Smug

[sjwb]

As per the title, I was expecting to be sat in city traffic with a supercilious smug look on my face.
Well, I have just bought a BMW i3! My reasons for such a purchase are varied, not the least of which is having experience of i3s on holiday and loving every minute of them.

My smugness lasted but a short while to be replaced by ‘range anxiety’, can’t stop looking at the battery condition. Funny isn’t it, one fear to be replaced by another? My other fear was driving old German cars which have preponderance for failure in one form or another. This isn’t to guarantee that the i3 will be fault free, but the chances of success are loaded in its favour against a 16 year old Benz.

I wonder if many people have read the owner’s manual. I have, out of morbid curiosity and come to the conclusion that of the 5% of owners that read manuals only 2% will understand or come to terms with the complexity and feature of the car. This, from one who wrote automotive service / instruction manuals for a living.

I haven’t yet launched into third party charging; home fast charger installation, or long journeys but so far love the car bar the fore aft pitching on poor road surfaces.

[TheDeuce]

Just get the 7kw charger installed at home and then forget about range - unless you frequently push the range of the i3?

I should be more than capable of city driving without any anxiety so long as you can charge it comfortably overnight ahead of very busy days of driving around.

For me the home charger is vital for EV ownership. The granny charger does indeed keep the car topped up fast enough to cope with most peoples mileage... But the fact is that if you find out last minute you need to do a longer trip the next day, the 7kw fast charger will charge any EV to 100% overnight, the granny charger won't.

[anonymous-user]

I've no idea how you are getting close to the limits of the i3's range in a city?

For me, i'd get to the point where i'd happily murder the slow, ponderous, poorly indicating and random driving city motorist well before i run out of range!

That's actualy one of the problems with the modern EV around town, it immediately renders most other ICE motorists as effectively dawdlers as they take ages to crank up their dino juice engines and struggle to even find an appropriate gear and get the clutch in and engaged........

[Mr E]

You don’t have range anxiety.
I have a 24Kw leaf that’s 6 years old. It’s currently by-2 degrees and my motorway commute will commence at 7:15 tomorrow morning.

Edited by Mr E on Tuesday 21st December 22:38

[TheDeuce]

Max_Torque said:

That's actualy one of the problems with the modern EV around town, it immediately renders most other ICE motorists as effectively dawdlers as they take ages to crank up their dino juice engines and struggle to even find an appropriate gear and get the clutch in and engaged........

Yes!

My god, the age it takes any ICE to resume forward motion after a pause is argument enough for the electric motor imo.

The only downside of EV in that regard is that I instantly pass the lights as they return to amber, and every now and again find myself about to t-bone an ICE driver that thought they could just 'slip through' in time, crossing my path at a junction.

Manual ICE cars with stop/start are the worst as they have to spring back in to life and then pick up the revs and lower the clutch. That never used to be much of a big deal, but these days... I've potentially travelled 20 metres by the time they've got underway. I always wonder what they think in that moment, the fact they've been left for dead by someone that drove away perfectly smoothly and well within the speed limit

[sjwb]

Apologies, my post has a touch of irony in it. I’m not anxious as such, but I am always conscious of any failure mode. The price of being an engineer!
I agree absolutely with the driving dynamics in the city and managed to upset an R32 driver today, sorry.
There was a post recently wherein Max Torque wrote much about the i3 and his purchase of the S model. Max, you’ve cost me a lot of money
Thanks to all for your replies.

[off_again]

The benefits, if there are any, of a small battery in the i3 is that it charges fast on an L2 or higher charger. So as advised above, charge at home and if you need a top up, just use a convenient public charger and you should be good to go. Used Electrify America the other week and only got a pretty low kWh rate, but only took 30 mins to charge to full from 50%! None of this waiting around malarkey.

[caseys]

Great car. I miss the Capability of always getter more than 40kw from a 50kw charger no matter what SoC under 90%

[LordGrover]

I was all ready to be smug this morning as I heard neighbours scraping ice from their windscreens.
My i3 was scheduled for departure so defrosted and toasty warm at 07.15.

Bugger.

I installed a new app (ev.energy) to play with yesterday to monitor charging, but I'd set it to 'smart charge' which clashed with the in-car setting - preconditioning paused.

Had to wait five minutes while it did its thing. In the house, with a coffee.
Smugness restored.

[Zumbruk]

TheDeuce said:

Max_Torque said:

That's actualy one of the problems with the modern EV around town, it immediately renders most other ICE motorists as effectively dawdlers as they take ages to crank up their dino juice engines and struggle to even find an appropriate gear and get the clutch in and engaged........

Yes!

My god, the age it takes any ICE to resume forward motion after a pause is argument enough for the electric motor imo.

Nothing to do with ICE; it's because the dimbulb drivers are only watching the car in front for signs of motion before preparing to move off themselves. If they watched 2 or 3 cars in front, it wouldn't be a problem. If they all watched the traffic lights, the whole queue could move off at one go as the lights went went green.

[DonkeyApple]

sjwb said:

As per the title, I was expecting to be sat in city traffic with a supercilious smug look on my face.
Well, I have just bought a BMW i3! My reasons for such a purchase are varied, not the least of which is having experience of i3s on holiday and loving every minute of them.

My smugness lasted but a short while to be replaced by ‘range anxiety’, can’t stop looking at the battery condition. Funny isn’t it, one fear to be replaced by another? My other fear was driving old German cars which have preponderance for failure in one form or another. This isn’t to guarantee that the i3 will be fault free, but the chances of success are loaded in its favour against a 16 year old Benz.

I wonder if many people have read the owner’s manual. I have, out of morbid curiosity and come to the conclusion that of the 5% of owners that read manuals only 2% will understand or come to terms with the complexity and feature of the car. This, from one who wrote automotive service / instruction manuals for a living.

I haven’t yet launched into third party charging; home fast charger installation, or long journeys but so far love the car bar the fore aft pitching on poor road surfaces.

I have to admit that one of the great appeals of the i3 for me is that no manual is required. It struck me as a rare modern car that was idiot proof and had no desire to talk to me, be my friend or passive aggressively try and tell me what I did and didn't want to be doing like that Harry Enfield character.

It was joyous to jump into a car made in 2021, pull a lever to instantly get the seat right, Stanna the door mirrors into position and drive off. It didn't ask to make love to my phone, didn't set maze puzzles to find the heating, didn't panic grab the steering wheel on the apex of a corner, never once asked if I'd meant to bury the throttle. It just didn't feel like it was owned and being controlled by someone else or wanted to be my carer. It was all a bit of a revelation. To then be fun to slap down small roads was the icing on the cake.

It's easy to see why these ugly ducklings are fast becoming the cheap runabout of choice for genuine car and driving enthusiasts.

When it comes to range, my view on an EV is that I want nothing to do with having to plug in away from home if possible so the max range of the car would need to simply be double the max range of the journey I'd by using it for. I don't think I'd pay money to acquire hassle or stress by having an EV whose range ever gave me cause for concern.

[JonnyVTEC]

Zumbruk said:

Nothing to do with ICE; it's because the dimbulb drivers are only watching the car in front for signs of motion before preparing to move off themselves. If they watched 2 or 3 cars in front, it wouldn't be a problem. If they all watched the traffic lights, the whole queue could move off at one go as the lights went went green.

Nah, I’m even aware of my own driving it’s just ready and goes, to match that in an ICE you need to be staring at the opposite traffic light to anticipate the light change etc. can be matched but requires effort.

I’m convinced EVs will help reduce congestion, ie 15 cars get through a light on green rather than 12. Etc etc.

Edited by JonnyVTEC on Wednesday 22 December 16:24

[DonkeyApple]

JonnyVTEC said:

Nah, I’m even aware of my own driving it’s just ready and goes, to match that in an ICE you need to be staring at the opposite traffic light to anticipate the light change etc. can be matched by requires effort.

I’m convinced EVs will help reduce congestion, ie 15 cars get through a light on green rather than 12. Etc etc.

I think they'll increase congestion because what you see in London is people who would never have used their petrol car for a short journey suddenly using their EV because it's easy, cheap and guiltless. It's already happening in London so very likely to be seen everywhere else. The EV drops many of the social inhibitors people felt when it came to knowingly using a car for a walkable task or simply not bothering as it was non essential.

It's going to be the weird bit of data that gets picked up on in a few years time.

[Zumbruk]

JonnyVTEC said:

Zumbruk said:

Nothing to do with ICE; it's because the dimbulb drivers are only watching the car in front for signs of motion before preparing to move off themselves. If they watched 2 or 3 cars in front, it wouldn't be a problem. If they all watched the traffic lights, the whole queue could move off at one go as the lights went went green.

Nah, I’m even aware of my own driving it’s just ready and goes, to match that in an ICE you need to be staring at the opposite traffic light to anticipate the light change etc. can be matched by requires effort.

I’m convinced EVs will help reduce congestion, ie 15 cars get through a light on green rather than 12. Etc etc.

I'd like to think you'll be right; but experience teaches me you won't. They all need charging with "Driving without due care", not electricity.

[iDrive]

I'm not sure I feel smug, but I've recently bought an i3S with Rex and am still very much in the Honeymoon Period - Great performance, minimal running costs, engaging to drive and well-spec'd with tech and comfort.

[MrC986]

I had an I3S for 17 months & 11k miles....the range anxiety went fairly quickly for me as I put a 7kw charger in at home. Preconditioning a fully charged battery makes a big difference IMO on longer journeys although I normally do 4 stops a day with work so the winter does see the range hit slightly. I quickly got use to the one pedal driving mode which I found really relaxing. I also found on some of my longer urban commuting saw the range go back up as I travelled through town.

Being able to heat (or cool) the car before getting in it does feel a luxury. Also, if you've a large local Tescos with charging points, being able to shop & charge (it was free when I had my car) at 7kw was an added bonus. I probably only charged away from home 6-7 times in my period of ownership & that was just a case of a quick booster charge so I didn't have to drive at hypermile speeds.

By the way, I had the the extra heat pump on mine but whoever bought it from the dealer it ended up at never knew it had one as WBAC didn't ask for the full spec.

[iDrive]

MrC986 said:

I had an I3S for 17 months & 11k miles....the range anxiety went fairly quickly for me as I put a 7kw charger in at home. Preconditioning a fully charged battery makes a big difference IMO on longer journeys although I normally do 4 stops a day with work so the winter does see the range hit slightly. I quickly got use to the one pedal driving mode which I found really relaxing. I also found on some of my longer urban commuting saw the range go back up as I travelled through town.

Being able to heat (or cool) the car before getting in it does feel a luxury. Also, if you've a large local Tescos with charging points, being able to shop & charge (it was free when I had my car) at 7kw was an added bonus. I probably only charged away from home 6-7 times in my period of ownership & that was just a case of a quick booster charge so I didn't have to drive at hypermile speeds.

By the way, I had the the extra heat pump on mine but whoever bought it from the dealer it ended up at never knew it had one as WBAC didn't ask for the full spec.

How can you tell whether an i3/i3S has a Headache Pump? I don't think I came across a used one with it advertised in the Spec?

[Diderot]

iDrive said:

MrC986 said:

I had an I3S for 17 months & 11k miles....the range anxiety went fairly quickly for me as I put a 7kw charger in at home. Preconditioning a fully charged battery makes a big difference IMO on longer journeys although I normally do 4 stops a day with work so the winter does see the range hit slightly. I quickly got use to the one pedal driving mode which I found really relaxing. I also found on some of my longer urban commuting saw the range go back up as I travelled through town.

Being able to heat (or cool) the car before getting in it does feel a luxury. Also, if you've a large local Tescos with charging points, being able to shop & charge (it was free when I had my car) at 7kw was an added bonus. I probably only charged away from home 6-7 times in my period of ownership & that was just a case of a quick booster charge so I didn't have to drive at hypermile speeds.

By the way, I had the the extra heat pump on mine but whoever bought it from the dealer it ended up at never knew it had one as WBAC didn't ask for the full spec.

How can you tell whether an i3/i3S has a Headache Pump? I don't think I came across a used one with it advertised in the Spec?

Not surprising .

[Rockets7]

JonnyVTEC said:

Nah, I’m even aware of my own driving it’s just ready and goes, to match that in an ICE you need to be staring at the opposite traffic light to anticipate the light change etc. can be matched but requires effort.

Edited by JonnyVTEC on Wednesday 22 December 16:24

Not sure how you’ve drawn this conclusion. My 250d slk sits in ‘D’ with auto hold on. Simply squeeze the gas and it’s away?

[DonkeyApple]

Rockets7 said:

Not sure how you’ve drawn this conclusion. My 250d slk sits in ‘D’ with auto hold on. Simply squeeze the gas and it’s away?

It boils down to how the manufacturer programs their ZF ECU. So many put lags in probably to allow them to put a cheaper version of the box in? I don't know about the latest Merc boxes but the Gtronic ones were proper tough and even with the big AMGs of the day when you lifted off the brake and transitioned to throttle there was no lag.

The worst offenders on the ZF boxes that I've found in recent years have been BMW. They are the chaps who know how to take a good auto box and make it utterly useless. They did it with the ZF6 in the 1 series and the ZF8 in the most recent 3 has the lag. Weirdly, they don't program it in so much to the 7 series.

It's completely deliberate and I don't know why they do it, some manufacturers don't do it at all but it makes auto BMW absolutely horrible city cars if you're used to a car just doing what you ask, when you ask.

The ZF6 in the 1 series had a woeful lag that meant you'd gently apply some throttle at the apex and you'd get nothing for a full second bu which time it was far too late. Putting it in sport mode lifts dome of the lag but who wants to be pressing buttons to remove a niggle that has no right to be there and is deliberate. In heavy traffic such as central London that ZF6 was a real pain. When you're at a junction in London and you have a gap appear in front of you, if you don't immediately start moving then someone else will take that opportunity. With the BMW, you'd see the gap, you'd apply some throttle from stationary and your car wouldn't move an inch. Someone else would start moving into the gap and then your car would decide to move and leap at that car.

The ZF8 in the 3 series is better but they've still managed to take one of the best auto boxes ever made and make it clunky and laggy. Coast down below 15mph approaching a junction then accelerate because it's all clear and the car won't do anything. You just roll out with no power because it's been programmed that the only outcome was to be stopping not driving away. It then delivers too much too late. It's very difficult to drive gently. But the whole car is with stop/start that cuts in when still moving if your style of driving in heavy traffic is to creep along at 1 mph.

BMW have always taken good gearboxes and programmed dumb into them. The 540 of the mid 90s had the ZF5 and this gearbox was 'intelligent'. It was so smart that when it noticed the car had been driving slowly for a while it wouldn't give you any power if you suddenly buried the throttle because you had clearly sneezed or got confused. Of course when you buy a 540, just like a 130 or 340, the rather obvious reality is that you've been driving slow for a while because you've been stuck behind a tractor or caravan and that you've got a safe window to overtake that needs the performance of the car but the car has been programmed to not give you its performance.

But it's not just autos with BMW. I drove a 330 a couple of generations back and the change on the 6 speed manual was horrible.

The reason the i3 is so good to drive is because the blokes in the factory who ruin all their other cars with their provincial and highly limited experiences and abilities clearly weren't needed on this project so it hasn't been ruined by them.

Part of what makes the i3 so great from a serial performance BMW owner perspective is down to how irritating BMWs have been since kids with laptops got involved making them work.