Not a fan of Forbes

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmax/2018/08/23/test-drive-bmws-puzzling-i3/#7e4f2b21415c

It was the best of drives, it was the worst of drives.
. . .

The BMW i3-REx is not for everyone but I didn't like Forbes before this article. Forbes has history giving climate deniers a forum and tossing transparent shade on Tesla and any other fuel efficient technology. But half of their problems came from the CARB rules inhibiting early REx enabling.

Bob Wilson

Indeed, the propaganda is strong, and the "review" was incredibly stupid. Did they not do even the tiniest bit of research into how the car works before trashing it? Do they also send people who have never driven anything but an automatic transmission to review a car with a 6 speed stick shift? Do they run an ICE car out of gas and then complain that it gurgles to a stop? This was a transparent hit piece. Personally, the first time I drove the car, it was the easiest most intuitive experience I could imagine.

It was a terrible review, if one would call it a review.

Look, Forbes (the magazine) has cognitive dissonance built into it's DNA: it's founder Malcolm Forbes was a closeted gay who over-compensated by riding macho motorcycles and escorting Elizabeth Taylor. His son Steve was born (like Trump) with a silver spoon and negative charisma, and both have used their inheritance to perpetuate their privilege. In this context it is only natural that Forbes (the magazine) is in bed with Big Oil and denies climate science — after all it's advertising dollars depend on it. Until Forbes (the magazine) comes out forcefully in favor of a steep carbon tax and rejects carbon advertising it would be prudent to treat their opinions as propaganda.

bwilson4web said:

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmax/2018/08/23/test-drive-bmws-puzzling-i3/#7e4f2b21415c

. But half of their problems came from the CARB rules inhibiting early REx enabling.

Bob Wilson

Click to expand...

Let me shed some light into the REX enable option

Its 100% BMW decision to do it. They were not forced into it. The Volt, Clarity and all other PHEV's do not do it.
BMW sells cars in EU with the Range extender-option enabled. It shows its a required feature
They made a bad decision to remove this essential feature, in CA and to every ones surprise, even outside of CA. It was financial greed and not Logic in the decision.
To be exact, a rebate of $2500 vs a rebate of $1500 for REX enabled for the consumer in CA.
There may be more money involved for BMW, but such an expensive car should exactly be not doing this. Profits over essential feature.

REX enabling is a important aspect , as 34hp is insufficient, specially in CA , as it has many hills.
For me, i only use the REX , when i go up the hills.

If coding was not available, this car would not work for my needs. The difference between Yes and No.
Not every one should be expected to code the car, specially its not a one time thing. The setting is erased by BMW service.

The leaf is being sued in UK for reduced fast charge speed, after 2 sessions. I believe this is a much more serious issue of reduced driving speed after 2 mins of driving uphill.

I will also like to add , that there is lot of evidence out there , that people with PHEV have much higher EV miles driven compared to with EV miles in a limited range EV

e.g miles driven in EV from Leaf vs Volt or i3 BEV vs i3 Rex
For Volt 1st gen , on average 86% of miles were driven on EV , and then there are some outliers.
For i3 , i have heard its above 90-95% miles on EV vs Rex

Basically for me, i got rid of my gas car happily . i3 Rex is my short and long range car.

So CARB is hurting EV miles , given there mandate

EVMan said:

Let me shed some light into the REX enable option

Its 100% BMW decision to do it. They were not forced into it. The Volt, Clarity and all other PHEV's do not do it.
BMW sells cars in EU with the Range extender-option enabled. It shows its a required feature
They made a bad decision to remove this essential feature, in CA and to every ones surprise, even outside of CA. It was financial greed and not Logic in the decision.
To be exact, a rebate of $2500 vs a rebate of $1500 for REX enabled for the consumer in CA.
There may be more money involved for BMW, but such an expensive car should exactly be not doing this. Profits over essential feature.

Click to expand...

Auto-manufacturers trade (i.e. sell/buy) CARB ZEV credits, so BMW wanted the i3 REX classified as a BEVx in California because it would be worth more than just the additional $1000 rebate available to the consumer. The total amount they could have made would depend on what the going rate for CARB ZEV credits were each year.

Here is a 2015 report on the CARB ZEV credits, you can see that Chrysler & Ford bought quite a few credits that year, probably to offset the sales of Trucks and SUVs. From the numbers it appears that Telsa is the main automaker selling their ZEV credits (which makes perfect sense).
https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/zevprog/zevcredits/2015zevcredits.htm

Interesting--I didn't realize the i3 doesn't have door pulls, but that does seem annoying.

That being said, I bought a new car last year (I ended up getting a 2018 Honda Accord) and was highly considering getting a used 2014 BMW i3. Now I have a chance to buy many 2016 BMW i3 Certifieds for around $21k.

tjburbach said:

EVMan said:

Let me shed some light into the REX enable option

Its 100% BMW decision to do it. They were not forced into it. The Volt, Clarity and all other PHEV's do not do it.
BMW sells cars in EU with the Range extender-option enabled. It shows its a required feature
They made a bad decision to remove this essential feature, in CA and to every ones surprise, even outside of CA. It was financial greed and not Logic in the decision.
To be exact, a rebate of $2500 vs a rebate of $1500 for REX enabled for the consumer in CA.
There may be more money involved for BMW, but such an expensive car should exactly be not doing this. Profits over essential feature.

Click to expand...

Auto-manufacturers trade (i.e. sell/buy) CARB ZEV credits, so BMW wanted the i3 REX classified as a BEVx in California because it would be worth more than just the additional $1000 rebate available to the consumer. The total amount they could have made would depend on what the going rate for CARB ZEV credits were each year.

Here is a 2015 report on the CARB ZEV credits, you can see that Chrysler & Ford bought quite a few credits that year, probably to offset the sales of Trucks and SUVs. From the numbers it appears that Telsa is the main automaker selling their ZEV credits (which makes perfect sense).
https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/zevprog/zevcredits/2015zevcredits.htm

Click to expand...

I am bit surprised , as a premium Brand, they do not listen to customers , and not fix this tradeoff in new year models ( in exchange of corrected credits). I am sure sales will increase.
Perhaps they know , most customers will code,, so they can cheat the system, and dont see it as a problem.
Imagine Lexus/Genesis or perhaps Tesla doing this.

amcdonal86 said:

Interesting--I didn't realize the i3 doesn't have door pulls, but that does seem annoying.

Click to expand...

All i3's have door pulls as can be seen in the photo taken from the front door edge of the door panel looking toward the back. The pull is directly above the door opener handle angled down at ~45º, trimmed in lighter gray material, and whose recess is lined with a darker gray material.



The i3's door pull might be higher on the door panel than expected, but an i3 door is so light that it is easy to close using the door pull.

That's what I thought! I had test driven one and sat in one at Carmax the other week and didn't notice missing door pulls!

Clearly these guys didn't give the i3 a chance.