4 days with an i3 - first impressions
Discussion
I have been lucky enough to have a 2016 i3 range extender on a 4 day extended test drive and thought i would share some initial findings.
Good and bad in no particular order
- Range anxiety is an actual thing
- you can do roughly 120 miles on battery only and a further 80 ish using the generator (kicks in automatically)
- off acceleration recharging is so strong you barely use the brake (great game)
- the thing is comically quick off the line
- you can half the range by driving hard
- it actually does 95mph (but see above...)
- it feels very roomy inside
- its not hard to unsettle the car
- the unfinished fibreglass effect dash reflects onto the windscreen and makes you think your windscreen is always dirty.
- you will find yourself defending your choices and the car to people who are exactly like you were before you drove it
- the 2stroke generator on the range extender models is LOUD on the outside and sounds like a lawnmower.
- ride is good unless you go over any harsh speed bumps - weight of the floorpan is very apparent
- by default the eco pro+ mode has a maximum speed of 56mph and if you have cruise on, going above that speed and set that mode
the car will immediately brake to get to 56...
- My company has just told me that if i want to plug it in at work (to a standard 13a plug socket) i will have to inform the tax man as it
would be considered a benefit in kind (?!)
- It takes 40 minutes to 80% charge on a 50kw DC charger (available in various locations)
- it takes around 12 hours to fully charge in a standard 13 amp socket
- it has marmite looks. Personally i love it.
- i am 98% sure i will buy one when i take it back on friday.
here is a quick picture - this is the colour i would order.
Good and bad in no particular order
- Range anxiety is an actual thing
- you can do roughly 120 miles on battery only and a further 80 ish using the generator (kicks in automatically)
- off acceleration recharging is so strong you barely use the brake (great game)
- the thing is comically quick off the line
- you can half the range by driving hard
- it actually does 95mph (but see above...)
- it feels very roomy inside
- its not hard to unsettle the car
- the unfinished fibreglass effect dash reflects onto the windscreen and makes you think your windscreen is always dirty.
- you will find yourself defending your choices and the car to people who are exactly like you were before you drove it
- the 2stroke generator on the range extender models is LOUD on the outside and sounds like a lawnmower.
- ride is good unless you go over any harsh speed bumps - weight of the floorpan is very apparent
- by default the eco pro+ mode has a maximum speed of 56mph and if you have cruise on, going above that speed and set that mode
the car will immediately brake to get to 56...
- My company has just told me that if i want to plug it in at work (to a standard 13a plug socket) i will have to inform the tax man as it
would be considered a benefit in kind (?!)
- It takes 40 minutes to 80% charge on a 50kw DC charger (available in various locations)
- it takes around 12 hours to fully charge in a standard 13 amp socket
- it has marmite looks. Personally i love it.
- i am 98% sure i will buy one when i take it back on friday.
here is a quick picture - this is the colour i would order.
Read a really helpful tip on another forum about saving the shortcut for 'hold current state of charge' on the 1-8 buttons.
Now my number 8 acts as a manual on/off for the Rex so i can force it to come on earlier so range anxiety is a thing of the past.
If you wanted to you could just top up the Rex every 70 miles. and leave the battery relatively untouched.
Also - anyone got the app? it is absolutely amazing - you can flash headlights, turn on AC, lock/unlock, locate the car, check the range of both battery & Rex, check when services are due, tyre pressures etc
Now my number 8 acts as a manual on/off for the Rex so i can force it to come on earlier so range anxiety is a thing of the past.
If you wanted to you could just top up the Rex every 70 miles. and leave the battery relatively untouched.
Also - anyone got the app? it is absolutely amazing - you can flash headlights, turn on AC, lock/unlock, locate the car, check the range of both battery & Rex, check when services are due, tyre pressures etc
So, ordered one on Friday. i3 REX with a few options like pro nav (wider screen) and parking camera and went for the grey and black.
Just to clarify - I am a petrol head - i've never owned anything other than performance petrol cars (205 1.9GT, CIvic type R, astra VXR, Golf R, S3 to name but a few) and we haven't bought the i3 because we think its a better car, we've bought it as a cost saving measure.
We need another car anyway
we are doing a 140 mile round trip commute (Cambridge to Upminster) every day
this journey would cost us around £40 a day in fuel in the S3
i3 costs £2 ish for a full charge which gives 200 miles - i've reduced that to 140 for sake of math
ROI will be 2.5 years if we use it for nothing else other than work, quicker if we use it at the weekends - which we will
I openly admit that the i3 is not perfect, the whole electric car idea is not perfect but it ticks more boxes than most and the figures can't be ignored.
Having just bought a house that needs about £40k throwing at it means the S3 has to go - maybe i'll wait a few years and get a used Porsche for my weekend thrills ?
Just to clarify - I am a petrol head - i've never owned anything other than performance petrol cars (205 1.9GT, CIvic type R, astra VXR, Golf R, S3 to name but a few) and we haven't bought the i3 because we think its a better car, we've bought it as a cost saving measure.
We need another car anyway
we are doing a 140 mile round trip commute (Cambridge to Upminster) every day
this journey would cost us around £40 a day in fuel in the S3
i3 costs £2 ish for a full charge which gives 200 miles - i've reduced that to 140 for sake of math
ROI will be 2.5 years if we use it for nothing else other than work, quicker if we use it at the weekends - which we will
I openly admit that the i3 is not perfect, the whole electric car idea is not perfect but it ticks more boxes than most and the figures can't be ignored.
Having just bought a house that needs about £40k throwing at it means the S3 has to go - maybe i'll wait a few years and get a used Porsche for my weekend thrills ?
Olivera said:
PixelpeepS3 said:
i3 costs £2 ish for a full charge which gives 200 miles
From what I've been reading a full i3 charge will give maybe 120 miles at best in summer, 100 in winter, so you need to revise your figures.And £40 to drive 140 miles in an S3? That's 20mpg.
I think you've used quite a bit of EV 'man-maths'.
i3 full charge will give you around 100-120 miles then + 80 with the range extender - i also have a charge point at work so will be able to charge it at both ends so should never dip into the REX (70 miles one way)
When i did my math i made sure i had all the information first because believe me, i'd rather keep the S3 and not have to go electric at all.
Olivera said:
PixelpeepS3 said:
i get 20-24mpg from my S3 based on 8000 miles of driving so as we always do a worst case scenario (range on the electric as an example i also went for the lower MPG figure)
i3 full charge will give you around 100-120 miles then + 80 with the range extender - i also have a charge point at work so will be able to charge it at both ends so should never dip into the REX (70 miles one way)
When i did my math i made sure i had all the information first because believe me, i'd rather keep the S3 and not have to go electric at all.
Fair points.i3 full charge will give you around 100-120 miles then + 80 with the range extender - i also have a charge point at work so will be able to charge it at both ends so should never dip into the REX (70 miles one way)
When i did my math i made sure i had all the information first because believe me, i'd rather keep the S3 and not have to go electric at all.
Out of interest what's the price of your optioned-up i3? And how does that compare to say running a Fiesta ST which you can pick up for say 16 grand brand new over the same distance?
daemon said:
PixelpeepS3 said:
So, ordered one on Friday. i3 REX with a few options like pro nav (wider screen) and parking camera and went for the grey and black.
Just to clarify - I am a petrol head - i've never owned anything other than performance petrol cars (205 1.9GT, CIvic type R, astra VXR, Golf R, S3 to name but a few) and we haven't bought the i3 because we think its a better car, we've bought it as a cost saving measure.
We need another car anyway
we are doing a 140 mile round trip commute (Cambridge to Upminster) every day
this journey would cost us around £40 a day in fuel in the S3
i3 costs £2 ish for a full charge which gives 200 miles - i've reduced that to 140 for sake of math
ROI will be 2.5 years if we use it for nothing else other than work, quicker if we use it at the weekends - which we will
I openly admit that the i3 is not perfect, the whole electric car idea is not perfect but it ticks more boxes than most and the figures can't be ignored.
Having just bought a house that needs about £40k throwing at it means the S3 has to go - maybe i'll wait a few years and get a used Porsche for my weekend thrills ?
What way do the deals work on them? Is there negotiation on the price? (i see broadspeed.com dont have them listed for example) Just to clarify - I am a petrol head - i've never owned anything other than performance petrol cars (205 1.9GT, CIvic type R, astra VXR, Golf R, S3 to name but a few) and we haven't bought the i3 because we think its a better car, we've bought it as a cost saving measure.
We need another car anyway
we are doing a 140 mile round trip commute (Cambridge to Upminster) every day
this journey would cost us around £40 a day in fuel in the S3
i3 costs £2 ish for a full charge which gives 200 miles - i've reduced that to 140 for sake of math
ROI will be 2.5 years if we use it for nothing else other than work, quicker if we use it at the weekends - which we will
I openly admit that the i3 is not perfect, the whole electric car idea is not perfect but it ticks more boxes than most and the figures can't be ignored.
Having just bought a house that needs about £40k throwing at it means the S3 has to go - maybe i'll wait a few years and get a used Porsche for my weekend thrills ?
covmutley said:
PixelpeepS3 said:
After a fair bit of arguing i got it with extras for around £6k off list - its still not a cheap car but you are paying for the tech (and the badge to an extent i guess) not the luxury or performance (neither is too shabby for a city car i should add..)
Congratulation! Considering a bog standard 320d is £31k, I don't think they are too expensive after govt grant at least. Are you buying outright or is this pcp? I have to say that I did not shop round that much when i ordered mine as the advice on the i3 facebook group is that as dealers are only agents, you cant get deals above the BMW advertised offers.
The monthly payment seems a bit high to start off with but as i used to work in the mobile phone industry my brain can cope with
"yes the line rental is higher but you get more minutes so the overall bill will still be a lot less than you were paying in total (rental + data, voice and text use) previously"
it's a concept a surprising amount of people can't get their head round.
one of my first impressions of the car (<5 minutes of driving) was how easy it was to unsettle.
I quickly realised that my steering input had to change. It's not like a normal car, the front wheels are really skinny but large in radius + they have no power running through them + the tyres are pumped to an inch of their lives + the suspension, i found, quite soft and wallow against the rock hard tyres and no give means the slightest incorrect input and you feel it.
Dunno, it's just a weird set up (weird as in not usual) - i accept this has all been designed in order to get maximum efficiency and coming from most well sorted modern hot saloon/hatches its a bit of a shock until you are used to it.
I quickly realised that my steering input had to change. It's not like a normal car, the front wheels are really skinny but large in radius + they have no power running through them + the tyres are pumped to an inch of their lives + the suspension, i found, quite soft and wallow against the rock hard tyres and no give means the slightest incorrect input and you feel it.
Dunno, it's just a weird set up (weird as in not usual) - i accept this has all been designed in order to get maximum efficiency and coming from most well sorted modern hot saloon/hatches its a bit of a shock until you are used to it.
TXG399 said:
covmutley said:
Regarding the GFV I think this will be interesting. As Ev's become more mainstream and people realise they dont do 300 miles every day so range is not a big issue for most people, and as diesel begins to get taxed hard, i think it is quite possible it will be worth more than forecast currently.
The first thing I get asked is 'what about the range', people honestly seem to think that they a driving 100's of miles daily, I don't understand how people have such vastly skewed perceptions of their daily usage. Obviously there are people who do massive daily mileages, but for the vast majority of people, an 80 mile range is perfectly adequate.Edited by covmutley on Thursday 22 June 09:25
In the 6 months I've had mine I've only used the REX a couple of times, and in each case it was because I was too lazy to stop and charge!
then its - 90 miles isnt very far on a tank of fuel is it.
URGHHHHHHHH - it takes me £5.98 to fill it up, not £60 like your bucket!
if you could get £60 of fuel in an i3 it would do 900 miles - ish.
Pica-Pica said:
AnotherClarkey said:
I had one on a 24 test drive and agree that there is something off/unsettled with the handling. There seems to be odd steering response just off straight ahead which results in a lot of 'head toss'.
The REX generator is 4 stroke rather than 2 stroke no?
Kind of negates all the comments if OP can't tell a two stroke from a four-stroke.The REX generator is 4 stroke rather than 2 stroke no?
on it's highest output it is very noisy - so i programmed one of the short cut keys (8 of them like radio presets) to the REX override setting so if the battery was below 75% i could start it manually - i used the REX on the motorway (where the road noise drowns it out) to maintain charge if the journey would be more than the pure EV range.
Seriously, you do not want to be pulling up anywhere residential while that 2cy lawnmower is on full chat.. especially if your 'friends' are already looking for reasons to take the piss lol.
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