What an odd situation I find myself in right now. It’s 1 AM, and I’m sitting in a motel near Carlsbad, California. I just drove 2.5 hours to test-drive the cheapest BMW i3 I could find, after having fallen head-over-heels in love with the one I rented last weekend. I didn’t immediately buy the i3 I just test drove due to some concerns, which is why I’m in this motel; allow me to elaborate.
First, let me just say that the 2014 BMW i3 that I rented last weekend had me absolutely smitten. I realize that you all know me as a man who daily-drives $500 shitboxes, but you also know me as an engineer who likes state-of-the-art tech, and that side of me cannot resist the lure of the BMW i3 — possibly the greatest small-car of this millennium.
Many of you might be thinking I’ve gone full Hollywood, forgoing daily-driving cheap junkers in favor of a luxury BMW. I reject this notion; the i3 just makes a ton of sense for me right now for the following reasons:
- I run a car website in 2023. I should have first-hand experience owning an EV.
- Driving an old junker on Michigan roads is no problem; driving them on LA highways is a different ballgame. I need something safe and comfortable that can hang with the rest of traffic.
- I could use a modern, reliable daily driver; time is more important now that I’m running a company. I can no longer wrench 24/7. (This one’s a bit dubious, I’ll admit, given that we’re talking about an old BMW).
- I have a commute; people should commute in EVs if they can — it’s good for the environment.
- I’m getting older, and my older friends aren’t necessarily going to want to ride in my old cars. Having something comfortable and safe can put people at ease.
- I have chargers at my apartment and at work.
- Fuel in California is about $5 a gallon.
Before actually considering buying one, I drove the i3 you see in the Turo listing above. I piloted it on the highway from Studio City to Santa Monica, cruised around that area, charged it at a friend’s place using the standard 110V cable, and charged it at work with a Level 2 charger.
I fell in love, but not for any exciting reason. It wasn’t amazing to drive and it’s not that beautiful, but it is unbelievably well executed. And that is hard to ignore.
.
I don’t have time to really get into a full review since, as I mentioned, it’s 1 A.M. and my eyelids are getting all Gm_1m_2/r^2 on my ass. But it’s a carbon fiber electric car with 50+ miles of electric-only range, a little twin-cylinder motorcycle out back to keep you going when the small battery goes low, heated seats, adaptive cruise control, a backup camera, navigation, an utterly stunning interior, LED headlights, and on and on. It’s modern, it’s comfortable, and it’ll get me to work and to friends’ houses and back without using any gas.
Plus, the electric motor feels lively and fun, the steering radius is wonderfully small, and there’s a lot more room inside this tiny, lightweight electric car than you’d think.
The i3 that I rented was in really nice shape overall. It was a 2014 (the first model-year), and I never did see more than 50 miles of range on the screen, but it was still totally usable given my access to chargers. I’m not a huge fan of the dark brown interior compared to the lighter ones, but it was still such a nice place to spend time:
The i3 isn’t more fun to drive than my 1966 Ford Mustang or my 1985 Jeep J10, but it fulfills the role I need. It’s safe, comfortable, and electric. In my eyes, it is the only cool enthusiast’s electric car that one can buy on a budget today (again, that’s just my opinion. I appreciate the Fiat 500E and Volt and others, I’m just not interested in owning one).
The day I turned the i3 rental in, I began looking to buy one, in earnest. Naturally, my criteria was: Cheapest one possible. Does this make sense entirely? No. But I’m the “save money on the front end, get burned on the back end” kind of man; I’m sure you all know this by now.
Anyway, that brought me to this listing — a 135,000 mile i3 for sale for $10,499 by a reputable (according to Google reviews) BMW dealer in Vista (1.5 hours south of LA, or, during the rush-hour that I drove, closer to three):
I set up an appointment with the dealer, slogged through the river-shaped parking lot, and eventually arrived at the car:
From a distance, it looks decent. The paint shines, and the panels still look to assume roughly their correct shapes. A closer look does reveal some scuffs, scratches, and chips:
I didn’t get a great photo of the interior, but it’s the “Giga World” cabin, and it’s absolutely fantastic. A few of the buttons have some scratches on them, but the seats and dash and doorcards look beautiful:
Anyway, the car drove nicely. It started out with three bars out of four and 39 miles of range, that dropped to 32 rather quickly on the freeway, but jumped back up to 37 once I got off the freeway and started driving around town a bit. Maybe the computer was adjusting for my driving style, or maybe the battery just can’t handle highway cruising (something that, in general, we know to be true — highway driving tends to eat up battery juice).
I did hear a clunk from the rear end of the car, though the dealer seemed to be entirely deaf to it when I pointed it out a few times. “Could just be something in the trunk” he told me later, though I slid under the car and quickly pointed out that the range extender’s exhaust pipe was totally loose. He said he’d fix that and the unclipped front bumper, and that the vehicle had just gotten to the dealer a week prior. It didn’t give me confidence in his team’s inspection skills.
But the car still remained the cheapest i3 out there, especially sold by an actual BMW dealer, and I do love cheap. What I don’t like is not understanding risks, and that’s really my main problem right now.
With an ICE car, I can drive it, look at it, maybe take some measurements, maybe wiggle a few things, and get a pretty damn good idea for what shape the car is in, and what I’ll have to replace. But a plug-in hybrid like the i3 is the most difficult car to test drive, possibly lever.
In the 20 miles I whipped the little car I was unable to assess the health of the two most important components bolted to that CFRP tub: The battery and the range extender. The battery I was unable to assess because I need to drive the car more to really see what type of range it has left after 135,000 miles and 9 years, and the range extender ICE engine I never even heard run! That little motorcycle V-twin only springs to life once the battery is closer to empty.
So when the dealer asked me if I want the car, I told him: I don’t have enough info. I don’t know if the battery is crap, and I don’t know if the engine is crap. This test drive was largely pointless, other than it allowed me to find an exhaust issue.
The dealer agreed to charge the car to 100 percent overnight, and let me drive it around on an extended test drive the following morning, which is why I’m sitting here in this cheap motel in Carlsbad:
Should I risk it? The dealelr did say I had a five day, 250 mile money-back guarantee, so in addition to my extended test drive, I could throw the car around for a few days to test that battery. Hmm.
Should I?
— David Tracy (@davidntracy) March 1, 2023
As much as I feel I’ve become a new, more refined, hybrid-driving, apartment-dwelling, recycling, less-meat-eating man here in LA, my old “Buy First, Think Later” adage is threatening to win out yet again. Oh boy.
There is a BMW store in Vista now? I lived in Carlsbad forever and there wasn’t much at all in Vista.
As someone that has owned maybe 3 dozen BMWs never buy the cheapest one you can find.
Boris Said is the President at BMW of Murrieta. You probably know who he is, but if not just Google him. Contact him and tell him who you are and what you are doing. I bet he fixes up up, David.
Previous owner of a 2014 i3 here. Careful buying the ’14s, the batteries suffered from a BME issue where the computer had a hard time calculating the correct charge. I was stranded twice with 15-18 miles of range left, the meter is horribly inaccurate. The ’14 battery also suffered from degradation that later years didn’t. Get a ’15+ and many of your battery issues will go away. The AC compressor (heat pump) and the range extender engines are known issues as well, shouldn’t have any issues with a ’15+ BEV version.
Good luck, love that car! It will eat tires, but worth it. The HK sound is one of the best OEM stereos I’ve owned. Great little car, thoughtful and stylish.
For just a little more, I would buy a budget Bolt though.. The batteries are bulletproof (especially since you can get a brand new battery for free), have zero degradation issues, and will have 260 miles of range. I would look for the highest mileage Bolt I could find with the original battery, take it in for the battery swap and *bam*, new car. I’ve had 2 Volts/Bolts into 100+ mile territory and they drove like new. BMW will need new ball joints, end links, CV boots, etc., otherwise steering will feel sloppy.
Just my .02, good luck!
That’s what I was hoping for, some owners with real experience on the i3’s. I own a Volt, but that is a very different car, with far less interior room and a different setup.
i3 is a great car, loved to drive it, ultimately got rid of it due to needing more winter range. Its rated for 81, and got 70-75 miles in the summer, but ~45-60 in winter. All would be forgiven if the dash accurately displayed range. I sold it days after running out of juice and having to push it to a random business to charge via 110v outlet (happened twice) in single digit weather. Never again.
The Bolt is just a better car if you want to drive 50 miles without a panic attack. Get a ’15+ and many of the issues are gone, but for the price I’d rather have a Bolt. I’m seeing a private party Premier Bolt for $16.7k w/ 144k miles that you could battery swap for a brand new 260 mile battery. Easy choice for me, but hey, some folks still drive around old Leafs just fine.
Oh wow! The thing about the inaccurate range is bad! I wonder if the computer needed to recalibrate? I still drive my ’14 and never had that issue. If anything mine does the oposite. I drive somewhere that is 10 miles away and the range only drops by 5 miles.
Good call on bringing up the tires. The thread is sneaky, shallower on the inside part of the tire. So you have to carefully check the full surface of the tires because the threat might seem good, but it could turn out that the inside part is bald.
I think we’re saying the same thing about the range meter: You drive 10 miles, it only drops 5, you think you have more range than you really do because your range meter isn’t dropping enough. You dont really have the range that your meter says you do.
Also, the tall/narrow wheels are such a unique size that replacing them is very expensive since replacement options are low. You’re literally left to 2-3 options, ranging from $225-250/tire. I shit you not, I got *one* season out of my Blizzaks, possibly due to some spirited driving. EV torque is addictive, but I’ve never burnt through tires in one season before. I’m talking 3 months, boom, completely flush with the wear indicators.
Good point. I don’t usually let it get too low, although a few times I have been driving around with only 4-5 miles left, and so far so good.
But good to know that I might be tempting fate 😀
As a lifelong shitbox-wrencher not unlike yourself, I’d pass on this.
Too much tech. Too risky. If it has any major electrical or electronics issues, you’ll need dealer-only scantools to fix it.
Combine that with the presumably super-expensive hourly dealership service fees in CA and you’ll quickly spend 1000s on fixing stuff.
I mean it might make for entertaining content for us, but this example is probably nearing the end of its useful life.
Resale value will be also near-zero in 1-2 years.
If you insist on buying of one of these, buy the newest year with the lowest miles that still fits the budget.
Thankfully BMW of this vintage, the code has all been “decoded”
People use tired EV batteries to power their homes.
Sure they do…but not their apartments in LA.
Yes but resale value will hardly be 0.. especially consider it uses cobalt chemistry.
I really wish these had a proper four-door body (or at least three-door). The school run is the only thing keeping me from putting this top of my list!
I had a chance to drive one of these at a BMW event when they first came out – definitely an interesting car and seems like a really good value at that price point, especially with the range extender as a safety belt. Given that you can charge at both end of your commute and it has the REX, I think you should go for it!
All of us powertrain engineers are nodding hoping you’ll extoll the virtues of series hybrids and more companies will make them.
True series hybrids were never given the real chance they deserve.
There are 2 very cool hacks you can do:
1. Put the engine in euro mode. That was you can turn on the range extender whenever the battery is less than 75%
2. Increase the gass tank to the full 2.4 gallon capacity.
Both of these things can be done with bimmercode. I’m sure you can find a local autopian enthusiast on the bmw i3 groups on social media.
I was searching to see if someone mentioned this. I’d consider it mandatory for owning an i3
Yes! Plus you can turn on the AM radio, which is deactivated from factory.
Buy it. As you discovered they drive great and the interior is near perfect. It would not surprise me if the batter range is down below 50 miles – I think they were rated at 75-ish when they were new. If that gets the job done go for it. The REx is actually useful despite the tiny gas tank.
If I were you, I would look for one with a good battery (80% of initial capacity or better) and no range extender. I haven’t driven an i3, but from what I have read, the range extender does not allow the vehicle to drive at highway speeds and the car struggles to go up hills when the battery is depleted. It is mostly useful to drive short distances to a charger. It does not make the i3 a plug-in hybrid or road trip vehicle.
The range extender makes sense for people who live in areas with minimal charging infrastructure (I don’t have a functioning level 3 charger within 30 miles of where I live, so it would be nice here). I always saw the range extender as a stop gap solution to get by while charging infrastructure is being built. In that sense, the range extender is an obsolete technology in California at this point.
I love that David Tracy is now pointing out tiny exterior scratches on potential purchases.
Two months ago he would overlook mushrooms growing from seating surfaces.
“it’s not that beautiful”
Well, that’s certainly one way to put it…
If you’re 2 hours from home, that 250 MILE warranty may barely cover your ride home and a return trip to the dealer.
It’s SoCal traffic. Those 2 hours could equal about 20 miles.
True. I had to spend a few months in the area a few years ago. Except for a few small excursions, I really stayed close to my hotel because of the traffic. Went from Whittier to Long Beach one night and it took me over 2 hours to get there.
Just looked it up, and that was a little over 20 miles.
But David, i3 is made out of carbon fiber… would you body and mind be able to forgo the withdraw from lack of iron oxide?
I think it would become a science project as he tries to figure out how to get carbon fiber to rust.
Gotta establish my cheap bastard cred here first: I’ve never paid more than $3k for a car.
In my experience, buying the cheapest out there and having a good outcome depends heavily on one knowing what to look for & what to avoid. Go drive a few more. Spend a few hours on the forums. Make use of your industry contacts to find the Achilles’ Heel.
We ain’t in HS anymore: that i3 may be hot, but she also could well have cooties. Shop around
By all means check forums, etc prior to purchase. I have avoided a few nasty surprises in the past by doing so. In my experience so far, the electric components on these hybrid vehicles are not the weak link. The batteries are always an unknown, but based on David’s test I have some confidence. A full charge/discharge cycle may reveal more. As to the BMW ice engine, it is a modern fuel injected, understressed twin.
By all means check forums, etc prior to purchase. I have avoided a few nasty surprises in the past by doing so. In my experience so far, the electric components on these hybrid vehicles are not the weak link. The batteries are always an unknown, but based on David’s test I have some confidence. A full charge/discharge cycle may reveal more. As to the BMW ice engine, it is a modern fuel injected, under stressed twin.
David, you really need to buy this. Fellow engineer and wrench. I bought a used 2014 Camry hybrid with over 100k on the clock 6 years ago. I’m now well over 200k and have had no issues with the drivetrain or battery. I’m strongly considering a full electric or plug in hybrid when the wife’s Corolla is given to to my teen daughter in a year or so. A used i3 would be on my radar as charging infrastructure us still lacking in my area.
Toyota != BMW
There is basically nothing interesting to wrench on these unless you like tie rods. When they break down, you’re just sol.
From what I know from others who’ve owned them – make sure the “clunk” isn’t the REX motor mounts cracked or broken. See if they have been replaced. Comparing BEV vs. REX owners in an admittedly small sample, the REX folks seemed to have more issues, all with the motor. The other thing that affects all of them is the thin tires; the car eats them up, and potholes will kill them. Even with that, I think they are a cool car, and I might have bought one if things had lined up a few years ago.
David please stop telling everyone how great these cars are, I’ve been thinking about getting one for about six months and you’re only going to make them more expensive for me. Thanks!
You better pull the trigger soon. The greatest automotive blog on the planet let the secret out
There are plenty of great deals out there, provided you qualify for the IRA credit. But if you do qualify, you need to move quickly. For cars worth around $25k, act before others realize there’s a huge credit available. For cars worth less than that, act before the dealerships realize they can put a huge markup on them and then include the tax credit in the sales pitch.
I bought my PHEV in January. I’ve been watching all PHEVs since the pandemic, and can’t imagine a better time to get one will come within the next few years or more.
Or if it helps any, don’t think of it as missing out on a inexpensive great car. Think of it as missing out on very expensive tires.
Somewhere on a BMW site I remember reading the I3 battery had a life expectancy of 3-5 years (which seems low), but I don’t know how much usage that’s based upon. Also, I don’t know if that’s 3-5 years full charge capable and after that a slow decline begins. My friend has 2016 I3 REX and she routinely logs 150 miles between charges total, and around 100 battery only and all around town driving, so I’d wonder about that 50-mile range you’ve experienced and whether that was indicator of battery decline. Good luck, they are nice cars.
There are three battery sizes for the i3. The original version (like this one) was 60Ah and had about 80 real world miles of range. In 2017 the battery was upgraded to 94Ah, and then again in 2019 to 120Ah. This last 120 Ah version got about 120 miles of range.
So, depending on driving style, 50 mile range for a 2014 with high miles is not terrible degradation. Also, my experience is that the range estimate tends to be very conservative.
You can tell teh later variants by looking at the fog lights, earlier ones have circular halogen ones, the later have LED bars.
That makes sense. Thanks.
It looks like there are other used i3s at this dealer. Try them too. The cheapest isn’t always the best (but I LIKE cheap). See what kind of driving range the other cars are showing. This car looks like it took a whupping.
I have no idea what reliability is like on these things. It was the first EV I ever drove, way back in 2017. Rented one on Turo for a friends wedding in LA. Love driving the car. Plenty of power, and a shocking amount of room inside for a car that small
David. Listen to me, as a friend, do NOT buy the cheapest BMW on the market. Seriously, I cannot overstate this enough, DO NOT buy the cheapest one. Find a mid priced one, a sport model, this is the way to buy a BMW.
THIS.
David, absolutely THIS.
If it’s cheap, it’s cheap for a reason. If you’re set on an i3 then take a deep breath, do some research, and spend a bit more money on one with fewer miles and more remaining life. You may not get as much content out of it, but your wallet and your stress level will thank you.
If your budget is such that you were considering a new $30k JL why do you need to settle for a $10k i3?
Did he mention he is cheap?
At that price, you really should. It’s eligible for the used EV credit, they’ll probably fix the exhaust pipe, and it does what you need. Having charging at home and the office makes it great for you.
I won’t be able to get the used EV credit due to restrictions on income (significantly lower than if it were new).
@JT … looks like DT is getting overpaid.
And that he can afford a better i3 than this one.
Oh, shoot, I forgot how low the income restrictions were. 75k vs 150k is a pretty stark difference.
Still a cheap i3, so it could be worth it, but I am slightly less sold on it without the credit.
And I don’t know how close you are to the income limit, but you might be able to find some deductions to get down there if it’s close, since it’s based on AGI, not actual gross. But I’m no accountant and it’s pretty early in the year to be making that sort of assumption.
You’re a business owner now, there are all sorts of legal loopholes that let you pay yourself without it counting as “income”.
You might want to check out your electricity provider. Some of them (like the LADWP) have their own rebate on used EVs that is less tied to income.
Sadly it’s for 2015+ only. And it’s $1500.
This one should qualify. And fewer miles.
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inventorylisting/viewDetailsFilterViewInventoryListing.action?zip=90008&trimNames=RWD%20with%20Range%20Extender&trimNames=RWD&showNegotiable=true&sortDir=ASC&sourceContext=untrackedWithinSite_false_0&distance=200&sortType=PRICE&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity=d2263#listing=350815241/NONE
I suspect that the adage, “There is no more expensive car than a cheap German car”, will apply here.
How do you ring up 135,000 miles 50 miles at a time? Assuming it was completely discharged each time, that’s 3,857 charge cycles over nine years or 428 cycles/year or 1.2 cycles per day. Someone used the hell out of this car.
It has the range extender!
If your plan in the event the battery fails is to use the range extender instead of replacing the battery, make sure you at least drive the car with the battery depleted. If it drives adequately with the range extender and a dead battery, it is a much less risky purchase.
Make sure you drive the REX version with zero charge left to get a feel for what you’re in for. You’ll get turtle mode and restricted to 65mph or less, depending on the grade of the slope. If you’re going up anything steep, you’re cruising at 45mph on ICE only. Its fine, but you should make sure you know what you’re getting into. Once that battery is empty, it’ll be running on *only* the ICE (via charging the battery), but either way its an absolute dog until the battery is sufficiently charged to be in hybrid mode again.
Also, the REX engine is somewhat unreliable from what I remember. Yes, its the same well-known motorcycle engine but had issues for whatever reason on the i3.
My friend had to be flat decked once, his 3rd party road side just didn’t want to touch it. I think the REX engine just didn’t like being packaged inside and not being used often. I would just get a later BEV model.
Good analysis.
Looks like a new battery pack is $14,000 plus installation (not sure how much labor).
So unless the 2-banger gasser can give you “normal” mobility this rig heads for the salvage yard before long.
Looks like these have more like 100 usable miles of range, plus the range extender, so your cycle count is pretty high. That said, testing usable range is important. And maybe a diagnostic tool that can look at battery health would be worth checking out.
We need some sort of charge/discharge odometer on EV’s. This seems far more critical than miles
There are cheap motels in Carlsbad?
I think you should look around and drive some other cars first, how much is a replacement battery?
The battery is about $13k new. These days there are tools that check for state of the battery before purchase
eg Bjorn Nyland demoed this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdmAjgxRouA
I have thought about this, and I want David to buy the cheapest i3.
He has never worked on a car like this and seems to have limited wrenching space or time. We’ve been watching him perform the same trick forever (do the minimal repairs to get a scrap heap down the road), it would be interesting to see him do it with a completely new kind of car (you know, one a non-addict adult would drive) in a completely new set of circumstances (landlords renting out properties that are worth more than the annual tax bill).
I want to see David enjoy this car, tackling the issues (I hope they’re small, but they will all be new) as they arise. Then he should buy a Meyers Manx or another VW-based kit car for cruising the coast.
I’m in for the ride with you on this, David.