Getting a I3 as main car?

First of all, sorry for my bad english!

Every 3 year i get a new company car. I have had 2 volvos (V70,V60) and now a VW Passat.
So its time for a new one and normally i think this is great and fun, but this time its 'same old again' feeling. So i tryed the Passat GTE, new V90 but they all feels huge. I did try the new Hyundai Ioniq and loved it, so i'm thinking about the plugin version. However i did try the I3 and wow, so fun to drive!

Now to my concerns:
* I live in Sweden and it can be cold here in the winter.
* I'm a single daddy with 2 kids (8 and 11) this will be or only car!
* The trunk is small ?!
* The longest trip i make in my work is about 220 miles. When in hurry i'm not very interested in charging the car. Does the REX handle this kind of range?
* The trunk is small

On the other hand:
* All other cars feels old.
* The company i work for got a carpool with Volvo V60, if i 'must have' a bigger car 2-3 times a year that will be ok. But not on a regular basic.

So ok we are only 3 so we can use one seat of packing longer trips. But still its 3 years and since i'm good looking i will meet a woman and then the car might be way to small. But then again we might need 2 cars if so...

Hope you get my problems by now

So pick a Passat GTE or something else for the next 3 years and hope for a I5 or cheaper tesla by then or pull the trigger on a I3? Again this is my ONLY car...

It really depends on your lifestyle and demands. The car has no distance limitations, as long as you fuel every hour. Not very pleasant, but beats sitting at a charger. Otherwise, the car is small, no question about it. If you can put one kid in the front seat, you can fold 2/3 of the rear and gain some space, but you won't haul refrigerators.
I would never get i3 as my only car. We also have a minivan for long distance travel and moving things around- I'm talking 1000 miles for 4 people with luggage and all building materials for home remodeling. Not everyone needs that much utility. A minivan is a truly universal machine, but it is fairly large and thirsty on gas.

Hi,

Your English is perfect:

marwar said:

First of all, sorry for my bad english!
. . .
* The longest trip i make in my work is about 220 miles. When in hurry i'm not very interested in charging the car. Does the REX handle this kind of range?
. . .

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I drove 463 miles (5 fuel stops) when I picked up my 60Ahr, 2014 BMW i3-REx. We also did a 700 mile, each way, trip to and from Oklahoma (10 fuel stops each way) but these were warm weather, 28-32C with A/C.

We needed to refuel about every 70 miles (112 km.) We kept the cruise speed about 100 kph. Above 112 kph, the car has to dip into the traction battery energy. In colder, denser air, it will mean more frequent stops but this is not that big of a problem.

On our trip, I carried a 1 gallon, spare can of gas in the front trunk. I used it once when an expected gas stop was closed for the night. I could have kept driving on EV to the next, open gas station without a problem. I enabled the range extender early enough to preserve the 75% SOC. It gets about 5.8 l/100 km.

I can't answer for the kids but the rear doors means the back seat passenger needs to comfortable with not having doors that always open. If your kids can handle this without too much sibling rivalry, no problem.

Our other car is a Prius Prime which has four doors and four seats. It has excellent cross country range, ~640 miles, at 4.2 l/100 km. The electric range is limited, ~40 km, but it has moderate handling performance. Better than the previous Prius, still not a pocket rocket like the BMW i3-REx.

Bob Wilson

I think an i3 would be a difficult only car for a family of 3. I also have a family of 3, but we have an ICE sedan besides the i3 that we can use.

The most important thing that you need to know about this car is that women love the looks of it! I don't know how many have stopped me to talk about it. So this "chick magnet" may help with your quest for a new wife. My wife tells me to make sure you get the eucalyptus wood trim.

Just ask from your children how do they feel about it. Living in Finland we don't have luxurious parking space like our friends on other side of Atlantic and organising with front and back doors can be a hassle with children.

Then try to fit in all the luggage you usually have for longer trips and see how does it work out.

To my experience REX will give you flexibility to travel without too much of pre planning also in rural areas but if you travel to Lapland the distance in between gas stations will require some thinking beforehand.

Our family of three fits fine in i3 with our travel gear in trunk but anything in additional like food for weekend trip will need to be accommodated inside. Also it's quite a lot about age of children as need for accessories and toys evolves over the time.

I assume you've checked for charging stations in areas that you will drive. According to my phone app, they can be few and far between in Europe. Maybe my app is only good for the US, but it would be good to check.

What people expect out of a car in the USA is often quite different than what people in other parts of the world expect, partly because of the roads, but often part of the taxes and operating costs. The i3 can work as an only car, but for most people, especially if you need to go on longer trips frequently, it can be a pain. If that doesn't bother you, it can work, assuming everything fits inside that you need on that trip.

I think the main question is are you living in a city or a big open roads area, that should tell you if you should buy one

99% of my driving is done with my i3...most of my day-to-day needs are all close in my small city. When I do need to use my ICE, it's a little strange, and it always seems to come as a surprise that I have to use the brakes to slow down, at least the first couple of times. I miss the instant takeoff from a stop. If the recharging rate eventually can approach that of an ICE's gas tank, I'd switch in an instant, well, assuming those charging stations were readily available and reliably functional. That's going to take a number of years. In the interim, something like the REx with a larger fuel tank, or a more conventional hybrid is the only thing I'd consider as an only car. I'm just not willing to have to wait potentially, hours, to keep going on a longer trip, to recharge a battery. That's the conundrum. Even with Tesla's superchargers, you need to stick to the main roads, and then wait while it recharges.

I purchased a 2014 i3 BEX as an around-town car 3 months ago. I have other ICE cars. It has changed my mind.

- the front seats feel the most spacious of any car I own - that includes a Mercedes R350! Lots of leg room, head room and the open dash
- the back is not bad. I have 3 boys. All are over 6 foot tall - 200+ lbs. it works for trips around town. Longer trips might be an issue for large back seaters.
- love the style, drive, acceleration etc.
- range is not an issue for me. I live 55 miles from the big city office and always drive the i3. Luckily there are enough D.C. Fast chargers around that it's never a problem. Usually with a Starbucks nearby. Stop, start charging, hit the Bucks, come back and I'm back to 85%. Level 2s are more of a pain, but if there are at a place you'll stop for awhile, they are fine.

The odd thing is: I don't want to take the ICE cars anymore. I moan when I have to take the Mercedes R350 (a really nice car). I don't like going to gas stations anymore. It seems so much easier and cleaner to just plug in at home. The only time I drive ICE now:
- hauling a boat or a trailer
- have more than 4 people
- long family trip

Color me surprised. Obviously you have to look at the charging situation where you at -- but as for me... I'm a convert.

Islandelectric,
Just curious....do you use a charge now card to activate the DC fast chargers, or a credit card, or what ?
If you use a charge now card, did it come with the car or how did you get it ?

I am in the same boat at Islandelectric. I also have a 2014 BEX. I bought the i3 to save some money driving 20 miles to work. I like the i3 so much that I am selling my low millage E46 M3 now. As much as I love the M3, it is a waste driving to work. I could totally see myself with just an i3. It would limit me, but an i3 and Uber would be cheaper than driving the M3. My drive to work went from $20.43 a day in the M3 to $1.23 here in the US. I also find myself just going the the i3 for most driving. When I am in a good mood, I will take out the FFR Roadster(no roof, big V8, no mufflers, 12MPG.. oh yeh)

The biggest surprise is how much my wife likes the i3. It looks like we might have to get a second one.

Mine gets driven 98% of my driving. My ICE, which I drove on this trip, was the only option since I'm 400-miles away from home with no reliable charging network along the way. In reality, with the insurance and maintenance on the ICE, I'd be better off renting when I needed to go on a trip or carry more since it doesn't happen often. The convenience of always leaving home with a full 'tank', being able to precondition, the pep, agility, and ease in parking all make the i3 great for most of my driving. I was hoping the i5 might have been my one car for all purposes, but it's been cancelled. It will be interesting to see what they come up with in place of it.

jadnashuanh said:

I was hoping the i5 might have been my one car for all purposes, but it's been cancelled. It will be interesting to see what they come up with in place of it.

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My guess is BMW is anticipating the Tesla 3 and will introduce an all electric 3 series sedan. If the Tesla 3 really comes in at 35K, then they'll either have to reduce the price of the i3 or discontinue it. My guess is they'll discontinue it and start production of an electric 3 series sedan to compete with the Tesla 3.

BMW has already announced an BEV 3-series, to be shown at the Frankfurt auto show in September. What makes the i3 (and i8) so special is the extremes they went to to optimize it for range by the light CFRP frame, the plastic panels, and aluminum components, which allow them to be very efficient in both form, space, and function. The 3-series will have some CFRP like in the new 7-series, but still a lot of steel with some aluminum...while probably a nice car, not the purpose built vehicles the i3 and i8 are.

If you can't keep the structure weight down, you need even larger battery packs to gain range, since the battery is fairly heavy. When you can offset a lot of that with minimizing the structure, you can gain more range with a smaller, lighter battery, which also helps to save costs.

There's nothing really like the i3 that has been built in a long time that was as focused on their mission. NOt everyone agrees with their mission, but IMHO, that does not detract from the end results. I truly like my i3, and while I do have an ICE, it does not get driven all that much, not because it's not a nice car, but because I think the i3 is better for my normal needs.