I’m awestruck by my 2014 BMW i3. Genuinely awestruck. It is about as close to perfect as any car I’ve ever driven, and I’ve driven lots of cars. It’s so good, in fact, that I’ve recommended the machine to pretty much everyone I know, because every time I get behind the wheel I say to myself: “I can’t believe how good this car is.” Here, allow me to explain in this rather short blog.
“Perfect” is a hell of a word, and in the case of an automobile, the term cannot be divorced from context. A Toyota Land Cruiser, for example, is perfect if you’re an overlander in the outback. A Jeep Wrangler is perfect if you’re rock-crawling in Moab. A Porsche 911 is perfect around Laguna Seca. A long-bed 1989 Ford F-150 with a 300 inline-six ant T18 stickshift is perfect on your job site. And the BMW i3 is perfect if you live in the suburbs of a big city and have a place to charge. And I mean pretty much truly perfect.
When I think about what I need when commuting in LA, it’s a few things: 1. Efficiency (gas is so damn expensive; $5! Minimum!) 2. Quickness (merging into traffic is challenging here) 3. Small exterior dimensions (parking is rough). 4. Decent size inside (so I can carry my tools/car parts/friends/cats) and 5. Comfort (sitting in traffic on the 405 in an old junker will wear you down).
The i3 nails every one of these attributes. It uses no gas for its first 70 miles of freeway driving or 85 miles of city driving. It’s so damn quick it lets me merge into traffic — even on the legendarily short on-ramps of the 110 freeway — easily. The car is tiny, so it parks great; the backup camera and park sensors help (plus, the car can parallel park itself!). There’s tons of room inside (look at the image below to see the huge shelf that I fit into the i3 in a single trip!). And it’s both beautiful and comfortable inside, so the commute is actually relaxing.
The ground clearance helps when traversing poorly-maintained roads or accidentally hitting a curb, the higher seating position makes the vehicle feel bigger than it really is, and the steering radius is shockingly small—the i3 is the ultimate “flip a bitch”-mobile
I rarely spend a drop on gas, and when I do it’s because I drive more than 75 miles. I love this setup; it allows me to have decent enough range to drive on electric-power over 90 percent of the time, but it also allows me to drive longer distances (like to San Diego) without having to lug around an expensive, heavy battery (I instead lug around a cheap little twin-cylinder gas motor). It’s a damn shame that so few vehicles today offer 70+ miles of EV range with a gasoline range-extender in case you need to travel farther. Pretty much all modern PHEVs have an electric range of under 50 miles. The i3, in my opinion, offers what most Americans want and cannot get today, despite the car being nine years old.
Of course, the i3 was expensive when new (mine cost over $52,000), but by the time I bought it it had 135,000 miles on the clock. Still, especially with the new battery BMW installed under warranty just before I took ownership, the i3 feels modern, which is why the $10,499 I paid for it is an unbelievable deal. That price plays quite a bit into my “perfect” claim; for the car to perform this well in these conditions at that price — well, that’s what makes it so special in my eyes.
I haven’t had to repair a single thing on my i3 since buying it. The electric motor isn’t made up of many components, the gearbox is a single ratio reduction that should last forever, I barely even toucy my brake pedal due to the i3’s always-on brake regen function, the batteries are new, and on and on. Obviously, five months without a repair is nothing to brag about, but the i3 has an excellent reputation for reliability. Plus, because it’s carbon fiber, the car won’t rust, and because its body panels are plastic, it also won’t dent.
I have a charger in my apartment; thanks to a kind reader, I have an extension cord that allows me to park behind my Jeep (I have a tandem spot) and still charge using the wall-box. At work, charging is free. When I’m staying at my friend’s house, I just plug into her 110 outlet and gain about 4.5 percent state of charge (3 miles) per hour. Using that standard wall-plug, if my battery is half drained from the day’s commute/shopping, it’ll be full by 8 AM as long as I plug it in by nine the night before. Not bad. With a regular level 2 charger, the vehicle charges all the way up in 4.5 hours or to 80 percent in three hours.
I haven’t had to drop $1,000 to replace its hard-to-source tires yet, so maybe I’ll change my tune, but right now — five months in — I’m just amazed by this little car. To get a reasonably-modern, safe, comfortable, usually-electric, small, practical, quick little car that I actually think looks cool even nine years after it rolled off the assembly line — and all for $11,600 all-in? It rules. The BMW i3 just rules.
The fact that it’s rear-motor/engine, rear-wheel drive, that it’s made of carbon fiber, that it can rip from zero to 30 mph as fast as an F30 M3, and that its interior is so special all make it more “fun” than many of its competition. But of course, it’s not as fun as, say, a manual 911 (no EV is in my opinion) or even a stickshift Mini Cooper S, and it’s not as soulful as my old cars. Still, the i3 is a practical commuter car that has somehow managed to tackle the “city car” formula to the point where it’s almost hard to find any flaws.
But again, I haven’t had to buy new, rare tires for it yet, so let’s see if I write a retraction next year.
The ” friend ” thing keeps me coming back . Seems that David is living his best life . Who knew that rust guy would thrive in LA ?
I’ve been very curious about these for a long time. But I’ve been solidly told by other car enthusiasts that the tire-cost issue is a deal-breaker. I am thinking, though, that if you know that up front (tires are going to cost $1,000/set) and plan ahead, maybe it’s not so bad.
I’m almost positive the answer is “no”, but I’ve never gotten a definitive answer. With the range extender, can an i3 drive indefinitely so long as there is fuel in it? I realize the tank is tiny, but in a theoretical “battery is discharged but I have gasoline” situation, can it keep going? Or, at least, can it sit and charge itself and continue on without external intervention?
I’m curious about this as well. We’re looking at adding a high-mpg/hybrid something to our fleet due to an upcoming change in husband’s job that will soon require 2-3 3hr roundtrips a week and the distance is juuuuuuust at the published ranges of the range-extender i3s.
No, unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. Once you’re out of gas you have to recharge. IIRC, there was some regulatory reason in Europe for that.
I have wondered if these are hackable to operate like a normal PHEV, though.
No, you can refill and continue to drive. The only limitation is on speed. If you go over something like 70 mph, the generator can’t keep up with the discharge rate for the battery and you’ll end up in “limp” mode.
I think you added a few years back onto your lifespan by taking a wrenching break from the Jeeps.
Famous bad car guy buys a good car and is impressed. Classic story.
Similar reasons I love my 2000 Insight. Aluminum never rusting small car that weighs so little its very tossable and handling is fantastic at 1800lbs.
Still looks new underneath, drives without the battery. Gas engine very easy to work on too.
Got mine for under 3k 8 years ago and still going strong.
Just to clarify some of the posts below… yes, while you can still manage to pay in the high $20Ks for a very-late-model i3 w/low miles, cars like David’s are the first-gen small battery ones made from 2014-2016. With or without a range extender (gas engine) there are plenty of these with asking prices starting around $9K and going up to about $16-17K at small used car dealerships all over SoCal. The $9K ones will often have a minimum of 70-80K miles, and the top-price ones can have as little as 20Kmiles on them.
For the 2017-8 cars, with the middle sized battery pack, prices seem to start around $14-15K, and go up into the $20s for an i3s (tiny bit faster, wider rear track, etc…).
And the final gen/big battery cars starting in 2019 usually seem to range from the high teens/low 20s to whatever someone is willing to pay for the nicest/cleanest/lowest odometer reading they can find… I’m sure someone, somewhere in LA will happily pay $30K for a used i3 this weekend, even though that would cover a big chunk of buying a pre-Highland base Model 3, assuming a dealer has any left to sell.
I drive a neighbor’s (2017 non-REX) i3 pretty regularly and can echo David’s enthusiasm for this car. For light use, running errands around town and visiting local friends, the i3 IS pretty close to flawless. It’s not for hauling 4×8′ sheets of plywood, or towing, etc… but to move 1-4 humans around in comfort (and IMO, considerable style) for a minimum of energy, it’s hard to beat for value, whether you have the early/small or middle/medium battery pack.
IMO.
A little late to the commenting, but here’s my reply. Love David. Love his articles. I’m a member here just because I loved Jason and David’s writing at the old site–embarrassingly not really a car person, just like reading about them and reading anything those two write, along with many of the other writers here. I want the wrenching stories with the cat content–I feel like those cats are members of the family. No disrespect to the original commenter–I totally get it. For me, though, it’s all of those car and car-adjacent things as a whole that make this non-car person keep coming back every day. And if I don’t find out what happens to those kittens, I may have to drive to CA to find out.
Don’t know how you got that. I was shopping for a little car for my teenager and these things are around $20k in the Bay Area. I ended up finding a mint Golf with 38,000 miles for $13k. Talk about a perfect car as long as you don’t mind OK mileage.
If you say it’s perfect I believe you, but I’m assuming you mean the practical aspects like drivetrain, build quality and ergonomics, not the exterior? Because I’m pretty sure even Picasso would think the exterior was a bit much.
Aw, you said “flip a bitch!” You ARE settling into west coast life.
He hasn’t described anything as “hella” yet, though. Still in his adjustment period.
That’s a northern CA thing. He’s in LA.
From a capability perspective, no doubt they are a nice package. The problem was (and is to an extent) what they cost. Paying BMW prices for a “city car” is really not in the cards for most people. It has too many limitations to be your do everything car.
The lightly used “big battery” models I see are still $30k. I wouldn’t want to roll the dice on a high mileage one, not living in a CARB state.
I’m sold on the PHEV for my area (rural mountains CA) – we picked up a used Ford C-max Energi and while it doesn’t have the most space, nor the longest range, it’s a very good run-into-town car. We’ve been averaging over 52mpg but my favorite thing is watching the battery pack recharge on long mountain descents.
The i3 has always been an ‘interesting but I don’t want one’ car… until now. This makes me want one.
My 2018 Volt forever sold me on the PHEV. No idea if the i3 guardbands the battery like the Voltec system does, but these things go forever without needing major maintenance. My engine even “maintains itself” every so often because I’ll go weeks without using it.
I love the idea of picking up a cheap i3 REX but the horror stories are worrisome. Like this guy who’s been trying to unload his on my local CL. His EME died out of warranty turning his car into a big, heavy brick:
https://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/d/sacramento-2014-bmw-i3-ev-rex-range/7652608777.html
I had something similar happen to my Mazda when my TCU died. That repair cost me $400 for a brand new upgraded OEM part and took but 30 minutes of my time with hand tools. From what I understand this EME is for *reasons* a VIN keyed part that for takes hours of labor and dealer only equipment to replace.
What’s an EME and a TCU?
Electric Motor Electronics (EME) module. There was a recall of the 2019 model for just such failures but not AFAIK for earlier ones like the hapless guy on CL is trying to unload:
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/2019-bmw-i3-i8-recall-eme-module/
TCU: Transmission Control Unit, the brain of the electronically controlled transmission. Both probably failed for the same reason, bad capacitors.
Thanks!
Of course!
If the EME were as cheap and easy to replace as my TCU was I’d be less concerned about it failing; however from what I’ve read its a royal PITA just in labor to replace and salvaged units cannot be transferred or rebuilt, you need a new $$$$ one and it needs to be keyed to that car’s VIN by a dealer or someone with that special $$$ tool.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
If I could justify spending that much on a commuter car, one of these would absolutely be my pick. I was sold the moment I sat in one at an auto show years ago. I couldn’t believe how roomy and comfortable it was. The small center console. The column shifter. It doesn’t close you in like most modern cars do. It’s like the cab of a 90’s extended cab pick-up truck, but really really nice.
Hi David, I’m glad you like the car.
But I think you need to research a bit if it is really you or nice Youtube guy Jerod (who also knows “superfast” Matt who also have written for this site, small world..), who has the cheapest i3 in California:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SNNIrmrKM
Both of us bought the cheapest i3s in America.
Invite him in and do an article on the not-uniqueness of finding a super good deal on an i3 then 😎
These do seem like fantastic cars to commute in stop and go traffic. I was real close to getting one until I did the math and realized that for how little I drive, I could get a nice convertible for only $10k instead of paying $20 to $25k (at least for the i3s I was shopping) and pretty much never recoup on gas savings.
There’s something to be said for driving an “enough” car that meets all your needs and not a drop more. Less money, less hassle, and no worries if it were to get a scratch or two, makes perfect sense.
The i3 seems to occupy that rare space of both weird and practical. Glad it’s working out for you, even though it might be almost too normal.
I suppose a Trabant or Citroen DS might have made for better articles, but, you gotta make it in to work on the regular since you’re an executive now.
A Citroen DS can actually be quite a reliable car if you can get everything sorted out in good working order and subsequently maintain them properly. Although if something breaks, good fucking luck finding parts!
The later model years were very reliable cars, especially those without the semi-automatic gearbox, which was a problematic part (I think). The hydro pneumatic suspension is really simple, it’s got a compressor, oil lines to all 4 corners (and return lines, IIRC) and height sensors for the auto leveling feature. If you have access to a service manual and can get the necessary parts, this car is relatively easy to maintain and fix if something breaks.
Reading David’s experience with this i3, him having never driven an EV before, was interesting. It is not without reason that most people who try one never look back.
I look forward to reading David’s reaction when he drives a smaller, lighter, faster, and more nimble machine. Reverend Gadget lives in LA. If he still has his Triumph Spitfire EV operational, that would be a GREAT car to do a drive and review of.
Old video of the GT6-bodied Spitfire taking off:
https://youtu.be/sWsDl18pwyA?t=54
Doing the speed limit on the freeway in the slow lane, it only needs 100-120 Wh/mile. It’s mass is more than 1,000- lbs less than the i3 and its CdA value is about half with the grille block and underbody paneling, equipped with Kumho low rolling resistance tires.
When I talked with Gadget about this machine in 2007, he claimed 0-60 mph in under 6 seconds with a top speed of 120 mph. Back then, it was equipped with an ADC 6.7″ series-DC motor, a Cafe Electric Zilla 1k controller and a 180V pack of Exide Orbital XCD30 batteries. This would be an amazing car with a LiFePO4 pack in it.
True to all you said but as a fellow E-conveyance and LiFePO4 enthusiast, I must say I need my EV to have the ability to take on a major impact on public highways and keep my kids safe. The unfortunate reality is unless we have separate roads (bike lanes?) for reasonably sized vehicles (and perhaps true driver training), it’s not safe to daily drive the small lightweight vehicles that meet our needs. My being hit twice on my e-bike by a van and a cuv earlier this summer swayed my outlook for sure.
“Him having never driven an EV before”
Say whatttt?!
I stand corrected then. What EVs have you driven?
I haven’t read every article you’ve written(especially on the other site), so if you have articles on driving experiences, please share!
I was under the impression the i3 sold you on the EV experience.
I apologize for making that incorrect statement.
Don’t apologize. It’s all good! Here are a couple more:
https://www.theautopian.com/the-2022-ford-lightning-is-just-a-standard-f-150-with-an-electric-powertrain-and-thats-why-its-going-to-change-the-world/
https://jalopnik.com/the-electric-2020-porsche-taycan-what-we-learned-over-1838333674
You’ve driven more EV cars/trucks than I have! I’ve driven a grand total of 4 cars, 1 truck, and 3 bikes/motorcycles as EVs, only one of them an OEM car, one an OEM bike, the rest custom conversions.
I did some searching. I found you’ve driven at least the Kia EV6 and a Rivian R1T. Looking for others to read, specifically, cars.
Thank you for setting the record straight and sending me down another rabbit hole. If you have any more to share, please point me to it.
At 135k miles you need to replace all those bushings..yes its me again. Get on that and then tell us how great it was, and now how much better it really is. Bushings, Ball Joints and Struts will make that baby drive like new. Oh, and you need an editor to fix those grammar errors, bust out that AP Style Guide or better yet, use Google Docs like you advised.
Because it’s a BMW yes it probably does need a full suspension rebuild. Normal cars, however, should not need major suspension work by 135k.
Typo fixed! (You’re not going to find significant grammar errors in my posts; I live and breathe grammar! Sometimes there will be some style-related items such as beginning sentences with conjunctions, but I’m fine with those. Rest assured, if I write something counter to AP Style’s guidance, I’m well aware of it).
If you ride on a donkey for most of your life, a bicycle is a significant improvement. It’s a working car, David.
Dave there is just something about your naive love of the I3. You are used to rusty POS so anything reliable is good. The I3 is treating you well so enjoy it. You deserve it. If I was in CA I would look for one to get that deal. But you are a one off and if anyone deserves it you do.
I still love stories like this sooo much. Where a dealer/manufactuer is forced to replace expensive shit they REALLY don’t want to.
The fact that you stuck it to BMW and a BMW dealer is truely (chef’s kiss).
Dealer doesn’t care
“Starving man thinks the saltine you just gave him is the greatest thing he’s ever tasted”