[radiantm3]

Ever since the concept car, I've fallen in love with this funky looking EV. My wife and I test drove the car back in the summer and I loved the car, but she didn't care for it much because it was too small.

Fast forward to last week and we picked up an i3 for the 3-day test drive event. I drove the first day and really loved the car. I drove my wife around with our 2 kids and she didn't care for it. On the second day, I took our X5M in for an oil change so she was forced to drive the i3 for the day. That evening she told me she loved the car. I had her drive the kids around on the 3rd day and that sealed the deal. She really wanted to get an i3.

So I spent the next few days researching the car more and finding a local dealership that had the car spec'd the way I wanted it. Basically a fully-loaded, non-REX in white. I found one with the exact specifications about 50 miles away and we went to go seal the deal.

When we got to the dealership, the car only had 4 miles range on it so the SA and I figured it was best to start charging it before we started working on the deal. About 3 hours passed before we were ready to take delivery and the charge was only at 38 miles. We had about 52 miles to go with quite a bit of elevation change so we decided to stop halfway at a Target to charge the car while we did a bit of shopping and grabbed some dinner.

Only 10 minutes pass from delivery before a truck in front of us runs over a huge cardboard box on the freeway that goes flying up and bangs the front of our i3 twice before flying over the roof. I was pissed. But life happens and I had to continue on our journey to the next charge station. We finally get to Target and I park next to a bunch of Nissan Leafs. I spend about 15 minutes with the charge point iPhone app and on the phone with a rep to finally get my account setup and my car on the charger. I then go check the damage from the cardboard box and let me just say I'm so glad the panels are all made of plastic. There were a bunch of scratches across the car, but they looked like they would buff out.

About an hour and a half passes, we did our shopping and had dinner. I check the charge level on the car and it only went from around 22 miles to 36. That's it? I'm not impressed with charging speeds at this point. We still have to drive about 33 miles through lots of elevation changes so I'm not going to risk it. My friend who used to own a Leaf tells me there's a DC fast charge station at a nearby Nissan dealership so we go drive over there. Turns out their DC charger plugs are slightly different. So we drive back to Target again and I plug in for the second time and start doing some charge research while my tired family waits in the car. Turns out the car by default has charge settings set to the slowest charge rate on level 1 and level 2 chargers. So I change the settings and we make one more trek into Target to spend another 30 minutes. We end up sitting in the car for another 20-25 minutes waiting for the range to go up enough where I feel safe trying to get home.

Finally we head off and I enjoy my quiet 32 mile trek home at a constant 60mph in the far right lane of the freeway. What a journey with my first EV ownership experience. When I got home I spent an hour with my orbital buffer and got almost all of the scratches/abrasions out of the car from the box that hit us. Spent another 30 minutes setting up iDrive to my preferences and had a good night's sleep.

Here are some photos I took tonight. I still can't believe how much I'm enjoying this little car.







Update:

Finally got my L2 charger installed at my house. Took a few more photos. Still loving this car. We've put about 1400 miles on the car now.

[Vintage]

what excellent photographs!

[jadnashuanh]

I really enjoy mine, and my 'other' car may go many weeks in between uses since most of my driving is well within the range of the i3's batteries.

FWIW, not all charge points will recharge the i3 at its full potential. While there is likely a software limit on yours right now, when that's eventually fixed, by design, the i3 can accept up to 7.4Kw. So, keep that in mind, and if the unit has a readout, you can get an idea of how much it has available.

As you probably found out, the car displays the expected time the charge will be finished, and if it seems way too long, you need to check your idrive settings or the EVSE, as some of them are only capable of 3-4Kw, not the 7.4 the car is designed to accept at max. The EVSE that comes with the USA cars is only 12A, or about 1.44Kw, and filling 18.4Kw into the car needs a bunch of hours for full as the thing isn't as efficient as a 240vac unit or as powerful.

[Nate@IND]

Congrats on the new i3! (I also just got one ) Sorry to hear about the little incident with the box but you know what they say....

[SANguru]

good to see another local i3 owner. We went REX just for the exact reason of having that extra range insurance. I took it the Blackhawk Cars and Coffee this past Sunday and there was a decent crowd around the car.

[Vintage]

gonna roll BEV and hope I can manage; Austin has more recharge locations than you would expect so I hope it works out

[radiantm3]

Originally Posted by Vintage

what excellent photographs!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by jadnashuanh

I really enjoy mine, and my 'other' car may go many weeks in between uses since most of my driving is well within the range of the i3's batteries.

FWIW, not all charge points will recharge the i3 at its full potential. While there is likely a software limit on yours right now, when that's eventually fixed, by design, the i3 can accept up to 7.4Kw. So, keep that in mind, and if the unit has a readout, you can get an idea of how much it has available.

As you probably found out, the car displays the expected time the charge will be finished, and if it seems way too long, you need to check your idrive settings or the EVSE, as some of them are only capable of 3-4Kw, not the 7.4 the car is designed to accept at max. The EVSE that comes with the USA cars is only 12A, or about 1.44Kw, and filling 18.4Kw into the car needs a bunch of hours for full as the thing isn't as efficient as a 240vac unit or as powerful.

Yea it's going to take a little for me to get used to all the nuances of electric. Thanks for the info.

Originally Posted by Nate@IND

Congrats on the new i3! (I also just got one ) Sorry to hear about the little incident with the box but you know what they say....

Congrats to you guys too! Can't wait to see what you guys do to the car.

Originally Posted by SANguru

good to see another local i3 owner. We went REX just for the exact reason of having that extra range insurance. I took it the Blackhawk Cars and Coffee this past Sunday and there was a decent crowd around the car.

Nice! I passed by Sunday morning and it was weird being at the light next to a couple of gallardos. :P

Originally Posted by Vintage

gonna roll BEV and hope I can manage; Austin has more recharge locations than you would expect so I hope it works out

Yea first day for us was rough since we had very little charge, but it's been great at full charge.

[BrokenVert]

Cool shots. Are you using an external flash?

[GOLFFRR]

wow those pics are amazing!

[radiantm3]

Originally Posted by BrokenVert

Cool shots. Are you using an external flash?

Light painting with an LED light bar.

[particulardude]

Interesting experience. Range issues you encountered leaving the dealer speak to the fact this is really meant to be just a city car. I suppose the dealer didn't know you were coming to do the deal that day so that's why it wasn't charged? Dealer ineptitude in general is rampant - really disappointing.

I have yet to see a single one here in downtown Chicago outside the dealer and I'm on the road here 7 days a week and always have my eyes peeled for who's sharing it with me. I saw one on the street when I was in London in September but that's it. What's that mean? Are they not selling, are they all garaged, are they just in LA and NYC? It's a bit odd I haven't seen any yet.

Anyway, I really like the look of this thing. I scheduled my 3 day test for the 22nd - looking forward to checking it out in more detail!

[BrokenVert]

Originally Posted by moabite

Interesting experience. Range issues you encountered leaving the dealer speak to the fact this is really meant to be just a city car. I suppose the dealer didn't know you were coming to do the deal that day so that's why it wasn't charged? Dealer ineptitude in general is rampant - really disappointing.

I have yet to see a single one here in downtown Chicago outside the dealer and I'm on the road here 7 days a week and always have my eyes peeled for who's sharing it with me. I saw one on the street when I was in London in September but that's it. What's that mean? Are they not selling, are they all garaged, are they just in LA and NYC? It's a bit odd I haven't seen any yet.

Anyway, I really like the look of this thing. I scheduled my 3 day test for the 22nd - looking forward to checking it out in more detail!

The first cars delivered were to ActiveE trial participants. Since then BMW has had some distribution issues (I think theyve been sorted by now). Since the ActiveE trial didnt take place in Chicago its not surprising that you havent seen an i3 yet. Its a numbers game, and since the first deliveries werent in your area youve actually had less time to see them than those in New York, LA, etc.

[BrokenVert]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

Light painting with an LED light bar.

Very cool. The results are great. Id love to learn how to do things like that!

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by BrokenVert

The first cars delivered were to ActiveE trial participants. Since then BMW has had some distribution issues (I think theyve been sorted by now). Since the ActiveE trial didnt take place in Chicago its not surprising that you havent seen an i3 yet. Its a numbers game, and since the first deliveries werent in your area youve actually had less time to see them than those in New York, LA, etc.

I think the distribution problem is no one is forking over the cash to remove them from the dealer's lot. Or most people live 86 miles from the dealership...

[jadnashuanh]

Unless you have the REx, you would likely be much happier to be close enough to your preferred dealer so you could reliably get there on a fully charged vehicle. Just make sure they recharge it so you can get home! In sparsely populated areas, that could be an issue, and certainly might limit your practical use. If that weren't an issue to you, I'm sure the dealership could stick one on a truck for you and deliver it. But, the thing was designed as a mega city vehicle, and yes, some people use it otherwise, the infrastructure still isn't there to make it work really well for long distance travels, at least with the BEV or even the REx, if you are in the mountains.

Think about some parts in the western US...it could easily be 100-miles to the next town with nearly nothing in between. Lived in El Paso, and try going east from there some day...it's a long ways to almost anything.

[Vintage]

PICKED MY i3 UP TODAY - LOVE IT!!!! This has confirmed to my 14 year old daughter that I am crazy.

[E92 M2530Z]

Those pictures are awesome!

I just finished my extended test drive, and now I want an i3, too!!

[Imola.ZHP]

Great pics and post, I love the white i3 with those wheels!

I won't buy one until they bring the awesome sunroof over to the states!

[jadnashuanh]

Originally Posted by Imola.ZHP

I won't buy one until they bring the awesome sunroof over to the states!

You might wait a long time..US safety laws require there to be metal in the roof when you have a sunroof...that would mean a major redesign of the roof so they could have two different designs - one for the USA and one for the rest of the world when a sunroof is installed. Personally, I like the extra headroom not having one in there provides. I realize not everyone feels the same way, but I often feel like a second class citizen when IF the sunroof is optional, it is included as part of most packages that have options that I'd want. IOW, it is often not a stand-alone option, and that headroom means there are a lot of vehicles I just won't buy because I don't like banging my head or rubbing my hair because of the sunroof. I don't feel it's a big issue on a short-range vehicle like the i3, and the drag caused by having it opened just means fewer miles you can travel, not counting the extra weight on a light car in the worst possible place for it.

[uter]

Those are great pics.

On the BEV, I assume you got the $2000 innovation credit. Did you find the dealer was willing to discount a loaded BEV any more than that?

[-c-]

Originally Posted by uter

Those are great pics.

On the BEV, I assume you got the $2000 innovation credit. Did you find the dealer was willing to discount a loaded BEV any more than that?

Picking mine up next week, fully loaded, white with the mid range interior and 20" rims from laurel BMW in Westmont il, total discount $6380
Minus my 1 series trade in on taxes which took an additional 1800 off for a total of $8180 once I add the $7500 tax credit and the $4000 state incentive I'll have a combined discount of $19180
Which turns a 50k dollar car into a 30k dollar car..... Amazing deal!

Bill Jacobs BMW in Naperville il, is also giving BIG discounts of 6k to even 7k off MSRP. Time to buy is now! Their saying in 2015 their will likely be no more customer choice option in Illinois as its set to expire and BMW is going to throttle back i3 numbers to get supply and demand to return to normal. So the deals we see now may dry up come next year.

[Vintage]

We love my i3 and enjoy it everyday - for me, just a great buy on a fun car that serves 90% of our needs. For the other 10% we have a 535d xdrive an Z4 35i. My wife drives it around on "comfort" and it is a very enjoyable car. Plus, it is super, nerdy cool.