Spec feedback [UK]

I'm planning to switch from my Nissan leaf (2012 MY) to the following. Autonomy due to the REX is a prime consideration with no leaf battery upgrade yet available and end of (company car) lease close. The leaf is amazing value but...

Any comments on spec welcome

BMW i3 REX Capparis white
- Loft interior [needed for driving aid!]
- winter pack [Just me in car mostly. heated seats more efficient on power]
- driver assist [adaptive cruise is appealing]
- rapid charge [despite lack of infra, this will evolve]
- park assist [love my leaf reversing camera. Front sensors nice. Auto? nah]
- sat nav professional [routing flexibility, nav display. just seems "right"]
- 36 month lease [2 years too £, lots changes in EVs so 4 years too long]

I'm skipping on
- upgraded wheels. It's a lease and I need to control costs
- comfort access. I have this in the leaf, but I'll survive. maybe..
- HK audio. Well until tomorrow! tempting but.. just me in car most of the time

Any critique/considerations welcome. Any big mistakes there you think? Or wasted money? I don't have a hard limit per se, but it's so easy to just tick everything.. I propose focussing on the driving, less so the styling

Some thoughts
- are the heated seats really worth it?
- is it a pain without comfort access?
- is the base audio really poor (I thought it was "adequate" not great. mostly just me, though you do lose the soundstage/high end)
- it seems I miss more than the large screen if I didn't go sat nav pro?

#ev #driveelectric #bmwi3 

We have much the same spec except for driver assist which I would never feel happy with (I don't like cruise control much either feeling that I'm not really in control).

Only missed the 'comfort' access for a while after 3 years with the Leaf.

We haven't needed the heated seats yet but I think they will be worthwhile in freezing weather because of the rapid warm-up.

Agree with reversing camera, once used always valued. I find the sensors useful, but the beeps drive my wife mad!

Hardly use the sound system but the standard installation seems more than adequate to me.

I feel the business nav screen looks pathetic an ruins the interior look, so the professional version was important.

Base audio is OK, but HK really is spectacularly good. I love it.

Heated seats give you air flap control which should improve HVAC efficiency, but nowhere as good as a heat pump.

The pro nav is well worth the extra, I find RTTI very useful even when not using guidance.

I can't say I am bothered about comfort access, but I have never had it in a previous vehicle either.

Yeah, 36months should be the sweet spot for better EVs, and the Tesla 3.

I have found that the hatch locks itself rather too readily without comfort access, which has meant fishing about for the key and getting wetter than necessary. Hardly the end of the world of course!

There was a useful comparison of the HK and standard sound system by John Connor and Fedor Ka on the BMW i3 group on Facebook yesterday. They said "We both agree that the basic sound, especially considering it's just 2 speakers, is very good. I was almost astounded how decent it sounded, even cranked up pretty loud. Yes, a little harsher then the HK, and not as full as it has no back speakers, but definitely decent enough for those who are not audiophiles.
The HK is a definite upgrade, but not as outstanding as one might hope. It is smoother, fuller, and you can crank it a little louder, but we both totally agree that the biggest problem is the lack of bass."
As retired auto engineer, but an electric car newbie, my purchased White Rex is loaded with all the toys except: fancy wheels (glad I omitted these as our US friends seem to have had more puncture issues on 20"), HK sound, comfort access and pro navigation. After only a couple of hundred miles, it's to soon to say if the cheaper sat-nav was a mistake, but I was after function, not style, and no regrets as yet. I definitely value the DC rapid charge, ACC and park assist.

Thanks for that last post - I've submitted a join request for the fb group.

Yesterday I was on the fence on the park assist (for the camera), and having lost track of how many times I've used the cam in the last 48 hours I have to keep it in!

The LAST (I promise..) decision point is the HK audio. I said no, been teetering on adding it in, so that fb discussion should be a good one to read. From a quick amateur listen I thought the base audio was decent, lacked little roundness in staging, but most crucially missed out a little at the high end (streaming spotify, extreme quality over BT... that's my prime source as no spotify client app avail on i3 platform AFAIK)

I gather the base audio is HK too... it's just lacking in speakers.

Surprised they rated the upgrade lower.. making the difference much smaller, . Um. I'll read once I'm in!

Don't forget not all regions have the same locking logic as each other so when people comment about the boot locking itself, in the UK that isn't a problem I've encountered (no comfort access).

Bill

I popped back to my local BMW dealer tonight a little while before they shut armed with my phone+spotify and streamed some of my favourites (extreme quality) over BT. Tracks included Katy B - Crying for No reason, Radiohead - Creep, Evanescence - My Immortal, Bryan Adams - Summer of 69, Pink flloyd - another brick in the wall, ella Eyre -Comback ... I could go on!

I sat in both cars back to back

The base stereo - remarkably decent. slightly muddied mid range
The HK - *very* noticeable. really. mids were much much clearer. I compare it (not at the same level) but going from my old surround amp to my sonos playbar. Far more clarity in the mid range, ambiance and clear high range. Bass a little more punchier. I'd almost describe it as more relaxing - better controlled.

Now one could argue that with road noise, more incremental cost, and the fact it's far from perfect, that it's not worth having.

For me? I think it gets added to the list..... I'm so bad at saving money sometimes!

@planetf1 - I did exactly the same