For many, me — the Rust Man himself — buying a 2014 BMW i3 was a massive surprise, and possibly cause for concern. “Has DT gone Hollywood?” one could hear whispering in the streets of Detroit, Pittsburgh, Lincoln, and other fine American midwestern cities. I don’t think I’ve gone Hollywood, but what I will tell you is this: I bought that i3 for a specific reason — LA was making me hate driving my classic cars. And to be clear: This was no fault of the cars, and very much just a byproduct of how LA is laid out, how it operates, and what I need from my cars.
I’m liking Los Angeles so far, after having spent a decade in the Motor City, which I quite liked as well. I’m still way behind in telling the story of the move, the pre-move party, and my current garage situation, but right now it seems everyone is curious about why the hell I bought a tiny electric BMW city car. Why would someone who once daily drove this:
And this:
And this:
Want to drive a newer BMW like this?:
It seems like a major 180.
LA’s Roads Will Chew You Up And Spit You Out
The answer lies in the way LA is laid out. Detroit, my former home, is basically one giant grid, with massively wide and traffic-free streets:
If I wanted to drive from my former home of Troy down to Detroit in my 1965 Plymouth Valiant, it was no trouble — I’d just head south on one of the gridded streets (Rochester Rd) then west on another wide and gridded street (14 mile road), then hit Woodward Avenue (that’s the one labeled “1”) and cruise down it at 45 mph until I got to Detroit. Literally three turns, including the one out of my driveway.
LA is different, in part because of its geography (lots of canyons) and in part because of how tightly everything is crammed together:
Look at that twisted up mess of roads. They’re hardly gridded at all, and in the areas where they appear to be, the grids themselves are tiny. There simply aren’t as many wide, traffic light-free surface streets that you can cruise for miles and miles, and the ones that do exist are choked with wild amounts of traffic.
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I’ve been driving my brother’s 1966 Ford Mustang and my 1985 Jeep J10 here every day, and it just hasn’t been working out. Specifically, I’m referring to my commute from studio City (labeled on that map with a heart) to Van Nuys just northwest. That’s even a gridded part of town, but because of traffic on surface streets, I’m forced to take the freeway. There’s no Woodward Avenue to cruise up, it’s 65 MPH followed by a hard stomp on the brake pedal, some slow moving traffic, then 65 MPG again — rinse and repeate. Meanwhile, vehicles are moving in and out of lanes on every side of me. There’s zero lane discipline.
When driving my old iron on the highway, all I see is danger. Huge, modern trucks and SUVs weaving in and out of my lane, stomping their brakes, and behaving erratically at the slightest sign of precipitation, of which there has been much lately. On surface streets, all I see is potential fender benders, as gridlock abounds.
Compared to Detroit, LA just doesn’t feel as conducive to classic-car commuting. Cruising on weekends? Absolutely. The weather is great (I’m told), and there really are some great cruising roads. But commuting on the highways, then gridlocked surface streets — it doesn’t feel safe to me, and it’s just unnerving.
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I don’t feel that way in the i3. The car is small, visibility is great, it’s quiet, it can handle high speeds without issue, and I know that if I crash it, I’ll have a much better chance of surviving than if I crashed one of my old cars. Also, less will be lost (as much as I appreciate the i3, it’s not rare). Just listen to how relaxed I sound in that video above; that’s not the case when I’m behind the wheel of my J10 on the highway, especially in the rain.
Parking Ain’t Easy
And then there’s the issue of parking. Believe it or not, the first-generation Ford Mustang is humongous, at over 15 feet in length. My 1985 Jeep J10 is well over 16 feet. These are long machines, and though they offer fairly decent visibility, it’s still hard to precisely park them in tight spots, especially without a backup camera. The i3 is about 13 feet long and comes equipped with parking sensors and a backup camera.
Again, I don’t need any of this fancy stuff, but it does help.
Gas Prices Are Tough
And then there’s the obvious point about gas costing $5 a gallon. I realize that buying an $11,000 BMW i3 that needs expensive insurance isn’t going to save me money, even over multiple years driving my 13 MPG Jeep J10, but there’s just something that feels off about pouring $100 worth of fuel in your vehicle each week. It hurts a bit. I guess if my i3 is reliable and holds its value, maybe it could save me long-term, but I’m not expecting any cheap electric car to hold its value long-term, as the technology is advancing too rapidly and government incentives keep bringing the price of new EVs down.
Still, it’s not about the money.There are many reasons why I bought the i3: I genuinely like it! I think it’s technologically fascinating, I think there’s value in getting the experience of driving an EV (especially given my current post), and there’s social value in being able to drive folks around in something they feel comfortable in (something I’m realizing as I get older).
But the big factors are me feeling safe, being able to park, not dealing with the sting of pouring hundreds of dollars into a car each week, getting the EV experience, saving my old machines from potential fender-benders, but above all: It’s about preserving my love for those machines. Because commuting in them, especially when I’m running late for a meeting, turns what I see as beautiful mechanical-partners into utilitarian objects that frankly don’t really do this specific job that well. And my old cars are so much more than that.
They’re soulful beasts that bring me genuine joy when I’m behind the wheel on a weekend, just cruising. My BMW i3 commuter is going to make sure that never changes.
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I think a used Mirai (or even a heavily discounted new one with free hydrogen) would have made for fascinating articles. After all – you’re in the once place in the country where you could legitimately drive one.
That would be a pretty cool perspective to see him write about. I wonder how reasonable a used one is?
I really got a kick out f seeing them drive around SoCal and watch them piss a little bit of fresh water from their butt as they left the traffic light.
The water peeing thing is indeed hilarious. I haven’t checked what they go for used but I think their depreciation is pretty significant.
That would be really cool, I’m so intrigued by hydrogen propulsion. But the average price of used Mirais seems well above what David paid, not sure if the extra content would eventually balance out the price difference 🙂
Haha probably not worth it but it’s hard to find in depth reviews of Mirais or Nexos over a long period of time and I would be very interested.
The hydrogen is only ‘free’ during the lease. Once the lease is up, then you spend around US$75 to go around 260 miles:
https://www.autoweek.com/drives/a33651995/bye-bye-long-term-mirai/
A used Tesla Model S is a much better vehicle all around and will be cheaper to operate in the long run. And there is enough infrastructure for the Tesla to make driving across the country feasible… unlike in any hydrogen car.
Valid reasons for sure, but if I’m not mistaken, do I see a Quadrifoglio Stelvio in that rear-view mirror picture (the one before the screenshot of Detroit)?
Amen, I tried to drive my 1973 Super Beetle to work in Michigan (30 min commute) and I was concerned how people drive here, really stressing, I cannot imagine over there. Even my 2004 Honda Insight scares me a little bit since its small and everyone tries to run you over with their lifted pick ups and not aligned headlights. Now I only drive my Polestar 2 or Chevy Volt to work since I can charge for free at work and keep up with everyone else, safer vehicles, “environmental friendly” aka not paying for gas. Now I leave my “project” cars for the weekend.
When given the option between taking either my ’07 Cobalt (LT, but supercharged, lowered + FE5 suspension, sticky tires, great sound system, G85 Recaros), which is an automatic, or my ’81 Z28, which is a four speed – I almost always take the Cobalt.
Aside from the fact I’ve had the car for 15 years and know exactly how it drives and thus feel very comfortable with every aspect about it, overall, it’s just so much easier because of two things: automatic and the fact it is small.
I am by no means a toxic manualist, and thus have no issue with an automatic that doesn’t suck (mine is tuned, and only has four gears – it’s pretty rarely in the wrong one), but the main issue is the other people. Going through, say, roundabouts, to the point where they slow down so much in front of me I am now nearly stalling the Camaro in first gear – or pulling up right to my rear bumper on a hill…these are all things that peg my manual-driving-anxiety.
So even when it comes to the weekend, everyone else on the road still typically drives my choice of vehicle (and sometimes, I just take the Cruze Diesel or the Volt).
Maybe it’s Stockholm syndrome, but honestly I didn’t think LA drivers were that bad. I’ve driven other places that were far worse, like the SF bay area.
You have made a good choice. That is, the i3 is just old enough to give you some issues, but new enough to safely and reliably get you to work and/or enhance your social life.
Also, I like the idea of plug-in hybrids and the i3 is kind of cool in a hipster sort of way.
David, use your newish, rust-free car in good health!
Man, you caught a Mercedes using it’s turn signal on video. You don’t see that every day in LA. Well done!!!
Oh, our freeways have ‘water features’ when it rains heavily and the drains clogged with 11 months of trash don’t work so well.
When do you get your chauffeur and valet parking?
So that Winnebago behind your i3…..I think it may have been on BAT recently. Shortest wheelbase RV I’ve seen that not a van
The i3 was absolutely the right choice and again, you practically committed (100% legally sanctioned) theft by getting a new battery gratis. Very Smart!
You don’t even go into the bad parts of traffic around downtown, that’s where it’s a total shitshow.
In my opinion, there’s a good mid-point— cars from the 90’s. Old enough to technically be a classic, but new enough to have reliable fuel injection, ABS, and some semblance of crash safety. Case in point, my 1992 BMW 525i, which I’ve been daily driving for years. It handles stop and go traffic just fine, with a decently light clutch and a robust cooling system that keeps temps even in the dredges of the Phoenix summer, good AC, and it’s excellent on canyon roads when I want to have some fun, as well as on the track.
Last time I went to LA, it took me 4 hours to drive the 71 miles from the Petersen Museum to San Bernadino. The balance of the drive back to Vegas took less than that.
I will never drive in the LA area again.
I’m from europe, was in LA for 3days, was staying in pacific palisade, supposed to meet some online friends around costa mesa, i didn’t know what it meant regarding traffic, they gently cancelled cause it would have been 8hours of driving for an hour meeting.
Holy crap, yes, PP to Costa Mesa, poor thing.
Peter Pan leaves Neverland, moves to LA, and gets a car*
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hot-Wheels-Character-Cars-Disney-Peter-Pan-for-Ages-3-and-up/615200838
*and contact lenses
I like this personal development for DT.
He’s still bananas for death traps, but by spending less time in them, the odds of him surviving long enough to produce lots of nutty wrenching content increases.
Good call on getting a vehicle suited for that environment. The Mustang on a weekend trip somewhere in the mountains is one thing. Worrying about being impaled on the steering column on the daily is not worth it.
I totally empathize. I like to drive my ’68 4-4-2 or my ’80 Spitfire to work every once in a while, but it gets stressful. The Spit can’t keep up on the interstate so it’s secondary roads only, and the mishmash of personalities on the road in Coastal Virginia makes for plenty of traffic jams, where I constantly worry about overheating or burning up my clutch. My very, very heavy clutch. (At least the Spit has a slave cylinder).
Still, I’m stubborn enough that my “modern” daily is a 1989 Firebird. It’s got A/C, working brakes that don’t require time on the leg press machine to operate and it even has power windows.
I had to trade my fun car for a sensible commuter a couple years ago. Then the market went crazy so I’m still without a fun car. No regrets though, a couple of weeks of long commutes in heavy traffic in a loud and rickety sports car made me hate that thing to the point that I didn’t want to take it on fun weekend drives. My sensible sedan delivers me to work calm and relaxed. The right tool for the job makes life better!
Yikes, if a 1st gen Mustang (shorter in length than a 2023 Civic) is now “humungous”, maybe you have gone Hollywood soft…..
Anyways, good on you for getting something safe.
I live in LA, so I get it.
I used to drive from San Diego to LA every weekend back when I worked at Camp Pendleton … in a 6 speed 03 miata … with lowered suspension … with no power steering or A/C … and with all the foam removed from my seat cushion (I’m 6’3, it’s the only way I fit in a miata). It probably would have made David proud, although the car was rust-free so …
I remember those drives fondly (sold the miata), but older me would not want to do that anymore.
I think the key is to have at least 2 cars; one semi-boring yet comfortable & efficient (for the daily slog through traffic) and a fun one (where you’re not in a super big hurry and comfort, safety, & efficiency is less important).
And yeah, the rain around here has been crazy lately. Definitely not normal this time of year. Trust me, soon we’ll be burning up again with drought and wildfires. It’ll be fun!
Gonna come to the car show on April 1? (March 32nd)
Hell Yeah!
I saw you at the last one at Galpin Auto Sports last summer and I’ll definitely be attending this one!
1) You keep saying $11,000 – are you not getting the clean used vehicle credit?
2) Your old cars need dash cams. People do exceedingly stupid things around them. If I kept my Fleetwood any longer I was going to get a dash cam because the accident WILL be someone else’s fault but it’s hard to prove without evidence.
Every car I own will have a ash cam. My word against yours? Do you have any idea the BS people try to make up to avoid liability? Heck no, I’m not taking those chances.
It only takes one fender bender and not being on the hook for your deductible for a dashcam to start saving you money.
And no, the fact that you’ve never been in an accident before is not a good indicator of the likelihood that you’ll be involved in a not-at-fault accident in the future and the at-fault person will lie about it.
I completely understand how you feel. For years I’d drive my (very) rusty 1972 Super Beetle anywhere, across the city in rush hour traffic, whatever. But in the last five years or so, I have noticed a definite decline the in driving ability of my fellow motorists. Which is a polite way of saying, they’re fucking lunatics. The Beetle does NOT feel safe on a highway shared with today’s drivers. Not that a Jetta Sportwagen is exactly a tank or a sports car, but it’s loads better than the Beetle and chances are, I’ll survive a crash. The Beetle is now an around-town car. Maybe when it gets the rust repair and suspension rebuilt it absolutely deserves I’ll venture out onto the highways again…but not much.
You’re doing the right thing, David. The i3 has enough instant “go” to get you out of sticky situations on the highway, and, as you pointed out, is MUCH safer if anything does happen. Commuting in an EV is so relaxing and fun – it’s what a car like the i3 was made for! Even though I love driving my EVs for fun as well, (there’s nothing like the feeling of 400+ HP instantly responding when I ask for it) I think you’re 100% correct in saving your classics for cruising fun on weekends. Stick to it and enjoy the hell out of that little Beemer when it finally gets delivered.
Yeah, I don’t know what its like in other states, but around here you can get t-boned driving carefully and doing all the right things. The driving is just very fast-paced and erratic and you can’t count on people to do the right thing.
This happened less than a year ago: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-09/nurse-nicole-linton-hit-130-mph-before-fiery-windsor-hills-crash-court-documents-say
Being in a late model car can be the difference between getting a concussion or going to the ER for major reconstructive surgery. Or worse obviously.
Everyone is free to disagree, but as an LA driver, driving a classic in LA would make me very uncomfortable for my safety.
Using less gas is just the cherry on top.
I will keep driving my classics. I just won’t commute in them.
Definitely the way to go.
The only surefire way to make driving in LA suck less is to drive less LA
Hollywood sellout. Make whatever excuse you want… 😛
Not a dig at all, but just curious why you need to commute for an online job?
I have a new car because I hate imposing my cheapness on others (family especially). I only drive myself in my Rabbit pickup or my 80s Alfa when there’s no salt on the road
I like to be around my video team, who can shoot great videos of me doing dumb things. Also, in-person business planning with my team at Galpin is going to become more and more valuable, especially in this second year.
He’s just like a Kardashian. He just wants a camera crew following his every move. 😉
Come on, 90% of your work is done in Slack.
Meh, upgrade brakes on the mustang …add a backup camera …. Add additional insurance, add ac and I’d continue to roll that. Plus not like parts are hard to come by….you can literally build a mustang from a single bolt with off shelf parts. If I was a head guy here or at least one of them. The mustang would be my flagship daily, especially living and working on the that area where there’s a ginornous automotive community.
You can’t upgrade the brakes to ABS, which is a problem when everybody else has it.
I’ve literally disconnected abs from all my vehicles, simply because they suck
You forgot to type “gobbless” and include your forklift certification.
Username checks out.
I still would have rather you had EV west swap an EV system in the Rambler. It is small, New brakes would have been part of the equation, Just saying.
I can say though from a recent trip to LAX driving from there to Glendale, the Little Toyota they gave me was pretty far from making me feel safe. Those bigger vehcles and terrible driving habits made me want a fast but equally large truck to either play bumper wars with them or get the heck away form them.
But he needed something now, not in 8 months. In big cities like LA and Atlanta, driving a car you somewhat care about in normal traffic is absolutely horrifying.
I lived and commuted long distance in LA for 7 years, and only experienced damage to my car twice, both my fault. It’s not hard to drive safely in LA, partly because you can’t drive the speed limit much of the time.
ABS and airbags aren’t readily retrofit-able, and a swap like that would probably cost as much as the i3 in parts alone… It would be far cooler, but this was a move that was (at least in part) driven by practical concerns.