What should be the next "i", the i5 or the i6?

[Eperigny]

Now that you drive the i3, you probably think of the next move BMW should make with the "i" brand to start working on the next car you will buy in 3 years from now. Like me, you probably don't want to go back to ICE age.

We know Tesla is working on the Model 3 so what are your wishes for the next "i"

As for myself, I wish for a 100% electric sports coupe, an i6 that would have a 200 miles range OR I could accommodate with an i5 (sports sedan) that would have Xdrive (4 wheel drive). I would be ok with a M3-like priced car as long as it would be a hi-tech/hi-performance package with a reasonable 100% electric range.

What would you want the next "i" to be?

 

[WoodlandHills]

An i3 sedan to go along with the current coupe, one with 4 real doors. An i3 city car on a short platform with no rear seats. Then an i5 family car on a larger platform that didn't look anything like the i3, something more mainstream appearing that would appeal to a broader market.

 

[elptex]

We like the general size of the i3 though having switched from a VW Passat it is considerably smaller. We are very happy with the size of the i3 though have already decided that in 3 years time we will definitely spend the necessary money for a larger, 4-door EV.

 

[ted99]

I'm really happy with the i3 as an all-electric city car--it's what I use it for. In 3 years, I would like an intercity car based on an enlarged i3 platform and the i8 drivetrain with styling that has elements of the i8, but with the seating height of the i3. If I wanted an all-electric intercity car, I'd buy a Tesla; but I don't. I like the i8 drivetrain because it gives a lot of performance, but is really a plug-in, with all the flexibility that provides. Think of it--an extended i3 platform with more batteries because of the extra length. The gas engine in the rear and electric front wheel drive. A swoopy 4-door body with i8 design cues and a hatchback covering the motor area with a platform above for a secondary storage area (sort of like the Corvette). A longer front with the "Frunk" as the main storage area. The same carbon-fiber passenger cell with 4 doors. Rear doors like the i3 "suicide" rear "hatches", but full size and openable without opening the front doors. Pillarless would be a big plus and just as sexy as Tesla's gull wing doors--my double door refrigerator can open either the left or right door independently without a center pillar.

 

[DeafSoundGuy]

Now that you drive the i3, you probably think of the next move BMW should make with the "i" brand to start working on the next car you will buy in 3 years from now. Like me, you probably don't want to go back to ICE age.

Yep, exactly right for me. My feeling that the i3 will be offered in a (slightly) long wheelbase model, just like the Jags introduced the "L" model on the XJ series as long wheel base models and forced the L models on anything with the Vanden Plas badge (except for '95 I think) which made that car look super cool at the passenger door. Who knows what that would do for the i3, but me personally, I bought the i3 aside from cool, efficient and fun to drive on the fact that it was a hatchback so it made it super practical for me as I do so many errands, and have 2 small dogs.

I'm betting the i5 will go sleek lines to get back all the BMW hardcores that hated the i3 lines from the beginning.

That being said, I'm thinking that to win over a huge fan of the i3 to a different model, it will have to have at least 50% more electric range, or go all wheel drive, something to that effect. If it has any LESS torque though, after becoming use to it in the i3, I wouldn't want it. I like stop light Grand-Prix (when no one sees me do it :roll: )

Or wings :idea: !

 

[nowtta60]

An i5 Touring would be the one for me. With 300+hp dual motor AWD and higher power REX. That could become my only car. Obviously with the option of the 600hp quad motor version for the i5M.

I'm assuming for the i6 you'd expect something similar the the 5 based coupe.

Although I'd love pure EV, I think carrying around 80+ kWh of battereis for about a dozen trips a year is silly. 30kWh does 90% of my driving needs as long as I can get a charge where I work. Maybe the CCS infrastructure will be better and faster in 2017, i.e more than 50kW.

Plan B would be a battery swap available at BMW service centres. Borrow a 80kWh battery for your holidays/long trips. But then renting one in July August would probably be an issue. If it meant you can pull into any BMW i Centre on your trip and swap for a freshly charged battery or use a free 100kW charger... could be a game changer. Once you get home swap back to your original pack.

If battery swap was available I think I'd bin off the idea of a REX and settle on a 50kWh pack + swapping. As long as it does 150 real world miles on a charge. Should be easily do able as that's 0.33mile/kWh.

 

[ultraturtle]

Same battery pack, same electric motor, same REx. Stretch it a foot, give it a tiny bit more rear seating room, a 6 gallon gas tank and a trailer hitch receiver. The i3 is nearly perfect as is - no point messing too much with it.

If stretching it makes room for another 2 battery modules, and hence 25% more kWh, I won't complain loudly, but no more - please! The i3's most appealing feature to me is its efficiency.

 

[Muhv]

iX5 with 100kWh pack - as my e70 X5 just died today (cancer in electrical systems and in gearbox)