Bmw i3

[Broccers]

Anyone lived with one? I like the appeal of cheap runabout now Nic has charging at work. I don't like so much the usual BMW falling apart stories.

[scotta]

My mate Scott has one. By all accounts its a decent drive. The added bonus of getting a charging space at the office front door rather than having to use the park & ride 2 miles away.

Ive been in it. Pretty brisk and quiet and a fairly nice place to be. Works well for him as he has other toys to play with. (Lotus 2/11, Mini GP2, Boxster GTS, FF RR and access to his brothers GT4)

[Zonda_]

Doesn't Mitos dad have one?

[Mito Man]

Yeah I’ve driven it quite a bit. Solid little car, hasn’t had any problems since all the software updates and recalls have been implemented. Only maintenance on it has been a set of tyres in 50,000 miles since it came with 5 years servicing. Nice in winter as you can preheat it from your phone. ‘Handling’ takes a while to get used to. Being all recycled plastic and hard leather the interior seems to be wearing well despite the dogs efforts in scratching it up but that’s because it looked pretty awful from day 1.

[Broccers]

Im a little confused by the charging options on each year cars as they differ. In fact the whole thing is far from simple isnt it.

[GG.]

Only maintenance on it has been a set of tyres in 50,000 miles.

Presumably didn't set you back that much though given you should be able to get them from Evans Cycles.

ETA: 50k is a helluva long way in one though - I guess yours is the range extender model?

[Mito Man]

IIRC there was a rapid charging option when the car was launched, but it became a standard item after a while.

The tyres are quite expensive for what they are (like £150 each) as Bridgestone is the only company manufacturing for it. I think with the new i3s there’s about 5 different sizes and all are unique to that car.

One other interesting thing, the windscreen got cracked and Autoglass came to change it the replacement windscreen was the original BMW OEM one complete with BMW emblems - fitter said it’s just not worth them setting up 2 production lines for it - must have cost them dearly though!

[GG.]

One other interesting thing, the windscreen got cracked and Autoglass came to change it the replacement windscreen was the original BMW OEM one complete with BMW emblems - fitter said it’s just not worth them setting up 2 production lines for it - must have cost them dearly though!

Don't you always insist on OEM glass if insurance is paying for it? Why accept pattern glass?

[Mito Man]

My dad doesn’t give a crap, and neither do I unless the screen is obviously defective. There’s only 2 OEM manufactures I’ve noticed on glass (Pilkington, St Gobain) and that’s the same brands that Autoglass have always supplied to us, minus the manufacturer logo. I’m not sure how much effort said manufacturers would go through to purposely make the pattern part inferior, probably not worth their time and they just use a different silkscreen for the logos at the end.

[GG.]

My dad doesn’t give a crap, and neither do I unless the screen is obviously defective. There’s only 2 OEM manufactures I’ve noticed on glass (Pilkington, St Gobain) and that’s the same brands that Autoglass have always supplied to us, minus the manufacturer logo. I’m not sure how much effort said manufacturers would go through to purposely make the pattern part inferior, probably not worth their time and they just use a different silkscreen for the logos at the end.

More that you may be getting Piklington instead of the original St Gobain/Sekurit (or vice versa). If its a different manufacturer and may be a different quality or inferior fit to OEM?

[Mito Man]

It’s been replaced with the same brand as OEM since as far back as I can remember. I reckon the tolerances for windscreen quality must be pretty tight nowadays that we all have different tints, sensors through the windscreen, heads up displays etc. I guess on something ‘dumb’ like my Defender they can use a random brand but even that’s tinted from the factory.

Incidentally I remember when my dad collected his new X5 10 years ago it would make a whistling noise above 120 mph. The technician wasn’t willing to take the car to that speed for himself so requested to be a passenger whilst he located the noise. Turned out the windscreen wasn’t sealed correctly from the factory and they had to replace it. One week old car worthless But shows even the manufacturer’s get it wrong.

[mr_jon]

Get a battery-owned Zoe if you have charging at work it will work out extremely cheap motoring

Zoe is better in hill/snow interfaces being a fwd scrabbler. By all accounts the i3 is hopeless. Might be consideration in deepest darkest Sheffield.

Cheers,
Jon

[Marv]

My sister has owned an i3 for over a year now. The only problem she has had its with the tyres, they seem to puncture easily - a couple of times sharp stones have managed to puncture them. I inspected the tyres and despite being Bridgestone, they're quite cracked and crazed for their age.

Otherwise it's been perfect.

[Foz]

For a pure city car they are compelling, but expensive, I am tempted by a shitroen c1 for the winter to then turn into a 24h endurance car for the series, the chances of doing the 24h of spa in anything more exotic are limited

[integrale_evo]

My sister has owned an i3 for over a year now. The only problem she has had its with the tyres, they seem to puncture easily - a couple of times sharp stones have managed to puncture them. I inspected the tyres and despite being Bridgestone, they're quite cracked and crazed for their age.

Otherwise it's been perfect.

Weird about the tyres, you'd expect them to be rock solid being low resistance eco tyres. Maybe that's the problem and objects pierce instead of the tyre deforming around them, and being narrow there is higher contact pressure.

[Broccers]

Get a battery-owned Zoe if you have charging at work it will work out extremely cheap motoring

Zoe is better in hill/snow interfaces being a fwd scrabbler. By all accounts the i3 is hopeless. Might be consideration in deepest darkest Sheffield.

Cheers,
Jon

I've not looked at those but will. As said above the i3 can be fun too and I reckon they look ok as well. As for leccy only this would make it half a car in my mind - we would be getting a range extender so life doesnt end when the battery dies.

There's retired folk on the Facebook group who have done europe on charging only - my life it too short for such planning and constraints - they are mainly retired tho so maybe it doesn't matter so much.

Interesting on the tyres cheers.

[Broccers]

For a pure city car they are compelling, but expensive, I am tempted by a shitroen c1 for the winter to then turn into a 24h endurance car for the series, the chances of doing the 24h of spa in anything more exotic are limited

My hire car to drive from faro to seville was a c1 and it was really frugal sat flat out at 140kph. Our c1 lease car was better specced but god they are like being in a coke can.

[Marv]

My sister has owned an i3 for over a year now. The only problem she has had its with the tyres, they seem to puncture easily - a couple of times sharp stones have managed to puncture them. I inspected the tyres and despite being Bridgestone, they're quite cracked and crazed for their age.

Otherwise it's been perfect.

Weird about the tyres, you'd expect them to be rock solid being low resistance eco tyres. Maybe that's the problem and objects pierce instead of the tyre deforming around them, and being narrow there is higher contact pressure.

That's the theory I've been going with too.

[Broccers]

There's a better battery in the new ones https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/a ... i3s-120-ah