Early BMW i3 60ah as a daily
Discussion
My quest for a daily driver continues - needs to seat at least 4, be usable year round and ideally have something interesting about it - the i3 ticks that being electric which i haven’t had before! Trying to keep cost down - so looking around £5-7k.
There is a sensibly priced i3 locally - but it’s the small 60ah battery.
I’ll likely do around 4k miles a year the vast majority around town for my short 4 mile-each way commute or local back roads, so charging roughly once a week. I probably won’t install a home charger as I have free charging at work and an IONITY station very near by for emergencies.
Pros are cheap as chips to run, I like the look of them and the interior looks like a nice enough place to be. Pre-conditioning the cabin would be great as well.
Main concerns are if range is just too restrictive (real world around 50-80 miles) and if it’s a bit small for lugging things around as my ‘main’ car (including 2x kids - 9 & 7 - so both well past the pram stage!) although with seats folded flat I am hopeful it can still be good for tip trips etc.
Alternatives tend to be diesel saloons - not sure my use case is great for their DPFs but having a barge does appeal.
There is a sensibly priced i3 locally - but it’s the small 60ah battery.
I’ll likely do around 4k miles a year the vast majority around town for my short 4 mile-each way commute or local back roads, so charging roughly once a week. I probably won’t install a home charger as I have free charging at work and an IONITY station very near by for emergencies.
Pros are cheap as chips to run, I like the look of them and the interior looks like a nice enough place to be. Pre-conditioning the cabin would be great as well.
Main concerns are if range is just too restrictive (real world around 50-80 miles) and if it’s a bit small for lugging things around as my ‘main’ car (including 2x kids - 9 & 7 - so both well past the pram stage!) although with seats folded flat I am hopeful it can still be good for tip trips etc.
Alternatives tend to be diesel saloons - not sure my use case is great for their DPFs but having a barge does appeal.
we had a Gen1 Leaf for quite a few years - it only had a range of 80 miles (albeit a larger car than an i3) - as our second car
Realistically it did all we ever needed - trip to supermarket, town, school, all the running about. I think in 3/4 years it only ever needed charged away from home twice when my wife went to see her friend.
Realistically it did all we ever needed - trip to supermarket, town, school, all the running about. I think in 3/4 years it only ever needed charged away from home twice when my wife went to see her friend.
I had one for a couple of years; the latest 120 AH version. If you get free charging at work and an EV tariff at home, it’ll cost pittance to run. Range anxiety will be a thing so you’ll have to plan for longer journeys. Carrying kids won’t be an issue but the suicide doors can be a PITA.
Carrying stuff is easy, the car can carry a lot. Don’t worry about that.
Overall, for your purposes, you won’t find a cheaper mode of driving, and the handling of the thing is special- on a level with my 911 for dynamics.
Carrying stuff is easy, the car can carry a lot. Don’t worry about that.
Overall, for your purposes, you won’t find a cheaper mode of driving, and the handling of the thing is special- on a level with my 911 for dynamics.
Had an early REx for a few years. If you want really cheap to run get a LEAF. They are more reliable but are not interesting like an i3. i3 obviously is the PH choice. On the i3 there are several expensive things that go wrong, and it is either dealer or (very) specialist to sort and it'll be £££. That said, I want another one day.
I run a 60ah REX as a commuter and for work visits. My commute is 13 miles each way and I put about 1k miles a month on it, only charging on a 3pin plug and using the REX once every couple weeks on average.
It's been perfect for me alongside a second car. I picked it up for 6.5k last spring with 48k on the clock. The battery is around 85% of the original capacity and the range is around 55~ in winter and 75~ summer on mostly NSL roads. I only run it in "eco pro".
With a use case like yours, after a couple weeks you'll mostly forget about the range aspect and treat it like any other car.
It's been perfect for me alongside a second car. I picked it up for 6.5k last spring with 48k on the clock. The battery is around 85% of the original capacity and the range is around 55~ in winter and 75~ summer on mostly NSL roads. I only run it in "eco pro".
With a use case like yours, after a couple weeks you'll mostly forget about the range aspect and treat it like any other car.
Thanks all - what sort of issues or gremlins should I look out for?
The caveat I have is it would be my sensible car - the other is a 997 which I m going to SORN over winter - but the longest trips i do regularly would be 20 miles each way to family. If doing day trips further afield I may need to borrow an ICE car
If it started to be a hinderance I can always change it out next year of course given relatively low entry cost.
The caveat I have is it would be my sensible car - the other is a 997 which I m going to SORN over winter - but the longest trips i do regularly would be 20 miles each way to family. If doing day trips further afield I may need to borrow an ICE car
If it started to be a hinderance I can always change it out next year of course given relatively low entry cost.
Edited by CrouchingWayne on Wednesday 23 July 10:22
There are a few weaknesses on the earlier models which got rectified later on. The main ones I can think of are the AC compressor (make sure the AC works as it should) and the plastic motor mount brackets which were later changed to aluminium.
Binge watching Wisely's i3 videos is a good way to get familiar with all the details:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIWA0MkXjn9...
Binge watching Wisely's i3 videos is a good way to get familiar with all the details:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIWA0MkXjn9...
Edited by eth2190 on Wednesday 23 July 11:03
eth2190 said:
There are a few weaknesses on the earlier models which got rectified later on. The main ones I can think of are the AC compressor (make sure the AC works as it should) and the plastic motor mount brackets which were later changed to aluminium.
Binge watching Wisely's i3 videos is a good way to get familiar with all the details:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIWA0MkXjn9...
Thanks for this - working my way through the videos and learning a lot.Binge watching Wisely's i3 videos is a good way to get familiar with all the details:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIWA0MkXjn9...
Edited by eth2190 on Wednesday 23 July 11:03
If i want to pre-condition the car do I need to have it plugged in?
And then if I want to use a granny charger for this do I need to get my sockets checked, and a specific extension lead spec?
Car is right at the bottom end of the market price wise (around £5k) but seems in good condition with recent warranty work from a main dealer.
Spec wise what should I keep an eye open for? Beggars can’t be choosers but useful to get an idea what is optional. I have clocked it has the smaller nav screen, cloth seats (I slightly prefer cloth usually - but these are quite light coloured), think they are heated though.
It doesn't need to be plugged in, however it will use a few percentage points of charge to heat up on a frosty morning.
For 3 pin charging the socket should be compliant with BS1363 to be on the safe side.
Harman Kardon, park assist and LED headlights are nice options to have. There are aftermarket upgrades for the screen and Android/ Apple Car Play so that wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. Heated seats are standard fit.
For 3 pin charging the socket should be compliant with BS1363 to be on the safe side.
Harman Kardon, park assist and LED headlights are nice options to have. There are aftermarket upgrades for the screen and Android/ Apple Car Play so that wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. Heated seats are standard fit.
CrouchingWayne said:
Main concerns are if range is just too restrictive (real world around 50-80 miles) and if it s a bit small for lugging things around as my main car (including 2x kids - 9 & 7 - so both well past the pram stage!) although with seats folded flat I am hopeful it can still be good for tip trips etc.
The range might become restrictive if you don't have an alternative ICE car to do longer family trips in.Other than that, it's pretty much ideal for your use case. There's plenty of room in the back given its footprint (one of the main draws of the car) and you can stuff loads of stuff in it with the seats down, e.g. a set of 4 wide tyres
A lot of these are starting to show significant battery aging already.
Which says to me, they will lose yet more value over the next few years.
You don't have to worry about range with the Rex, but it's still not a long distance car.
I was quite keen to get one about two years ago, I'm pleased I didn't as those I looked at have lost a lot of value since then.
Looking over any reasonable timescale for my use case, a Kona or MG would seem to deliver more functionality, with a lot more future.
I haven't looked at the later i3 with bigger battery for a while.
Finding the money for a newer generation EV, even borrowing it, seems like a better deal. Quite likely less £ per year and it will do more of what you'd otherwise do in an IC car.
Some of the lease (etc?) deals on new or nearly new cars could even be cheaper.
£6k is still a lot of money for an 'extra' vehicle, especially one which has a finite life. You could buy a tidy used motorbike or MX5 for that, and get more years out of it. You could buy a reasonable IC car with similar remaining life for less money.
If you want to save money by having an EV, you have to rack up the miles. If you keep taking the other car because you're venturing more than 30 miles from home, how long will it take to rack up those miles?
howmanyleft suggests the 2013/14/15 examples are suffering significant attrition now?
Or have BMW 'taken them out of circulation'?
I see it as 'buy it because you want it' proposition, rather than something that makes great financial sense.
Question is, how much cheaper will they get?
Which says to me, they will lose yet more value over the next few years.
You don't have to worry about range with the Rex, but it's still not a long distance car.
I was quite keen to get one about two years ago, I'm pleased I didn't as those I looked at have lost a lot of value since then.
Looking over any reasonable timescale for my use case, a Kona or MG would seem to deliver more functionality, with a lot more future.
I haven't looked at the later i3 with bigger battery for a while.
Finding the money for a newer generation EV, even borrowing it, seems like a better deal. Quite likely less £ per year and it will do more of what you'd otherwise do in an IC car.
Some of the lease (etc?) deals on new or nearly new cars could even be cheaper.
£6k is still a lot of money for an 'extra' vehicle, especially one which has a finite life. You could buy a tidy used motorbike or MX5 for that, and get more years out of it. You could buy a reasonable IC car with similar remaining life for less money.
If you want to save money by having an EV, you have to rack up the miles. If you keep taking the other car because you're venturing more than 30 miles from home, how long will it take to rack up those miles?
howmanyleft suggests the 2013/14/15 examples are suffering significant attrition now?
Or have BMW 'taken them out of circulation'?
I see it as 'buy it because you want it' proposition, rather than something that makes great financial sense.
Question is, how much cheaper will they get?
OutInTheShed said:
A lot of these are starting to show significant battery aging already.
Which says to me, they will lose yet more value over the next few years.
howmanyleft suggests the 2013/14/15 examples are suffering significant attrition now?
Or have BMW 'taken them out of circulation'?
Am I missing something? From the graph below it pretty much seems to show constant numbers of I3s on the road?Which says to me, they will lose yet more value over the next few years.
howmanyleft suggests the 2013/14/15 examples are suffering significant attrition now?
Or have BMW 'taken them out of circulation'?
OutInTheShed said:
howmanyleft suggests the 2013/14/15 examples are suffering significant attrition now?
Or have BMW 'taken them out of circulation'?
Even if this is true it would be pretty normal for 10 year old cars that some of them are end of life. You'd have to demonstrate this is more than normal for average ICE car of a similar type.Or have BMW 'taken them out of circulation'?
LayZ said:
Even if this is true it would be pretty normal for 10 year old cars that some of them are end of life. You'd have to demonstrate this is more than normal for average ICE car of a similar type.
Nobody has to prove anything to anyone, apart from the buyer needs to convince himself he's happy with the car.If you want to buy one because you like it and you can afford it, rock on.
If you're trying to convince people it's 'better' than XYZ or will save the planet, not so much.
But there's an element of the age-old thing, somebody wants to spend £6k on a car, you have to know where and when the next £6k is coming from.
I've bought vehicles for that kind of money, thinking if it blows up in two months, I could be cycling to work, and I'm OK with that.
I've bought vehicles knowing 'this needs to do me for a couple of years minimum'.
I've bought vehicles for more than £6k, knowing I already have a vehicle that will do what I need for the foreseeable, and I can find a lot more than £6k if I want to.
normalbloke said:
You do not want to be using an extension lead. Part of the granny charger s safety system is that it monitors the temp of the socket via the 3 pin plug.
I guess if you had to run a longer lead out, you could get a 16amp or even 32amp 'ceeform/camando' socket fitted in the garage or something and run some 2.5mm artic flex from that to a flying 13a socket?OutInTheShed said:
£6k is still a lot of money for an 'extra' vehicle, especially one which has a finite life. You could buy a tidy used motorbike or MX5 for that, and get more years out of it. You could buy a reasonable IC car with similar remaining life for less money.
If you want to save money by having an EV, you have to rack up the miles. If you keep taking the other car because you're venturing more than 30 miles from home, how long will it take to rack up those miles?
Which is why I havent taken the plunge.If you want to save money by having an EV, you have to rack up the miles. If you keep taking the other car because you're venturing more than 30 miles from home, how long will it take to rack up those miles?
I enjoy driving my 25yo BMW E46 330ci which is comfortable and reasonably powerful and I don't want to degrade my commute experience, so while it might be fun to run a BMW i3 or Tesla model 3 the risk and deprecation don't justify the reduced fuel costs, and a Nissan Leaf or used MG doesnt appeal at all.
Should I want or need to save money, I could drive our old 58plate 1.6tdci fiesta which is in effect a spare car now my wife has her T4 V60ii.
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff