BMW i3 review

[forgotusername]

On an earlier thread, Sobraon wrote "A little OT but if you have the time to write a review of the i3 I would love to read it as it is certainly on my list as a potential next car."

Ok here goes. I've only had my i3 for a couple of months. It had 1900 miles on the clock when purchased and now shows 3160 so it looks and feels like a new car.

The first thing you notice when you climb in (and I mean climb) is the high driving position which affords a good view of the road ahead. The controls are pretty straightforward. It's an automatic so foot on brake, press "stop/start" button, select "Drive" or "Reverse", press accelerator and off you go. No need to switch off the electric handbrake, it releases as you start to move.

The next thing you notice is how quiet it is, virtually silent apart from some road noise. That's after you notice how fast it accelerates unless you are light footed. It's very quick. I'm assured by BMW that it out-accelerates an M3 to 30 mph. After that it can't match its big brother ( I know, as my other car is an M3) but it's no slouch and should you need to overtake the slowcoach in front, the response is instantaneous and pretty rapid.

So it's quite fun to drive and not all what you might expect given its eco credentials. The steering is light and positive, the turning circle is extremely small and there's little body roll. Take your foot off the throttle and there's another surprise, the car slows down rapidly as it converts kinetic energy back into electricity to the batteries. The brake lights come on to tell other drivers the car is braking by itself. With a little practice, you can approach a red light and stop without even touching the brakes. Somehow, the feel of the car and the way it works seems to encourage a gentle style of driving. There's even a display in front of the driver with a sort of "swingometer" showing the amount of electric being consumed or being generated by slowing down.

Charging it using a domestic socket is possible with the transformer and lead supplied with the car. It's very slow so like many people, I've had a fast charge point installed. This cost £350 (which includes a government subsidy covering the installation) and I bought a 5m cable on eBay for £150. Now I can charge the car at 7.2 kwh which means it takes about 2-3 hours to restore full charge when the range gets low. In my case low means somewhere in the 50-75 mile range rather than waiting until it's almost out of power. At full charge, I get about 125 miles range. I've only done one long round trip of about 110 miles and it was getting pretty low by the time I got home.

I've not had to use a public charger point yet as most of our motoring in this car is local, for which it is ideal. I opted for the Range Extender version of the i3 which has a small BMW motorcycle engine and a 2 gallon petrol tank, which generates electricity if the batteries get critically low. I'm not expecting more than 40 miles on this but it's enough to get home or buy more petrol or use a public charge point. Interestingly, BMW are no longer making this option so newer i3's are pure electric. The downside of my range extender is still having to pay road tax but I do get 10% off. Wow.

As I've not been through a winter where lights and heating will eat electricity, not to mention the effect of cold on battery storage, I can't say what my normal range would be but given how local our journeys are (40 miles max), I'll be surprised if it's not more than adequate. I've read that winter tyres are a good idea as the i3 has relatively skinny tyres (155 front 175 rear). I plan to buy a set of wheels fitted with winter tyres and swap them onto the car when I need to. It would be cheaper just to buy the tyres but it suits me better to avoid having to ask my tyre dealer to swap tyres and then swap them back. I'll also have a ready made spare should I get another puncture.

Am I pleased to have bought this car? Unequivocally, yes. It's effortless to drive, quiet, comfortable without being soggy, more than quick enough in most circumstances and quite a bit cheaper to run than a petrol car. It's only a 4 seater but very roomy with a more than adequate boot and split rear seats. Being nearly silent, it requires more alertness as a driver to spot pedestrians likely to step into your path looking the wrong way. Most importantly, my wife loves it. She used to love the Honda Jazz we sold but prefers the i3. As she doesn't like driving my M3, (too masculine for her), I'm delighted she has a car she really enjoys using.

Hopefully, that's given you some idea of what the i3 is like but if anyone has a specific question, I'll try to answer it.

[Sobraon]

Thanks ‘forgotusername’ that’s really great and very useful to me.

Driving position, steering and body roll are important where I live, 'Kinetic braking' and the auto brake light sounds good .

Acceleration 0-30 and overtaking really add to the feeling of a car for me so your comments really help here.

'Swingometer' – I might have to switch that off !

Also sometimes lost in the technical specification are real world charging time with the fast charger and of course - Real range, So its good to know what you are achieving.

I have a 535D and Mrs S has A V8 Land Rover so I would be looking to an i3 as a family car (for the returning ‘boomerangs’) and local errands. Your comments on how much your wife likes the i3 are therefore food for thought.

Just two further points if you have a moment, please would you comment on the impact on range of heating and cooling? And also how you assess the ride on ‘poorish’ (i.e. potholed) roads?

Thanks S.

[forgotusername]

Can’t really give much evidence based comment on impact of heating/cooling on range but logically both use electricity so must impact according to use. We use aircon normally, i.e. don’t stint, and have not noticed any dramatic effect. Have not had much need of extra heating lately!

Regarding the ride on rough surfaces, I would class it as firm but not uncomfortable. I’m used to sports suspension not wallowy, luxurious saloons so maybe I’m more tolerant of a few bumps. My local park and ride bus bangs and crashes on city roads where I would hardly notice the road surface in the i3. I think it’s comfortable enough but you may expect a softer ride. A test drive will reveal all.

[Sobraon]

Thanks again, S.

[Howard]

Thank you for the review. Just interested in the reason for considering buying winter tyres. I would have thought that the "skinny" tyres on the i3 were much better in snow than the low profile tyres on most cars.

regards

Howard

[forgotusername]

Howard, it's only what I've read but thinking about it, winter tyres make sense. Firstly it's a BMW so rear wheel drive. Secondly it's an automatic so there's no clutch to control power to wheels. My other car is the same although much more powerful and it is virtually unusable in snow and ice. I just leave it in the garage until the gritters have done their job or the weather improves but we need one car that works well in those conditions. It might not be wholly necessary but as we live in a small village, we're marooned if neither car is drivable.

[Howard]

Howard, it's only what I've read but thinking about it, winter tyres make sense. Firstly it's a BMW so rear wheel drive. Secondly it's an automatic so there's no clutch to control power to wheels. My other car is the same although much more powerful and it is virtually unusable in snow and ice. I just leave it in the garage until the gritters have done their job or the weather improves but we need one car that works well in those conditions. It might not be wholly necessary but as we live in a small village, we're marooned if neither car is drivable.

Thanks for the reply. You know your requirements for winter driving, so forgive me if the following confirms what you know already.

I live in a similar environment to you and, to get anywhere have to negotiate a steep hill. During snowy weather it has been impossible to drive a BMW or Merc up the hill. However, having driven to ski resorts in the past, I've generally had snow chains which are brilliant and give almost perfect traction. However, I accept they are no good for driving long distances and have to be taken off if one reaches a cleared road surface (as they tend to vibrate one's dental fillings loose on a tarmac surface .) They have literally got me out of situations where other drivers are completely stranded. Recently I have bought snow socks but have only had a chance to test them once, when they performed very similarly to snow chains.

I guess you may have to drive further in the snow than me, so it may be worth the considerable expense of snow tyres. I once hired a 3 Series BMW in Switzerland and was amazed at how good the winter tyres' traction, cornering and braking was in very icy conditions. So if I lived in the Peak District or somewhere similar I'd definitely have them fitted each winter despite the expense.

Anyway, happy electric motoring! And thanks again for the review.

regards

Howard

[9873210]

Howard, it's only what I've read but thinking about it, winter tyres make sense. Firstly it's a BMW so rear wheel drive. Secondly it's an automatic so there's no clutch to control power to wheels.

An electric car is automatic only in the sense that it does not have a (user controlled) clutch and gear box. You cannot infer that it will drive well or badly in snow and ice. A modern motor controller has far better control than is possible with a clutch and throttle. The question is: does the software let the driver take advantage of that? How good is the traction control? You can't tell from the hardware. The practical way to find out is a test drive in bad conditions. The more practical way is to let somebody else do the test drive and read the review.

Rear wheel drive and snow tyres on the other hand are physics that will affect electric and internal combustion drive cars equally.

[BobbyD]

Rear wheel drive and snow tyres on the other hand are physics that will affect electric and internal combustion drive cars equally.

I thought the different weight distribution favoured RWD in electrics?

[redsturgeon]

I'd agree that tall skinny tyres make it easier to drive in snow than wide low profiles. I was once very embarrassed on a minor hill in a sudden snow shower in my Honda Civc type R even with front wheel drive while "normal" shopping hatch backs were coping easily, I was just at a standstill and unable to climb the hill at all!. Also I used to find traction in the snow to be no problem in my old 1959 Morris Minor (RWD) with its very tall skinny tyres.

I'd agree 100% with the fact that the traction will be very much dictated by how good the software is and will be much better than could be achieved manually. I have the BMW 225xe PHEV with the rear wheels driven via the electric motor while the fronts are driven by the petrol engine. In tricky conditions it will revert to 4WD and in tests has shown to be better than most ICE off roaders in climbing steep gravelly slopes using its software.

Of course winter tyres would improve grip in the cold with some disadvantages in the summer though.

John

[9873210]

Rear wheel drive and snow tyres on the other hand are physics that will affect electric and internal combustion drive cars equally.

I thought the different weight distribution favoured RWD in electrics?

An electric drive drive train allows you to scatter heavy components around the car, without much weight or usable volume penalty. That lets you get closer to the ideal weight distribution for any design without heroic compromises like a mid engine. To the extent an IC engine requires more compromises for rear wheel drive, electric drive makes rear wheel drive easier.

IMHO electric drive vehicles are still adaptations of IC designs. It will take an order of magnitude increase in market share and several design generations before we see more or less clean sheet electric vehicle designs.

[9873210]

Also I used to find traction in the snow to be no problem in my old 1959 Morris Minor (RWD) with its very tall skinny tyres.

Limited torque and power also help.

On a modern car remapping the throttle so that full throttle only gave about 10% of available performance would probably help in ice and snow.

[BobbyD]

Rear wheel drive and snow tyres on the other hand are physics that will affect electric and internal combustion drive cars equally.

I thought the different weight distribution favoured RWD in electrics?

An electric drive drive train allows you to scatter heavy components around the car, without much weight or usable volume penalty. That lets you get closer to the ideal weight distribution for any design without heroic compromises like a mid engine. To the extent an IC engine requires more compromises for rear wheel drive, electric drive makes rear wheel drive easier.

IMHO electric drive vehicles are still adaptations of IC designs. It will take an order of magnitude increase in market share and several design generations before we see more or less clean sheet electric vehicle designs.

There are other differences as well. For example a standard front engined FWD ICE has a significant weight over the drive wheels, which in a clean sheet electric design* with the main weight, batteries, spread across the floor, isn't the case. In addition the absence of a large weight over the front axle means that when accelerating the tendency of the front end to lift means the rear wheels actually have superior contact.

Certainly the discussions I've seen about handling in snow from Tesla drivers, admittedly not the most critical audience in the world, suggest that the problems anticipated by extrapolating the performance of ICE RWD to BEV RWD simply don't arise.

As to clean sheet, Tesla? VW's MEB platform is about to get it's first official outing with the launch of the ID3 in Frankfurt next month.

* or any other design which hasn't simply stuffed the batteries in the engine compartment, to varying degrees, depending on where they have stuffed the batteries.

[tsr2]

Of course winter tyres would improve grip in the cold with some disadvantages in the summer though.

A good all season tyre will give you most of the advantage of a winter tyre without noticeably compromising summer performance. I have Michelin CrossClimate+ on my main car. Although the reviews show a small drop in summer performance compared to a regular summer tyre, it's not enough for me to notice. OTOH, during "the beast from the east" the major problem with the winter performance was that it was easy to become over confident in the handling on snow and ice. Michelin say that they aren't "extreme" winter tyres, so they are probably not suitable for winter in Alaska, but they have the "3 peaks " rating required to be legal as winter tyres in mainland Europe and will handle anything I am likely to encounter here in the East of England.

The price is much the same as the original Continental summer tyres my car came with.