No more i3

My i3 Rex is a company car on a 3 year lease. I've had it for 2 years but with the sale of my employer I am being made redundant in 4 weeks time and the i3 has to go back. I have mixed feelings. I have enjoyed the economy and acceleration and my kids aged 7 and 9 seemed to love the car from day one. However, half of my 22 mile commute was UK motorway and with that ultra sensitive steering, light weight and high propensity to catch the slightest of side winds, for at least half of the journey I hated the drive. I also found the limited range quite annoying - I never really managed over 70 miles on a full charge, typically hitting low 60s, so doing 44 miles a day had the hassle of plugging in the 6 metre cable I needed on our drive every night and unplugging every morning, rain or shine. I have pondered another electric car as a replacement but have decided on a used Mini Cooper S and will only rejoin the world of electric cars one day in the future when the cars and infrastructure are a lot better.

Interesting post. I'm going to be doing exactly that. A 44 mile commute much of which is UK motorway, but to be honest I have already got my head around the fact that I will be plugging every morning and evening.

I specifically designed the charger install so it could be done in the garage or to make it as easy as possible to plug in outside (I've added a second charge holster outside on the garage frame). I can understand the pain of doing this when its wet but then again, the pain of queueing and getting covered in diesel when refuelling is just as annoying for me.

I drove the loan car on the motorway trip but didn't notice any difference to any other car I've driven. That said, I've also factored in that it's an EV and I will be deliberately driving at a more relaxed pace which might reduce any tendency for drift in wind.

Range wise, the 94ah capacity will obviously help but I don't plan on ever leaving the car overnight without being plugged in so can't see it being an issue.

Will be interesting to see if I eventually get any of these effects. Picking car up in the next few days all being well.

PipPip said:

My i3 Rex is a company car on a 3 year lease. I've had it for 2 years but with the sale of my employer I am being made redundant in 4 weeks time and the i3 has to go back. I have mixed feelings. I have enjoyed the economy and acceleration and my kids aged 7 and 9 seemed to love the car from day one. However, half of my 22 mile commute was UK motorway and with that ultra sensitive steering, light weight and high propensity to catch the slightest of side winds, for at least half of the journey I hated the drive. I also found the limited range quite annoying - I never really managed over 70 miles on a full charge, typically hitting low 60s, so doing 44 miles a day had the hassle of plugging in the 6 metre cable I needed on our drive every night and unplugging every morning, rain or shine. I have pondered another electric car as a replacement but have decided on a used Mini Cooper S and will only rejoin the world of electric cars one day in the future when the cars and infrastructure are a lot better.

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Interesting re motorway driving and handling. My wife still likes the car, but isn't happy when driving it on the motorway. I don't mind the precision steering and slightly more bumpy ride. I've also noticed that German and French motorways are better and the i3 seems to allow a better ride when "over there".

I've got a 10m cable and never found the plugging in to be a hassle. Having said that, I am the person in the family who mainly remembers to plug it in when arriving back home or before going to bed.

The car still saves us £700 - £800 per year in fuel costs, which makes a tangible difference. As I run it as a company car for my own business, the ability to declare it in full during Year 1 also made a big difference on the tax bill, despite the personal BIK tax.

Again, very interesting the different views. Ive had my rex for about 3 years and have never felt any problem with the car at high speed and have in fact found it more stable than many of my previous cars - even when driving along the cliff road in a gale force wind! Not sure I understand the ‘hassle’ with plugging it in, I find it no more effort than plugging my phone in for a charge! Fortunately, I have always got more than 65 miles out of my car even on the coldest UK day and motorway driving (within the national speed limit). At this time or year I frequently get more than a 100 miles out of a charge.

The steering is very sensitive, particularly at higher speeds.

The i3 is the first car I've driven where I really don't feel all that comfortable driving and doing something like reaching behind me with my other arm to pick up my son's sippy cup (which he invariably drops again). The car just reacts too much to inadvertent movement of the steering wheel.

Schnort said:

The steering is very sensitive, particularly at higher speeds.

The i3 is the first car I've driven where I really don't feel all that comfortable driving and doing something like reaching behind me with my other arm to pick up my son's sippy cup (which he invariably drops again). The car just reacts too much to inadvertent movement of the steering wheel.

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Agreed, the steering doesn't scale with speed as it should. I had posted elsewhere when a car cross over into my side of the road my immediate and natural maneuver to avoid almost sent the car off the road at speed and I also ended up overcorrecting coming back. And I drive cars raging from comfort SUV to extremely sporty cars.

Interesting to hear other perspectives. In many ways it's a great car, especially for local errands, running kids to sports clubs at weekends etc. The "issues" are niggles really although I do hope they sort out the over-sensitive high speed steering, which seems to bother some of us. Can't ever recall having this issue on any of the 25 other cars I've owned. I was given a Mini as a loan car when the i3 was in for some repairs last year (charging issues, persistent dashboard rattle) and liked it so much I decided one would replace the i3 eventually.

PipPip said:

In many ways it's a great car, especially for local errands, running kids to sports clubs at weekends etc.

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Precisely what we're using it for, plus commuting and local holidays of up to around 150-200mi.

Oh, and I've taken it to Germany three times now.

It is just such a fun car to drive that it became without any problem our main car. I would say that as long you don't have to do long commutes on highway everyday, it's the perfect car. Otherwise it might be a bit tiresome as I agree with the over sensitive steering wheel at high speed.

But that feeling, when you enter in the car, of being transported 15 years in the futur... I can't get use to it !