SSi3
Well-known member
Early review of the 2019 i3s 120Ah BEV now that I’ve had the car for almost a week.
First off it just drives so much better than the 2015 Rex I had. Kudos to the chassis engineers at BMW for turning the s into a fun little hot (warm?) hatch! The suspension is tighter (obviously) and the front struts don’t have that crashy feel over rough roads like my 2015. Maybe that’s also the bigger and wider rolling stock helping as well. The rear end doesn’t bang over bridge expansion joints either, BMW has definitely learned how to tune this chassis over the past 5 years. The steering feels much better too, it’s less assisted in comfort/EP compared to the 2015 and even has some road feedback coming through to the steering wheel, something the numb and over-assisted 2015 never had. Maybe this is unique to the s for 2019 and the non-s still has the same steering as the 2015, I don’t know as I haven’t driven one. The steering gets a little heavier in Sport mode but I haven’t had it long enough to explore its sporting abilities.
Other driving notes - The motor sounds different, the acceleration whine is louder and the regen is more jetson-like compared to the 2015, I like it. It has less regen braking strength than the 2015, not a lot less, but enough that I have to retrain my brain for braking distances in traffic. I don’t have a problem with this as it will be easier on the rear tires and I expect that it will be easier to drive in the winter thanks to the less aggressive regen and the updated TC system.
Other random things – the bi-LED headlights (with static cornering lights) are awesome, won’t miss the halogen highbeams! Finally every bulb on the car is now LED. The doors sound different when you close them, a more solid thud… even the locks sound different, like they updated (or a new supplier) the mechanisms. All the little changes and new features that come together to make it feel like a truly updated car such as iDrive 6.0, auto highbeams, wireless charger in the armrest, sunroof, 3A USB-C port in place of the old aux jack, Vernasca leather, dark brown wood on the dash (in the sun it looks good enough to eat), more bass from the h/k audio and a new parking sensor tone that now comes from the speakers in the corner/side of the vehicle that is detecting something. Speaking of parking sensors, the s loses the self-parking feature because the front flares cover the location of the side sensors; this doesn’t matter to me as I never used it (other than to demo it for laughs) and is probably a good thing since it scratched a lot of peoples wheels and these new 20’s are too pretty for that kind of abuse.
So far I’m loving it, can’t wait for the first roadtrip!
First off it just drives so much better than the 2015 Rex I had. Kudos to the chassis engineers at BMW for turning the s into a fun little hot (warm?) hatch! The suspension is tighter (obviously) and the front struts don’t have that crashy feel over rough roads like my 2015. Maybe that’s also the bigger and wider rolling stock helping as well. The rear end doesn’t bang over bridge expansion joints either, BMW has definitely learned how to tune this chassis over the past 5 years. The steering feels much better too, it’s less assisted in comfort/EP compared to the 2015 and even has some road feedback coming through to the steering wheel, something the numb and over-assisted 2015 never had. Maybe this is unique to the s for 2019 and the non-s still has the same steering as the 2015, I don’t know as I haven’t driven one. The steering gets a little heavier in Sport mode but I haven’t had it long enough to explore its sporting abilities.
Other driving notes - The motor sounds different, the acceleration whine is louder and the regen is more jetson-like compared to the 2015, I like it. It has less regen braking strength than the 2015, not a lot less, but enough that I have to retrain my brain for braking distances in traffic. I don’t have a problem with this as it will be easier on the rear tires and I expect that it will be easier to drive in the winter thanks to the less aggressive regen and the updated TC system.
Other random things – the bi-LED headlights (with static cornering lights) are awesome, won’t miss the halogen highbeams! Finally every bulb on the car is now LED. The doors sound different when you close them, a more solid thud… even the locks sound different, like they updated (or a new supplier) the mechanisms. All the little changes and new features that come together to make it feel like a truly updated car such as iDrive 6.0, auto highbeams, wireless charger in the armrest, sunroof, 3A USB-C port in place of the old aux jack, Vernasca leather, dark brown wood on the dash (in the sun it looks good enough to eat), more bass from the h/k audio and a new parking sensor tone that now comes from the speakers in the corner/side of the vehicle that is detecting something. Speaking of parking sensors, the s loses the self-parking feature because the front flares cover the location of the side sensors; this doesn’t matter to me as I never used it (other than to demo it for laughs) and is probably a good thing since it scratched a lot of peoples wheels and these new 20’s are too pretty for that kind of abuse.
So far I’m loving it, can’t wait for the first roadtrip!