I’m not supposed to really be writing this, because I’m on my honeymoon. But my wife stepped out for some morning yoga, so here, let me bang out a quick blog about the sale of my 2014 BMW i3.
I know, I know: When I bought my 1989 Chevy K2500, a few folks said something to the effect: “David, that’s a cool truck, but weren’t you supposed to be reducing your fleet of cars?”
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It’s true. I am a sucker for a deal, and sometimes that gets the best of me. But let the record state that there will be a net reduction of automobiles from my fleet! For one, I’m selling my 1954 Willys CJ-3B, and two, I’ve already offset that K1500 with the sale of my 2014 BMW i3.
Given that my wife is about to come back from yoga, my tribute to this i3 is going to have to be short.
It all began in the spring of 2023; I had just moved to LA, and I was looking to buy my first electric car, since I figured it’d be good to have experience driving an EV as editor-in-chief of a car website. The issue was that pretty much all relatively-affordable EVs bored me to tears. That’s when The Autopian’s very own Thomas Hundal suggested an EV from one of his favorite brands, BMW — the BMW i3. Thomas knew I was an engineer, so he understood that a super-advanced carbon fiber machine with suicide doors and a gasoline scooter engine as a ranger extender might tickle my fancy.
He was very right. I rented a 2014 BMW i3 on Turo, and a week later I was sitting in a San Diego Hotel room ready to purchase the cheapest one in the country (from a BMW dealer). It was $10,500 for a 135,000 mile i3, which — now, just under two years later — seems like a ripoff. But then, it was a decent deal.
I ended up pulling the trigger on that car despite the fact that its battery was toast — I was supposed to be getting 70 miles of all-electric range, but the car’s dash indicated only 48.
Luckily, I had done my research and found that there is a little “loophole” in the i3’s warranty: If you buy a range-extended model (and not the fully-electric one), the state of California considers it a Partial Zero Emissions vehicle, and as such, it must be covered by that PZEV warranty that was really drawn up for hybrids like the Toyota Prius — cars that are mostly driven by gasoline, but that have a small battery to assist. The BMW i3, being the only vehicle with a true range extender, is an electric car first with a gasoline backup, but it still gets covered by this warranty. This means the relatively large 22 kWh battery is covered for 10 years, 150,000 miles, and the motor and all the power electronics are covered for 15 years, 150,000 miles.
It took only a few weeks for me to get my i3 back from the dealership, who had replaced the $20,000+ battery for free, making my $10,500 car an amazing deal. Here’s a first look at my car once it arrived:
And here’s a range test (I love the intro of this video):
I drove my i3 for about 18 months, and I loved every minute of it. It truly is the perfect LA car; it’s got just enough range (if you can charge at home like I can), it’s got more space inside than you’d think, it has enough ground clearance to handle LA’s sometimes-uneven roads, it’s quiet, it fits into tiny parking spaces, it’s insanely nimble and quick, visibility is good — I love everything about it. In fact, I loved my 2014 i3 so much it made me want to buy a later-model i3 — one that I could keep forever.
That’s not to say I couldn’t keep my 2014 i3 forever, but my old battery lasted me 10 years, and I don’t want to fall in love with a car and have to let it go in a decade. So I started looking at 2019 and later i3s — the ones with the biggest battery packs (i3s came with 22 kWh, 33 kWh, and 42.2 kWh packs). I nearly bought this gorgeous white one:
Ultimately, I decided $22,000 plus tax and shipping and interest was too much to pay. So I kept looking, and spotted the true holy grail: a 2021 model in the final-model-year-only paint color Galvanic Gold. Not only that, but the car had the beloved Giga World interior that my 2014 had, it had the good sound system, and it was an i3S (sport model) just like the white car above. When was I going to ever find a gold i3S REX (that means “with range extender) with the Giga World Package and the good sound system? BMW only made 1,500 i3s in total in 2021!
So I pulled the trigger, and when the car arrived, I both loved it and struggled with the fact that I’d spent so much money on a car. I put the car up for sale three or four times; I had a buyer who was ready to send me a check. I ended up backing out of the deal and making it up to him by finding — and I’m not entirely sure how I did this given how rare this car is — the exact same car for sale in his hometown at the exact same price (I think this may have been a sign). Was spending $30 grand on a car responsible? I had just gotten engaged; shouldn’t I be looking out for my future family? This bothered me to the point where I stopped driving the i3 because I didn’t want to damage it in case I sold it.
My fiancee reminded me: “David, you bought the car for a reason.” And she was right: It was the ultimate version of my favorite commuter car ever, and it made me feel like a million bucks every time I drove it. Finding another in the future was just not going to happen. And so I kept contemplating selling the car, and then, after a few months, I got comfortable with the fact that I’d spent that much money on a car, and the anxiety left.
Now I’m beyond glad I didn’t part ways with my beloved Galvanic Gold machine. Every time I drove the thing, I beam with pride. Being able to daily-driver a car that you love is a blessing. And though I’ll likely never buy another car in the five-figure range again, I’ve been able to justify my gold i3 by knowing that this isn’t just a recreational vehicle that I’ll drive every now and again. This is a vehicle I can drive every single day, and given that it’s got 11 years and 125,000 miles left on a pretty all-encompassing warranty, I can do so without any real concerns.
With my Gold i3 now my daily driver, the gray i3 now needed to find a new home.
The issue is that I couldn’t quite find a buyer. See, my i3 wasn’t like any other 2014 i3; not only had I gotten a brand new battery, but I later stopped by the dealership and asked if my compressor was going (AC compressors on i3s can fail in a way known as the “Black Death”). The dealer said that, indeed, my AC compressor was on its way out, so mine was replaced under warranty.
The issue is that the average buyer didn’t really appreciate the value of a new battery/AC compressor. It’s not the same as having an engine replaced on a car whose engine should last 300,000 miles. No, i3 batteries all degrade, and AC compressors are like ticking time bombs. Finding a car with a new battery and new compressor is almost like finding a new car if you consider the price of those replacements relative to the value of the vehicle.
Anyway, I wrote the article above about why it was so hard to find a buyer for my 2014 Carbon Fiber Wonder from Leipzig, and in time, I received a few emails from mostly car-nerds who were amped about finding an i3 whose battery and compressor they didn’t have to worry about. One gentleman from New Hampshire wanted the i3 to act as his second car (his first one being — and I’m not joking here — a freakin’ Pinzgauer!). I could not tell him no; the idea that my i3 will get to share a garage with a Pinzgauer is just awesome.
We agreed on a fair price ($11,300), and now my beloved 2014 i3 is gone. It was a truly inspirational machine, and I’ll never forget it.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to recognize “I smile every time I use it” as the ultimate feature. Every single time I’ve made a decision for the “better choice” or “better fit” or whatever over the thing that makes me smile, I’ve regretted it; every time I’ve gone the other way, I’ve smiled. Life’s too short and I’m not a spreadsheet.
David, glad you’ve got a car that makes you smile – you of all people ought to be driving one that does.
Thank you; that’s so kind of you to say!
Hey David, one thing you said you’re not buying a five figure car again, but don’t you have a deposit on the new scout? Or are you planning on making that six figure car?!
I’m gonna either convince my wife to buy it, or I’ll wait 15 years to buy it.
I’m guessing the 15 years is the length of time you’re liable for alimony per the prenup if your first suggestion isn’t received well.
Congratulations on the sale!
Best wishes, and I hope you both are enjoying your honeymoon!
What kind of pricing have you seen on the listings for Pinzgauers we all know you’ve been checking out?
Congratulation on selling a car (and getting married), but bruh do not skip yoga. You are getting older, and yoga now will mean fewer back problems and physical therapy in the future.
I’m curious what the wallet damage is expected to be on a new AC compressor? I daily* a 2018 i3s with 200K km on the odometer… Should I be preemptively replacing it?
To be honest, I don’t know. You might be able to catch it early if you pay attention to your compressor sound.
I thought about buying your i3. We even messaged about it.
Ultimately I found a similar 2016 with a lot less miles for $8500. After 30% off from the feds and $4k back from PGE, I spent $2k plus tax.
Do I sometimes regret that I only have 55 miles of range rather than 75? Sure. But if it gets much worse or the AC compressor has issues I still have that warranty to fall back on.
Yeah, I’ve discouraged anyone who 1. Qualifies for the tax credit or 2. Lives in a CARB state from buying my i3.
But for everyone else, it’s the cheapest i3 with a guaranteed-good battery/compressor, and that’s a big deal.
Always sad to sell a car you love. Selling my ’93 325is was that for me; I knew it made sense to do it (the car was always in the shop, and costing me a fortune), but it wasn’t what I *wanted* to do. Still haven’t liked a car as much as that one and it’s been years now since I sold it.
I’m disappointed David. Galpin has an incredible amount of paved parking. There’s no excuse for you to not to continue to accumulate. The posturing of reducing your fleet is ridiculous. I’ve been meaning to mention that you should ask Beau about Jeff Levy, he took the fall for the odometer stuff.
Proud of you. I know this one was hard to let go.
This.
It’ll be interesting to see what the market really is for cars like the i3 and some of the “cheap” EVs as they go down in price.
Fact is they don’t work for many people. If this was a well sorted Corolla for $11k, DT would have sold it in no time. But a BMW electric car with very limited range….who is the market besides a guy who owns an Austrian military vehicle and probably specifically doesn’t want a simple Corolla as his “around town” car. EV enthusiasts probably want something new or with more EV range, most “BMW enthusiasts” probably don’t want it when you can lease an i4 for $399/month.
The market for this is someone who lives in a house and only twice a year ever goes anywhere besides “around town” – or someone who wants to see if they like the EV experience, but otherwise has an ICE or PHEV as their main car, and the cost of the spare EV is what they consider play money.
Definitely condo / apartment buildings, too. EV charging is table-stakes in all but the most run-down low-rent buildings here. It’s an absolutely expected feature.
That’s not true yet in my county.
“Being able to daily-driver a car that you love is a blessing”.
yes, the purpose of life is to be happy.
everything else is noise/BS.
Completely agree with this. Reason why I just bought a Miata for non-snowy days daily driver. Never have owned a practical DD but my FJ cruiser or 92 Cummins are not the best to be daily driving all the time though the FJ is fun in the snow and the Cummins is fun because it is RWD 5 speed but the FJ gets abysmal gas mileage and on dry days it is like driving a tank and the truck while it gets decent mpg 20-22 most of the time it doesn’t have working AC and it can be a bit rough of a ride and loud on the road. Like I could have a Prius or Camry hybrid or something for a daily but I just would be bored out of my mind on my commute of 92 miles everyday.
I’ve never understood the daily driver must be boring and reliable concept.
My theory is that you drive the fun wildly impractical car by default, and have a beater pickup with an excellent heater to drive to the auto parts store, tow the daily driver, leave in long term parking lots, and drive in hurricanes or minor volcanic eruptions.
Also, you save on insurance by having collectors coverage on one car and bare liability on the beater.
The problem with this theory (which I have recent, painful, experience with) is when the beater pickup dies and suddenly you’re stranded somewhere and have no way to tow it home. In that scenario the pickup needs to be your boring, reliable vehicle, not another unreliable heap.
Oh for sure I am hoping my FJ last a long time as the off road and winter beater had CEL this morning that I need to check when home hopefully just due to the cold.
Oh but a beater pickup is so easy to make reliable. This assumes of course that it is a fleet/farmer spec truck to start with. Of course most pickups made in this century don’t qualify.
Straight six, carb, manual trans, no power steering Ford, or a Toyota Hilux for example.
I believe in Wife’s car = Boring and Reliable Car in The Family. Was not able yet to convince her that we need a third car.
Easy, third car = backup car.
> the daily driver must be boring and reliable concept
Because my family’s health and my house’s decrepitude are stressful and unreliable enough that I need something to depend on 100% of the time.
DT, if you are in the south west part of the island near Eleele or Port Allen (that’s where a lot of the sunset boats leave from) there is a glass beach and a car graveyard where all of the sugar plantations dumped their trash in the ocean. Maybe you can if the engines and axles sticking out of the ground. There are also some arches and blowholes for anyone not looking at the heaps of tetanus.
Nicely done! Glad it’s going to a loving home. Accounting for inflation you came out at about what you paid.
Only question is how you value the time getting it repaired each time, listed, and articles written.
DT talking about his i3 like a Corvette owner talks about their Corvette.
“This is one of three with these exact options, in this color, built on a Tuesday after a full moon”
This is dangerously close to “I know what I got” territory.
This is the only one that came from the factory in beige exterior, black interior, with an automatic and a machine defect on the back passenger side wheel.
I think you misunderstood the Get Busy.
Hmmmmm
Have you met David? That’s already considered fantastic by his standards.
I’m not sure, he seems to value reliability in most other cases, up to and including arguing a Jeep 4.0 is more reliable than a modern Toyota engine, or calling anything with a timing belt “unreliable”, so this seems like a blind spot.
It’s the timing belt on an interference engine combination that’s unreliable, and I dare say it’s the interference engine part not the timing belt part that is the real culprit. I had a timing belt disintegrate on a non-interference engine, and it was merely annoying.
My E86 Z4 Coupe is arguably the best car I’ve ever owned.
It doesn’t stop it being riddled with potentially expensive problems. The cooling system, and all those single use aluminium bolts were the two things that made me realise I could run a Lotus for less money.
Honestly, it’s really the thing with BMWs – they’re absolutely batshit cars, every one of them has at least one “why the fuck did they do that? wait, so it’s basically _totalled_ now?” engineering choice somewhere, maintenance is absurd, parts are fantastically expensive, gas mileage is meh on a good day – but they’re So Goddamn Fun to drive.
It’s like dating someone who’s gorgeous but slightly crazy – like, I get that I should probably just settle down and buy a Toyota, but you see why that’s a hard sales pitch, right?
I had the Z4 at the same time as my Toyota GT86. The 86 is better to drive, but the BMW was such a fabulous thing, even with it’s dead steering and random expensive failures.
I used to wish the two companies would collaborate and build the ultimate RWD coupe together. Imagine a car with BMW’s straight six, but with Toyota’s reliability, and the steering and light weight of the 86 but wrapped in a mature almost Art Deco exterior.
But they made the Supra instead. All fake vents and plastic cooling system.
There’s an idea for an Autopian article: collaborations done wrong. The Alfa Arna and the Zupra.
It’s interesting that the BMW dealer you bought it from put the car on their lot without replacing the battery until you pointed out that it was covered under the warranty. Or maybe not, the last time I purchased a Certified Pre-Owned Mercedes that dealer ended up replacing multiple items on a list that I made while looking at the car, most of which were obvious things that should have been corrected earlier. Maybe both cars (yours as well as mine) would have sold for them much sooner at a higher price had they done their job correctly…
I don’t think many dealers look over the cars. I once bought a CPO BMW 328i from a dealer out of state, had some issues with the seat belt extenders, and my local dealer came up with a list of 5-6 other broken things (including the CD player not working!) and thankfully took care of all of it.
^This
I traded in my smart fortwo with 2 months left on the warranty and a *super dodgy* transmission. Dealer called me four months later out of the blue trying to bully me because I sold them a car that wouldn’t shift into gear. Caveat emptor works both ways, sucka! Shouldn’t have made me pay sticker for what I bought.
David’s i3 wasn’t a CPO, but was covered under California’s warranty requirements for batteries. The dealer probably didn’t want to deal with it unless they had to.
CPO though, at least in marketing, typically means the car has been inspected and fixed up. Mercedes touts at “165+ point inspection” for CPO cars. I guess it doesn’t say they fix everything, just inspects it. I’d suspect that in reality as long as a dealer is willing to pay to “certify” it, there isn’t much scrutiny.
California has specific laws on that too IIRC (the whole CPO “we said we inspected it, we didn’t say it was good” thing). Other states probably don’t.
Errrrr. You put down a deposit for a Scout right? That will be a 5 figure car for sure.
Heck, I’m certain some early release special editions will hit 6 figures.
I mean, if the dealers can markup cars, Scout might as well only offer high cost, fully optioned, exclusive paint colour “first editions” to continue the high price of cars in their first year/two of release. Mere mortals can wait until 3-4 years from release until you can get anything for close to MSRP.
Probably an incoming story about how the i3 + the recent pickup acquisition negates the want and/or need for the Scout.
I think I agree with this hypothetical opinion.
ENHRN: “David! What are you doing with that laptop open? You’d better not be working on our honeymoon!”
DT: “I’m not, I’m just… looking at porn.”
ENHRN: “That better be true!”
Whenever i see that abbreviation, my brain pronounces it Enron.
All I see is ERMAGRD.
I always read it as “Erin” even though your reading makes more sense with the actual letters.
Wasn’t the Chevy Volt technically the same and first? I know they were all the same powertrain layout, unlike the i3 that had the range extender as an option, but all Volts had no mechanical link for the engine to the driven wheels, only the engine to a generator, the same as the i3 REX. Please correct me if I’m wrong, or if the Volt didn’t apply for the same PZEV CA warranty, but that’s my understanding.
Technically they ended up coupling the engine to the drivetrain. Original intent though was to have it be a true REX car.
Its a bit of a distinction without a difference that some people like to point out. 95% of the time, the volt was a range-extended EV, just with a smaller 16 kW-hr battery than the i3. The other 5% is that under certain scenarios, namely highway driving in a certain speed range, it’s more efficient to directly drive the wheels with the engine and not take the energy conversion losses of going from rotational to electric & back to rotational by going through the electric path. It’s a better solution than if the Volt was a pure RE-EV, but it gets dinged for it anyway.
Which will never not piss me off. GM did a smart thing with the design of the car and have gotten decades of undeserved shit for it. This is why we can’t have nice things.
What do you mean it gets dinged for it? Pointing out that it’s not a pure EREV isn’t a dig, it’s just what it is. The Volt is a fantastic car!
Shortly after the Volt was released, this detail of how it worked became more widely known; prior to that it was described as a series hybrid or range-extended ev by GM, the media etc. When the direct drive mode was revealed, most of the coverage was about how it wasn’t as novel or unique as people were least to believe, that GM had lied about this, and that the car was worse off than if it was a “pure” series hybrid (with “pure” having positive connotations). This taint has seemed to follow it around ever since, even though the engineering behind the two mode system makes it a better end product than a “pure” series hybrid, not a worse one.
Also, congratulations & happy honeymooning!
True! I do recall some of that unfair criticism when that was revealed.
Whew, as long as you’re referencing that and not suggesting I have a problem with the Volt, we’re good.
Oh, and thank you!
David, do you realize that $10,000 is a 5 figure car? I’m sure you’ll cross that number again.
Yes but he’ll be kicking and screaming the whole time.
I forgot David bought the holy grail i3 for a second and panicked that he was going i3-less. Anyway, get back to your honeymoon! We’ll be here when you get back.
Maybe I’m lazy(i am) but that was a long yoga session…
Now you need to get another with a dead battery and convince Beau and GAS to convert it to being powered by an M1000RR drivetrain, with some wider wheels, flared fenders, KW coilovers, AP racing brakes, and Akrapovic exhaust.
Congrat on getting hitched! Like I told you back in the day if I could manage getting married twice, it would happen for you when the time was right!