Minor niggles

[Jeremy]

After three days and around 200 miles of ownership - general impressions are all good.

Performance, handling & ride are all up to expectations and general comfort & driving ergonomics fine.

I have a feeling though that the electronics & may not be 100% robust, the following glitches have cropped up:-

1. Programmed my 8 "favourite" buttons with "hold charge", radio channels and key phone numbers on Day 1. Sadly - by Day 2 they had all un-programmed themselves. After re-programming they seem stable now.

2. I've selected "auto parking assist" which is supposed too activate whenever a near object is detected at speeds under 5mph. In my car it doesn't. If I get into the car and start it - it's quite happy to let me drive forward straight into the wall without warning. if I shift into reverse however it activates and remains active even if I shift back into forward. I've also returned from a trip and swung into the garage only to notice it's not working. Basically - whenever you want to park or manoeuvre close to something you have to check the green LED on the button and press if it's not lit. I know that eventually the day will come when I pull into a parking space without checking and crunch something. Why on earth would you not want parking aids permanently active?

3. I haven't downloaded any music into the memory yet - because the car seemed happy to play tracks direct from my phone over Bluetooth. This has proved to be a bit hit & miss though. It lets me select three or four tracks from the menu - then freezes up and refuses to play any more. All attempts to select further tracks then fail - although it recognises and will replay any track it has already played. Bizarrely - if I then take the iPhone away from the car it will refuses to pay tracks other than those the car has played. After a few hours - the phone starts working normally again and I can return to the car and add a few more tracks. I can scroll through all the tracks on my phone with the steering wheel thumbwheel, but only the ones the car has already "experienced" will play - it just skips past the others. I am gradually adding to its repertoire, a few tracks at a time - but it's painfully time consuming.

Has anyone else experienced any of these glitches - or am I doing something stupid?

 

[Bunter]

After three days and around 200 miles of ownership - general impressions are all good.

Performance, handling & ride are all up to expectations and general comfort & driving ergonomics fine.

I have a feeling though that the electronics & may not be 100% robust, the following glitches have cropped up:-

1. Programmed my 8 "favourite" buttons with "hold charge", radio channels and key phone numbers on Day 1. Sadly - by Day 2 they had all un-programmed themselves. After re-programming they seem stable now.

2. I've selected "auto parking assist" which is supposed too activate whenever a near object is detected at speeds under 5mph. In my car it doesn't. If I get into the car and start it - it's quite happy to let me drive forward straight into the wall without warning. if I shift into reverse however it activates and remains active even if I shift back into forward. I've also returned from a trip and swung into the garage only to notice it's not working. Basically - whenever you want to park or manoeuvre close to something you have to check the green LED on the button and press if it's not lit. I know that eventually the day will come when I pull into a parking space without checking and crunch something. Why on earth would you not want parking aids permanently active?

3. I haven't downloaded any music into the memory yet - because the car seemed happy to play tracks direct from my phone over Bluetooth. This has proved to be a bit hit & miss though. It lets me select three or four tracks from the menu - then freezes up and refuses to play any more. All attempts to select further tracks then fail - although it recognises and will replay any track it has already played. Bizarrely - if I then take the iPhone away from the car it will refuses to pay tracks other than those the car has played. After a few hours - the phone starts working normally again and I can return to the car and add a few more tracks. I can scroll through all the tracks on my phone with the steering wheel thumbwheel, but only the ones the car has already "experienced" will play - it just skips past the others. I am gradually adding to its repertoire, a few tracks at a time - but it's painfully time consuming.

Has anyone else experienced any of these glitches - or am I doing something stupid?

Hi

1. The programmed buttons are connected to the key which was used at the time of programming (so I've been told), is there any chance you used different keys on the two days in question?

2. Odd mine switches on automatically.

3. Bluetooth connectivity to my phone was a bit hit and miss in that the phone occasionally gets into a mode where bluetooth will not stay on at all. I removed all paired bluetooth devices including the demo i3 and my i3 and then re-paired it and it has been fine since. Not sure about music not playing as I have an iPod permanently connected and am gradually filling the on board system with music from a USB stick too.

Bill

 

[SanSerif]

After three days and around 200 miles of ownership - general impressions are all good.

Performance, handling & ride are all up to expectations and general comfort & driving ergonomics fine.

I have a feeling though that the electronics & may not be 100% robust, the following glitches have cropped up:-

1. Programmed my 8 "favourite" buttons with "hold charge", radio channels and key phone numbers on Day 1. Sadly - by Day 2 they had all un-programmed themselves. After re-programming they seem stable now.

This one I can answer - as it had me using a lot of Anglo Saxon vocab until I fathomed it.

The programming is associated with whichever key unlocks the car. And, if it's a brand new car, you probably haven't got round to ID-ing fobs as Mr and Mrs (or whatever) - so you pick up random key fob and then wonder what the hell's happened to your careful set up.

 

[Jeremy]

Bunter

Are you sure your PDC switches on automatically in forward drive?

I complained to the dealer about having to select it in forward and he told me it's designed like that - to avoid distractions from near traffic & pedestrians.

Apparently it only comes on automatically in reverse - but will stay active in both F & R for a while to allow you to manoeuvre.

I also noticed that, if I park in reverse, when I start the car later to drive away in forward the PDC will be active - presumably as a hangover from the earlier reversing.

The test is, does it come on in forward after you've been driving at normal speeds?

Mine definitely doesn't.

 

[Bunter]

Bunter

Are you sure your PDC switches on automatically in forward drive?

I complained to the dealer about having to select it in forward and he told me it's designed like that - to avoid distractions from near traffic & pedestrians.

Apparently it only comes on automatically in reverse - but will stay active in both F & R for a while to allow you to manoeuvre.

I also noticed that, if I park in reverse, when I start the car later to drive away in forward the PDC will be active - presumably as a hangover from the earlier reversing.

The test is, does it come on in forward after you've been driving at normal speeds?

Mine definitely doesn't.

Hi Jeremy

Yes I am sure, when I drive into the garage forwards it activates when I get near the garage wall/doors. However the approach is not directly forward, I have to turn it in. I could video it if you like? If I meet traffic on my commute down country lanes it has activated either because of proximity to the approaching vehicle or because of proximity to the hedge I'm tucking the car next too.

Bill

 

[Jeremy]

Bunter

Sounds like yours works the way I wish mine did.

I know that, sooner or later (being of a certain age), I'll swing into a parking space and forget to check if my green LED is on.

I'll go back to the dealership and explain that not all i3s appear to be equal.

 

[Bunter]

Bunter

Sounds like yours works the way I wish mine did.

I know that, sooner or later (being of a certain age), I'll swing into a parking space and forget to check if my green LED is on.

I'll go back to the dealership and explain that not all i3s appear to be equal.

It sounds like yours might have had a problem or two from your other post. But in the mean time I've decided that the automatic parking sensor while in forward drive is actually triggered by proximity at the sides of the car not directly in front of the car. Either that or it works in conjunction with the steering wheel / low speeds to activate on the front as well. If I creep forward towards a car in forwards drive it does not activate, which does agree with the BMW explanation and would be annoying in traffic. But as soon as I get close to a side wall in the garage it activates.

Bill

 

[Gonville]

If it's any help the behaviour you describe is exactly the same as in my 5-series. There seems to be a lot of common switch gear and I guess software subsystems. The warning beepers at the front will only become active after reverse has been selected. I have active cruise control with auto start stop and it would be quite annoying to have that accompanied by beeping. Both seem to work pretty well except as you describe when trying to park without first having selected reverse at some point.

I have auto parallel park too and those side sensors come on only when I press a button. So maybe that is standard behaviour for i3.

I look forward to giving a full comparison in October

 

[jamesvdv]

Here are the problems I have seen so far with the Infotainment/PDC:

Occasionally, the rear parking camera does not come on when I put the car in reverse, though the rear sensors (not sure about the front) do seem to work.

Occasionally, when playing media from the phone (HTC One) over BT and after a Traffic Announcement is finished/cancelled the Infotainment System can drop the BT AVRCP profile but still holds onto the BT A2DP profile. This means that I can hear the BT music resume but can no longer seek up/down tracks or see the track name/artist.

Occasionally, BT music does not resume playing in a new drive cycle following "ignition off" with BT music playing in the previous drive cycle. When this happens BT music can start playing again on "ignition off" if I haven't touched/changed the audio settings. This suggests that the BT play/pause toggle state on the Infotainment System is occasionally getting out of sync with the phone state.

Occasionally, when playing from a USB flash drive the last play position from the previous drive cycle is not resumed and playback starts from the first playable item in the file system, which unfortunately in my case is a Christmas Carol :-(