I drive an F80 M3. My next car will be the i3s. Why? I had an i3 as a replacement when my M3 needed repairs, and i loved it. I drive 40km in one day of and to work, one charge( not even fully charged) monthley cost will be between 5 and 10 Euro. With the M3 per week about 40-50 Euro on gasoline, not even talking about the yearly taxes and insurance . My children, many others and a bit of planet earth will thank me. Change begins with yourself.
I went from a BMW 3 series Touring to an i3 in September 2019. No regrets! It certainly is cheap to run - especially if you can charge at home on cheap overnight electricity. I arrive at work so much more relaxed. What I have really appreciated is the pre-conditioning - especially in Winter, I configure when I need to leave for work, and the car is de-iced, warm inside and ready to go. I thought I might miss the space in my 3 series Touring, but the i3 is surprisingly practical once the rear seats are folded down.
Szanto Peter well since this year i own a fully jet black 2020 I3s. After also owning the M3 i can tell you it will need full throttle to keep up with the i3s. Also the torque you talk about also goes for the M3. A fun car but pretty useless in everyday life. Im more relaxed and have at least as much fun in the I3s as in the M3. Didn't shed a single tear for the M3 because off many more reasons.
I like the door arrangement as it opens up the entire side for easy access, however there is a downside if the front seat occupants want to collect two more passengers while belted. My usage is primarily as a two seater so not a problem. My favourite feature is the coast mode indicated in the speedometer between power and regen, utilizing this segment as much as possible really extends the range and makes for a more efficient driver.
Well done Peter. Nice drone footage of Budapest too. It looks like a beautiful city. We enjoy ours too but I did not realize how much the eco pro can boost the range. I usually turn it on when I am already at a low state of charge
Good job, Peter, informative and well-presented. My wife and I both have i3s, she a REX, me a BEV. I was glad to hear you discuss one-pedal driving at some length. Aside being an efficient way to drive, I find it (along with the quiet cabin) makes for a very pleasant driving experience. Moderating the go-pedal is much more relaxing that constantly moving one's foot between the two pedals, particularly, as you mentioned, when used in conjunction with the adaptive cruise control. I recently had the occasion to drive a fossil-car. It was weird experience. When I took my foot off the accelerator, the car just kept going!
Thanks Cary for the thoughtful comment! Happy to read you are an all-electric family! One-pedal driving is awesome. Sometimes - when I have to drive a fossil-car - it just doesn't make sense at all :)
I guess im asking randomly but does anybody know of a tool to get back into an instagram account..? I was dumb lost the login password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me.
@Braden Omar I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site through google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff now. Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.
The i3 is a great car but it's missing one very important feature - hill descent control. Try driving the i3 down an icy or snow covered hill and you will find that the regenerative braking will cause the rear wheels to start to slide which quickly induces a spin. You cannot switch off regen - it operates in Comfort, Eco Pro and Eco Pro+. The only solution that we have discovered is to put the car into Neutral at the top of the hill and use the brakes on the way down - hardly ideal and possible 'illegal'. This car needs a hill descent control button!!
@@psznt We just wanted to know the secrets. Responding like this will only drive people away brotha. I'm not trying to be rude. But your title is kind of click baity.
@@praetorin thanks, this is a way more positive comment. If you are honest with yourself, your first comment didn't deserve any normal response, but thank to your follow up here is your answer: There were some things that no-one talked about and I haven't noticed when I was looking around and decided to try the car (after checking tons of reviews and a few test drives). What are these: - the seatbelt issue (not being able to open the back passenger door) - Rex isn't really useful if you are driving faster then 70km/h. Which is really sad, since the proper use would be on highways, on longer drives - traffic lane control cannot be used in the city, just with a hack, but using that you loose warranty - pedestrian warning sucks These are things I called secret, since I haven't seen it anywhere else...
I've seen a LOT of i3 videos. I love how you boiled it all down to the real-world owner experience. I've been driving the VW e-Golf for 3 years and will now get the i3 or i3S (2018). EV driving is a blast for me and I would use Comfort (or Sport in the new i3S) just because it's FUN! I can just charge it back up at home. Also loved your Budapest shots. Visited many years ago in the Winter and it's truly beautiful (and damn cold!) and loved the people. Thanks you!
Thanks for the compliment, Chris! I'd go with the i3. The i3s' extra torque is totally not worth it IMHO. Btw where do you live? I lived in Cali for a while and loved the "winter there". I'd suggest visiting Budapest in the spring or fall season.
Agreed: the power difference with the i3s isn’t worth it. For me, it’s the look of the i3s I like. The red or black or gray paint with black wheels is nice and the normal i3 doesn’t have black wheels as an option. I just test drove both models: i3 has plenty of power but I can (barely) feel the extra hp in the i3s. The standard audio is poor for a $55k BMW and the $800 upgrade is certainly better but still not great, as you said. And the difference in handling bad roads between 19” wheels on the i3 and 20” wheels on the i3s (with stiffer suspension) was surprisingly similar. I couldn’t really tell the difference.
Chris Pierce interesting points. I have an i3 with 20" and Harman kardon sound. My winter tire is 19" though and didn't notice difference in handling. Except on snow while drifting 😎. But the black rims on the stage are badass
God I’ve never seen such a good informative video destroyed by background music. First, the background music is an incredibly short loop ( like 8 seconds), so you start noticing its repetitiveness quickly. Second, it’s volume is to high and played while he’s talking so it competes with the commentary. As for content, generally useful. I’ve owned an i3 for 2 years. A few things neglected to mention or I didn’t notice he said it. The rear windows are fixed for backseat passengers. They don’t roll down even a tiny bit. The range extender (REX) can only be turned on early to hold the state (to maximum 75%) of battery charge on non-US models. The Rex engine was increased in 2017 so it can hold the state of charge better. Still, don’t think of the i3 Rex as a Chevy volt that can do 80 miles instead of 40 before the gas engine kicks in. The Rex is not for daily use. It’s limited in its power, it’s noisy and has a very small gas tank. It’s designed more as a backup plan for emergencies like when the chargers are full or you are going to be late if you stop to charge. Don’t use it more then a few times a month. That’s what it’s designed for. Likewise, don’t not use it. It’s an engine and it needs to be maintained by using it at least once a month or it won’t age well. “Use it, or lose it”. The backseat “suicide” doors aren’t really “suicide” doors for one main reason. They can’t be opened without opening up the front doors first. So there’s zero change on a freeway one could fly open and the rear-seat passengers could fall out. People in the backseat can become anxious and feel trapped when you’re dropping them off: because if you start rambling and they want to exit, they can’t till you open your front door. This happened to me. It’s a great car except for the range. I’ll be keeping mine till Elon and his copycats stop making glass-roof only vehicles. Another choice is replacing it with a CPO 2017 or 2019 i3. BMW increased the range on each of those model years by an additional 25 to 30 miles each battery change. Perhaps a CPO Model S, but few of them have solid roofs and it’s scary paying over 40k for a used car that can be very expensive to repair once it’s off of Warrenty. A sticky door handle alone can be 1k. Might start looking at Hyundai, but quite frankly, after driving a BMW, it’s hard to downgrade.
The REX runs more efficiently if it's activated at a higher state of charge, meaning that outside of the US, the REX is barely audible. If you let the car get to 6%, the REX is very loud, as it has to work very hard due to the limited battery buffer.
2:12. funny how people recommend the “range extender” while saying they never use it. 🤨 Forget about the additional 180 kilograms of this unnecessary fossil engine, get a larger battery model instead.
Base sound system is no good. I have on my '15 Rex. I plan on a '19 i3s Rex and sound system upgrade is a must. Moon roof as well for venting when behind a diesel in the rain
Szanto Peter hello, enjoyed your video. I am hoping that the s with its wider wheels and improved suspension make interstate driving a bit more stable for me as I do a fair amount of it.
I am an amateur musician and I find the base music system functions very well for me. The sound is solid not perfect but it’s not as bad as some have said.
If you still have your i3 you can use the Battery Hold in the USA, and even better you can utilize all 2.4 gallons of your gas tank opening it up from it’s 1.9 That the USA mandates.
ECO Pro+ does NOT give you 30% more range. It gives you a predicted 30% more range, and it shuts off your AC or heater. After that it’s up to you to drive efficiently in whatever mode you are in. You can go just as far in Comfort mode.
Just don't get into any accident as the car is made of carbon fiber not steel, any accident will be very expensive to repair so the insurance co will just total it as completel loss it rather than fix it.
PLEASE, PLEASE , PLEASE turn off the Mus-sick if I want to hear Mus-sick I will turn on my music and then watch your vid then it's my fault that I could hear what you are talking about but at least I will like the music.
no parking should take as long as the parking in the video that is controlled by the car unless your just bad at driving and parking it should not take as long as in the video
what a load off bolloxs the carbon footprint for making it , is 3times more harm to the environment.... so yes you are saving the planet NOT!!! get a push bike if you wish to save the planet!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a 22kwh REx. Hates side winds. Bounces all over the road. Noisy at speed. Aircon kills the already small range. Cheap to run though. Good city car that's all. Oh...old ladies love it. Not sexy.
i3s don't feel that way. We first bought a REX. We liked it so much that we bought a BEV a couple of months later. When BEV and REX met it was love at first sight.
