Sensivity to wind

When wind is strong and gusty, combined with the short wheelbase, the high body, narrow tires and sensitive electric power steering, I find it quite a job to keep the i3 going straight. It does not allow one to take eyes off the road ahaed, even for one second. Does anybody experienced this as well?

My experience is that the sensitivity to wind is very noticable at highway speeds, even passing lorries does influence the steering a bit, which reminds me of my old Vanagon camper (rear engine, rear wheel drive) when it is windy. Same behaviour :mrgreen: but less pronounced. Still, this is my biggest disappointment regarding the handling of the car. There are more quirks regarding handling (f.e. when you use the friction breaks, the moment you put your foot off the brakepedal but still rolling, the regen keeps braking the car while your foot is moving towards the accelerator pedal, which is a unnatural feeling when you want to regain speed), but you get used to it...I accept it as the outcome of several tradeoffs that resulted in this specific set of properties the car has, most of them very good.
ps sorry for bad english

I agree. The i3 is very sensitive to wind - I very much notice this when driving on the highway.

kwind said:

When wind is strong and gusty, combined with the short wheelbase, the high body, narrow tires and sensitive electric power steering, I find it quite a job to keep the i3 going straight. It does not allow one to take eyes off the road ahaed, even for one second. Does anybody experienced this as well?

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Tires most likely don't have much to do with it but the light weight does - there is not much to do about physics... Eyes on the road and hands at 9 and 3.

Perhaps being rear-engined with a lighter front end has a lot to do with it, and even more so in a Rex, because the i3 is significantly heavier than an A2 and probably has a lower CG but the A2 wasn't unduly problematic in xwinds, although you were aware that it was taller and lighter than a average.

Well, you get used to it. At least I did. In my experience: it is not so mucht the wind that is the issue, but it's the counterreaction that is easyly overdone because of the light and direct steering, but I beg everyone to differ...

Regards, Steven

Yeah, the i3 is a "sprited steed," requiring a masterful hand at all times.
Its touchy at freeway speeds, and even more so on grooved pavement.
Crosswinds and 18-wheelers also are something to watch out for.

Here in Southern California, I have yet to experience it during any kind of inclement weather, except for after dark.

It doesn't handle anything like a BMW 525 or even a 328, that's for sure.

The weight balance on the i3 is pretty close to 50/50 (may be a bit skewed if you have the REx), and with a short wheelbase and nearly vertical sides, and a low cg, you still have a big lever there when the wind hits.

I'd probably have more to say, but mine only has about 40-miles on it!

I agree with the previous post. The "skittish" behaviour with side winds is definitely to do with the i3 being high sided but with all the weight so low presenting a very low angular momentum to side wind loading. What definitely works very well for handling on bends in fact works against the car when encountering cross winds at higher speeds.

One other point worth noting is that there is no rear anti-roll bar (I can see a quite substantial one at the front but nothing at the rear) which probably doesn't help in this situation either, given that the centre line of the roof when viewed from the side is biased towards the rear of the car.

I think of it as being a bit like a yaght with the battery as the keel. It does tend to heel over a bit in the wind

jadnashuanh said:

The weight balance on the i3 is pretty close to 50/50 (may be a bit skewed if you have the REx), and with a short wheelbase and nearly vertical sides, and a low cg, you still have a big lever there when the wind hits.

I'd probably have more to say, but mine only has about 40-miles on it!

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Yeah! You got it!! So give us the scoop. Are you burning thru elections like there's no tomorrow?

kwind said:

When wind is strong and gusty, combined with the short wheelbase, the high body, narrow tires and sensitive electric power steering, I find it quite a job to keep the i3 going straight. It does not allow one to take eyes off the road ahaed, even for one second. Does anybody experienced this as well?

Click to expand...

I too find the steering a bit too responsive on the highway. I love the steering speed around town. But it has very little self centering action. If you set the wheel in a turn and take your hands off there is minimal pull the recenter the wheel. This combined with the fast steering response makes the highway cruise a bit less laid back.

Since they damp the throttle response in Eco Pro mode perhaps they could also slow down the steering rate at the same time. The steering mechanism is electric so I am sure that is a programmable feature. The geometry of the steering rack is such that as you turn it increases the toe out so that accounts for some of the rapid turning response. That isn't going to change but I am sure they could slow down the response to the wheel by programming.

I drove the i3 on the highway yesterday in gusty winds and immediately felt the side ways wobble. Steering is twitchy at high speed anyway so extra caution is necessary. I was also experiencing some strong head wind which effected my range. From having a 12 mile surplus I ended up with a 10 mile short fall, 22 miles lost

BoMW said:

I drove the i3 on the highway yesterday in gusty winds and immediately felt the side ways wobble. Steering is twitchy at high speed anyway so extra caution is necessary. I was also experiencing some strong head wind which effected my range. From having a 12 mile surplus I ended up with a 10 mile short fall, 22 miles lost

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Sounds like some serious winds! Also sounds similar to my experience commuting 22 miles on an electric bicycle (set for a fixed 35% boost on top of my pedaling). On a calm day, I would use less than half my battery charge, about what should be expected for the 60 claimed boost range. On windy days, I could be peddling my last block or so with no boost remaining.

Note that head winds hurt far more than tail winds help, due to the V-squared effect of wind. For example, a 10 MPH headwind on a 60 MPH drive is like a windless 70 MPH drive. A 10 MPH tailwind on a 60 MPH drive is like a windless 50 MPH drive. Your range is hurt far more going from 60 to 70 than it is helped going from 60 to 50.

I too find the steering a bit too responsive on the highway. I love the steering speed around town. But it has very little self centering action. If you set the wheel in a turn and take your hands off there is minimal pull the recenter the wheel. This combined with the fast steering response makes the highway cruise a bit less laid back.

I bought my car two days ago and never test-drove it at freeway speeds. If I had, I might have reconsidered and waited for the eGolf. The steering, particularly at high speed on the freeway, requires more attention than it should. I am constantly tweaking the wheel to keep it in line. My other car, a Passat, hasn't ever caused me stress steering it as does the i3. I intend to go back to the dealer and ask them if there is anything that can be done to improve steering this car. Other than this one issue, the car seems ideal, yet since I bought it to commute on the freeway, it's too high a price to pay for a sub-par performance.

You might want to check the tire pressures, mine came with 28psi all around while the book recommends 35/41. When I brought them up to spec, I found that the car self-centered a bit better on the highway.

I've got about 1200-miles on mine now, and do not find the sidewinds a problem. Yes, you do need to be alert, but you should be when driving any car. I have not found it to be tiring. Wind noise very much depends on the direction of the wind, though - sometimes, it is quiet, sometimes it is not. But, again, considering what it was designed for (not what some people use it for, especially with the REx) - low-speed, running around town or the reasonable commute, I do not think adding extra pounds to include more soundproofing, or messing with the body style (would likely result in less headroom and useable shoulder space) is a worthwhile modification.

I've had one glitch so far - the charging plug would not release when unlocking the car...I had to use the emergency release. It has worked fine since, with no idea why it happened. When that happened, the car stopped updating information to the server, so the remote app was useless...I ended up having the dealer unplug and replug the telemetrics module's power/data cord and it immediately started to work again after multiple account resets and forced vehicle data updates had had no effect. I asked what fuse powers that module, but was told by the I-concierge that was not a good idea as it could be powering other modules as well. I asked if it was powering other modules, or they just thought it was and they could not answer...people, it either is, or it isn't...I haven't found out yet.

As an aside, I went to pick up a new set of winter tires, and they had sent four of them mounted to fit on the left side of the car! If you elect to get some, make sure that you get a proper set. The dealer is flipping the tires on the wheels, and I should be able to pick them up tomorrow, but it should never have happened. Be very careful on any directional tire - if it has a rotation arrow, or something that says, this side out, make sure it is!

Over 2,000 miles now on my REx. When I am on city streets, even when it is windy (I live by the ocean), wind is no bother so long as I am under 60 miles an hour. When I am on the freeway and accelerating to 70 miles an hour or more, I feel and hear the wind. There are trade offs in everything. In the i3, I've learned to be more alert on the freeway than when I drove my Lexus. Both hands on the wheel and all that--something I should have been doing all along. As for the noise, I compensate by boosting the volume on my Harman Kardon sound system. While many ideas come to mind for adding to the i3, I am always drawn back to the idea that I do not want to add additional weight to the vehicle. Its "lightness" is a great part of what makes the i3 so special.

It's a city car, not a touring car.

After more than 1,000 miles my perspective is that the car is pretty twitchy at freeway speeds, not relaxing to drive, you have to stay on top of it. Combine that with light weight and narrow tires and it certainly does feel sensitive to side winds.

The super sensitive steering is great around town, but owners in the US do not live in mega-cities (California really doesn't have any compared to London, Rome, Shanghai, Tokyo, etc.) and do more freeway driving that I believe was in the original design brief of this car.

BMW could probably further refine the steering just by adjusting the software. It needs a larger dead zone in the middle, and perhaps an increase in the turns "lock to lock" to reduce the sensitivity.

WoodlandHills said:

You might want to check the tire pressures, mine came with 28psi all around while the book recommends 35/41. When I brought them up to spec, I found that the car self-centered a bit better on the highway.

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I asked the dealer to check the tire pressure yesterday. I can only presume it was normal.

Regarding Boatguy's statement that it is a city car vs. a touring car, BMW never disclaimed the i3's value as a commuter car at high speeds: it's capable of more than 90 mph. (Have you driven on the autobahn in Germany?) Driving fast in LA should be within the car's purview, which is why I suspect the steering/handling issue is a defect in engineering. If, as Boatguy suggests, there could be a fix in programming the steering's electric assist, I want to know about it (soon).

I won't be a cheerleader for the i3 until I learn the issue is acknowledged and a fix is forthcoming. I think anyone considering buying the i3 should be aware of the problem. It's a significant one to anyone who bought BMW's electric car because they love to drive.

Hi 110commuter,

perhaps this will sound as obvious bordering on the superfluous: you really do get used to it. At least I did... Still: I would have preferred the steering to be more like a 3 series (or the like) as well.

Regards, Steven