours.
like everything else in this allegedly socialist economy of ours.
Allegedly? The libraries are PUBLIC for God’s sake!
My post was not meant to be about the federal incentives but I didn’t make that clear.
David lives in LA. An entry level engineer around there makes $90k. That will let you pay rent and regular life expenses and maybe let you go out to eat once a week. David is an experienced engineer, running his own car website. I hope he’s making at least $90k.
The $75k cutoff for the federal incentive sucks in high cost areas. Most people who make under $75k can barely afford to buy a used EV… I only qualify because I got married- $150k filing jointly is much more generous.
$90k is $72k after taxes or $6k a month. That doesn’t go very far in LA where his rent may easily be $3k (I saw some meh 2-BR apts in meh areas like Studio City for $4k just 6 months ago). Better not have any friends, hobbies, pets, SOs, or any hope of ever retiring.
Dealers are currently able to apply the tax credit at purchase, if they are enrolled. This price screams of a price after rebate applied. I have seen a lot of advertising with the rebate already applied once you check the fine print. But I did just get my tax credit applied for the e-Golf we got last year, so I’m not eligible for 3 more years. I saw a 500e listed for 11k, but it was actually 17 after all state and federal rebates were removed.
I sent them a tip the other day about this very issue, we’ll see if they have an article.
And I was talking about the incentive from the power company not the fed rebate, but I realize I forgot to make it clear and now I can’t fix it.
The worst part about this is if you are close the the cutoff. I’m unemployed now but looking at roles close to $150k, and my wife’s income is variable if I bought a used EV now and got the instant $4k, it’s a toss up whether I will realize at the end of the year that I’m on the hook for paying it back. I guess if that happens and I’m close I can just make a large HSA contribution instead.
You can also decline the rebate at purchase if you are unsure, then file for it on taxes if applicable.
Fair, but I think it makes more sense just to keep the $4k in the near term and let it stay invested or earning interest and just pay it back later if needed.
I didn’t realize till now, but the $150k joint vs $75k single limits are pretty unfair to the single people, especially in high cost of housing areas. $75k single is significantly less disposable income than $150k joint.
It’s not a great system, but I also don’t see a whole lot of good reasoning for used EV rebates. The idea really is that lower incomes couldn’t afford new EVs but should still get a discount on used, so the numbers are awkwardly low.
This is meant to be about the incentives from PG&E and Edison, not the federal rebate.
Get yourself a phone running Android. Then you won’t be tempted by the addition of the CarPlay.
That’s just one of about a thousand reasons.
You can add Carplay to your i3 with an aftermarket MMI module and a little bit of coding with your phone and a bluetooth OBD2 reader. I looked into it when I was about to purchase an i3 a year or two agi, it was maybe $600-750
Second this! Especially if you already have the larger screen.
I’m assuming this is private party, and therefore not eligible for the $4K tax credit?
I would say your brand new battery>5 year newer car, but I’m not very familiar with the i3 LCI changes. Unless you are using over 80% of your current (new) battery regularly it should last as long as that 2019 battery easily. Plus, older car = cheaper insurance!
You can still get the tax credit on a used EV purchase by going through a middle man that essentially handles the payment transaction, KeySavvy is a popular one in some of the EV circles I’m in
Oooh that’s a hot tip right there!! I would much rather go private party than undergo the scam fest
Nature, finds a way. I should have assumed there was a workaround!
This sounds like the advertised price after the 4k rebate is applied by the dealer.
Totally not worth it. You already have a new battery and a sweeter interior. Save the $$.
This sounds like a no brainer if it only costs $5,000 to upgrade.
A bigger battery is a huge plus. It may not help now, but it will help in the future when the battery starts to degrade significantly. A battery with 150 miles range can degrade considerably and still be useful. The bigger battery can degrade 40% (which will take probably 10-15 years) and still have a longer range than the 2014 had when new. Also, while the 2014 has a recently replaced battery, but the rest of the car is still 10 years old so other things will break.
The other consideration is resale value. Short range EVs have very limited resale value. I presume the range extender helps, but not that much. If you end up selling your i3 in 5 years (whichever car you end up with), it is likely the 2019 will be worth $5,000 more than the 2014.
Honestly, I’m struggling to see a reason for you to not buy this car. Given the difference in longevity and resale value, buying the 2019 sounds like a good financial decision.
Also, does the used EV tax credit apply to this car? If it does and you can get it, that makes this deal even better.
FWIW, you could buy a used Bolt with a newish battery (since the older models all had them replaced a year or so back) that gets 260 miles of BEV range — also for $15k, maybe less. They all have Car Play and Android Auto. (Not quite the flair of a BMW, though.)
They also have separate rear doors with roll-down windows.
No ICE range extender though. A Volt or an ELR could be a suitable alternative though.
But the point is, with 260 miles battery range, it is farther than the REx would take you, I think (and no need ever for gas, oil changes, smogging, etc.)
I agree that those can be a pain. However NACS is becoming the standard in the US, and considering he wants to keep his i3 for a while it won’t be long before non-NACS chargers go the way of the dodo in the US.
Gas is gas, the fuel pump nozzle is backwards compatible with previous generations of fuel nozzle, and his car can run on modern ethanol blends.
I wouldn’t buy an electric car I intend on driving outside the city unless it has NACS and or an ICE generator.
Fuel pumps are indeed very back-compatible!
Also, a Bolt is only moderately ugly, which is a massive upgrade over an i3.
Go for it. We did a similar change and never looked back.
We went from base trim to top trim with our upgrade. You will probably miss the larger screen the most, but the extra range makes the car exponentially more useful.
The standard sound system is good enough unless you regularly use the back seats (no speakers there).
I am officially a grown up. And the worlds worst therapist. Either way you are at some point going to regret this decision, Is that regret, worth $5000? Think of the joy someone else will take from the golden brown one. In later life you can sit back and reflect, and tell tales of the ones that got away.
I realize the above is not helpful.
You could buy SOOOOO many derelict Jeeps with that $5k…
Unless you need the larger battery – which you’ve said you don’t then. Don’t do it. Yours is fine another deal will come. Plus you can upgrade your car to carplay, its no big deal. You can buy all the doodads to do that from the interwebs.
definitely keep the one you got.
Either way, you won’t be making a mistake. Although I am still in shock. Is this the same DT that bought death trap jeeps? Or did the lizard people replace him? Usually we don’t replace people until they reach a certain level of influence. Damn… um… everyone ignore me, lizard people aren’t real…
I’m in so much trouble…
Are you suggesting that DT isn’t important enough to merit replacing?
Well, he is the co-founder of an automotive website, so it’s possible…
Dammit. Quit asking me. I’m already in enough trouble with The Overlords
Overlizards
You know as well as I do how imprecise language annoys them.
And given what we’ve seen of David’s editorial style, either he’s long since been replaced or he never was entirely human to begin with.
Yeah, forgetting their proper titles is one of the many reasons they get upset with me. And evidently David isn’t one of ours, according to them. Although they didn’t say it that way. What they really said was: “WHY WOULD WE REPLACE A GUY AND HAVE HIM TALK ABOUT AN EV?!?! WE WANT GLOBAL WARMING YOU NINCOMPOOP!”
And I am blabbering about things again… I’m so going to get another tail chewing… and I just regrew mine after the last one…
Ok, it’s still dark here, I’m getting ready to go out the door.
You’ve already started my day with a hearty laugh and I’m now ready to go get soaked to the bone while it’s in the low 30s
Sincere thanks, y’all!
We have a spare pod…
A couple of things come to mind.
Will tires be more available and/or reasonably priced on the newer car? IIRC the selection is quite limited for your current i3.
You’ve indicated that the additional range isn’t really necessary for your use case. Is the use case for CarPlay of equal or greater magnitude? It [CarPlay] seems like a very minor feature in the context of the whole vehicle.
Tires are no different on any of the model years unless you get an S variant (which had wider rims, wider fenders, etc). Carplay can be added to any i3 with an aftermarket module and maybe a 45 minute install job
Or, hear me out, sell current i3 and buy some e46 330 ZHP. It doesn’t have Apple CarPlay, or likely a fully functioning radio. But it’s time you embrace your true calling; Southern California BMW guy. And what better way to slide recklessly off a canyon road then the Gentleman’s M3.
Username checks out
Feel free to step off the merry-go-round that keeps so much money out of the pockets of so many by sticking with what you have until you have a valid, practical, or economic need or argument that your current car cant answer.
There will always be a sweet deal in the future. Looks and trends change. Put the money somewhere else where they may grow
I have an extra i3 screen (the large size) in my garage in north San Diego county that I’d offer you, but I believe it is only directly swappable into a pre-LCI model (2017 or earlier). 2018+ models required swapping the whole iDrive unit.
How many miles on the 2019? If it’s under 60k, buy that brown beige bitch immediately. If it’s much over that, then nah, stick with your current whip.
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do (love the one you’re with)! 🙂
Nah keep what you have it’s working for you. The battery is brand new and should last a while. I agree the interior is a step down on the new model.
You just got a replacement battery in your current i3. Will it outlast a five year-old battery even if the newer car’s battery is reformulated? That would be the decider for me, especially if I’m looking 10 years down the road for replacement. If you don’t need the extra range for the majority of your driving, it seems that would be less significant. Always nice to have, but maybe not at the expense of downgraded creature comforts. Finally, could the newer car have similar problems to your current one and that’s why it’s such a bargain? You might not get BMW to pony up for a battery switcheroo twice.
Sounds like a downgrade. Apple CarPlay is nice, but not worth $5k. Buy a dash-mount unit for a couple hundred bucks. And if you spend time in the car, you want the better sound system (since there’s no car sounds to hear).
But I wouldn’t worry about what you’ll be doing with either i3 in 10 years – you’ll be scrapping them. It won’t be worth replacing the batteries.
You should buy it and sell it to me, in the Midwest