BMW IX3 Buyer Remorse.

[irc]

Customer believed the max mileage claims and was shocked to discover they weren't true. Luckily a letter to the Telegraph got his deposit back and he got shot of the car with only the loss of his monthly payments during ownership.

"The battery is supposed to have a range of 285 miles but it performs so poorly on occasions that it is only able to show a maximum range of 145 miles.

We live down south and have family in the north of England, but the car won’t get us there in one stop. It took us nine hours each way over Christmas. "

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/katie-investigat...

[TTmonkey]

irc said:

Customer believed the max mileage claims and was shocked to discover they weren't true. Luckily a letter to the Telegraph got his deposit back and he got shot of the car with only the loss of his monthly payments during ownership.

"The battery is supposed to have a range of 285 miles but it performs so poorly on occasions that it is only able to show a maximum range of 145 miles.

We live down south and have family in the north of England, but the car won’t get us there in one stop. It took us nine hours each way over Christmas. "

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/katie-investigat...

Could have probably sold it for a premium, surely?

[Wills2]

TTmonkey said:

Could have probably sold it for a premium, surely?

Probably why the dealer took it back instead, although to get 50% less than the claimed range is poor (but who knows how he was driving) I get 15% less than the maximum range of my car 750 per tank rather than the quoted best range of 890 miles (which is only achievable if you drive on a motorway for 890 miles) but you can accept that.

Edited by Wills2 on Friday 18th March 21:01

[Nickbrapp]

Should have bought a ground up EV instead of some cobbled together tonka toy

[Evanivitch]

irc said:

Customer believed the max mileage claims and was shocked to discover they weren't true. Luckily a letter to the Telegraph got his deposit back and he got shot of the car with only the loss of his monthly payments during ownership.

"The battery is supposed to have a range of 285 miles but it performs so poorly on occasions that it is only able to show a maximum range of 145 miles.

We live down south and have family in the north of England, but the car won’t get us there in one stop. It took us nine hours each way over Christmas. "

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/katie-investigat...

Plymouth to Berwick-upon-Tweed is 9.5 hours forecast (ABRP for iX3).

I'm unsurprised they got their money back given the market, but equally it sounds exactly the same as the complaints about MPG claims being unachievable for years...

[TheDeuce]

It's hard to believe that it only had a 145 mile range unless it was driven a certain way.. If it was nailed at 85mph the entire way in the middle of winter then it would make sense. But then buying a car and returning it because it doesn't perform as promised whilst breaking the laws the people that tested it had to adhere to doesn't make any sense at all...

I'm sure the owner is a bit of a pillock. But that said, they really need to sort out better representation of real world EV range. This example is extreme and probably exaggerated but it's a real issue. It's not like dodgy fuel economy claims because that's fixable with a splash and dash - in an EV you really do need to have a vaguely realistic idea of range for it not to be an inconvenience to drivers that tackle long journeys regularly.

[off_again]

Surely this is a great opportunity to bring out the EV BS Bingo chart?



Unfortunately I cant get to the article as its paywalled for me - but let me guess - I need to drive 285 miles without stopping one way? All of the chargers at the single location that I tired were broken? And the usual - it doesnt get the exact range that the OEM said?

And yes, most likely could have handed it back for a zero transaction cost or alternatively sold for a small profit.

I'll keep saying it though - if the EV use case works for you, great. If it doesnt, then either you compromise or stick to ICE. Expecting either ICE or EV to be the best of both worlds is too much. Modern ICE (or PHEV's) are impressively efficient and cost effective. Equally modern EV's are suitable in more situations than ever before.

Does the article mention any cost savings? Or is it just 'all EV's are bad'?

[SWoll]

Wills2 said:

TTmonkey said:

Could have probably sold it for a premium, surely?

Probably why the dealer took it back instead, although to get 50% less than the claimed range is poor (but who knows how he was driving) I get 15% less than the maximum range of my car 750 per tank rather than the quoted best range of 890 miles (which is only achievable if you drive on a motorway for 890 miles) but you can accept that.

Edited by Wills2 on Friday 18th March 21:01

Middle of winter, 4 up, boot full of presents + 85mph on the motorway and I'd have no trouble believing those figures.

I've got very little sympathy for anyone who signs up for a £60k+ car without doing any research at all.

[DMZ]

I think it would be good if in addition to WLTP, which is largely irrelevant, they could ask manufacturers to measure range at motorway speeds, perhaps at the typical European 130km/h (80mph) which is a fairly realistic speed that many drive at. Ideally at a few different temperatures too. This is the only range measurement that I personally look at. It’s not like I’m going to drive 200-300 miles at any other speeds. I think that would cut out a lot of BS and would lead to more real world efficient EVs.

[Evanivitch]

The other issue is obviously the charging network. Follow the motorway and Gridserve chargers will get you 60kW (unless 800V), which isn't best use of the iX3 which would pull over 100kW upto 50% SoC.

A short trip to a faster network goes a long way.

SWoll said:

Middle of winter, 4 up, boot full of presents + 85mph on the motorway and I'd have no trouble believing those figures.

I've got very little sympathy for anyone who signs up for a £60k+ car without doing any research at all.

2 miles/kWh? Weight doesn't make much difference but heater on full wack would.

[TheDeuce]

DMZ said:

I think it would be good if in addition to WLTP, which is largely irrelevant, they could ask manufacturers to measure range at motorway speeds, perhaps at the typical European 130km/h (80mph) which is a fairly realistic speed that many drive at. Ideally at a few different temperatures too. This is the only range measurement that I personally look at. It’s not like I’m going to drive 200-300 miles at any other speeds. I think that would cut out a lot of BS and would lead to more real world efficient EVs.

70mph sustained 20c
80mph sustained 20c
70mph sustained 5c
80mph sustained 5c

And then the general driving figures as at present.

But there's no impetus to offer that level of clarity because the worlds government are fully subscribed to the EV push and they need people to adopt them. And they also probably wouldn't mind if people stopped driving as much or as far in general..

I'm not saying it's right or that I approve, but it is what it is. Our current PM used to write motoring articles of GQ and is a massive petrol head. Ask him his opinion on anything motoring these days and he'll promote cycling in response.

A far cry from his article about a Ferrari F430 “It was as though the whole county of Hampshire was lying back and opening her well-bred legs to be ravished by the Italian stallion”

Oh Boris.

[off_again]

Evanivitch said:

2 miles/kWh? Weight doesn't make much difference but heater on full wack would.

Good question and I don’t know the details. With our i3 (clearly an older generation) we find that it’s the aircon that kills the range.

Ok, so have to put some context to that - it’s usually 8-10 C during the day and we get around 5-10 days of freezing night temps during winter. So it’s not that cold. Summer though, expect to get 45 days of 40 C weather with a handful of days higher. So yeah it’s warmer. But full on heat doesn’t seem to kill the battery as much as full on aircon. Need to do some double checking, but surely a compressor and fan uses more electricity than an electric heating element?

[SWoll]

Evanivitch said:

2 miles/kWh? Weight doesn't make much difference but heater on full wack would.

Every little hurts.

Bjorn's range testing saw 198 miles of range in the summer at 75mph, up the speed a little and drop the temp to zero and 150 miles isn't a bad result I'd suggest?

[paradigital]

off_again said:

Good question and I don’t know the details. With our i3 (clearly an older generation) we find that it’s the aircon that kills the range.

Ok, so have to put some context to that - it’s usually 8-10 C during the day and we get around 5-10 days of freezing night temps during winter. So it’s not that cold. Summer though, expect to get 45 days of 40 C weather with a handful of days higher. So yeah it’s warmer. But full on heat doesn’t seem to kill the battery as much as full on aircon. Need to do some double checking, but surely a compressor and fan uses more electricity than an electric heating element?

I’m pretty certain that resistive heating is worse than an aircon loop, otherwise reverse-running A/C systems as air-source heat-pumps wouldn’t be so efficient.

[Fusion777]

If enough people aren't happy with the iX3, it won't sell and BMW will have to make something better next time around. Do your research, don't buy something that isn't up to it and look forward to more capable vehicles in future.

[hiccy18]

Fusion777 said:

If enough people aren't happy with the iX3, it won't sell and BMW will have to make something better next time around. Do your research, don't buy something that isn't up to it and look forward to more capable vehicles in future.

Looking at that image a couple of posts up, I take it that means you think none of the current EV SUV's are "up to it"?

[Fusion777]

hiccy18 said:

Looking at that image a couple of posts up, I take it that means you think none of the current EV SUV's are "up to it"?

I'm not in the market for an electric SUV. People can make their own assessments based on their requirements.

[SWoll]

Fusion777 said:

hiccy18 said:

Looking at that image a couple of posts up, I take it that means you think none of the current EV SUV's are "up to it"?

I'm not in the market for an electric SUV. People can make their own assessments based on their requirements.

This.

It's not like the information to enable you to make an informed decision isn't out there if you bother to make any effort to find it.

Our SUV EV is even less efficient and range limited than the iX3, but it suits our use fine and we understood it's limitations before we signed up. For others it would be an absolute nightmare to live with I'm sure.

[Sheepshanks]

I think dealers get away with murder not establishing what people are going to do with cars and whether it’s suitable - same happened with DPFs.

BIL got a Lexus hybrid and is dismayed the MPG is way lower than advertised - but he mainly does long motorway trips!

[SWoll]

Sheepshanks said:

I think dealers get away with murder not establishing what people are going to do with cars and whether it’s suitable - same happened with DPFs.

BIL got a Lexus hybrid and is dismayed the MPG is way lower than advertised - but he mainly does long motorway trips!

I think people should take more responsibility for their own decisions personally and not expect to be spoon fed information like a child. 5 minutes on google would have made the limitations very clear, and anyone trusting the advice of the person trying to sell them something is destined to end up in trouble..