Old (2016/7) i3
Discussion
Just toying with the idea of one of the older i3's as something to play with and use locally.
Aside from the battery age and diminished range are there any real things to watch out for?
And, are they realistic in use? Some of the ones I've seen advertised quote a range of about 100 miles which is really not confidence inspiring!
Aside from the battery age and diminished range are there any real things to watch out for?
And, are they realistic in use? Some of the ones I've seen advertised quote a range of about 100 miles which is really not confidence inspiring!
Our 2018 Range Extender will easily do 150 miles on a combination of main battery charge and petrol backup, and probably more if we wanted to test it. As long as you've got a 5 litre can of petrol on board you can lock the battery at any level of charge below 75% and keep driving for as long as you want to. We absolutely love ours. A mate has just bought one on our recommendation and he is delighted. I reckon they re an absolute bargain used, especially when you consider how they were made and what they are made of. Quick too with 170hp and little weight.
I've just bought an early 2017 33kWhr REX. I'm not an expert but did pick up quite a bit of knowledge when doing my own homework.
In no particular order:
Anything registered after April 1st 2017 is £200 tax rather than £20. Our's was registered a few weeks before the cut off but I think better to buy on condition so maybe not something to worry too much about.
If the pay per mile tax scheme comes in, the REX will be 1.5p per mile instead of 3p per mile.
REX comes with some additional basic service requirements vs the EV, oil changes basically and is obviously more that can go wrong. Though you can keep using a REX with a non-functioning ICE.
Front top mounts are a common weakness (about to do our's)
Tyres are expensive, limited choice and don't last especially well. Bear this in mind when viewing as 4 decent tyres could be £600-700.
If it's relevant to you, winter tyre and all season set ups are a little awkward but there are options.
Battery degradation seems really well controlled on these. My car has done 112k miles and shows usable capacity of 26.4 kWhr vs. 27.2kWhr for a new car. About 97% health. At this time of year, with no concession whatsoever to energy saving (comfort mode, driving normally, normal heating etc), we're seeing an EV range of about 110 miles on our local rural road journeys. Amusingly our car has done 50,000 miles in the last year alone. They obviously don't mind being used a bit!
A full petrol tanks adds 70-90 miles of range. I'm not sure how useful the REX will ultimately prove to be for us, but it was bloody handy on the 210 miles drive home from collecting the car. Not being familiar with the car and public charging in general, it was really nice to just be able to pull into a couple of petrol stations and splash a little fuel in. I started with a 70% battery and a full tank of fuel (only 9 litres), stuck about 15 litres of fuel in on route and finished with 40 miles of battery range (I turned the REX off when closer to home).
AC compressors can fail in a messy and expensive way. And are used to cool the battery, particularly during rapid charging. So it would pay to make sure that is working and that the compressor is quiet.
Motor mounts can degrade and cause a little 'shunt' when setting of. About £250 to DIY, I guess double that with labour.
Door seals can degrade and cause a little wind noise and because they cover a huge opening, they're not very cheap. About £125 per side. If anybody knows of cheaper aftermarket ones, I'm all ears!
The good stuff, it's aluminium, composite and plastic construction is fantastic for many reasons. But as a secondhand car buyer, not worrying about rust, dents, panel alignment etc is refreshing. From an nerdy engineering geek perspective as well, this car is fascinating! They drive really nicely too, ride is quite hard but not daft. Steering is decent enough. Turning circle is hilariously tight. They're pretty quick at normal road speeds. Very spacious inside too.
A little note about optional extras etc. This was something I was initially a bit picky about but actually in the end, I ditched my Wishlist and just focussed on cars I felt were 'good'.
Mine came with pro nav (widescreen), LED headlights, park assist and adaptive cruise. The wider screen is worth having but worth mentioning that companies like Andream will sell you a replacement screen that retains all the idrive stuff and adds carplay/android auto. I might ultimately do that as I want car play but the MMI boxes (like Mr Volt etc) don't give you a touchscreen and are generally no cheaper and often more expensive.
LED headlights on pre-LIC cars don't give you LED main beam. I'm not sure I see a big advantage in having them other than them looking a bit more modern.
Park pack is useful though I doubt the self parking will ever be used. Too clumsy to initiate.
Adaptive cruise, hmmm. It's a pretty crude system relying on 1 forward facing camera. Direct sunshine, rain, fog etc all confuse it. The self driving in traffic on motorways is slightly amusing but since you have to keep your hands on the wheel I feel like the fact it steers the car is totally pointless. When the adaptive cruise itself works, it's nice to have but I definitely wouldn't seek it out.
If I had a choice, I'd have had Lodge interior, comfort access, sunroof and H&K and that would do me nicely.
In no particular order:
Anything registered after April 1st 2017 is £200 tax rather than £20. Our's was registered a few weeks before the cut off but I think better to buy on condition so maybe not something to worry too much about.
If the pay per mile tax scheme comes in, the REX will be 1.5p per mile instead of 3p per mile.
REX comes with some additional basic service requirements vs the EV, oil changes basically and is obviously more that can go wrong. Though you can keep using a REX with a non-functioning ICE.
Front top mounts are a common weakness (about to do our's)
Tyres are expensive, limited choice and don't last especially well. Bear this in mind when viewing as 4 decent tyres could be £600-700.
If it's relevant to you, winter tyre and all season set ups are a little awkward but there are options.
Battery degradation seems really well controlled on these. My car has done 112k miles and shows usable capacity of 26.4 kWhr vs. 27.2kWhr for a new car. About 97% health. At this time of year, with no concession whatsoever to energy saving (comfort mode, driving normally, normal heating etc), we're seeing an EV range of about 110 miles on our local rural road journeys. Amusingly our car has done 50,000 miles in the last year alone. They obviously don't mind being used a bit!
A full petrol tanks adds 70-90 miles of range. I'm not sure how useful the REX will ultimately prove to be for us, but it was bloody handy on the 210 miles drive home from collecting the car. Not being familiar with the car and public charging in general, it was really nice to just be able to pull into a couple of petrol stations and splash a little fuel in. I started with a 70% battery and a full tank of fuel (only 9 litres), stuck about 15 litres of fuel in on route and finished with 40 miles of battery range (I turned the REX off when closer to home).
AC compressors can fail in a messy and expensive way. And are used to cool the battery, particularly during rapid charging. So it would pay to make sure that is working and that the compressor is quiet.
Motor mounts can degrade and cause a little 'shunt' when setting of. About £250 to DIY, I guess double that with labour.
Door seals can degrade and cause a little wind noise and because they cover a huge opening, they're not very cheap. About £125 per side. If anybody knows of cheaper aftermarket ones, I'm all ears!
The good stuff, it's aluminium, composite and plastic construction is fantastic for many reasons. But as a secondhand car buyer, not worrying about rust, dents, panel alignment etc is refreshing. From an nerdy engineering geek perspective as well, this car is fascinating! They drive really nicely too, ride is quite hard but not daft. Steering is decent enough. Turning circle is hilariously tight. They're pretty quick at normal road speeds. Very spacious inside too.
A little note about optional extras etc. This was something I was initially a bit picky about but actually in the end, I ditched my Wishlist and just focussed on cars I felt were 'good'.
Mine came with pro nav (widescreen), LED headlights, park assist and adaptive cruise. The wider screen is worth having but worth mentioning that companies like Andream will sell you a replacement screen that retains all the idrive stuff and adds carplay/android auto. I might ultimately do that as I want car play but the MMI boxes (like Mr Volt etc) don't give you a touchscreen and are generally no cheaper and often more expensive.
LED headlights on pre-LIC cars don't give you LED main beam. I'm not sure I see a big advantage in having them other than them looking a bit more modern.
Park pack is useful though I doubt the self parking will ever be used. Too clumsy to initiate.
Adaptive cruise, hmmm. It's a pretty crude system relying on 1 forward facing camera. Direct sunshine, rain, fog etc all confuse it. The self driving in traffic on motorways is slightly amusing but since you have to keep your hands on the wheel I feel like the fact it steers the car is totally pointless. When the adaptive cruise itself works, it's nice to have but I definitely wouldn't seek it out.
If I had a choice, I'd have had Lodge interior, comfort access, sunroof and H&K and that would do me nicely.
Gad-Westy said:
loads of interesting info
Thanks for that. Its difficult to get first hand experiences of these cars but having said that I have seen so many recently.I guess that's because I'm noticing them more.I was hoping to pick up something cheap to play with but that seems like false economy and as you say a later car might be a wise move.
Plenty of low miles cars around me but all 6-7k+ which as a spare mess about car seems excessive but if the right thing comes along I'd be tempted.
Very interesting what you say about battery life. I had assumed it was worse but that's encouraging.
I need to get to a i3 meet somewhere so I can see a few and chat to owners.
Its one of those things I've started thinking about and I will end up getting one, its just when!
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