Spec Decisions...

[ohmygosh]

Hi all,

I've just joined this forum as about to order an i3 and would really welcome some advice on spec. I live in the UK and the i3 will be a second car to do short town journeys to commute a couple of miles to the train station each morning (hence going BEV). I'm taking the car as a company car as the tax efficiency makes it as cheap to have as a Fiesta! Aside from while I'm a huge BMW fan and our last 5 cars have all been BMW's.

The challenge is which spec to order. I love the gadgets usually and our main car is an X3 with all the boxes ticked but I somehow feel thats not necessary here. I'll definately be adding pro media and sun protection glass (for the kids). I like the loft interior so will be going for that with the 429 wheels as the ride in the 20's seemed too bumpy. There's a few bits that I would ordinarily opt for but I'm on the fence. Any advice or opinions from others having the same dilemma or from owners would be very gratefully recieved:

1. Is the park assist pack worth it? Frustrating that you can't just opt for front sensors but given the car is so small, is this really useful or unecessary? Does the self parking work well / quick enough? We have surround view on the X3 but it's a much bigger car.

2. Same question with the sunroof? Seems to be split in to two so the light benefits may not be that great?

3. Should I get the LED light? We've always had Xenons on the other cars so not sure if the standard lights will be poor?

4. DC charging prep. While we only plan to do short journeys, we have to keep the car for 3 years and so things may change and I beleive this isn't an option that can be retro fitted. Anyone else in the UK have experience of this?

5. I wasn't planning on getting a home charging point installed, but are there any reasons (other than speed of charge) why it's bette to go for one ranther than just using the standard charger?

There so few on the road still that not fully decided on colour but leaning towards white.

Any views would be wonderful.

Many thanks!

 

[MikeS]

Firstly, it depends on if you are buying or leasing - I leased as I considered that depreciation cost and lease cost were about equal so I did not need to risk buying something that could depreciate significantly if for example battery tech improved significantly or oil became even cheaper!

Specifications are a very personal choice but in my opinion:

I have park assist because I wanted the rest of the package. I have never used it and don’t expect to use it. I can probably park quicker than that car does as I get a lot of practice in Brighton.

Not got the sun roof or the LEDC lights. We have an X3 with Xenons and I find the standard lights on the i3 to be fine.

Ive not got DC prep as I have a REX on lease. If you buy the car or have a BEV I think the DC pipe would be essential.

Home Charge point - definitely, quicker and if you need the car for an unplanned journey you can top up. Moreover, preconditioning is well worth doing and I’m not sure how efficient that would be on a standard plug. More importantly, a home charger can be free to fit, so why not get one?

 

[pastyboy]

Hi all,

I've just joined this forum as about to order an i3 and would really welcome some advice on spec. I live in the UK and the i3 will be a second car to do short town journeys to commute a couple of miles to the train station each morning (hence going BEV). I'm taking the car as a company car as the tax efficiency makes it as cheap to have as a Fiesta! Aside from while I'm a huge BMW fan and our last 5 cars have all been BMW's.

The challenge is which spec to order. I love the gadgets usually and our main car is an X3 with all the boxes ticked but I somehow feel thats not necessary here. I'll definately be adding pro media and sun protection glass (for the kids). I like the loft interior so will be going for that with the 429 wheels as the ride in the 20's seemed too bumpy. There's a few bits that I would ordinarily opt for but I'm on the fence. Any advice or opinions from others having the same dilemma or from owners would be very gratefully recieved:

1. Is the park assist pack worth it? Frustrating that you can't just opt for front sensors but given the car is so small, is this really useful or unecessary? Does the self parking work well / quick enough? We have surround view on the X3 but it's a much bigger car. We got the park assist because my wife wanted the front sensors and liked the rear camera. Personally I wouldn't bother, as I only use it as a party piece. For me it doesn't park close enough to the kerb and takes too long to park, and I reckon I can fit into smaller spaces than it can. It is just a cynical ploy by BMW to make you buy it to get the front sensors. The front is so short that you soon get used to where it is and the lock is so good that you can park in some really tight spots.

2. Same question with the sunroof? Seems to be split in to two so the light benefits may not be that great? We got the sunroof because I felt that if we were sitting in a car park on a hot sunny day waiting for the car to charge or stuck in a queue on a motorway we can get some ventilation. It is quite good up to about 40 but then creates a lot of drag. It is a little noisy as well, even at lower speeds but turning up the HK sorts that out!

3. Should I get the LED light? We've always had Xenons on the other cars so not sure if the standard lights will be poor? I have Xenons on my 330Ci and the standard lights are no match. That said, they are not terrible and the LED's on the demonstrator I borrowed did not seem worth the extra, especially if you are doing mainly short journeys.

4. DC charging prep. While we only plan to do short journeys, we have to keep the car for 3 years and so things may change and I beleive this isn't an option that can be retro fitted. Anyone else in the UK have experience of this? If you are only going less than a radius of about 30 miles it is not necessary, but for further trips, and for future proofing/resale it may be a good idea. We have the REX but still use Ecotricity on longer runs (when they are working)

5. I wasn't planning on getting a home charging point installed, but are there any reasons (other than speed of charge) why it's bette to go for one ranther than just using the standard charger? The main advantage is speed - it can take about 12 hours to charge from scratch on a three pin plug I believe. Maybe that won't bother you, but what if you have a sudden use for the car and it is not charged? Also, I am not sure if you can pre-condition the battery from a wall socket - certainly that seems to be the case in the States but I am not sure if our system allows it in the UK.

There so few on the road still that not fully decided on colour but leaning towards white. Your preference I guess. We started with the browny silver, changed to the blue silver and ended up with metallic grey (sorry can't remember the names). White shows the dirt quicker than grey though.

Any views would be wonderful.

Many thanks!

 

[ohmygosh]

Thanks for the reply MikeS. Small world as we live in Brighton too, and our X3 has Xenons, hence the questions.

Think your other points make good sense too.

I'm taking the car through our company car scheme provided by Leasedrive, the cost of the extras work out at roughly £10 per month, per £1,000 of extras. So in reality it's very cheap anyway and partly tempted just to add all of it. But as a second car that will get more limited use, I didn't want to be wasteful.

 

[ohmygosh]

Thanks pastyboy, really useful input.

 

[DJCeeJay]

Hi all,

I've just joined this forum as about to order an i3 and would really welcome some advice on spec. I live in the UK and the i3 will be a second car to do short town journeys to commute a couple of miles to the train station each morning (hence going BEV). I'm taking the car as a company car as the tax efficiency makes it as cheap to have as a Fiesta! Aside from while I'm a huge BMW fan and our last 5 cars have all been BMW's.

The challenge is which spec to order. I love the gadgets usually and our main car is an X3 with all the boxes ticked but I somehow feel thats not necessary here. I'll definately be adding pro media and sun protection glass (for the kids). I like the loft interior so will be going for that with the 429 wheels as the ride in the 20's seemed too bumpy. There's a few bits that I would ordinarily opt for but I'm on the fence. Any advice or opinions from others having the same dilemma or from owners would be very gratefully recieved:

1. Is the park assist pack worth it? Frustrating that you can't just opt for front sensors but given the car is so small, is this really useful or unecessary? Does the self parking work well / quick enough? We have surround view on the X3 but it's a much bigger car.

2. Same question with the sunroof? Seems to be split in to two so the light benefits may not be that great?

3. Should I get the LED light? We've always had Xenons on the other cars so not sure if the standard lights will be poor?

4. DC charging prep. While we only plan to do short journeys, we have to keep the car for 3 years and so things may change and I beleive this isn't an option that can be retro fitted. Anyone else in the UK have experience of this?

5. I wasn't planning on getting a home charging point installed, but are there any reasons (other than speed of charge) why it's bette to go for one ranther than just using the standard charger?

There so few on the road still that not fully decided on colour but leaning towards white.

Any views would be wonderful.

Many thanks!

I was in a similar situation as you in December, when I placed my order for a i3 BEV through a company car/ salary sacrifice lease scheme. Here are my choices and experiences:

1. Park Assist: I went for it simply because there was no other way to get front sensors, and a (very nice) rear camera. Reading the potentially high charges to remedy damage on the lease car on return, I thought it was worth a little extra each month. I tried the Park Assist function when I had a demo for a week, and thought it was flaky at best.

2. Sun Roof: I did not order it. It was in the car I drove at the initial test drive at Coopers BMW Tunbridge Wells, and I felt the car was already so light and airy with lots of glass, and the sun roof is in fact two small panels (not on large roof), that I decided it was not worth the extra.

3. LED Lights: I stuck with standard lights. I tried them on the demo car, and they were nice and bright but standard lights are fine I felt.

4. DC Charging: I am not sure if/ when I will need it, as I will also keep to about 30 miles radius from home, but I specced it to future proof the car, in case I want to go for a top up on the Ecotricity motorway network. I still seems unreliable from the reports on the forum, but I will try it for myself.

5. Home Charger: I would definetyl get a home charger installed. If you are quick, there is still an OLEV government grant until end of March 2015, which means it is free. Whilst using the standard plug and provided cable worked fine when I had the demonstrator by threading the cable under the garage door, it was a hassle to open/ close the door every time. By the way, preconditioning definietyl works on a standard plug - no need for a fast charger.

The only other option I went for is Harman Kardon. You might want to listen to standard vs HK system, if you listen to a lot of music. I think there is a huge difference, and certainly you get a sophisticated tailored system for the money.

http://www.harmankardon.com/estore/hk/us/about/content3.jsp?id=bmw-i3-us

 

[FrancisJeffries]

I wish I'd got ACC.
We have the park assist, and, after a bit of practice we find it excellent. My wife loves it. :lol:
But the park assist instructions leave a lot to be desired, and I've written a "How to" guide if anyone's interested.

 

[ohmygosh]

Thanks DJCeeJay, your insight is very helpful indeed and very balanced.

Sounds like I'm sourcing my car in the same way as yours through salary sacrifice. So far the feedback is leaning me towards leaving the sunroof and parking pack but including DC and strongly considering HK now.

I always used to spec it on my previous BMW's and have found in recent years the standard system is significantly better. I had a 640d coupe in which the sounds were superb and the X3 we have is not bad.

May have to pop in to the dealership and have a listen.

 

[DJCeeJay]

I wish I'd got ACC.
We have the park assist, and, after a bit of practice we find it excellent. My wife loves it. :lol:
But the park assist instructions leave a lot to be desired, and I've written a "How to" guide if anyone's interested.

I forget to mention that I would recommend to try out Driving Assist Plus. I specced it in the end, as it is handy in stop/ go situation (close to self drive vehicle), and also has added safety features like emergency braking, and pedestrian recognition. I thought the latter might be handy as the car is so quiet, and I had people close to stepping into the street in front of me.

 

[DJCeeJay]

I wish I'd got ACC.
We have the park assist, and, after a bit of practice we find it excellent. My wife loves it. :lol:
But the park assist instructions leave a lot to be desired, and I've written a "How to" guide if anyone's interested.

I would like see how to instructions - I am sure many other users would be interested. When I tried it, it recognised impossible/ wrong gaps, and/ or stopped the parking for some reason. It is also very slow for standard gaps. If you have top tips, that might be helpful - if anything to know when/ when not to use it !

 

[janner]

DC Charging - essential for resale or if you want to travel on electric for any distance

Park assist and sunroof - for me, not worth it.

Metallic paint - only for resale value

BMW Professional satnav - yes, a good option

Driving assist plus - important safety feature and makes UK motorway driving enjoyable again.

 

[PluviaPlumbum]

Although you say you are going to use the i3 for shorter local runs, considering how much fun the car is to drive you may find yourself gravitating towards the i3 rather than the X3 after a short while.

Optional extras are a very personal thing, but I went for DC prep to make use of the developing network in the future, Metallic only because I like silver cars and dislike washing them, sunroof as I have opted for the darker /practical Standard Atelier interior and the Professional Nav because it just looks so much better and has greater functionality. Park assist I felt was a useful extra as the rear 3/4 visibility is not that great and the front of the car is not visible either; self parking as part of the package was less important to me but 'er indoors will like it.

The only buyers remorse I am having is not specifying the HK audio, the standard setup is ok but audiophiles would probably be able to justify the extra cost.
The ACC option was not available in the trim level I chose but as I don't really commute at peak times I felt that was an OTT choice, Likewise the LED lights would have been nice but not really necessary - plus I was concerned if the cost of a future failed unit would be V expensive.

Definitely get a Level 2 charger a no brainer as its either free or £99 or £199 for a 30amp version.

Have fun choosing PP !

 

[cove3]

Is a sunroof an option in Europe, as it isn't in the US? How much is it? I thought a sunroof added considerable weight as the roof had to be reinforced for safety reasons.

Ron

 

[easports82]

Is a sunroof an option in Europe, as it isn't in the US? How much is it? I thought a sunroof added considerable weight as the roof had to be reinforced for safety reasons.

Ron

Besides the DC Quick charge, that's probably the only feature missing from my i3. First car I've had in 15 years which doesn't have a moonroof.

 

[PluviaPlumbum]

Is a sunroof an option in Europe, as it isn't in the US? How much is it? I thought a sunroof added considerable weight as the roof had to be reinforced for safety reasons.

Ron

The sunroof is available in Europe for £780 GBP so @ $1000, The reason It isn't offered stateside is the regulatory requirement of a steel reinforcement frame for which the i3 was never engineered, I'm not sure what weight is added by the sunroof Glass/motors etc I have seen someone quote 280lbs which seems a lot and that figure may well be spurious.

Obviously a sunroof is essential equipment here in the UK on account of the fantastic weather compared to California :lol: