Replacing my i3, with ??
Discussion
LaurasOtherHalf said:
I'm not sure about the price, what is it-around £30k once discounted and £25k less than 6 months old? Where else do you get objectively, as nice a car (even before you take into account it's CF construction etc).
Virtually no one pays BMW "RRP" these days do they?
you'll note i carefully said "price" and not "value" :-)Virtually no one pays BMW "RRP" these days do they?
I worked out the sums on my last i3, over the 5 years i owned it, and in total, for absolutely everything including depreciation in worked out as £50.41 per month. I can't think of another car,even a banger, that would be that cheap, and certainly nowhere near as fast, nice to drive, safe, premium etc etc!
(ok, i won't manage that low cost again,because i bought my first i3 when no one wanted one, and it hardly depreciated as a result)
The one they're keen to shift from stock has suite interior, dark oak dash & plus pack for c. £340 month x48 8k miles.
It's very tempting, though with the leather & oak I'd prefer a sunroof to lighten things up a bit - it's a bit dark inside. Ideally I'd have the loft interior & eucalyptus wood and no plus pack, but all lofts in stock have matte silver dash which I really don't like.
It's very tempting, though with the leather & oak I'd prefer a sunroof to lighten things up a bit - it's a bit dark inside. Ideally I'd have the loft interior & eucalyptus wood and no plus pack, but all lofts in stock have matte silver dash which I really don't like.
The classic germanic all black interiors really benefit from a big sun roof to stop them looking quite so much like a dark cave, but the i3, with a light interior and low (compared to the seating height) scuttles is plenty bright and airy enough without one ime!
I'll actually having a bit of a weird "blowing hot and cold" type feeling with my i3s at the moment.
A couple of weeks ago i had a brilliant B road drive, late on a Sunday evening, no cars on the road, just me, the i3 and around 50 miles of pure back country B road, and i was actually slightly shocked at both the average speed the car put up, but also the way it did it.
Then last week i drove it on mainly A roads, i the wet, after it had rained for the first time in ages, and god, i just couldn't get the bloody thing to do the same thing twice, it would either just push the nose right past the apex, or snap a bit sideways at which point the non-switchable-off-able DSC calls time on the throttle and the car sort of sulks out of the turn... I just couldn't find that sweet spot in terms of balance my old non "s" i3 had in the wet, where it would 4 wheel drift around repeatibly and smoothly.
The S has got significantly more wet weather grip (195's vs 155's) and is significantly stiffer in roll and pitch, but it feels like they have really dialled back the balance to tame that extra grip, so it's much more likely to just push the front out in the wet, which means you are then really only left with the option of comming off the power just when you want to be hard on it to make the most of the instant low down torque.
In the dry, it has enough grip that i think you probably don't get to that level of tyre slip so it seems less of a problem although you can feel the front push fairly clearly as you get on the throttle post apex.
Hmmm, I'm wondering about fitting a set of wheels spacers to just the front axle to unload that end a bit and allow the rear outside tyre to do more of it's fair share of the cornering work...........
I'll actually having a bit of a weird "blowing hot and cold" type feeling with my i3s at the moment.
A couple of weeks ago i had a brilliant B road drive, late on a Sunday evening, no cars on the road, just me, the i3 and around 50 miles of pure back country B road, and i was actually slightly shocked at both the average speed the car put up, but also the way it did it.
Then last week i drove it on mainly A roads, i the wet, after it had rained for the first time in ages, and god, i just couldn't get the bloody thing to do the same thing twice, it would either just push the nose right past the apex, or snap a bit sideways at which point the non-switchable-off-able DSC calls time on the throttle and the car sort of sulks out of the turn... I just couldn't find that sweet spot in terms of balance my old non "s" i3 had in the wet, where it would 4 wheel drift around repeatibly and smoothly.
The S has got significantly more wet weather grip (195's vs 155's) and is significantly stiffer in roll and pitch, but it feels like they have really dialled back the balance to tame that extra grip, so it's much more likely to just push the front out in the wet, which means you are then really only left with the option of comming off the power just when you want to be hard on it to make the most of the instant low down torque.
In the dry, it has enough grip that i think you probably don't get to that level of tyre slip so it seems less of a problem although you can feel the front push fairly clearly as you get on the throttle post apex.
Hmmm, I'm wondering about fitting a set of wheels spacers to just the front axle to unload that end a bit and allow the rear outside tyre to do more of it's fair share of the cornering work...........
Max_Torque said:
The classic germanic all black interiors really benefit from a big sun roof to stop them looking quite so much like a dark cave, but the i3, with a light interior and low (compared to the seating height) scuttles is plenty bright and airy enough without one ime!
I'll actually having a bit of a weird "blowing hot and cold" type feeling with my i3s at the moment.
A couple of weeks ago i had a brilliant B road drive, late on a Sunday evening, no cars on the road, just me, the i3 and around 50 miles of pure back country B road, and i was actually slightly shocked at both the average speed the car put up, but also the way it did it.
Then last week i drove it on mainly A roads, i the wet, after it had rained for the first time in ages, and god, i just couldn't get the bloody thing to do the same thing twice, it would either just push the nose right past the apex, or snap a bit sideways at which point the non-switchable-off-able DSC calls time on the throttle and the car sort of sulks out of the turn... I just couldn't find that sweet spot in terms of balance my old non "s" i3 had in the wet, where it would 4 wheel drift around repeatibly and smoothly.
The S has got significantly more wet weather grip (195's vs 155's) and is significantly stiffer in roll and pitch, but it feels like they have really dialled back the balance to tame that extra grip, so it's much more likely to just push the front out in the wet, which means you are then really only left with the option of comming off the power just when you want to be hard on it to make the most of the instant low down torque.
In the dry, it has enough grip that i think you probably don't get to that level of tyre slip so it seems less of a problem although you can feel the front push fairly clearly as you get on the throttle post apex.
Hmmm, I'm wondering about fitting a set of wheels spacers to just the front axle to unload that end a bit and allow the rear outside tyre to do more of it's fair share of the cornering work...........
How about putting non-S on wheels, will that help?I'll actually having a bit of a weird "blowing hot and cold" type feeling with my i3s at the moment.
A couple of weeks ago i had a brilliant B road drive, late on a Sunday evening, no cars on the road, just me, the i3 and around 50 miles of pure back country B road, and i was actually slightly shocked at both the average speed the car put up, but also the way it did it.
Then last week i drove it on mainly A roads, i the wet, after it had rained for the first time in ages, and god, i just couldn't get the bloody thing to do the same thing twice, it would either just push the nose right past the apex, or snap a bit sideways at which point the non-switchable-off-able DSC calls time on the throttle and the car sort of sulks out of the turn... I just couldn't find that sweet spot in terms of balance my old non "s" i3 had in the wet, where it would 4 wheel drift around repeatibly and smoothly.
The S has got significantly more wet weather grip (195's vs 155's) and is significantly stiffer in roll and pitch, but it feels like they have really dialled back the balance to tame that extra grip, so it's much more likely to just push the front out in the wet, which means you are then really only left with the option of comming off the power just when you want to be hard on it to make the most of the instant low down torque.
In the dry, it has enough grip that i think you probably don't get to that level of tyre slip so it seems less of a problem although you can feel the front push fairly clearly as you get on the throttle post apex.
Hmmm, I'm wondering about fitting a set of wheels spacers to just the front axle to unload that end a bit and allow the rear outside tyre to do more of it's fair share of the cornering work...........
Undercover McNoName said:
Max_Torque said:
The classic germanic all black interiors really benefit from a big sun roof to stop them looking quite so much like a dark cave, but the i3, with a light interior and low (compared to the seating height) scuttles is plenty bright and airy enough without one ime!
I'll actually having a bit of a weird "blowing hot and cold" type feeling with my i3s at the moment.
A couple of weeks ago i had a brilliant B road drive, late on a Sunday evening, no cars on the road, just me, the i3 and around 50 miles of pure back country B road, and i was actually slightly shocked at both the average speed the car put up, but also the way it did it.
Then last week i drove it on mainly A roads, i the wet, after it had rained for the first time in ages, and god, i just couldn't get the bloody thing to do the same thing twice, it would either just push the nose right past the apex, or snap a bit sideways at which point the non-switchable-off-able DSC calls time on the throttle and the car sort of sulks out of the turn... I just couldn't find that sweet spot in terms of balance my old non "s" i3 had in the wet, where it would 4 wheel drift around repeatibly and smoothly.
The S has got significantly more wet weather grip (195's vs 155's) and is significantly stiffer in roll and pitch, but it feels like they have really dialled back the balance to tame that extra grip, so it's much more likely to just push the front out in the wet, which means you are then really only left with the option of comming off the power just when you want to be hard on it to make the most of the instant low down torque.
In the dry, it has enough grip that i think you probably don't get to that level of tyre slip so it seems less of a problem although you can feel the front push fairly clearly as you get on the throttle post apex.
Hmmm, I'm wondering about fitting a set of wheels spacers to just the front axle to unload that end a bit and allow the rear outside tyre to do more of it's fair share of the cornering work...........
How about putting non-S on wheels, will that help?I'll actually having a bit of a weird "blowing hot and cold" type feeling with my i3s at the moment.
A couple of weeks ago i had a brilliant B road drive, late on a Sunday evening, no cars on the road, just me, the i3 and around 50 miles of pure back country B road, and i was actually slightly shocked at both the average speed the car put up, but also the way it did it.
Then last week i drove it on mainly A roads, i the wet, after it had rained for the first time in ages, and god, i just couldn't get the bloody thing to do the same thing twice, it would either just push the nose right past the apex, or snap a bit sideways at which point the non-switchable-off-able DSC calls time on the throttle and the car sort of sulks out of the turn... I just couldn't find that sweet spot in terms of balance my old non "s" i3 had in the wet, where it would 4 wheel drift around repeatibly and smoothly.
The S has got significantly more wet weather grip (195's vs 155's) and is significantly stiffer in roll and pitch, but it feels like they have really dialled back the balance to tame that extra grip, so it's much more likely to just push the front out in the wet, which means you are then really only left with the option of comming off the power just when you want to be hard on it to make the most of the instant low down torque.
In the dry, it has enough grip that i think you probably don't get to that level of tyre slip so it seems less of a problem although you can feel the front push fairly clearly as you get on the throttle post apex.
Hmmm, I'm wondering about fitting a set of wheels spacers to just the front axle to unload that end a bit and allow the rear outside tyre to do more of it's fair share of the cornering work...........
and when i finally managed to get the 1.5 miles to the next junction, i dived off and took all the backroads back home,. Weather was terrible, heavy rain, flooded roads, and the i3, despite repeatidly going into thermal derate because i was giving it a right beasting (and i was down at about 15% battery SoC) was really good! I've played with tyre pressures a bit, putting a bit more pressure in the back and a bit less in the front, and certainly seemed more repeatable in terms of getting into and away from the turns nicely. If i could find a better wet weather tyre for the front it might also help push the balance back a bit......
(I've always run asymetric tyres on my 335d for the same reason, Pilot Sports on the front, Conti's on the back)
F20CN16 said:
Can anyone with experience of the camera based active cruise control advise if it’s any good? Or does it suffer in rain?
It's nothing like radar-based cruise control on a 3-series (or higher) BMW.It has trouble with low sun, heavy weather and sometimes even bridges can turn it off. The problem specifically with an EV is the regen braking when the ACC does shut off. In my F11 5-series I've only had it turn off in snow and because of the lack of severe engine braking it's a lot less irritating if it does happen. With the I3 however I could be cruising 70mph with no one in front, but people following and suddenly it will switch off and instead of coasting it will hit max regen because it confused the shadow of a bridge with an object.
The second problem I feel is that the car is hunting more. As if the distance reading to the car in front is less precise, causing the car to be accelerating and then decelerating gently a lot of the time. This is exagerated by the high torque when both accelerating or decelerating and the short wheelbase where you get rocked in your seat...
If you've never had active cruise before you might find it a lovely improvement over dumb cruise control and might learn to live with its limitations. For me it's a little bit frustrating and I don't trust the system as such. With the 5-series I've trusted the system with near emergency stops on the motorway. No way I would let the I3 handle difficult situations.
danp said:
Max, how do you charge your i3?
100% each time or do you use the timer to keep it to 80/90% or so?
With my old little battery car, and it's 80 mile range, pretty much every night i'd just plug it in and let it sort itself out100% each time or do you use the timer to keep it to 80/90% or so?
With my new bigger battery car, and it's 160 mile range, pretty much i only charge it every couple of days, and i typically let it charge to 100%, but ensure i'm going to use the car soon afterwards, so as to just "take the top off" the battery a bit, ie don't leave it sitting at peak voltage continuously.
The i3, seems to have a very small battery degredation, because it has a large reservce capacity, and because it's fully conditioned so doesn't suffer as much from temperature excursions. My last one, after 5 years and 30k miles had no degredation at all, in fact, i completely flatted it (drove it till it went into limp) then fully trickle charged it at 2.5kW and max capacity was 0.5 kWh larger than claimed!
HelldogBE said:
It's nothing like radar-based cruise control on a 3-series (or higher) BMW.
It has trouble with low sun, heavy weather and sometimes even bridges can turn it off. The problem specifically with an EV is the regen braking when the ACC does shut off. In my F11 5-series I've only had it turn off in snow and because of the lack of severe engine braking it's a lot less irritating if it does happen. With the I3 however I could be cruising 70mph with no one in front, but people following and suddenly it will switch off and instead of coasting it will hit max regen because it confused the shadow of a bridge with an object.
The second problem I feel is that the car is hunting more. As if the distance reading to the car in front is less precise, causing the car to be accelerating and then decelerating gently a lot of the time. This is exagerated by the high torque when both accelerating or decelerating and the short wheelbase where you get rocked in your seat...
If you've never had active cruise before you might find it a lovely improvement over dumb cruise control and might learn to live with its limitations. For me it's a little bit frustrating and I don't trust the system as such. With the 5-series I've trusted the system with near emergency stops on the motorway. No way I would let the I3 handle difficult situations.
Thanks for all this info. Doesn’t sound good. It’s not on many of the used cars and I thought this was limiting my search. But I think I won’t bother hunting out a car with it now!It has trouble with low sun, heavy weather and sometimes even bridges can turn it off. The problem specifically with an EV is the regen braking when the ACC does shut off. In my F11 5-series I've only had it turn off in snow and because of the lack of severe engine braking it's a lot less irritating if it does happen. With the I3 however I could be cruising 70mph with no one in front, but people following and suddenly it will switch off and instead of coasting it will hit max regen because it confused the shadow of a bridge with an object.
The second problem I feel is that the car is hunting more. As if the distance reading to the car in front is less precise, causing the car to be accelerating and then decelerating gently a lot of the time. This is exagerated by the high torque when both accelerating or decelerating and the short wheelbase where you get rocked in your seat...
If you've never had active cruise before you might find it a lovely improvement over dumb cruise control and might learn to live with its limitations. For me it's a little bit frustrating and I don't trust the system as such. With the 5-series I've trusted the system with near emergency stops on the motorway. No way I would let the I3 handle difficult situations.
Max_Torque said:
danp said:
Max, how do you charge your i3?
100% each time or do you use the timer to keep it to 80/90% or so?
With my old little battery car, and it's 80 mile range, pretty much every night i'd just plug it in and let it sort itself out100% each time or do you use the timer to keep it to 80/90% or so?
With my new bigger battery car, and it's 160 mile range, pretty much i only charge it every couple of days, and i typically let it charge to 100%, but ensure i'm going to use the car soon afterwards, so as to just "take the top off" the battery a bit, ie don't leave it sitting at peak voltage continuously.
The i3, seems to have a very small battery degredation, because it has a large reservce capacity, and because it's fully conditioned so doesn't suffer as much from temperature excursions. My last one, after 5 years and 30k miles had no degredation at all, in fact, i completely flatted it (drove it till it went into limp) then fully trickle charged it at 2.5kW and max capacity was 0.5 kWh larger than claimed!
However, you don’t feel the need to keep it at a high SOC for a while, every so often, in the interests of cell balancing?
Believe it’s passive on the i3, happens at 80/85%+ and can take a *long* time to get the pack fully balanced (which is probably one reason the ABC (Always Be Charging) regime is promoted on FB).
OK, THAT was weird!!
I just parked in B&Q car park in my new i3s, and i parked opposite another i3, which is reasonably rare as there aren't that many out there. And it was the same colour as my old non-s i3. Then i looked at the number plate, it was my old car!! Said hello to the owner (like some sort of weird EV stalker...lol) and yes, she's just bought the car, and they had told her the previous owner had p'xed it for an S, What are the chances eh!
I thought about taking a photo, but that felt proper stalker stylee, so didn't :-)
I just parked in B&Q car park in my new i3s, and i parked opposite another i3, which is reasonably rare as there aren't that many out there. And it was the same colour as my old non-s i3. Then i looked at the number plate, it was my old car!! Said hello to the owner (like some sort of weird EV stalker...lol) and yes, she's just bought the car, and they had told her the previous owner had p'xed it for an S, What are the chances eh!
I thought about taking a photo, but that felt proper stalker stylee, so didn't :-)
Max_Torque said:
OK, THAT was weird!!
I just parked in B&Q car park in my new i3s, and i parked opposite another i3, which is reasonably rare as there aren't that many out there. And it was the same colour as my old non-s i3. Then i looked at the number plate, it was my old car!! Said hello to the owner (like some sort of weird EV stalker...lol) and yes, she's just bought the car, and they had told her the previous owner had p'xed it for an S, What are the chances eh!
I thought about taking a photo, but that felt proper stalker stylee, so didn't :-)
Spots attractive woman on her own getting into a carI just parked in B&Q car park in my new i3s, and i parked opposite another i3, which is reasonably rare as there aren't that many out there. And it was the same colour as my old non-s i3. Then i looked at the number plate, it was my old car!! Said hello to the owner (like some sort of weird EV stalker...lol) and yes, she's just bought the car, and they had told her the previous owner had p'xed it for an S, What are the chances eh!
I thought about taking a photo, but that felt proper stalker stylee, so didn't :-)
HPIs VRN to see when it last changed hands...
Sparks up convo claiming to be previous owner
You're not fooling anyone Max
Pixelpeep Z4 said:
Max_Torque said:
OK, THAT was weird!!
I just parked in B&Q car park in my new i3s, and i parked opposite another i3, which is reasonably rare as there aren't that many out there. And it was the same colour as my old non-s i3. Then i looked at the number plate, it was my old car!! Said hello to the owner (like some sort of weird EV stalker...lol) and yes, she's just bought the car, and they had told her the previous owner had p'xed it for an S, What are the chances eh!
I thought about taking a photo, but that felt proper stalker stylee, so didn't :-)
Spots attractive woman on her own getting into a carI just parked in B&Q car park in my new i3s, and i parked opposite another i3, which is reasonably rare as there aren't that many out there. And it was the same colour as my old non-s i3. Then i looked at the number plate, it was my old car!! Said hello to the owner (like some sort of weird EV stalker...lol) and yes, she's just bought the car, and they had told her the previous owner had p'xed it for an S, What are the chances eh!
I thought about taking a photo, but that felt proper stalker stylee, so didn't :-)
HPIs VRN to see when it last changed hands...
Sparks up convo claiming to be previous owner
You're not fooling anyone Max
;-)
TBH, i very nearly told her to clean the bird poo off the roof, as clearly the car has been parked under some trees , grrr...
Max_Torque said:
Regarding the "s" it's definately a more normal drive, and i think looks way better than the non-s.
But i actually really like the way the non-s drives, as it's so reactive and light on it's feet, and the s feels like not only did they add more grip (wider tyres, lower ride height) they also set it up to it drive in a much more, linear, even perhaps slightly dull by comparison fashion. The original car could be a handful if you were clumsy with your inputs, but the benefit was a car that had just the most brilliant front end response (considering the modest tyres fitted) especially in the wet, where it could be coaxed into a lovely 4 wheel drift around bends.
S stands for Stable. The i3 Stable. I've had both, the original was far worse in crosswinds at motorway speeds.But i actually really like the way the non-s drives, as it's so reactive and light on it's feet, and the s feels like not only did they add more grip (wider tyres, lower ride height) they also set it up to it drive in a much more, linear, even perhaps slightly dull by comparison fashion. The original car could be a handful if you were clumsy with your inputs, but the benefit was a car that had just the most brilliant front end response (considering the modest tyres fitted) especially in the wet, where it could be coaxed into a lovely 4 wheel drift around bends.
exe888 said:
Max_Torque said:
Regarding the "s" it's definately a more normal drive, and i think looks way better than the non-s.
But i actually really like the way the non-s drives, as it's so reactive and light on it's feet, and the s feels like not only did they add more grip (wider tyres, lower ride height) they also set it up to it drive in a much more, linear, even perhaps slightly dull by comparison fashion. The original car could be a handful if you were clumsy with your inputs, but the benefit was a car that had just the most brilliant front end response (considering the modest tyres fitted) especially in the wet, where it could be coaxed into a lovely 4 wheel drift around bends.
S stands for Stable. The i3 Stable. I've had both, the original was far worse in crosswinds at motorway speeds.But i actually really like the way the non-s drives, as it's so reactive and light on it's feet, and the s feels like not only did they add more grip (wider tyres, lower ride height) they also set it up to it drive in a much more, linear, even perhaps slightly dull by comparison fashion. The original car could be a handful if you were clumsy with your inputs, but the benefit was a car that had just the most brilliant front end response (considering the modest tyres fitted) especially in the wet, where it could be coaxed into a lovely 4 wheel drift around bends.
Covered 70,000miles in an i3 94 Rex, had an i3s for 2 days on extended test drive and concluded it was everything the standard i3 should have been.
Much more competent, felt less barge like
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