Used 2019 i3 buying advice

BMW i3 Forum

Help Support BMW i3 Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jwarder

New member
Joined
Jun 25, 2022
Messages
3
Hi,

Hoping for some advice on purchasing an i3. I’ve viewed a 2019 120AH i3 with 15k miles on the clock. However when I looked at max kapa in the hidden menu it’s at 32.4 KWh which seems quite low for the age and mileage of the car.

I’ve viewed a couple of other similar year and mileage cars and they are all over 38+ KWh

Should I be concerned?

Thanks for your help.
Jack
 
Concerned, for sure, and I'd be surprised it was significantly in error. But it's worth it to have the current owner run it down and recharge it just to be sure.
 
jwarder said:
I’ve viewed a 2019 120AH i3 with 15k miles on the clock. However when I looked at max kapa in the hidden menu it’s at 32.4 KWh which seems quite low for the age and mileage of the car.
I can't recall reading of any other 120 Ah battery pack having such a low Batt. Kapa. max. However, Batt. Kapa. max is just a calculated estimate, so something could have caused it to be that low without the battery pack actually having such a low usable capacity. eNate's suggestion of asking the seller to discharge the battery pack as far as he is comfortable doing (the lower, the better) followed by a full charge would be worth trying.
 
That's approximately 5% degradation on a car that's 3-4 years old. Is say that falls in the normal/acceptable range.

However, 15,000 miles isn't too high. When I bought my 2017 with 22,000 miles on the odometer it was showing 28 kWh, about the max value, and was about that when I sold it 2 years later with 50k.

My '21 is a year old and 10,000 miles and still shows 38.1, which is in the "like new" range.

Maybe this car has a fast charger history. Maybe it just needs a discharge/recharge cycle (FWIW mine lives in the 50 - 80% SOC range and yet still manages to show 38.1, I ought to follow my own advice and cycle it to see if there's a difference.)
 
Thanks for the quick reply, yes it did seem low compared to similar age and mileage which concerned me even if it’s only 5%
 
Back
Top