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BMW i3
- Thread starter gregincal
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- Electric Vehicles
Not just similar, same thing.
It is just that fully loaded sig Model S was a luxury car at luxury car price.
And fully loaded BMW i3 is a clown carabomination at "entry-luxury" car price. You'd have to pay me to drive one...
I never really dig BMWs, and I just love to hate i3.
It is just that fully loaded sig Model S was a luxury car at luxury car price.
And fully loaded BMW i3 is a clown carabomination at "entry-luxury" car price. You'd have to pay me to drive one...
I never really dig BMWs, and I just love to hate i3.
This model is crippled even before it sets foot here. The US models cannot engage Rex until SOC falls below 5% and unfortunately it's not enough to power the car so it restricts performance and you'll be limping along the highway at 40mph. If any of you are considering buying this , well to put it bluntly I think you are stupid. Why would anyone drop 40-50k on a crippled car that's going to put you in limp mode on the highways? FWIW I had my RR lemoned because of something similar where it disabled the car to 30mph while you are driving.
Let me put it in easier terms. If you were driving your family around in it, and you punch it to pass someone on a single lane road, or you are turning left at a light, and this thing suddenly kicks itself into restricted performance and a car is coming at you, well guess what you and your family are now dead. Sorry but I would never drive myself or my family in this i3 knowing of it's restricted performance mode. IMO it's a death trap waiting to happen.
Let me put it in easier terms. If you were driving your family around in it, and you punch it to pass someone on a single lane road, or you are turning left at a light, and this thing suddenly kicks itself into restricted performance and a car is coming at you, well guess what you and your family are now dead. Sorry but I would never drive myself or my family in this i3 knowing of it's restricted performance mode. IMO it's a death trap waiting to happen.
ChadS
Last tank of gas: March 2009
I don't like it when posters make stuff up about Tesla, I don't like it when posters make stuff up about BMW, I don't like it when people make stuff up.
Simple math and several drivers who actually own i3s with ReXs have shown that statement is flat out incorrect. The i3 is light enough and thus efficient enough that 25 kW is all that is needed to move at 65 MPH and maintain the battery charge. A 5% buffer is plenty enough to enable high speed passing and climbing hills for quite some time.
Just watch the Model S power meter. It takes about 30 kW to move at 65 MPH on the flats. The i3 is more efficient than the 'S due to lighter weight and decent areo. 25 kW is plenty for highway driving in an i3. Check out Tony's range chart for the LEAF (My Nissan Leaf Forum View topic - Range Chart) The LEAF can go 75 MPH at 25 kW. That's not limping.
Can you Broder it (as the Telegraph did) and overtax the ReX? Sure. Just drive 90 MPH up a hill for half and hour, I'm sure the battery will go flat and the car won't be able to maintain speed. Slow down, don't be a moron and the ReX will charge the buffer back to 5% and all will be well again.
So, please, until you've driven one and had this happen to you, don't make stuff up to justify your opinions. Let the facts do the talking. Thanks.
I think woof has a ReX bias. 
That said...
That said...
There's a place for this, but it should be clearly marked: Fiction.
Wait, these numbers can't be right! Realist promised us that BMW had tens of thousands (I think he said 30 to 50,000) of firm orders for the i3 in just the first year!?! LOL. How can Realist possibly have been that far off?? It just isn't possible.
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Simple. Everyone realized "why should I buy an i3 compliance car when I could have an S60 instead?!?!?"
Actually, no. I would've preferred BMW offered a few extra kWh for the same money and weight and space as the ReX. For the record, my i3 order doesn't include the ReX. I'm being stubborn and want a pure BEV, even though the ReX makes some sense in my situation. At least they made it an option.I think woof has a ReX bias.
The ReX is certainly an interesting engineering concept--be it looked at as insurance against range anxiety, or EV training wheels, or to get you home that last mile when you just come up short. I understand BMWs thinking here: their battery pack is less energy dense than Tesla's, and probably more expensive per kWh, due to playing it safe with less volatile chemistries. So they add in a cheap energy dense ReX to make up the difference. A classic engineering trade-off made to meet price and weight requirements.
surfingslovak
Member
surfingslovak
Member
I'm sorry, but the i3 is not a compliance car, no matter how often that's repeated.
Yes, same here. I love the US, but never understood the lure and culture of trash talking. Agree on the physics and math of the REx. Wish BMW had offered a larger pack option, but weight, handling and efficiency were likely the top priorities when designing this car. Anyway, here is my configuration.
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gg_got_a_tesla
Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
Failure @ { woof, ReX } joke.
I got the canine angle there
I'd have been in the market for the BEV version of i3 as our second car at this price point even with the current range if only had it had seating for 5 and regular doors instead of the suicide ones. My wife's getting increasingly annoyed with our Mini Clubman's suicide door given how tall our son's getting (he's only 7.5 yrs old but, is pushing 53") and the effort it takes to get him into the booster seat in the back. She's already said that she's interested in a smaller EV with conventional seating for 5 so, Gen 3 can't come around soon enough.
I stopped by Peter Pan BMW here in the Peninsula recently looking to test drive the i3 only to find out that I had missed a couple of test drive events in the past few weeks and that they don't have a captive test drive car. But, the typical runaround I got at the dealership and the nonchalant and almost-condescending attitude I got for even showing interest in an EV (their EV!) reminded me why I should hesitate to buy from anyone other than Tesla for the foreseeable future.
surfingslovak
Member
Good one!I got the canine angle there
Yes, the lack of the 5th seat is one if the biggest shortcomings of the i3, along with the lack of a larger battery option, and the controversial looks. Although the latter seems to sit better with European prospects. A friend of called it an "unforced error". The BMW dealers are all too fat and happy in the Bay Area. A new retail experience for BMW i vehicles is reportedly coming, and cannot arrive soon enough.
The Electric BMW i3: Was Giving the i3 Only 4 Seats an "Unforced Error"?
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Maybe they'll do as Nissan did with the Leaf and let the customer choose the dealer.
surfingslovak
Member
Definitely! I'm under the impression that BMW would like to change the retail experience dramatically, and has taken a page out of Apple's and Tesla's book. How that will look like exactly, I don't know, but I believe that new sales centers are being established. Hopefully, it will be enough to break through the rut of the traditional dealership experience. As gg_got_a_tesla pointed out above, good dealers are pretty hard to find in some areas.
EVNow
Well-Known Member
I'm afraid, because of all the dealer lobby written laws, we are stuck with dealers for a long time ...
surfingslovak
Member
Yes, you are absolutely correct. Even though BMW wants to move a lot of the sales process online, and hire new product specialists, it looks like dealers will still be in control of the overall sales experience. Since the question of the 5th seat came up, I thought I would post this photo from the UK, which I just stumbled upon. I don't think that there are enough seat belts in the i3!
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As more of the i3 with REX hit the streets, there will undoubtedly come out more and more stories about people having issues with the dynamics, if it is in fact the case that the REX won't switch on until the battery is at less than 5%.
5% means you have 0.94 kWh available, which is enough to lift an i3 around 250 meters/800 ft. That means that if you are driving at 65 mph up an incline with a 10% gradient, the buffer will be exhausted after 1.5 miles. That would occur here if you were to drive between Drammen and Oslo, to mention one example, Drammen is a major suburb of Oslo. And on that particular road, the traffic is usually flowing at 65-70 mph. I'm sure there are numerous roads in the US where the buffer would be depleted, but I'm personally not familiar with them.
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