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just ordered i3 2017: got 5.5% off MSRP after a 1/2 day of haggling via email. initially dealer did not want to even talk more than 2% off. i sent emails to all ontario i3 dealers and got 5.5% off few email exchanges later. could probably get more, but did not wanted to prolong the hassle. I was prepared to pay 3% over invoice which is pretty much the same as 5% off MSRP. details: lease 36 months, 16,000km/yr, $514/mo, 3500 down. the price includes $13K gov rebate.
planning to install Leviton EVB40-PST Evr-Green 400 EV Charger, 40-Amp $899 (amazon.ca) .
 
Just bought 2016 bmw i3 in GTA. We got $8300 off the sale price of $55000. I was very tempted to buy new 2017 model which was in stock but discount offered was too low. Having nothing to compare - is this discount good for 2016 i3 REX?
 
newbie said:
Just bought 2016 bmw i3 in GTA. We got $8300 off the sale price of $55000. I was very tempted to buy new 2017 model which was in stock but discount offered was too low. Having nothing to compare - is this discount good for 2016 i3 REX?

cannot really comment if the price is good. my dealer offered 20K off (incl 13K gov. rebate) to a friend of mine, so it seems you got a better deal. if fact we are going to Budds BMW tomorrow . i 'll be there to drop off winter tires to be installed before i get a possession of my 2017BEV (within 2 weeks i hope), and my friend to negotiate price of any 2016 that they may have. your post will help negotiations - cheers for that.
 
if it's not too late - tell your friend not to buy at Budds - we were there too. They only have white 2016REX demo model and the highest discount we have been offered was 6000. Instead tell your friend to go to Thornhill bmw I3 dealer and ask for Stefan. Unfortunately we didnt buy there, but they have 3 2016 i3 (white, black and orange if I m not mistaken) and 2 2015(all grey) i3 in stock. All models are REX if I remember it right. I do regret we didn't go there :( but we were so tired on negotiating our deal so we could't drive extra hour to Thornhill.
 
newbie said:
if it's not too late - tell your friend not to buy at Budds - we were there too. They only have white 2016REX demo model and the highest discount we have been offered was 6000. Instead tell your friend to go to Thornhill bmw I3 dealer and ask for Stefan. Unfortunately we didnt buy there, but they have 3 2016 i3 (white, black and orange if I m not mistaken) and 2 2015(all grey) i3 in stock. All models are REX if I remember it right. I do regret we didn't go there :( but we were so tired on negotiating our deal so we could't drive extra hour to Thornhill.

not too late. the offer was 8K possibly a bit more +13K gov rebate applied to the price. there was no deal as apparently BMW Canada does not offer leases on 2016s anymore. my friend needs to rethink the financing options.
on another note my BEV 2017 is on a train from Halifax. looking into a week before Christmas possession. installing Leviton EVB40-PST (900$ on amazon.ca) this week - cost 600$ labour including inspection certificate necessary for gov. rebate (50%).
 
I am new to this forum as a convert from a long list of BMW models and now currently driving a VW Golf R.
I have always loved the i3 and feel the 2017 is a perfect choice, do most of you thing the ReX version is best for Canadians, or are you sticking with the BEV?
I only ask because I am located in Calgary and driving long distances is often normal on any given day
 
e46jb said:
I am new to this forum as a convert from a long list of BMW models and now currently driving a VW Golf R.
I have always loved the i3 and feel the 2017 is a perfect choice, do most of you thing the ReX version is best for Canadians, or are you sticking with the BEV?
I only ask because I am located in Calgary and driving long distances is often normal on any given day


I'd recommend going with REX as during Arctic cold snaps like you are having now - your battery range will drop significantly if parked outside (30-40%) so the gas option to charge always helps avoid range anxiety. That alone is worth the REX in Canada. I have a REX in Vancouver and it gives me the option to do the longer distances as required but in reality I only use the REX every 2 or 3 months and 90% of driving is from household charging, 5% public charging and 5% REX charging. I regularly travel 80-100 km and just make the 100 km without the REX coming on. Its a personal challenge thing; my wife drives the car a little harder (likes the get up and go from a stand still) and burns more KW than I do on the same drive but she has totally gotten over any range anxiety that she initially had with an electric car solely due to the REX. Could we live without the REX possibly, but why? We have a 2014 that we bought as CPO a little over a year ago (great deal, no real issues except charge port solenoid under warranty, its been a wonderful car - the go to car in our household over the ICE). We have two level 2 chargers, one at the house and 1 at cabin 100 km apart. Thats what works for us.

Your range will be better with a 2017 but my 2 cents is get the REX as you cannot add it later without trading out the car and that will be a lot more $ than just buying the thing at the start. If the i3 did 200 miles plus on a charge like the Tesla S, Bolt or eventual Model 3 then I'd be happy to live with the BEV.
 
Thank you for the feedback. I was leaning towards the REx anyways.
It is good to know that range anxiety is somethign that is more mental than true, I guess the story would be different if we were looking at an imiev or something else.

As for the Bolt, I am blown away by the base price - $42,895 while the i3 is only a couple thousand more for the base BEV version
 
Cdni3 said:
e46jb said:
I am new to this forum as a convert from a long list of BMW models and now currently driving a VW Golf R.
I have always loved the i3 and feel the 2017 is a perfect choice, do most of you thing the ReX version is best for Canadians, or are you sticking with the BEV?
I only ask because I am located in Calgary and driving long distances is often normal on any given day


I'd recommend going with REX as during Arctic cold snaps like you are having now - your battery range will drop significantly if parked outside (30-40%) so the gas option to charge always helps avoid range anxiety. That alone is worth the REX in Canada. I have a REX in Vancouver and it gives me the option to do the longer distances as required but in reality I only use the REX every 2 or 3 months and 90% of driving is from household charging, 5% public charging and 5% REX charging. I regularly travel 80-100 km and just make the 100 km without the REX coming on. Its a personal challenge thing; my wife drives the car a little harder (likes the get up and go from a stand still) and burns more KW than I do on the same drive but she has totally gotten over any range anxiety that she initially had with an electric car solely due to the REX. Could we live without the REX possibly, but why? We have a 2014 that we bought as CPO a little over a year ago (great deal, no real issues except charge port solenoid under warranty, its been a wonderful car - the go to car in our household over the ICE). We have two level 2 chargers, one at the house and 1 at cabin 100 km apart. Thats what works for us.

Your range will be better with a 2017 but my 2 cents is get the REX as you cannot add it later without trading out the car and that will be a lot more $ than just buying the thing at the start. If the i3 did 200 miles plus on a charge like the Tesla S, Bolt or eventual Model 3 then I'd be happy to live with the BEV.


Can you provide some feedback on real world range? I am just curious about how the cold weather affects range and how my daily usable limits would be adjusted.
Also have a small concern over maintenance, since the nearest dealer is in Vancouver and I live in Calgary.
 
I've only had my 2017 Rex for 4 weeks. And it's my first i3. The numbers I mention below are from the iRemote app and my personal recollections.

When I took delivery, the i3 was estimating 160km on battery + 105km on Rex.

We've had a cold snap lately here in Vancouver. Today, the i3 estimates are 134km on battery + 78km on Rex.

Overall, my average consumption was 19.4kWh/100km; recovered on average, 5.4kWh/100km; traveled 1006km; maximum distance on 1 charge is 82km.

I've only used ECO Pro and ECO Pro+ a few times, just to try them out. Almost all of my driving was in Comfort mode. Rex hasn't been used so far. It did turn on once in maintenance test mode.

My most recent trip was the worst so far. Consumption was 30kWh/100km; recovered 9kWh/100km; traveled 82km. IIRC, it was -1C outside. The car was full (me + 3 adults), aircon was set to 22C, and seat heaters were used (medium settings for probably 15 minutes). Battery was down to around 20% when we got home.

The next day, I was still able to do my normal commute - 55km. I don't have a Level 2 charger so it took 2 evenings of charging (with the i3 used during the day in between) before the batteries started the day at 100%. If I had a Level 2 charger, the batteries would have been fully charged by the next morning.
 
Hi,

First post.

My wife and I are looking at importing a used i3 REx from the US into Canada. I'm familiar with the RIV process, and have imported a couple of BMW's before. Does BMW Canada still stick it to importers looking to save a few bucks? There shouldn't be a cluster to swap...I'm guessing only some programming for DRL's and such. Would love to hear from fellow Canadians that have gone through the import process with their i3. Even with the strong US dollar, I think there are still savings to be had.
 
I considered importing too, however I found a used (10 month old) CPO i3/Rex in Toronto that was priced right 14 months ago. I have imported from the states before and gone through RIV, DLR etc and the deal I got in Toronto was very good. The dealer looked after shipping the car from Toronto to Vancouver at $1,000 cdn and in the end it was a little less expensive than buying from the US at that time without the border issues. I am still very happy with my deal plus no issues dealing with warranty and service as the car has always been Canadian not that there has been much. One oil change on Rex (routine), software update (routine with a high tech car) and a flakey solenoid (jammed) on charge port.

A little off topic but I see you have or had a MB 250E. Did you import this car into Canada? I was looking at the MB 250E as I like the small MB200/250 and did own until last year a MB ML320CDI. My daughter has a MB200 so I am familiar with the small cross over that is bigger from what I can tell than the Chevy Bolt. I looked at importing a MB250E and MB did not say that I couldn't import one to Canada, but basically said that I would have difficulty getting any parts for the car if I did import one and I could be waiting for a while if I required (electrical) parts in the future. Also the lack of fast charger was a concern; which now that I have had the BMW i3 for over a year is a 'must have', in my books on any electric vehicle. I would buy a Tesla Model X in a heartbeat if the price wasn't so noise bleeding high in Canada. We need one larger car in the household and to date there is no such thing at a reasonable priced larger car in the EV world of cars.
 
Cdni3 said:
A little off topic but I see you have or had a MB 250E. Did you import this car into Canada? I was looking at the MB 250E as I like the small MB200/250 and did own until last year a MB ML320CDI. My daughter has a MB200 so I am familiar with the small cross over that is bigger from what I can tell than the Chevy Bolt. I looked at importing a MB250E and MB did not say that I couldn't import one to Canada, but basically said that I would have difficulty getting any parts for the car if I did import one and I could be waiting for a while if I required (electrical) parts in the future. Also the lack of fast charger was a concern; which now that I have had the BMW i3 for over a year is a 'must have', in my books on any electric vehicle. I would buy a Tesla Model X in a heartbeat if the price wasn't so noise bleeding high in Canada. We need one larger car in the household and to date there is no such thing at a reasonable priced larger car in the EV world of cars.

We love the B. I bought it last June, and have since put 11,000 km's on it. Had only one issue but it was self inflicted; more on that later. Here's a photo:

VvcyRpJ.jpg


Yup, your local Mercedes dealership will tell you that it's inadmissible but it isn't. It's on the RIV list (more to the point, not listed in the "Except:", category for Mercedes cars you can import. The car sat on a Mercedes dealer lot in Nevada for 5 months. The dealer finally, and grudgingly accepted my lowball offer which equated to 65% less than MSRP. The car looked and smelled brand new, and only had 6000 miles on it.

It was an easy import, except that I had to MacGyver a solution for the daytime running lights in order for it to pass inspections. The mistake I made was not having the dealer in the US code them for Euro spec - so that they are continuously on and cannot be turned off (which is both a provincial and federal requirement).

The car looks, feels, and drives like a Mercedes, so for buyers loyal to the 3-point star...the B250e doesn't disappoint. We also took some comfort that Tesla supplied the motor and battery. Again, we love the car though we have had some cold -20C weather that severely hits range, and the car isn't all that efficient. Even with that, it hasn't been a problem as I knew the range car was capable of going in. The lack of fast charging wasn't an issue for me since we don't have any in Alberta anyway. My EVSE charges it at 7.6kW - which is good enough for me.

The biggest disadvantage is that you will have no warranty in Canada so. After reading forums, it was a risk I was able willing to accept. Worst case, I borrow my friend's truck and a u-haul trailer and truck it to Seattle. When it was -30C a couple months back, the rear windshield wiper hose broke - only because I didn't change out the fluid that was already in the reservoir. To my surprise, the MB dealer in Edmonton did fix the problem - but of course, not under warranty. Aside from the electrical bits, it's still a B-Class so all of the other parts are interchangeable (again, as long as I pay for them).

Did you ask your BMW dealer for a price on the "Canadian conversion" required for import? They soaked me for $3,000 on an X5. I'm guess they would find a way to charge about that on an i3 too.
 
Thanks, yes I drove one in Seattle and was suitably impressed. There is a Mercedes dealer in Bellingham WA that could do warranty service fyi if required.

Never got as far as asking for a price from BMW for cdn conversion. The i3's I have seen in the states seem to have DRL and chip key fobs so I didn't think it would be a problem for a RIV inspection at Can Tire who does the local RIV inspections.
 
newbie said:
Just bought 2016 bmw i3 in GTA. We got $8300 off the sale price of $55000. I was very tempted to buy new 2017 model which was in stock but discount offered was too low. Having nothing to compare - is this discount good for 2016 i3 REX?

Wow. where did you buy your i3 from? Please share or pm me. I configured the i3 I like and it is also in the range of $55000 MSRP. The sales guy was firm on the price.
 
onufry said:
just ordered i3 2017: got 5.5% off MSRP after a 1/2 day of haggling via email. initially dealer did not want to even talk more than 2% off. i sent emails to all ontario i3 dealers and got 5.5% off few email exchanges later. could probably get more, but did not wanted to prolong the hassle. I was prepared to pay 3% over invoice which is pretty much the same as 5% off MSRP. details: lease 36 months, 16,000km/yr, $514/mo, 3500 down. the price includes $13K gov rebate.
planning to install Leviton EVB40-PST Evr-Green 400 EV Charger, 40-Amp $899 (amazon.ca) .

May I know where you get 5.5% off MSRP? Who was the sales associate please? Thanks!!
 
newbie said:
if it's not too late - tell your friend not to buy at Budds - we were there too. They only have white 2016REX demo model and the highest discount we have been offered was 6000. Instead tell your friend to go to Thornhill bmw I3 dealer and ask for Stefan. Unfortunately we didnt buy there, but they have 3 2016 i3 (white, black and orange if I m not mistaken) and 2 2015(all grey) i3 in stock. All models are REX if I remember it right. I do regret we didn't go there :( but we were so tired on negotiating our deal so we could't drive extra hour to Thornhill.

Which dealer is Thornhill BMW? I can't find it. Do you mean BMW Autohaus? Thanks.
 
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