F55 Mini Cooper S v BMW i3

[Alfahorn]

I've currently got a 2016 Mini Cooper S which I've owned for almost 2years. I'm considering changing to the i3 of a similar age 2016-17 and wanted to know what they are like to live with. I live in the east midlands and do about 18,000 miles a year including London driving.

What are they like on the motorway, around town etc? Any models to avoid or extras that are a must?

[E-bmw]

This obviously is general/estimated info as you aren't specific, but I would say range is 100% your issue.

I3 range 177 to 193 according to Dr Google, 140/150 real world.

East Midlands airport to central London 116 miles.

[Alfahorn]

Thanks I’m Market Harborough and my usual London destination is Finchley, and there are chargers nearby.

My daily commute is 10 miles, we have chargers at work.

[E-bmw]

Alfahorn said:

Thanks I’m Market Harborough and my usual London destination is Finchley, and there are chargers nearby.

My daily commute is 10 miles, we have chargers at work.

Still well over 1/2 the expected range of a new set of batteries, what if you can't get it on a charger when you get there?

Just sayin'/playing devil's advocate.

[rfn]

We love our 120Ah i3S. It's great. Fun to drive, feels a bit "old school" and very much like my F21 m135i to drive.
The maximum we've seen on a full charge is 160 miles, in summer.
I would 100% recommend one!

[Alfahorn]

E-bmw said:

Still well over 1/2 the expected range of a new set of batteries, what if you can't get it on a charger when you get there?

Just sayin'/playing devil's advocate.

It's good point to raise, this why I'm also considering a REX model.

[Alfahorn]

rfn said:

We love our 120Ah i3S. It's great. Fun to drive, feels a bit "old school" and very much like my F21 m135i to drive.
The maximum we've seen on a full charge is 160 miles, in summer.
I would 100% recommend one!

I think S models are out of my price range sadly, unless I get a high miles one.

[Luke.]

Alfahorn said:

I think S models are out of my price range sadly, unless I get a high miles one.

High miles is nothing on these cars. It's not like they've got engines that wear down and the batteries degrade very slowly.

[E-bmw]

Luke. said:

Alfahorn said:

I think S models are out of my price range sadly, unless I get a high miles one.

High miles is nothing on these cars. It's not like they've got engines that wear down and the batteries degrade very slowly.

Batteries last differently for all cars and it varies on duty cycle, but I think around 10 - 15 years is an average these days.

[Alfahorn]

Luke. said:

High miles is nothing on these cars. It's not like they've got engines that wear down and the batteries degrade very slowly.

Yes - but if I buy a car that's 6 years old and under 100,000 miles it'll still have warranty on the batteries, plus I do 18k a year on average so whilst I don't have an issue with high miles, indeed my weekend toy Alfa has 144k, I don't want to buy a higher miler to begin with when I'm likely to keep the car for at lest 3 years and add the best part of 60,000 miles to it anyway.

[E-bmw]

Alfahorn said:

Luke. said:

High miles is nothing on these cars. It's not like they've got engines that wear down and the batteries degrade very slowly.

Yes - but if I buy a car that's 6 years old and under 100,000 miles it'll still have warranty on the batteries, plus I do 18k a year on average so whilst I don't have an issue with high miles, indeed my weekend toy Alfa has 144k, I don't want to buy a higher miler to begin with when I'm likely to keep the car for at lest 3 years and add the best part of 60,000 miles to it anyway.

Just also bear in mind, in that case the battery warranty is 8 years.

[Sn1ckers]

We’ve had an i3 for 2 years now and it’s been 100% reliable and exceptionally cheap to run. Getting the negatives out of the way first I’d prefer it had 5 seats and sometimes the rear door arrangement is a pain. Otherwise it’s great. Summer range max has been 195 miles and winter is about 130 max. Both are very dependent on your style of driving and higher speed cruising (60 mph+) lowers its range significantly.

We use a 3 pin home charger for all our needs with Octopus charging 7.5p/kWh overnight. At 4 miles / kWh it’s cheap motoring!

Possibly the best thing about the car is not the way it drives but the comically small turning circle. The car is so manoeuvrable compared with any other car I’ve driven it’s ridiculous.

Possibly the perfect urban car.

[huytonman]

I did this very change, CooperS to an i3rex. 18k miles/year in the i3 is pushing things, even with the rex you will be spending a lot of time charging - my i3 would do around 95 miles on a charge, less in winter and the rex isnt exactly unobtrusive when it kicks in. The i3 drives ok, obviously quick in a straight line, lousy in cross winds and a bit lairy with those narrow tyres but perfectly practical, we used ours as a mini estate car with the rear seats folded for much of the time. After 12 months I got rid - the missus was continually worried about running out of juice even though the rex was there to stop that and no point spending your life being worried like that - the replacement was another cooperS (which she still has sixe years later). As a town car for short commutes the i3 is still a good buy in my view and ours never missed a beat.
Keith