Has anyone got a fault-free i3?

[PeterHarvey]

I've been looking forward to the delivery of my i3 REX in early November, and just received the good (?) news it will come in late September. Yet I've read so many posts here about faults with the car, I'm starting to get a little nervous. It will be our only car, and I don't want to have to keep taking it to the dealer to get it fixed. I know that some problems only apply to North America, and that some early problems may have been fixed by a software upgrade (which is presumably installed on all i3s now made).

So, my question is: has anyone in the UK or the rest of Europe had delivery of an i3 (EV or REX) since the start of June that has actually been fault-free? I've had no problems in 2 years with my Prius Plug-in, so don't want to be replacing it with a a car that, while it is more 'green' in eco-terms, is also more 'green' in the sense of not-yet-mature, and unreliable ...

Hoping to be re-assured ...

Peter
UK

 

[BrianStanier]

Hi Peter

Some niggles (irritating tyre noise on some surfaces, windscreen reflections) but no faults after three months and 3500 miles. Rex behaves efficiently and quietly when required to assist Bev and we're getting 4.6 m/kWh indicated overall so an electric range over 80 miles (though not in today's rain).

Brian

 

[PeterHarvey]

Hi Peter

Some niggles (irritating tyre noise on some surfaces, windscreen reflections) but no faults after three months and 3500 miles. Rex behaves efficiently and quietly when required to assist Bev and we're getting 4.6 m/kWh indicated overall so an electric range over 80 miles (though not in today's rain).

Brian

That is good to hear, Brian. Let's hope there are plenty of other positive replies to my inquiry.

In general, I guess that it is people who have been having problems that have been more likely to post, so the overall impression from reading posts can be somewhat daunting.

 

[pdurham]

We're in the U.S. with a REx, so of course we have the CEL issue--but it hasn't affected the operation of the car in any way. Otherwise, no problems whatsoever.

 

[MikeS]

I've been looking forward to the delivery of my i3 REX in early November, and just received the good (?) news it will come in late September. Yet I've read so many posts here about faults with the car, I'm starting to get a little nervous. It will be our only car, and I don't want to have to keep taking it to the dealer to get it fixed. I know that some problems only apply to North America, and that some early problems may have been fixed by a software upgrade (which is presumably installed on all i3s now made).

So, my question is: has anyone in the UK or the rest of Europe had delivery of an i3 (EV or REX) since the start of June that has actually been fault-free? I've had no problems in 2 years with my Prius Plug-in, so don't want to be replacing it with a a car that, while it is more 'green' in eco-terms, is also more 'green' in the sense of not-yet-mature, and unreliable ...

Hoping to be re-assured ...

Peter
UK

In the main people only bother to post about negative things and this is true of most forums. Given the number of cars delivered the faults seem quite low, especially when you discount the CEL issue.

 

[noakey]

I've been looking forward to the delivery of my i3 REX in early November, and just received the good (?) news it will come in late September. Yet I've read so many posts here about faults with the car, I'm starting to get a little nervous. It will be our only car, and I don't want to have to keep taking it to the dealer to get it fixed. I know that some problems only apply to North America, and that some early problems may have been fixed by a software upgrade (which is presumably installed on all i3s now made).

So, my question is: has anyone in the UK or the rest of Europe had delivery of an i3 (EV or REX) since the start of June that has actually been fault-free? I've had no problems in 2 years with my Prius Plug-in, so don't want to be replacing it with a a car that, while it is more 'green' in eco-terms, is also more 'green' in the sense of not-yet-mature, and unreliable ...

Hoping to be re-assured ...

Peter
UK

In the main people only bother to post about negative things and this is true of most forums. Given the number of cars delivered the faults seem quite low, especially when you discount the CEL issue.

Just the new KLE derating issue reducing charge rate from 7kw to approx 5.2kw. .. annoying..

 

[fdl1409]

My REx has had no problems whatsoever in 3.800km.

Frank

 

[kevinb61]

BEV with 1000 mi...so far so good

 

[i3convertee]

400+ miles with my BEX and no apparent issues yet. That said, when my AC is on, I hear an annoying click sound from the rear. Is that normal?

 

[Edman951]

BEV 2500 km all good up to now.

 

[Zzzoom3]

I'm waiting for my car just about 8 weeks now. There is no issue I have read about here or other enthusiast sites that has given me concern including the CEL (for REx) and KLE issues. No car is perfect especially 1st year production models. This is BMW. They have a great engineering and design team. They will get to the root cause of the problems and fix it. BMW is in the premium car business. You do not succeed in this market by leaving customers dissatisfied. They did not enter the EV market to fail ..

 

[Bunter]

4k miles on my BEV so far so good no significant issues apart from unreliable preconditioning and subsequent top up charging.

BL

 

[noakey]

I'm waiting for my car just about 8 weeks now. There is no issue I have read about here or other enthusiast sites that has given me concern including the CEL (for REx) and KLE issues. No car is perfect especially 1st year production models. This is BMW. They have a great engineering and design team. They will get to the root cause of the problems and fix it. BMW is in the premium car business. You do not succeed in this market by leaving customers dissatisfied. They did not enter the EV market to fail ..

Here here... am completely with you on this one. .

 

[BeepEe]

no problems with my REX , 8300 Km

 

[DerfSdrawd]

I've done 6,000 miles in my BEV - the air con doesn't work and the car is in the dealer this week to get the software update that I understand fixes this problem.

Compared to my previous gas-guzzling car I've saved about £1,500 on fuel in that distance so I'm very happy, despite the a/c issue. The i3 has rendered everything else I drive completely old-fashioned (the only exception being..... the i8!)

It's a tremendous piece of kit overall I reckon.

 

[noakey]

I've done 6,000 miles in my BEV - the air con doesn't work and the car is in the dealer this week to get the software update that I understand fixes this problem.

Compared to my previous gas-guzzling car I've saved about £1,500 on fuel in that distance so I'm very happy, despite the a/c issue. The i3 has rendered everything else I drive completely old-fashioned (the only exception being..... the i8!)

It's a tremendous piece of kit overall I reckon.

When you get it back test the charge rate... it will probably be de-rated to 5.5kw ish from 7kw due to KLE issues. .

 

[user 1096]

YES: 600 miles and counting. I'm still digesting the manual that I carry on my iPad :lol:

 

[DerfSdrawd]

When you get it back test the charge rate... it will probably be de-rated to 5.5kw ish from 7kw due to KLE issues. .

Yes I've read about this - will see. Not too fussed as it's mostly charged at our leisure at home then when I'm out and about I use the CCS fast DC which is bloody brilliant!

 

[noakey]

When you get it back test the charge rate... it will probably be de-rated to 5.5kw ish from 7kw due to KLE issues. .

Yes I've read about this - will see. Not too fussed as it's mostly charged at our leisure at home then when I'm out and about I use the CCS fast DC which is bloody brilliant!

Thats great. Unfortunately when I ordered in November 2013, there was no fast charge network, nor any commitment to build one, so I excluded this option... I regret it enormously, however a majority of use is well within range (60 mile round trip commute) and top up at night.

 

[BrianStanier]

I ordered back in November too but added the dc option assuming that it would roll out in due course. In practice CCS chargers have arrived or existing Chamdemo been modified far faster than I anticipated and certainly faster than Chademo arrived over the 3 years we had the Leaf.