BMW i4

the orders progress by status codes. The important ones are 111 (this means the order has been accepted by the plant in Munich, the order stays at this status for quite a while), then it moves to 112 (order has been assigned a production date, again a few weeks. I think mine was at 112 for 10 weeks), after that it moves to status 150 which is production has started. Takes about 10-14 days to complete production after that.

If you’re familiar with SAP in your day job that’s the system they use for the orders. Those status codes are there & easy to see, shouldn’t take more than five minutes for the sales rep to login & look up your order. As the order progresses the status number gets higher but not always in sequence (150 being the next number on from 112 for example). I’d be concerned if you’re not at least at 111. If you’re at 112 the sales rep will be able to see the week of assigned production on the same page as the status code.

If you just ask for the status code. Piss them off enough they might even send you a screenshot :)

I originally went to joe Duffy and was told wouldn’t get one this year, they had sold all there’s for the year and didn’t want to be lying to me.

Went to Conlons Naas and they said they had a few slots left for year, gave me March production slot and put order in.

Have emailed them again now to see if they bluffing, have asked for status code of my order.

I'd say if you got that testdrive of a Taycan and your deposit down, you won't be back buying a new BMW for quite some time to come or if ever 😂

"The fake sound on acceleration is a novelty factor but I could imagine myself turning that down/off after a few days of ownership."

You would be surprised. When you are in the car on your own and push on that feedback of accelerating and braking is very useful and engaging. Give you an impression of how fast you are accelerating or decelerating that a tesla doesnt and takes that guesswork out of it where you think "how fast am I going into this corner". I have a similar sound in my EV and I turn it on all the time. Its also kinda cool. Defo on the motorway I turn it off cause its pointless....but better looking at it than for it.

Best of luck with it, it looks like its levatating off the ground.

It's amazing how tastes change so quickly. Prior to EVs, one of the major attraction of sport cars was the roar of a decent engine on acceleration, now its considered tedious and superfluous. Ah well time waits for no (hu)man or car!

Dealer has now confirmed mine is status 111, due for build in June and delivery July. Another 4 months to wait so ... 🙄

It’ll be worth the wait - collected mine just after lunchtime, didn’t get to drive it on any twisty backroads, just a bit of city driving, and a few brief dual carriageway runs. The acceleration is just mental, so much so that you really have to restrain yourself with your right foot. Genuinely gobsmacked at the straight line speed. Doesn’t feel as heavy as it is either, even when braking from speed. I quite like the artificial sound aswell, it’s not as intrusive as it comes across on YouTube videos.

the adaptive cruise control is part of the driving assistant professional in the Tech. Plus Pack

It's pathetic that it's an optional extra on a €70k car. I bought a budget €25k Hyundai 5 years ago that had it as standard. Plus a whole load of other features that are either an optional extra on the BMW or not even available.

I guess the overwhelming majority of buyers of the i4 are first time EV owners. To whom all EV stuff looks great (all that powah yeah much better than my 4 pot diesel) although most of it is quite dated. If you are coming from many years of EV (Tesla) ownership already, the only thing appealing here is the BMW driving joy.

I really must take one for a spin soon, unfortunately my online booking of a test drive about 2-3 weeks ago seems to have led nowhere. BMW is my favourite make of all time, the real test for me personally is if I can live with an overly expensive but great driving car that is a good 5-10 years behind in experience / convenience tech.

Would love to know in what area that Tesla is 10 years ahead in?

@sk8board - "this i4 is a game changer of a model for bmw, and bmw buyers"

Indeed, that was my point exactly. Not sure how you conclude from there that I am crapping all over the i4? Au contraire, the i4 could very well be my next car. If I can give up on the superb Tesla experience, the supercharging network, the insane acceleration that I use every day, even the always getting a better loaner car when the car is in service (which is often LOL), the google maps integration with perfect sat nav with huge screen real time traffic and most importantly the spot on range indication. The continuous updates that keep the car fresh (not everything is gimmicky like the whoopy cushion or NetFlix, indeed there is stuff like dog / camping mode), the car recognising a particular speed bump and increasing the ride height because you told it to do so before, the car being always on and all the advantages of that, absence of any keys / start buttons, perfect app with full worldwide control of the car, sentry mode from all the cameras all around the car, full self driving, huge storage with trunk and frunk, do I need to go on? And of course the massive kudos for singlehandly moving the world to emission free transport decades before it would otherwise have happened. In my 50+ years of being a petrol head I have never before seen 4 year old girls in the street pointing and shouting the make of the car before. Not even with Ferraris or Rolls-Royces. Why do you think that is?

I still miss my BMWs though and how they drive, would like to come back.

Have heard very little about a 35 variant. If there is to be one I’d imagine it’ll be well into next year before it arrives.