mindmachine
Well-known member
Hi All,
I took delivery of my i3 Rex, Solar Orange with all options except the 20 inch wheels. I ordered the car on April 7 2014 taking a production slot already allocated to my dealer, the original production date was supposed to be week 24 but that was delayed to week 27. Production started on July 8th and production finished on July 28th, I know longer then average times being reported on this forum. It then took about a week to arrive at the port in Germany and finally shipped on Aug 8th. The Don Juan then arrived in New Jersey on Aug 21st and the car stayed at the VPC until August 29th or 30th. Then it arrived at my dealer Kelly BMW in Columbus OH on Sept 2nd and delivered 9/4/14. So almost 5 months short of 3 days.
First let me say that Kelly BMW did a real nice job with handling the whole process, they did not know all the answers along the way but they did a great job finding out instead of feeding me any BS. The I genius there is a gem and my CA is too. It was one of the best car buying experiences in my life and being in my late 60's I have had many luxury brand cars. What especially impressed me is the way Kelly handled the $1000 i3 drive event discount. BMW NA customer service keep telling me I did not qualify because I ordered the car before the drive event. In the end Kelly took care of me plus some extra for good will out of their pocket.
Now the delivery and drive home:
Well need I say the car is just awesome and I love it way more then I anticipated. Kelly had 4 more i3's which were Mega's and Giga's, in silver, blue/silver and white. I guess many like the silver and white but for me the Orange just stands out, screams at you that I am a different/new kind of car. There is a lot to go over when you get one of these so allow plenty of time for the process, it took over 3 hours, but it is worth it to find out how everything works. I knew a lot because of this great forum and that made it all easier to digest in one sitting.
The drive home was in heavy rush hour traffic, and that made me appreciate even more what this car is designed to do. I live 40 miles from the dealership and I drove all the way in comfort mode. It was 90 deg F in the shade and I don't enjoy sweating. I briefly switched to eco pro to see how it would change the range prediction and how it reduced the AC output, but back to comfort as it was the order of the day given the temp. We pre conditioned the car while at the dealer prior to departure, the car had 15 miles on it at delivery but the battery was full when I left. The predicted range as I left was 88 miles EV. During the drive I was traveling mostly at 56 MPH, I was only on the freeway for about 8 miles and the rest was state routes. I arrived home with 40 miles showing for the trip and 47 miles remaining. Again it was hot, so How much the AC reduced the range I am not sure, but I am sure the per conditioning helped me to realize a battery capacity of 88 miles. Recharging this morning the range predicted is 91 miles now.
In summary this car is truly a joy to drive, and to me beautiful to look at even though some call it funky looking.
I took delivery of my i3 Rex, Solar Orange with all options except the 20 inch wheels. I ordered the car on April 7 2014 taking a production slot already allocated to my dealer, the original production date was supposed to be week 24 but that was delayed to week 27. Production started on July 8th and production finished on July 28th, I know longer then average times being reported on this forum. It then took about a week to arrive at the port in Germany and finally shipped on Aug 8th. The Don Juan then arrived in New Jersey on Aug 21st and the car stayed at the VPC until August 29th or 30th. Then it arrived at my dealer Kelly BMW in Columbus OH on Sept 2nd and delivered 9/4/14. So almost 5 months short of 3 days.
First let me say that Kelly BMW did a real nice job with handling the whole process, they did not know all the answers along the way but they did a great job finding out instead of feeding me any BS. The I genius there is a gem and my CA is too. It was one of the best car buying experiences in my life and being in my late 60's I have had many luxury brand cars. What especially impressed me is the way Kelly handled the $1000 i3 drive event discount. BMW NA customer service keep telling me I did not qualify because I ordered the car before the drive event. In the end Kelly took care of me plus some extra for good will out of their pocket.
Now the delivery and drive home:
Well need I say the car is just awesome and I love it way more then I anticipated. Kelly had 4 more i3's which were Mega's and Giga's, in silver, blue/silver and white. I guess many like the silver and white but for me the Orange just stands out, screams at you that I am a different/new kind of car. There is a lot to go over when you get one of these so allow plenty of time for the process, it took over 3 hours, but it is worth it to find out how everything works. I knew a lot because of this great forum and that made it all easier to digest in one sitting.
The drive home was in heavy rush hour traffic, and that made me appreciate even more what this car is designed to do. I live 40 miles from the dealership and I drove all the way in comfort mode. It was 90 deg F in the shade and I don't enjoy sweating. I briefly switched to eco pro to see how it would change the range prediction and how it reduced the AC output, but back to comfort as it was the order of the day given the temp. We pre conditioned the car while at the dealer prior to departure, the car had 15 miles on it at delivery but the battery was full when I left. The predicted range as I left was 88 miles EV. During the drive I was traveling mostly at 56 MPH, I was only on the freeway for about 8 miles and the rest was state routes. I arrived home with 40 miles showing for the trip and 47 miles remaining. Again it was hot, so How much the AC reduced the range I am not sure, but I am sure the per conditioning helped me to realize a battery capacity of 88 miles. Recharging this morning the range predicted is 91 miles now.
In summary this car is truly a joy to drive, and to me beautiful to look at even though some call it funky looking.
