Guess what Mad_Lad got this time?

Model s for 700-750 but probably with a lot more cash down, lease or to buy ?

Think you have your mind made up.

It's not just the engine, motor etc its all the other electrical bits that are cause for concern for any car of course, suspension etc.

ELM327

Deleted User wrote: »

Model s for 700-750 but probably with a lot more cash down, lease or to buy ?

Think you have your mind made up.

It's not just the engine, motor etc its all the other electrical bits that are cause for concern for any car of course, suspension etc.

Just car loan, no cash down. Depending on what I get it for. I'm banking on getting one in the low to mid £30's,there have been a few recently and the 2014 cars are dropping a fair bit at this point. Tesla are holding back some CPO inventory IMO as there are very few on the CPO site compared to a few months ago.

I have my mind made up, from a long time ago if i'm honest.
I'm (still) in the process of buying a house so no additional financing possible. When I've drawn down my mortgage and cleared my credit card it will be all systems go.

unkel

ELM327 wrote: »

Cheapest model S, albeit a 60, is £35k.

And the 7-seat option at that. We would love that. Bring granny along or a couple of the kids friends. And you said you saw a boggo one for £32k? Those prices are really starting to look tempting now I have to say. 60 battery is fine with me.

ELM327

unkel wrote: »

And the 7-seat option at that. We would love that. Bring granny along or a couple of the kids friends. And you said you saw a boggo one for £32k? Those prices are really starting to look tempting now I have to say. 60 battery is fine with me.

Yes I posted it here, I think it was an S85 (non AP) for £32k.
They are coming down. I'd prefer the S85 if possible but may have to settle for a 60 if it came with AP and dual chargers.

This time next year 42 will be 32. IMO.

ELM327

ELM327 wrote: »

Yes I posted it here, I think it was an S85 (non AP) for £32k.
They are coming down. I'd prefer the S85 if possible but may have to settle for a 60 if it came with AP and dual chargers.

This time next year 42 will be 32. IMO.

The prices seem to have firmed a bit now but once the plates change over in UK (is it in February?) I reckon more cars will become available early spring. That's what I'm counting for. Hoping to find a choice of 2015 AP1 70 kWh or better with tech package for < £40k.

Edit, sorry Mad_Lad for poisoning your thread with irrelevant stuff.

Yeah lads come on ....

ELM327

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah lads come on ....

Perhaps Mad_Lad should have gotten a model S this time :P

Knew someone was going to say it ! :rolleyes:

Model S would be nice, but the I3 is tonnes of fun, I wonder is the Model S as much fun or is it all about straight line performance ? i3 is really satisfying to drive.

But who knows what will happen next time around.....

Dardania

watching this review: [font=arial, sans-serif]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHhZ9jk-DrU apparently it's not the best in the twisties[/font]

Wouldn't sway me from wanting it - the prospect of range anxiety free driving is strong

Dardania

Dardania wrote: »

watching this review: [font=arial, sans-serif]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHhZ9jk-DrU apparently it's not the best in the twisties[/font]

Wouldn't sway me from wanting it - the prospect of range anxiety free driving is strong

I already got anxiety free driving with the Rex, + the added fun on our back roads.

I certainly wouldn't rule out a Tesla in the future though.

I discovered that I can have full spotify control now which is really nice to have. What I was doing was just connecting via bluetooth and selecting the playlist I wanted and then all I could do was skip to the next track or go back to the previous but what I should have been doing is connecting via USB and using BMW Connect. Supposed to work with TuneIn too, nice !

Villain

I'd love to see BMW make an EV that is a similar price and spec to the I3 but doesn't look so fecking awful and have some more room inside. I really hope more manufactures start to produce BEV version of cars that look just like other models, like the e-golf, this idea of trying to make an EV look different is annoying.

Though I do think it might take a Tesla to get me back into a BEV as my GT 205 Megane will be hard to match.

ELM327

Agreed. It's a pity the i8 wasnt fully electric.
Or if they had made an i6 coupe fully electric.
I hate the idea of making EVs look like space buggys (as a driver of a white leaf I am particularly afflicted)

i3 Grew on me to be honest, I didn't like it at first but when I took it for the two day test drive I fell in love with it. It's a really great car to drive and I love every Km in it.

The thing with the Renault designs is they tend to look very dated in a few years, they change the design too much.

i3 is small but spacious at the same time and plenty big enough for my needs, it took the 4 of us to Galway for a weekend, buggy and luggage. If we need more space we have the outlander.

unkel

Deleted User wrote: »

i3 Grew on me to be honest, I didn't like it at first but when I took it for the two day test drive I fell in love with it.

Everybody says that. I'm afraid to go take one for a test drive

No harm, I took an ioniq for a test drive !

if you do take it out make sure and take it on some back roads , it's great fun !

Villain

Deleted User wrote: »

i3 Grew on me to be honest, I didn't like it at first but when I took it for the two day test drive I fell in love with it. It's a really great car to drive and I love every Km in it.

The thing with the Renault designs is they tend to look very dated in a few years, they change the design too much.

i3 is small but spacious at the same time and plenty big enough for my needs, it took the 4 of us to Galway for a weekend, buggy and luggage. If we need more space we have the outlander.

If it suits you then it works for you, Renault designs can be hit and miss alright, the Zoe is bloody awful!

My GT isn’t the best looking car I’ve had but it is the best drive, 4 wheel steering and 205hp will mean it will take a serious EV to compete for driving ability, it even has the same torque as my Leaf has!

It's got a 0-60 around the same time as the i3, no doubt it's fun though, particularly if you enjoy driving above 140 Kmh regularly I'm sure the gearbox and extra power make a difference at well into illegal speeds. 0-60 doesn't tell the whole story though.

I actually think Zoe looks fine on the outside, could do with a refresh, and a power boost. I would not like driving it, not a fan of Renault interiors either.

Villain

Ah you can have plenty of fun inside the law

Yes of course I believe you !

http://www.bmwblog.com/2014/07/11/learn-bmw-i3-repair-process/
Some interesting reading.

Dglflyer

Nice looking car, the colours suit. Happy trails

Dardania

Deleted User wrote: »

http://www.bmwblog.com/2014/07/11/learn-bmw-i3-repair-process/
Some interesting reading.

Brilliant article - particularly loved that snap of the honeycomb ahead of the front wheel arch. I remember reading an engineering magazine (possibly popular mechanics ) about 15 years ago where they were talking about futuristic techniques such as honeycombs for strength, and the use of carbon fiber in primary structures in vehicles for strength (including high speed images of some primary beams being crushed)
Interesting to see a lot of these ideas being relalised.

@mad_lad: you’ve surely mentioned it earlier but I’ve had a hectics few weeks so apols for missing it, but how is insurance on your new auto voiture?

Dardania

Dardania wrote: »

@mad_lad: you’ve surely mentioned it earlier but I’ve had a hectics few weeks so apols for missing it, but how is insurance on your new auto voiture?

Insurance is about 550 Euro's up from about 530 on the Leaf.

Dardania

Deleted User wrote: »

Dardania wrote: »

@mad_lad: you’ve surely mentioned it earlier but I’ve had a hectics few weeks so apols for missing it, but how is insurance on your new auto voiture?

Insurance is about 550 Euro's up from about 530 on the Leaf.

So not too bad at all - either they don’t have experience with the i3 repair costs yet or they have based on the info similar to that article and are happy to accept that a smaller cohort of people can repair using the modern techniques.

Easy enough to repair once the techs know what they're doing, the majority of the car is plastic, panels, roof Chassis etc all pretty easy to replace. Though cost I've no clue. But repairs are supposed to be faster.

Basically cut out sections of the chassis and glue the good bit in. Crazy as that sounds but probably better than stretching a metal chassis back out on a jig and still stronger than the metal.

1st DC charge in Naas on the way home this morning since I got the i3, luckily someone had not long left. The app showed in use when I checked.

i3 doesn't like the cold either, when I hooked up it showed 25 Kw from around 48% and I never checked the battery temp when I started but it climbed to 38 kw when it reached about 76% and the batter temp was 14 deg C it showed 15 deg when I finished charging about 83%.

In 26 mins I got 12.8 Kwh. not that impressive but the battery was cold. makes me feel even better that I have the Rex.

I3 has a battery heater but it only works when the car is plugged in and the depart time is set 4 hrs in advance or more , and precondition is set to on and it only heats to 10 deg C to enable full performance , acceleration and regen.

If travelling a long distance and setting off with 100% and the battery has heated to 10 deg C then I'm sure it will have reached a higher temp before it needs a charge and should allow faster charging. I have observed the charger pulling about 57 Kw on our trip to Galway back in November and it was quiet cold at that time too so driving obviously helps and the bit of warming of the battery to begin with.

It's handy to have the Generator in this weather too, don't have to bother charging if in a rush or couldn't be bothered.

unkel

Deleted User wrote: »

1st DC charge in Naas on the way home this morning since I got the i3

Why did you?

I'd be happy never ever having to charge there again. Even if it is free and not blocked (which from what people tell me is almost never), it's miles off the beaten track and it will set you back a long time going there and going back to your route. A ridiculous fast charger. Charged there once. Never again.

Ah, I was on the way home from Night shift so wasn't busy and I didn't get to charge it much in work.

At peak traffic forget it, getting to that charger is impossible.

unkel

Even if you weren't in a hurry, going there and back onto the N7 would take ages. And then there's the slow charging. But I suppose as a Leaf owner you are used to wasting lots and lots of time slow charging :pac:

Indeed, slow charging isn't such fun, was interesting to see it speed up as the battery got warmer.

How's the ioniq on a cold battery ? remember I had only driven it to Naas from Grangecastle so it would not have got a chance to warm up. I don't know of any battery that will charge fast when it's cold, that's the battery itself not the weather :-)

I've avoided it a few times already with the Rex so wasn't too bothered, slow charging the odd time is fine but I expect next time I fast charge will be a long drive and it will be plenty warm to allow fast charging.

zoom_cool

I just have my BMW i3 Rex 94ah two weeks now and used 6 litres of petrol and done 1600km already. Mine is slow to fast charge when it is cold I seen only 29KW been consumed when I was at 8% only when the battery got up to 50% it went up to 49kw so it doesn't charge quick when cold.

I have used the 3 phase cable on the 22kw posts and it pulls 11kw which is very handy delighted I purchased the 3 phase cable.

Can you share the link again where you got the cable please ? it will be so handy charging at 11 Kw !

Yeah I observed the same on the fast charger, it probably charged faster at 49% because it had warmed up by that time, in fact I'm sure of it because I had started at about 48% and it only really got to 38 Kw by 75% so you observed faster charging by 49% because you started at a much lower SOC.

All batteries suffer the same when cold though when some people need to charge they might have driven some distance and it may be warm enough for full or close to full power.

I know some people here and especially BoatMad think that it's the car's BMS commanding that the charger provide less power to a cold battery but this is not the case, a cold battery is incapable of taking a full charge current and I have proved this with my ebike projects some years ago, some of these had 0 BMS what so ever and 0 temperature monitoring and any battery I stored in the house allowed full regen and those in the shed did not. The cold batteries also showed a lot more voltage sag. The battery internal resistance increases in cold and this is what's being observed.

I actually discovered this by accident really when one morning I had full regen and the next I did not and the voltage was sagging a lot then I figured out that it was always the battery in the house that I had been charging the night before so I researched more and found other ebike owners noticing the same effect.

Anyway, if you fully charge the i3 and have a depart time + precondition set then the battery will heat to 10 Deg C max which gives the i3 a lot less risk of suffering slower charging on DC compared to a Leaf/Ioniq/Zoe/ e-golf etc.

If you have the battery at a temp of 10 deg C and drive a long distance then it will have warmed up sufficiently to allow full power, it just heats to 10 deg C I believe only to provide full acceleration and regen.

What you can not do with the i3 is have it heat the battery when not plugged in or without a depart time set, and the depart time has to be set a minimum of 4 hrs in advance of depart time or the battery heater won't even come on at all.

It would be good if the battery could heat while it's plugged in with no depart time or precondition set but it's not possible.

But, what we Rex owners have is the fantastic Generator so we never, ever have to worry about slow DC charging or charging at all on a trip ant it's really fantastic and such a shame no other EV has a similar set up with such long EV range and it's also a shame there's more VRT applied to the Rex, politicians simply do not understand the technology no make any attempt to nor care less.

liamog

I recently bought a 10m coiled cable,

http://evcables.co.uk/index.php/ev/charge-cables-for-type-2-cars/type-2-to-type-2-cables/coiled-ev-charging-cable-green-g2.html

Seems high quality, and means I don't have to re-arrange our cars when switching between the e-UP! and Ioniq.
They also sell 3-Phase cables.

The 16 amp should do for 11 Kw on 3 phase ?

ainsyjnr

Hey Mad lad,

All the reviews bang on about the i3 being a city car. how do you find it on the motorway/n roads? probably going to test drive one at the weekend as alternative to the new leaf. rex version of course!

Thanks

zoom_cool

ainsyjnr wrote:

All the reviews bang on about the i3 being a city car. how do you find it on the motorway/n roads? probably going to test drive one at the weekend as alternative to the new leaf. rex version of course!

I use mine every day on the motorway do 90 km every day doing 120kph it is more than a city car it does the 170km round trip for me without using REX that is the 94ah version but the battery would be empty after this trip of 170km but just use the REX that's why it is so convient.

unkel

ainsyjnr wrote: »

All the reviews bang on about the i3 being a city car.

What a load of nonsense. It's probably the more generic ignorance from traditional motoring journalists describing any EV as suitable just for city driving.

Doesn't our own moderator put up more than 60k km per year in his i3 with most of that intercity driving? The more you drive per year, the more suitable an EV is (provided you can charge without too much effort, like charge at home and / or at work) and the bigger the saving in fuel, easily up to several thousand a year.

zoom_cool

Deleted User wrote: »

Can you share the link again where you got the cable please ? it will be so handy charging at 11 Kw !

Yeah I observed the same on the fast charger, it probably charged faster at 49% because it had warmed up by that time, in fact I'm sure of it because I had started at about 48% and it only really got to 38 Kw by 75% so you observed faster charging by 49% because you started at a much lower SOC.

All batteries suffer the same when cold though when some people need to charge they might have driven some distance and it may be warm enough for full or close to full power.

I know some people here and especially BoatMad think that it's the car's BMS commanding that the charger provide less power to a cold battery but this is not the case, a cold battery is incapable of taking a full charge current and I have proved this with my ebike projects some years ago, some of these had 0 BMS what so ever and 0 temperature monitoring and any battery I stored in the house allowed full regen and those in the shed did not. The cold batteries also showed a lot more voltage sag. The battery internal resistance increases in cold and this is what's being observed.

I actually discovered this by accident really when one morning I had full regen and the next I did not and the voltage was sagging a lot then I figured out that it was always the battery in the house that I had been charging the night before so I researched more and found other ebike owners noticing the same effect.

Anyway, if you fully charge the i3 and have a depart time + precondition set then the battery will heat to 10 Deg C max which gives the i3 a lot less risk of suffering slower charging on DC compared to a Leaf/Ioniq/Zoe/ e-golf etc.

If you have the battery at a temp of 10 deg C and drive a long distance then it will have warmed up sufficiently to allow full power, it just heats to 10 deg C I believe only to provide full acceleration and regen.

What you can not do with the i3 is have it heat the battery when not plugged in or without a depart time set, and the depart time has to be set a minimum of 4 hrs in advance of depart time or the battery heater won't even come on at all.

It would be good if the battery could heat while it's plugged in with no depart time or precondition set but it's not possible.

But, what we Rex owners have is the fantastic Generator so we never, ever have to worry about slow DC charging or charging at all on a trip ant it's really fantastic and such a shame no other EV has a similar set up with such long EV range and it's also a shame there's more VRT applied to the Rex, politicians simply do not understand the technology no make any attempt to nor care less.

Hi Mad_Lad I got my 3 phase charge cable from BMW Lancaster where I bought my car so I got it at cost price as I was purchasing the i3 with them.

ainsyjnr

ainsyjnr wrote: »

Hey Mad lad,

All the reviews bang on about the i3 being a city car. how do you find it on the motorway/n roads? probably going to test drive one at the weekend as alternative to the new leaf. rex version of course!

Thanks

The i3 simply loves back roads, it's addictive, you got so much shove coming out of bends and it sticks to the road without having to have the suspension bone shattering hard. The i3 gives a really good balance between handling and comfort. It's also quiet stable on the Motorway at 140 Kmh compared to the leaf with a lot less wind noise, it's a good bit more refined than Leaf.

Having the Rex means I can take it anywhere as long as I have petrol in the tank. I got 150-170 Kms in the battery alone.

I removed the 6.5% battery limit where the Rex would kick in which was kind of silly because I can get xx more Kms with that so now I have it set to turn the Rex in at 2%, the minimum I can set it. So that gives me an extra 4.5% on battery which can probably take me close to 15-20 more Kms at the right speed.

The BEV version is more efficient again because it's not carrying around the Rex and it will have the heat pump heater which is a lot more efficient, though those with heat pumps sometimes don't realise that below 3-5 degrees C the heat pump isn't the effective, not a small heat pump in a car anyway.

I've used the Rex several times now and am willing to pay the small amount for petrol when I need it compared to waiting to charge at chargers which are not that plentiful , our charging network is a disaster and it's not going to improve for another year at least making us 3 years behind where we were.

You can charge at 11 Kw from our AC points which are a lot easier to find compared to 6.5 Kw Leaf with optional 6.6 Kw charger and 7 Kw for the Ioniq. You need a 3 phase charge lead which you buy separately. But charging at ac points at 11 Kw will give you 22 Kwh in 2 hrs, that's the same as a Leaf 24 Kwh charged to 100% with a good battery. Leaf 24 Kwh has 22 Kwh usable max. But the 11 Kw AC has potential to charge the i3 33 Kwh in 2.5 hrs. Dead handy.

I can charge if I want and don't if I don't want to, Rex is just fantastic and I never could have realised how much until I used it for the first time. It makes you think why on earth did Nissan not release the same kind of EV ? or anyone else for that matter.

The New Leaf will be a good car with potential for a lot more EV range and it will have a good bit more power than Leaf I and it will be a bit larger than Leaf I and a lot larger than the i3 if this is important to you with a much larger boot. No doubt Leaf II will find a lot more buyers and I hope it does.

But, will the Leaf have such a lovely interior ? handle so good ? and feel as fast ? the answer is no it won't.

I got a high spec leaf with upgraded Stereo, Sat Nav, Bluetooth, got the larger display which is gorgeous and it's got lovely leather seats, I got seriously lucky with this car.

I3 City car ? total utter bollocks.

unkel

unkel wrote: »

What a load of nonsense. It's probably the more generic ignorance from traditional motoring journalists describing any EV as suitable just for city driving.

...........

I imagine it's because it seems small, Corsa ish
Like, a Model S is an EV but no one would claim that's a city car.

liamog

Augeo wrote: »

I imagine it's because it seems small, Corsa ish
Like, a Model S is an EV but no one would claim that's a city car.

The Model S is bigger than some Irish cities

I find EVs in general to be well suited to bendy country roads, the poke coming out of a turn makes them pretty fun to drive.

Shefwedfan

Was behind an i3 the other day, the tires look very thin from behind. Not sure if they are or if it just looks that way??

Yes the wheels are quiet skinny is it a problem ? Absolutely not , I’ve trashed it about and had no issue. BMW did a great job with this car!

So why do cars have thick wheels ? After driving the I3 it beats me , I have noticed the I3 will coast forever at slower speeds no doubt helped by the wheels.

Shefwedfan

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes the wheels are quiet skinny is it a problem ? Absolutely not , I’ve trashed it about and had no issue. BMW did a great job with this car!

So why do cars have thick wheels ? After driving the I3 it beats me , I have noticed the I3 will coast forever at slower speeds no doubt helped by the wheels.

touchy

Didn't say it was a problem, they just looked very thin.....that was all

No touchy at all just my observation. I didn't say "you" said it was a problem.

thierry14

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Yes the wheels are quiet skinny is it a problem ? Absolutely not , I’ve trashed it about and had no issue. BMW did a great job with this car!

So why do cars have thick wheels ? After driving the I3 it beats me , I have noticed the I3 will coast forever at slower speeds no doubt helped by the wheels.

Handling and grip at speed

i3s has much wider tyres for that reason alone

Sure F1 introduced much wider tyres this year and lap times are up to 5 seconds faster in much part to tyres

I would be putting i3s tyres on if I was in your position

unkel

Narrow tyres are for economy at the expense of grip (and indeed handling)

Ioniq suffers quite badly from lack of grip because of this and there is loss of power / wheel spin as the traction control is trying to fight this (only in sport mode when you drive it real hard off the line - which is what I do most of the time)

I'm considering getting wider tyres when it comes to replacing them, but I haven't done any research on what my options are and what others have done.

It was my understanding the BMW put on wider tyres to make it look more normal and not much else, it's got plenty of grip, sure it has it's limitations which would apply with wider tyres anyway.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

It was my understanding the BMW put on wider tyres to make it look more normal ....

Try and reduce the city car look maybe :pac: