BMW i3

Some say its not a looker, I disagree..

Got it in 2020 for the missus. UK import. its just a great car and even with the influx of newer hatches, there is nothing that seems to tempt her away from it. You can actually see the designers and engineers were given free reign.

the 430 wheels were quit rare, esp on the pre-facelift

Anyone pick up a new 12v battery lately ?

I lost the Rex yesterday with an “electric drive only” message, and if I’m looking at that fix, I might as well change the 12v- after 8 years it doesn’t owe me anything.

Hi Gumbo - 3+ years and I still love it.

Every time I consider going up to a second hand ‘S’ I’m disappointed by the specs - ‘your’ one has everything - bar adaptive on the cruise: just perfect. I may keep it forever.

I had an interesting issue this week which may help another owner. Got Michelin e-primacy tyres on the rear to replace the well worn Bridgestones. Squirelly and then some - best described as lift-off under-steer followed a nanosecond later by oversteer - proper brown trousers. Tyre man put it down to the well worn Bridgestones on the front. Suggested fitting matching Michelins on the front and if that didn’t work he’d replace all 4 with Bridgestones - helps that I’ve dealt with him for many years. Upshot is, the full set of Michelins work.

We bought a 2017 94ah in 2019, Uk import with good spec, white with half pleather light seats. Great car and did 30k kms in it to bring it to 45 k kms.

no battery deg showing and very good charging curve on dc 50kW - basically the full 50 right up to over 90% nearly every time.

it had adaptive cruise but it’s a vision only based system and when sunny with shadows or when it was raining it would switch off.

very difficult to get a decent spec as everything was extra. Ours had self parking but that was terrible . Many don’t even have a reverse camera. The only fault we had was the common reverse camera delamination changed under warranty ( not difficult to diy) . It was a Uk import with service pack and free loan car, no problem with that in Ireland.

my best bargain was it popped up on the app for another 2 years servicing for a total of €20 inc vat.

I am looking all the time for a decent spec 120ah s, great car. We replaced it with a new Honda e now with 32k kms.

better handling and a fun wee car but Lordy it’s a let down in many ways compared to the i3. I think over 200kg heavier, poorer range for the same battery, very poor charging curve on 50kW dc and no app in Ireland! They have had one software update in the life of the car related to using one brand of charger, never bothered with anything else.

will probably keep the Honda though but would like an i3 as well.

I went to test drive an i8 in 2016 (did not like it) and we also took a 60ah i3 for a spin. Liked it, sepcc’d a new one and it came to €45k after a small discount! (No grants) They had new 520d’s in the showroom for asking €43k, not that I would have a diesel. I seem to remember the sales chap championing the laser headlight upgrade on the i8 at €11k!

the only thing I found on the i3 I was not keen on was the pre facelift headlights as per hours, post facelift were much better

if/when a good spec 120ah i3s comes along at the right price I will be buying .

might be interested in a trade for the honda to i3s though, I think both will be sought after as the years go on - well the i3 has proved relaible, we have had no issues with the Honda either but is a 212 car so not old,

An i8 would make for a great BEV conversion project if you could get someone like Damien Maguire to take it on.

Hadn’t heard of the camera issue. The only issue I have presently is the auto-drop on the driver’s door not working - scan suggests “halt sensor” - is this a separate module or integral with the main, presumed expensive, regulator? TIA.

I had a chance of on i8 in 2014 and had a quick drive, they were selling for a few brief months above list in the Uk so I was going to buy for export to the uk and keep for 6 months but above list selling stopped very quickly so I cancelled.

I then had one for an afternoon in 2016 as I was going to sell a Uk car I had and the performance Nd cheap tax was attractive on the i8 on Irish plates.

bit the doors are just awkward, the fake engine noises annoying, it’s cramped and a bit plasticky inside, daft rear seats only useful for luggage - no frunk. It’s just not as fast as you would think for the money, and it was a lot new at that time - I took it over the Wicklow gap. A new m3 was cheaper and faster and probably not much different on fuel. I8 only had a 7kW battery I think so the majority of driving time it was using petrol to drive the car and charge the battery to give a bit of extra fwd oomph

as a bev it may have been much better. As it is it is a very complicated hybrid that I was worried about as well. Not sure I would go for a well used one either, maintenance could be a nightmare.

yes the auto cruise on the i3 came with the rear camera and front parking and that pack also came with a form of self drive BUT only at sub 60km on what it decided was a motorway. Only got to test that a couple of times. Maybe if you were commuting on congested motorways it might be handy but as soon as visibility became challenging (even with lots of shadows from bridges/trees on a nice day) the vision system became overwhelmed and it would switch off. They should have added a radar module but maybe they were expensive at the time.

great car the i3, never a bother with the app either - which Honda never brought in in Ireland but Uk users report it as useless anyway.

I often wonder did the designers of the Honda e not have any access to an i3 to see how all the practical stuff should be done - after all it had been for sale at least 6 years before the Honda had.

honda e drives much better than the i3 on my test route over the Wicklow mountains s, i3 is very firm and the skinny tyres produce quick pronounced understeer In my opinion. At least 3 times the re gen system has switched off on the Honda during a spirited drive, not great but apparently it’s not a fault. Never happened when driving normally.

maybe the alpine version of the electric r5 will be a good swap for the Honda, still want another i3 though and it’s unusual for me to get the same car twice!

for now I am looking for a cheap petrol estate for the craic as I have never had one. Don’t have any interest in long range electrics, small interesting bevs are where I am and that’s what my wife likes as well.

You could see with rich rebuild in usa if they thought of converting their i8

Good degradation result for a 7 year old i3. https://youtu.be/BQk2HwquOXQ?si=HmGKQf-sAMht-lqV