eNate said:
A follow up, to bring this thread to conclusion...
Not so fast…
eNate said:
I followed through with the swap. Here are the photos: of the end result https://photos.app.goo.gl/sZYiZMahN83jaA8E7
The 2021 Mega i3 received Dalbergia dark brown leather from a 2017 Tera, and also the dark oak wood dash panels.
Good work! Now I find myself in a similar situation and would appreciate your advice. For some reason, outgoing private messages get stuck in my Outbox even though my Sent box isn't full, so I don't seem able to send private messages.
I just bought a 2019 Giga BEV from California to replace our 2014 Giga BEV. When I picked up the 2019 at the docks in Honolulu, this was the first time I had seen a facelift Giga interior in person. I much prefer the lighter original pre-facelift Giga interior. The facelift leather upholstery trim is a dark tan/light brown rather than golden tan, the wool seat fabric contains brown threads making the fabric appear darker overall, the arm rest is off-white rather than golden tan, and the wood dashboard trim is dark oak rather than light eucalyptus. This makes me really want to swap the seats, door cards, arm rest, and wood dashboard trim since I have both cars while I still have both cars.
eNate said:
Ancillary items making the jump: 2017's full-width front & rear floor mats, rear license plate mount (w/ four threaded brass eyelets), 12A L1 EVSE, Wokeby trunk extension, and Euro-spec aspherical mirrors. I also carried over my 19" 428 wheels.
I also swapped the rear license plate mount to keep the threaded brass eyelets.
I will swap our 2014's 12 A OUC for our 2019's 10 A OUC unless the 2019 OUC is a dual-voltage model. The massive 320+ page, 32 language Delphi OUC Owner's Manual appears to be one original generic text translated to all other languages such that it doesn't state explicitly whether the U.S. OUC is dual-voltage. I suppose the specifications plate on the OUC would state the input voltage range.
Even though a front 428 (Tera) wheel on our 2019 has very light surface curb rash that could be repaired quite easily (no deep scratches), I won't swap its wheels for the unblemished 429 (Giga) wheels on our 2014 because I prefer 428 wheels, and our 2019 has new tires instead of tires with 13k miles of wear. I like that the left-side and right-side 429 wheels are different on our 2014 so they appear to be rotating in the same direction on both sides of the car, but if I had to replace a wheel, finding the correct-sided wheel might be more difficult compared with the 428 wheels on the 2019 which are the same on both sides of the car.
Our 2014 has a CFRP cargo floor access panel whereas the 2019 has a likely slightly heavier aluminum panel. I'm tempted to swap the CFRP panel to the 2019 to maintain the CFRP theme of the i3. However, BMW discontinued the CFRP panel for some reason (cost, CFRP panel breakage problems, ??). Anyone know why?
I'll definitely swap the cargo floor covers because the 2014 version has 2 rubber hold-down straps that are missing from the 2019 version.
I'm tempted to swap the part of the center console behind the iDrive controller. The 2014 version has a padded area whereas the 2019 version is hard plastic. I'm not sure what the pad accomplishes, so it's probably not worth the risk of breaking or damaging something during the swap. Also, the top touch-sensitive surface of the 2014 iDrive controller is smooth whereas the 2019 is a matte finish that feels rougher to the touch. I assume that it's an improved version, but who knows? Maybe it's a cheaper version
Below the center of the dashboard just above the floor is a small cargo net on the 2014 but just an elastic strap on the 2019. I haven't used the net in almost 8 years of 2014 ownership, so I'm not seriously considering swapping this for the strap. Probably would require too much effort.
I am considering swapping the 2014 "unlock i3 frunk" fob button with the 2019 "unlock i8 hatch" button. However, I don't know how easy that would be to do without risking breakage, and I don't know whether I can code the 2019 fob receiver to unlock the frunk instead of the hatch. I use the unlock frunk button several times each month but would never unlock the hatch with the fob because with Comfort Access, it unlocks when pulling its handle.
Can't think of any other "decontenting" or improvements on the 2019 relative to the 2014. Any other suggestions?