2016 I3 REX Low Miles

Hi all,

I've been purusing the forum here for a few weeks in aniticipation of possibly purchasing an I3 for a commuter. Found one that I think is a good deal: A one owner 2016 Rex with 7900 miles on it for $22500. The car looks practically brand new. You all think this is a good deal? If no, what would be a fair negotiation price? What I'd like to know is what all should I be on the look out for as far as potential issues or problems? Some of the "known" ones I know of are:

1) 12V battery. With such low miles I don't think this will be an issue for awhile, but would it be prudent to try and negotiate either lower price or replacement by dealer?

2) I read on here somewhere that steering wheel fading or staining was an issue for some. This car has the lodge interior so a lighter color sw. Any suggestions for keeping it pristine?

3) Rex engine issues? With so little miles, my worry is that the REX was never engaged. Should I be worried if that's the case? I was going to have the dealer run the charge down, so when I took it for the next test drive it kicks on.

Many thanks in advance to all who can chime in with their two cents!

Robbie

1) Hopefully the 12v has been replaced by now but you can check and see if it it is original simply by popping open the FRUNK and looking to the LEFT of the Storage Tray. Look for a stamped date on the 12v battery case as in the pic:



In this case 1317 refers to the 13th week of 2017
That's my car which was built in April 2017. I replaced my 12v after 5 years (June 2022)
If you do NOT see that stamp, the battery was most likely replaced as replacements tend to have STICKERS that can't be viewed unless you remove the metal strap holding the battery in place.

3) The REX engine will come on every 58 days (I think) automatically for a maintenance run on its own (well, while you are driving).

Someone else can elaborate more on these but I think the price is a little high and based on the low milage. The car will NOT be able to use the MYBMW app as it has 3G for cellular and that is discontinued in the USA (I'm assuming you are in the USA) so maybe bring that up to try and get the price reduced?

I recommend paying a bit more for a 2018 rex or 2019 bev. But if that is all you can afford then it will be ok.

agzand said:

I recommend paying a bit more for a 2018 rex or 2019 bev. But if that is all you can afford then it will be ok.

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I can go up on my budget, but I'd really like something with low-miles and preferably 1 owner. Two boxes the 2016 check off. In addition, it seems like it has some nice options that other newer/more expensive models don't have. My hesitancy now is the 3g issue, where I'm afraid I won't have the option of "hacking" the REX to kick in sooner. *Sigh*

Ack! I didn't even think about the 3g issue. Does this mean that I couldn't "hack" into the car to play around with customizations? Sad face.

freakE98146 said:

Ack! I didn't even think about the 3g issue. Does this mean that I couldn't "hack" into the car to play around with customizations?

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The lack of 3G data connectivity wouldn't affect your ability to change parameter values to affect behaviors. That's done with an app on a computing device connected to the OBD port with a cable or wirelessly via WiFi or Bluetooth. Lack of 3G data connectivity would prevent the My BMW smartphone app from connecting to your i3, but that's not how customization is performed.

alohart said:

freakE98146 said:

Ack! I didn't even think about the 3g issue. Does this mean that I couldn't "hack" into the car to play around with customizations?

Click to expand...

The lack of 3G data connectivity wouldn't affect your ability to change parameter values to affect behaviors. That's done with an app on a computing device connected to the OBD port with a cable or wirelessly via WiFi or Bluetooth. Lack of 3G data connectivity would prevent the My BMW smartphone app from connecting to your i3, but that's not how customization is performed.

Click to expand...

Art, you're a life saver. Feel much better about purchasing a 2016 now.....

freakE98146 said:

Art, you're a life saver. Feel much better about purchasing a 2016 now.....

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Having bought a new 2014 BEV with the same 60 Ah battery pack as your 2016 REx, I would discourage anyone from purchasing an i3 earlier than a 2017 model when the battery cell chemistry was changed and the capacity increased to 94 Ah. The 94 Ah and 120 Ah (2019 and later) battery cells seem to be much more durable than 60 Ah battery cells which can degrade quite rapidly.

A 2018 i3 would be even better because of the mid-cycle updates. Then 2019 models got the even larger 120 Ah battery pack. Of course, each later year model is likely to cost more, so your budget might dictate your purchase.

alohart said:

freakE98146 said:

Art, you're a life saver. Feel much better about purchasing a 2016 now.....

Click to expand...

Having bought a new 2014 BEV with the same 60 Ah battery pack as your 2016 REx, I would discourage anyone from purchasing an i3 earlier than a 2017 model when the battery cell chemistry was changed and the capacity increased to 94 Ah. The 94 Ah and 120 Ah (2019 and later) battery cells seem to be much more durable than 60 Ah battery cells which can degrade quite rapidly.

A 2018 i3 would be even better because of the mid-cycle updates. Then 2019 models got the even larger 120 Ah battery pack. Of course, each later year model is likely to cost more, so your budget might dictate your purchase.

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First, let me say thank you for your time and willingness to help me through this. Hopefully you'll indulge me a bit further? I have heard this same argument from others in other forums. All the information leaves me a wee bit dizzy. I hear the about the battery degrading in these older models, but on the same hand I SEE that these cars have on average 40-80K miles on them. So my first question: is it time or amount of charging/discharging that would cause the battery to degrade? I suspect a bit of both, but I also suspect it's mostly the "use" of the battery. If this is the case, with the car in question having such low-miles, wouldn't I "expect" to get at least 40k+ miles out of it? If that's the case, it would take me several years to accomplish that. Secondly, if one programs the REX to kick on sooner as I've heard this is a better way to utilize the REX in the older cars, wouldn't that mean you weren't running the battery down as quickly, thus prolonging the life of the battery? Lastly, in looking at some older post I see that you have had this discussion with others. In those posts, there is alot of talk of BMW possibly artificially capping the battery usage on these cars in order to avoid having to replace them. Any further thoughts on that?

Cheers!

Robbie

freakE98146 said:

So my first question: is it time or amount of charging/discharging that would cause the battery to degrade? I suspect a bit of both, but I also suspect it's mostly the "use" of the battery. If this is the case, with the car in question having such low-miles, wouldn't I "expect" to get at least 40k+ miles out of it? If that's the case, it would take me several years to accomplish that.

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The 2014 BEV that we bought new and that lived an ideal EV life (no ambient temperature extremes, parked inside a parking garage most of its life, very infrequent DC fast charging, didn't sit for long periods at a very low or very high charge level) had lost ~25% of its usable capacity after having been driven only ~13k miles. So in our case, it seemed that age was a more important factor than the number of charge-discharge cycles.

However, this is only anecdotal data. Some other 60 Ah i3 owners have reported very little degradation even after driving far more distance that I did.

freakE98146 said:

Secondly, if one programs the REX to kick on sooner as I've heard this is a better way to utilize the REX in the older cars, wouldn't that mean you weren't running the battery down as quickly, thus prolonging the life of the battery?

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Theoretically, that should help. However, I don't think we understand why some 60 Ah battery packs degrade more rapidly than others. I think that we can safely say that 94 Ah and 120 Ah battery packs don't degrade much at all by comparison.

freakE98146 said:

In those posts, there is alot of talk of BMW possibly artificially capping the battery usage on these cars in order to avoid having to replace them. Any further thoughts on that?

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I think that this remains pure conjecture with little hard data to support it. The fact that the BMS can be reinitialized to restore some usable capacity, but only on 60 Ah battery packs and only temporarily, is evidence that something that I don't understand is occurring with 60 Ah battery packs.

I read a lot of posts on here from people putting down the Rex-equipped i3 for a variety of reasons, but I love the two that I've had. My current one is a 2015 with almost 70,000 miles on it. I've had some battery degradation - I get a summertime range now of around 62 miles, and wintertime of about 48. But thanks to the Rex engine, I don't really care all that much. The real reason to have the Rex (in addition to being your get-out-of-jail-free card) is that it makes the car so much more useful, especially if you live in a rural area. The nearest large city to me is about 100 miles away, and my lovely wife and I take a trip there every 4-6 weeks. We typically take the i3. We turn on the gas engine for the highway miles, and drive on pure electricity for city miles. For us, it's a perfectly comfortable car for a trip of a few hours. When you get your car, if it hasn't already been coded for Hold State Of Charge, it's an easy process, and well worth the time and money to do it.

John Francis
Rolla, MO