Guess what Mad_Lad got this time?

ELM327

They are nice but remember, in 3 years when you go to sell the range will be super small compared to other premium cars that are available now or in next 12 months

ELM327

ELM327 wrote: »

They are nice but remember, in 3 years when you go to sell the range will be super small compared to other premium cars that are available now or in next 12 months

That's the same for all current electric cars in fairness with the exception of maybe the Kona of course but the i3 is a far different car, I wouldn't drive the Kona, I don't like it and the i3 Rex has more than enough range.

The 42 Kwh i3 will most likely have plenty of range for most people too especially when the charging infrastructure improves.

punisher5112

punisher5112 wrote: »

Oh my god these are really growing on me.

At 1st I was like God they're awful looking yokes but I see one now and have a really wanting for one.

I really wish I had the money as I've moved and doing at least 180km a day and getting 54mpg in a 1.5 diesel.

Just bought a house so no hope of a loan to go with it but it's something I will have to be seriously considering at some point in the future as costs will be high running and ice.

I had the same opinions about the i3 first, hated it, test drove it and immediately loved it especially driving around Connemara , it was a joy and is a Joy on back roads and I still love driving it today, the Leaf was a good car but I really did get bored of it, it was too ordinary, the i3 is extra special.

Tazium

Tazium wrote: »

Unlikely to ever have it at home Mad_Lad, it's a company car, brand new. I know feck all about the battery which is probably the best result for EVs. - just get in and go! It's 42.2kWh, 135kW according to the order dockets. I've posted previously about which car to go for and the personal taxation on BEV's is just 4% rather than 20-25% for ICE this really helped the decision. Still have a lego-car feeling about it, expect that won't last though.

Nice, you will love it, it's a fun car, take it to some back roads.

I don't think you will get bored of it.

So what's the story, you are not allowed to bring it home ?

It has 3 phase AC charging , 11 Kw so see if you can get the 3 phase AC 32 amp cable because it is very convenient in town when you can plug into an AC street charger and it will save a lot of fast charging.

Tazium

haha you're saying things I don't understand. There's two cables that I got with the car, one is the granny type, house plugin and other is a Type2 cable I think. It's capable of fast charging and there's plenty of chargers here - NL. I could bring it home but it's a feck of a drive to do that from here!

Gumbo

Deleted User wrote: »

What year is it, battery ?

From the pics, its brand new and the 120Ah version.

kceire

kceire wrote: »

From the pics, its brand new and the 120Ah version.

Thought it was an import to Ireland when I saw the Reg thought it was a U.K car lol.

Didn't know it was an NL car but didn't even spot the steering on the left, I blame the sideways pics lol.

Tazium

Tazium wrote: »

haha you're saying things I don't understand. There's two cables that I got with the car, one is the granny type, house plugin and other is a Type2 cable I think. It's capable of fast charging and there's plenty of chargers here - NL. I could bring it home but it's a feck of a drive to do that from here!

Yes supplied is a type II single phase charge lead which will be good for 7 Kw.

The i3 can charge at 11 Kw 3 phase AC which makes a difference, believe me.

You need a 3 phase 32 amp cable but I don't know what kind of AC charge points you got there, 7 Kw , 11 or 22 Kw. You would need to check this first.

ELM327

It's Holland, so I presume they have 11kW 3 phase at home, like most other advanced European nations.
In Ireland we're told to use different christmas lights due to our crappy grid, forget about 3 phase we're lucky to have 220v single phase in some places

unkel

ELM327 wrote: »

It's Holland, so I presume they have 11kW 3 phase at home, like most other advanced European nations.

It's not standard in most houses but it's a really cheap upgrade (a few hundred quid, I could live with that )

ewj1978

punisher5112 wrote: »

Just bought a house so no hope of a loan to go with it but it's something I will have to be seriously considering at some point in the future as costs will be high running and ice.

Had to wait ages to get my house sorted but as soon as i did, bang straight onto avantcard and no bother getting a rate of 6.1%.
Being a homeowner will not affect your loan approval.

My i3 arrives Saturday week.

Cardenkelly

n97 mini wrote: »

400 sounds a lot.

I got the Ampera serviced in Charles Hurst (to keep the warranty). £250, which I felt was also very expensive. It bugged me that while they looked at a lot, they did less work than the €180 service the Civic IMA got. Granted that was years ago but the price of parts hasn't really changed.

hi, i just bought from hurst in lisburn. did u know that their service guy has now left for england and wanted to take mine to england tofix the charge door !!! they said they could find NOBODY in ire to fix it. i had to tell them about ryans in wexford and they happily let me get on with it. who, may i ask repairs yours and where in the south are you??? thx mick

punisher5112

ewj1978 wrote: »

Had to wait ages to get my house sorted but as soon as i did, bang straight onto avantcard and no bother getting a rate of 6.1%.
Being a homeowner will not affect your loan approval.

My i3 arrives Saturday week.

Realistic what sort of payment a week or month....

n97 mini

Cardenkelly wrote: »

hi, i just bought from hurst in lisburn. did u know that their service guy has now left for england and wanted to take mine to england tofix the charge door !!! they said they could find NOBODY in ire to fix it. i had to tell them about ryans in wexford and they happily let me get on with it. who, may i ask repairs yours and where in the south are you??? thx mick

Leixlip. Got the one and only service so far in Belfast late last year. Next not due to December. I'm not too worried about the conventional stuff as I do that myself anyway. Changed the rear brake pads not long after I got it as they were crumbling away. Almost no wear but just old.

ewj1978

punisher5112 wrote: »

Realistic what sort of payment a week or month....

on €25k was €485 a month.

ELM327

ewj1978 wrote: »

on €25k was €485 a month.

That's pretty good for 6% tbh
Wonder what their max amount of (unsecured?) finance they offer. This type of finance is a good option for folks looking to purchase in UK.

ewj1978

jumping in to show my new motor.
2016 94AH Rex.

mordeith

Colour is gorgeous

Nice one well wear.

Welcome to the i3 Club !

ELM327

Did you get that for 25k? that's a great deal.
Best value (much better than Ioniq/leaf40 etc) due to rex

Soarer

ewj1978 wrote: »

jumping in to show my new motor.
2016 94AH Rex.

Could do with a polish.

Soarer

I think I've put in on record before that there are one or two things about the i3 that slightly irritate me. But even with those annoyances, I find myself still really wanting one...approx. 12 months after my test drive!

I'm planning (hopefully) to upgrade the car in the next few (possibly 6) months.
Teslas are too rich for my blood unfortunately, so they're out.
Same goes for Niro/Kona. Wouldn't buy them anyway if I'd the money tbh.
Ioniq is a good car, but would want the SE from the UK. So a hen's teeth job.
e-Golf is a bit too saucy for the range given.

So that leaves me with a Tekna L40 or an i3 REx from the UK.
I've been back and forth in my head for weeks/months, and always seem to come back to the conclusion of....if I'm to spend ~€25k on a car, the only one I think I'd regret buying is the i3! That might change in the depth of winter when I have to open the kids' door in the pi$$ing rain! But at the minute, that's where I am. Fupp sake!
I'd be fairly particular as to what I'd want in the car too (the majority of the following)...
LED headlights
Tinted rear windows
Leather interior
Big screen
Reversing camera
Sunroof
Harmon Kardon Audio
Anything but the ugly wheels.
Could have a long wait on my hands!

So to bring this back on thread....
You have the REX, you're tootling up the motorway, your battery runs low and the REx kicks in. Can you still sit at 120 (ie. will the REx rev enough to top up the battery quickly enough?), or do you have to reduce speed to allow for charging?

ELM327

If you're deciding between a leaf and an i3 rex do yourself a favour and get the i3.
To answer your question all the i3 rex except the US first gen ones have no problem sustaining speed on the rex

Shefwedfan

Soarer wrote: »

So to bring this back on thread....
You have the REX, you're tootling up the motorway, your battery runs low and the REx kicks in. Can you still sit at 120 (ie. will the REx rev enough to top up the battery quickly enough?), or do you have to reduce speed to allow for charging?

According to The Grand Tour once the REX kicked in you had to run in low power mode, limited speed and everything turned off. Including heating etc


Now this seems to be a little but incorrect.....

ELM327

Shefwedfan wrote: »

According to The Grand Tour once the REX kicked in you had to run in low power mode, limited speed and everything turned off. Including heating etc


Now this seems to be a little but incorrect.....

This is not correct, the grand tour is an entertainment show not a factual show. the only i3 this happened on was the 22kWh version and even then it was only the US spec models due to legislation around BEVx categorization

Shefwedfan

ELM327 wrote: »

This is not correct, the grand tour is an entertainment show not a factual show. the only i3 this happened on was the 22kWh version and even then it was only the US spec models due to legislation around BEVx categorization

It is a good entertianment show, you have to admit

Soarer

ELM327 wrote: »

If you're deciding between a leaf and an i3 rex do yourself a favour and get the i3.

Yeah, thanks.
That's the way I'm looking myself. I'm sure I'd get used to the doors (change the mindset from looking at it as an awkward hatchback to an easy access coup;))

ELM327 wrote: »

To answer your question all the i3 rex except the US first gen ones have no problem sustaining speed on the rex

That's good to know.
And I'm assuming that, if one was so inclined, that the i3 could be run on the REx all the time, and never actually charge the battery? As daft an idea that would be!

Shefwedfan wrote: »

According to The Grand Tour once the REX kicked in you had to run in low power mode, limited speed and everything turned off. Including heating etc

Seen that episode myself. But I assumed they were just doing thing to the extremes (as always).
Your e-golf is a lovely looking motor actually. Surprised it hasn't sold yet!

unkel

ELM327 wrote: »

To answer your question all the i3 rex except the US first gen ones have no problem sustaining speed on the rex

The REx is a 2 cylinder 650cc 33BHP small motor bike engine

Max it can do is 110km/h indicated, so the real speed is less than that (I don't know how much less) without the help of the electric motor, but a tiny bit of headwind and you will be overtaken by Nissans driving at LeafSpeed :pac:

Linky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmCOdHZF91Q

Max speed in EV mode is an indicated 154km/h. That's not great either. But I guess adequate for most owners.

LOL I've never experienced any loss in power running on Rex at 120 Km/h even with 4% battery.

Once load has reduced it will charge back up a bit again.

Only an idiot runs the battery down so low anyway, the idea here is that if you are doing a long motorway trip and do not want to restrict your speed and don't want to charge on route knowing you won't make it on battery alone then fire up the Rex as soon as it allows at 75% battery charge and the battery range will drop much, much slower.

At 120 Km/h it's well capable of driving the car with no loss of power with low battery, remember the 94 Ah has a more powerful Rex than the 64 Ah.

Then when you get to slower roads and in town you can run 100% on battery again.

Rex is really great to have and most of all it avoids this in the pic below. I passed the Carlow DC on Saturday and a Model S was there , Leaf 40 and 24/30 Kwh leaf queuing. That has the potential to be 2 hr wait before you get to charge if you're the 4th car there. No thanks. It will improve in a few years but for now there's no way I would go back to EV only 60 Kwh or no 60 Kwh either.

Soarer

Cheers Mad_Lad.

So on a bit of a long journey, the ideal would be...
Start with 100% battery and full tank.
Set the car to turn on the REx at 75% (or whatever).
If you can't make it on one tank of juice and battery charge, top up the car with petrol to maintain the slow rate of battery discharge.
Once within EV range of your destination, switch off REx.

Sound about right?

Soarer

Soarer wrote: »

Cheers Mad_Lad.

So on a bit of a long journey, the ideal would be...
Start with 100% battery and full tank.
Set the car to turn on the REx at 75% (or whatever). can't set it to turn on, you have to turn it on manually or it comes on automatically when the battery reaches 6.5%
If you can't make it on one tank of juice and battery charge, top up the car with petrol to maintain the slow rate of battery discharge.
Once within EV range of your destination, switch off REx.

Sound about right?

I usually never let the battery run down, I don't like driving with the Rex on in slower traffic or in town.

You'll get the hang of it after a while.

You can create short cuts for menus in the car, for instance, if you're in the menu for where it shows the Rex menu you can press and hold one of the number buttons you'd assume are for the radio, it stores that so you now only have to press say, No.1 and you're instantly in the Rex menu so you can turn it on and off easily without fumbling through menus.

If the battery runs low then you can top up on DC for a few mins and head off again.

I love the idrive, it makes touch screens seem really ridiculously stupid in cars.

You can also get a 32 amp 3 phase charge lead which when connected to a 3 phase slow charge point will charge the 94 ah i3 from 10-90% in about 2hrs 20 mins. Not so slow for us 94 ah i3 owners, it also means far less time needed hanging around at fast chargers.

mordeith

Soarer wrote: »

So to bring this back on thread....
You have the REX, you're tootling up the motorway, your battery runs low and the REx kicks in. Can you still sit at 120 (ie. will the REx rev enough to top up the battery quickly enough?), or do you have to reduce speed to allow for charging?

This happens to me occasionally when I've forgotten to charge at home. At 7.5% battery the Rex kicks in. There is no noticeable drop in power. The car will still easily tip away at 120kph. Only thing I've noticed is there is a slightly less instant response to the acceleration but still far more than a conventional ice.

DrPhilG

I've never seen a drop in power because as others have said, I don't let it go that low.

But if you're booting down the motorway at 120kmph and 7%, you will not maintain that battery level IMO. Even at 100km in typical Irish weather you will just about maintain the battery %.

If I'm doing a long trip and I know I'll use the full tank, I'll turn it on at 70% and use the petrol first. But you will find that at prolonged high speed the 70% will gradually drop down and only catch up again when you slow down.

So if you're doing 120, hit 7% and the REx comes on, if you continue doing 120 then IMO you will eventually drop the battery to the point where it limits your power.

Soarer

Jaysus, I'd forgotten the Dr had an i3 too!

Think we need an i3 owners' list!

DrPhilG

Soarer wrote: »

Jaysus, I'd forgotten the Dr had an i3 too!

Think we need an i3 owners' list!

I think I've noticed half a dozen new i3 owners either here or on Facebook since I switched in October.

The REx is a no brainer for Ireland because of the sh*tty network.

ELM327

unkel wrote: »

The REx is a 2 cylinder 650cc 33BHP small motor bike engine

Max it can do is 110km/h indicated, so the real speed is less than that (I don't know how much less) without the help of the electric motor, but a tiny bit of headwind and you will be overtaken by Nissans driving at LeafSpeed :pac:

Linky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmCOdHZF91Q

Max speed in EV mode is an indicated 154km/h. That's not great either. But I guess adequate for most owners.

So you'd reccomend a leaf with a tesco value battery over an i3 rex for the same money?? :eek::eek:

Shefwedfan

Soarer wrote: »

Your e-golf is a lovely looking motor actually. Surprised it hasn't sold yet!

The market is poor at the moment.....no major rush to sell it to be honest. Every couple of days the Misses comes in and decides she wants to keep it.....so who knows what will happen:p


Phil has the newer model at decent money which might be worth a look....the doors and no back windows would rule out the i3 for me. Also I don't like the 4 seater, even if I hadn't kids I don't think I would go for it.

Soarer

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Phil has the newer model at decent money which might be worth a look....the doors and no back windows would rule out the i3 for me. Also I don't like the 4 seater, even if I hadn't kids I don't think I would go for it.

That's exactly my conundrum.
I'd get over the 4 seats (only 4 in the family and have the Prius if we need to haul an extra a$$). The doors and windows are the big f-up IMO.
Which is why I'd want the tinted glass and sunroof.

#FirstWorldProblems

I've never lost power in the 94Ah at 120 Km/h with the cruise on and even at 4% battery , lowest I saw, Winter and wet roads. Charge got back up to about 8% again when load was reduced.

Again, use the Rex before the battery gets very low and then use battery on slower roads and town.

unkel

Deleted User wrote: »

Again, use the Rex before the battery gets very low and then use battery on slower roads and town.

I wasn't aware you could do that. Sounds like a good plan if you know you're not gonna make it on battery power

So, you can switch the REx on at any time?

ewj1978

As long as its under 75% afaik. Just set a button on the dash to enable it so you don't have to go through the menu ( but even that takes 3 seconds).
I drove from Naas to Youghal yesterday with my new car and wanted to test it.
Thats 212km.
After 127km motorway @120kmph and 28km @~100kmph the rex kicked in at 6% and took me the remaining 57km home.
Non-stop. No range issues.
Had over a half tank of fuel saying 75km range when i got home.
love the car.

To answer questions on mine. Yep. €25k landed. Rex from a BMW main dealer in the UK.
Only gripe I have is the app.
what do people use?
also cracked the windscreen coming back from the VRT today but autoglass are on it next Tuesday.

Gumbo

Soarer wrote: »

I think I've put in on record before that there are one or two things about the i3 that slightly irritate me. But even with those annoyances, I find myself still really wanting one...approx. 12 months after my test drive!

I'm planning (hopefully) to upgrade the car in the next few (possibly 6) months.
Teslas are too rich for my blood unfortunately, so they're out.
Same goes for Niro/Kona. Wouldn't buy them anyway if I'd the money tbh.
Ioniq is a good car, but would want the SE from the UK. So a hen's teeth job.
e-Golf is a bit too saucy for the range given.

So that leaves me with a Tekna L40 or an i3 REx from the UK.
I've been back and forth in my head for weeks/months, and always seem to come back to the conclusion of....if I'm to spend ~€25k on a car, the only one I think I'd regret buying is the i3! That might change in the depth of winter when I have to open the kids' door in the pi$$ing rain! But at the minute, that's where I am. Fupp sake!
I'd be fairly particular as to what I'd want in the car too (the majority of the following)...
LED headlights
Tinted rear windows
Leather interior
Big screen
Reversing camera
Sunroof
Harmon Kardon Audio
Anything but the ugly wheels.
Could have a long wait on my hands!

So to bring this back on thread....
You have the REX, you're tootling up the motorway, your battery runs low and the REx kicks in. Can you still sit at 120 (ie. will the REx rev enough to top up the battery quickly enough?), or do you have to reduce speed to allow for charging?

I’ll sell you mine next year. I’ll be due a change then.

Gumbo

ewj1978 wrote: »

jumping in to show my new motor.
2016 94AH Rex.

Lovely colour. Welcome to the i3 club.
Are you on Facebook?

There’s a good bmw i3 UK group that has loads of info and tips. There’s an Irish group too but it’s like a ghost town.

Gumbo

ewj1978 wrote: »

As long as its under 75% afaik. Just set a button on the dash to enable it so you don't have to go through the menu ( but even that takes 3 seconds).
I drove from Naas to Youghal yesterday with my new car and wanted to test it.
Thats 212km.
After 127km motorway @120kmph and 28km @~100kmph the rex kicked in at 6% and took me the remaining 57km home.
Non-stop. No range issues.
Had over a half tank of fuel saying 75km range when i got home.
love the car.

To answer questions on mine. Yep. €25k landed. Rex from a BMW main dealer in the UK.
Only gripe I have is the app.
what do people use?
also cracked the windscreen coming back from the VRT today but autoglass are on it next Tuesday.

What’s up with the app?
Mine works perfect?
Pre conditioning, location, sending destinations to the sat nav etc
I also get the pop up on my phone if I have a calendar alert set on the phone telling me when to leave.

unkel

unkel wrote: »

I wasn't aware you could do that. Sounds like a good plan if you know you're not gonna make it on battery power

So, you can switch the REx on at any time?

Only from 75% charge and below.

DrPhilG

ewj1978 wrote: »

to answer questions on mine. Yep. €25k landed. Rex from a BMW main dealer in the UK.
Only gripe I have is the app.
what do people use?
also cracked the windscreen coming back from the VRT today but autoglass are on it next Tuesday.

As kceire says, I have no issues with the app. There is an older version that people reckon is more reliable but I've got both and they both work fine.

Great price on the car. What spec do you have inside?

KCross

ewj1978 wrote: »

also cracked the windscreen coming back from the VRT today but autoglass are on it next Tuesday.

Careful on the windscreen, according to cros13...


https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=105866192&postcount=651

I'd be asking autoglass if they have done one already, before you let them at yours.

mordeith

App used to be a bit flaky for me but settled down now. One issue is sometimes I send the climate control and I get a report back saying it can't be started (but it actually has).

You can also set the programmable remote key to either turn on the climate control or lights which is handy.