[cruzer666]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

Around NorCal PG&E territory, the midnight EV teaser rates are more than offset by shoulder and peak rates, unless there is no electricity used during those hours. On average EV rates or otherwise, the home charging cost is around $0.35/kWh. I think Tesla supercharging is $0.28/kWh off-peak.

I'm in SoCal, SCE territory, $0.35 on peak (barely using any since I have solar) and $0.19 off peak. Some people have a grandfathered rate of $0.08 if they got a dedicated EV panel.

[techwhiz1]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

Around NorCal PG&E territory, the midnight EV teaser rates are more than offset by shoulder and peak rates, unless there is no electricity used during those hours. On average EV rates or otherwise, the home charging cost is around $0.35/kWh. I think Tesla supercharging is $0.28/kWh off-peak.

Obviously the best deal in town is free charging(including L2) at work, for that reason I really should get a BEV(any BEV).

I have solar so I don't use any PGE during peak and very little at off peak.
Best product Tesla made (battery).

My heavy usage is at night charging my Bolt.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by techwhiz1

I have solar so I don't use any PGE during peak and very little at off peak.
I have solar and the best product Tesla made (battery).

My heavy usage is at night charging my Bolt.

The best product Tesla made is not its battery, but TSLA.

Yeah installing solar with its upfront cost does help BEV ownership, but the upfront cost needs to be amortized over the lifetime of the panels as extra $0.xy/mile(plus savings towards home electricity use). Do u have any data of $0.xy for your particular experience with solar?

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by cruzer666

I'm in SoCal, SCE territory, $0.35 on peak (barely using any since I have solar) and $0.19 off peak. Some people have a grandfathered rate of $0.08 if they got a dedicated EV panel.

Those SCE rates do not look that bad. The NorCal PG&E EV2-A are like $0.24/$0.45/$0.56 for off-peak/shoulder/peak.

[cruzer666]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

Those SCE rates do not look that bad. The NorCal PG&E EV2-A are like $0.24/$0.45/$0.56 for off-peak/shoulder/peak.

So I had to check for accuracy, just just got a rate increase. It's 22 cents off peak and 54 cents peak. Most of my usage (90%) is off peak.

[techwhiz1]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

The best product Tesla made is not its battery, but TSLA.

Yeah installing solar with its upfront cost does help BEV ownership, but the upfront cost needs to be amortized over the lifetime of the panels as extra $0.xy/mile(plus savings towards home electricity use). Do u have any data of $0.xy for your particular experience with solar?

I never did the math.
My math was the reduction in my electricity bill and not how it realatws to EV.

It's also difficult because during peak O sell everything my panels generate and run off the battery. Soy consumption from the grid is when the sun isn't shining.

[spool twice]

FPL is $0.12067/kW.

60% (20-80%), it would cost $5.90 for me.

I drive about 40miles on average per week, I would charge once a month.

[Fast400]

Here's my thought...right before I ordered

[mtech8]

Was at the dealer's today to service a car and decided to take the i4 out for another spin.

[Display]
Not sure if others experienced this. But does the steering wheel (in a comfortable position) partially block your view of the dash/display?

I tried to take the photo from the perspective of my eye. And it slightly bothers me (not enough to dissuade me from getting an i4) that I don't see the upper right and left portions of the display. Perhaps if I moved the steering wheel higher, but it doesn't feel very good. If you look at the photo, the steering wheel is pretty high as is.

I took a similar photo from the loaner 330. See how everything can be see (on the main and center screens).

[iDrive]
Really like still having the physical controller and not having to reach to touch the display. Not spending a lot of time to familiarize myself with where different options are. It was nice to be able to use voice to pull up say "Iconic Sound" setting.

[Drive]
I spent a little time driving in Eco Pro this time as well. Reading in this or one of the threads that someone was going to drive it in that mode most of the time. For this car, Eco Pro still felt plenty fast (for daily driving around town).

Sports Boost from a stand still with full acceleration really has torque steer. Some of it is influenced by the road surface as well. The car really has a lot of power and I can totally see tires wearing out fast if driven this way a lot. Just curious, is this normal in cars with a lot of power? M3? I didn't feel this when I test drove Tesla M3P, Tesla MYP or the Porsche Taycan 4S. Are these other cars just not delivering all the power initially and the i4 is providing too much? I'm not concerned as I'll adjust my driving habits, plus I'll rarely floor it in sport boost mode. Just once in a while if I'm at a light by myself with straight road ahead of me (to get that quick fix of pure enjoyment).

[Center Console]
BMW can definitely improve upon this old design. The phone cradle inside is completely blocked if you have drinks in the cupholder. I guess the engineer/designer meant for the driver to not have access to their phone while driving.

[sd_dracula]

[Display]
Not sure if others experienced this. But does the steering wheel (in a comfortable position) partially block your view of the dash/display?

Why are you looking at the digital cluster when you have the HUD?

[mtech8]

Originally Posted by sd_dracula

Why are you looking at the digital cluster when you have the HUD?

Haha. So true! I'm sure after a while I won't even notice. But it's probably me just be OCD.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by mtech8

Sports Boost from a stand still with full acceleration really has torque steer. Some of it is influenced by the road surface as well. The car really has a lot of power and I can totally see tires wearing out fast if driven this way a lot. Just curious, is this normal in cars with a lot of power? M3? I didn't feel this when I test drove Tesla M3P, Tesla MYP or the Porsche Taycan 4S. Are these other cars just not delivering all the power initially and the i4 is providing too much? I'm not concerned as I'll adjust my driving habits, plus I'll rarely floor it in sport boost mode. Just once in a while if I'm at a light by myself with straight road ahead of me (to get that quick fix of pure enjoyment).

None of those cars have this "torque steer" or the "front lift" at full acceleration. Neither the M3 xDrive.

Either the M engineers though that this handling crap was funny, or the hardware given is not that good in planting power to the ground without those 1987 Mitsubishi Mirage Turbo handling quirks.

[bavarianride]

Drove the local dealer's i4 M50 demo on my usual routes of local streets, freeways, cloverleafs, flyovers, etc, etc, for 20+ miles.

My current car is a 3500lb G20 330i non-M.

The straightline performance of i4 M50 is phenomenal, a slight blip easily brings the car to 80-100mph.

The handling of the 5000lb i4 M50 is slightly better than my car at cloverleafs and flyovers despite extra 1500lb, and that is impressive.

The cockpit experience is very much like a G-series 3/4-series, except the iDrive 8 screen is much bigger than iDrive7's. I haven't paid much attention to iDrive8, but I don't find the big screen distracting.

The interior and exterior are exactly like a 4-series, and that is a huge plus versus any Tesla.

[chrish.22]

Got the chance to check out the IX and test drive the i4 over the weekend with my girlfriend!

First Impression
First thing I noticed was the size. Maybe it was just me, but it looked and felt smaller than a 3-series sedan. I looked up the specs and obviously it wasn't smaller, but maybe it was the "GC" look that made it seem that way.

Interior was, of course, like any other BMW and extremely similar to any modern BMW except the all-new digital display(s). A bit of a controversial new addition, but I really liked it. I didn't get a chance to really play around with the new idrive, but it seemed really nice.
Like I mentioned above, the interior is like any other BMW in that it still has all the controls, buttons, etc that some brands are starting to remove. I like the idea of having physical buttons to push for things like AC, volume control, etc so this was something I really appreciated. I definitely prefer having all the "convenient/luxury" features that a regular bmw car has to offer as opposed to something more "minimalist"....

Our particular model had the Brooklyn Grey exterior and Tacora Red Interior and it definitely was a really nice combination. The "subdued" red was modest in vibrancy and is something I would definitely get.

Driving Experience
First thing I noticed was how the car only moves when you press the pedal. It'll probably take some getting used to and I wouldn't say I hate it, but Tesla's "creep" feature makes it really convenient especially in stop-and-go.

Iconic Sound. This was one of the features I really liked and you can easily toggle this on/off. It sounded like a deeper "Tron" sound with a slight real engine sound merged into it. I'm probably not describing it well, but you'll have to hear it in person to see.

Although we didn't really "push it", the acceleration was great and seemed more than enough for the average and even above average consumer. I'm certain there's more juice, but from my test drive, it is definitely a quick car. Some people mentioned really feeling the heavy weight of the car. For me, I didn't feel like it was heavy. Did it feel planted? Yes, but the heaviness feeling could also stem from regenerative braking.

Road noise was something I was kind of surprised by and maybe it was just me, but it seemed like the road noise was fairly loud compared to the g20 m340i? They probably sound-deadened the m340i more, but I was hoping the road noise would be less.

Range was another thing that concerned me, but I guess if you have a level 2 charger easily accessible, or even a level 3 charger nearby, range is likely not going to be an issue at all.

Overall the experience was great and is definitely an EV vehicle worth considering for me (once I'm forced to haha). Highly suggest any bmw enthusiast to go to your local dealer and check out both the i4 and ix!

[footie]

^The road noise is no more than your M340i and is probably less in fact, it’s the lack of all other noises that is giving you the impression this is louder.

[brave-heart]

Tested drive M50 as well. Impressive acceleration, very comfortable and quite ride. The dealer mentioned it will be 6-8 month wait time. And the car is selling straight at MSRP. Anyone aware of any incentive applicable to i4 including pen fed ? I am not in a hurry to get this car. Only incentive to get it this year might be the ( expiring) federal 7.5K.

[kindofblue]

Originally Posted by cruzer666

Just curious , how big is your solar system ? How many kW? Mine is tiny 3.0kW not for EV's for sure. You'll need at least a 11kW system for one EV.

We've had a 5kW system on 3 homes now and they've all been sufficient to recharge our PHEVs and BEVs overnight. We're not driving 100s of miles a day though so literally YMMV.

[drexplode]

@mtech8 noticed the same obstruction of the instrument cluster by the steering wheel. Found it annoying but not enough to prevent a future purchase.

[bensanford]

Drove both the i4 40 & the i4 M50 at a BMW "Ultimate Driving Experience" road show event in Washington DC area. The driving course was a very tight autocross around cones in a large parking lot, and so couldn't get the car up to higher speeds. Acceleration was quick in both models, and because of the tight course the differences in the two models wasn't that apparent.

The course was damp and they required us to drive in "B Drive" mode rather than regular drive mode - which kicked in more regenerative braking. That was a bit of a hindrence in the autocross because it started slowing the car as soon as you release the accelerator - even before applying the brakes - so car starts slowing quick than anticipated. I don't think that would be bothersome (and maybe even a good thing) in normal road driving.

The drive side roof piller seemed to block my view a bit, but maybe that was because I was looking to the left more in the autocross course than I would in normal driving, and the course was mostly left turns. I haven't noticed that issue in either my 230i or my wife's 330i.

Rear visibiltiy through rear window seemed reduced from my experience with my other BMWs, but I like the hatchback otherwise.

[sor]

Originally Posted by kindofblue

We've had a 5kW system on 3 homes now and they've all been sufficient to recharge our PHEVs and BEVs overnight. We're not driving 100s of miles a day though so literally YMMV.

Overnight?

Yeah with a 5kw system you're probably pushing 3-4kw back to the grid during peak hours, enough to top off an EV instead. If you have net metering you may not get the credit to pay back what you use overnight but it is usually advantageous to keep the power if you can store it somewhere. Of course when the AC kicks in during summer there will be less to spare.

I've got a 20kw system, and with 48kwh "overnight" battery backup the 20kw of panels is enough to charge the house batteries, top off two EVs, and push enough to the grid to bank for the deep winter months. Usually produces 110-130kwh per day this time of year.

[footie]

Originally Posted by bensanford

Drove both the i4 40 & the i4 M50 at a BMW "Ultimate Driving Experience" road show event in Washington DC area. The driving course was a very tight autocross around cones in a large parking lot, and so couldn't get the car up to higher speeds. Acceleration was quick in both models, and because of the tight course the differences in the two models wasn't that apparent.

The course was damp and they required us to drive in "B Drive" mode rather than regular drive mode - which kicked in more regenerative braking. That was a bit of a hindrence in the autocross because it started slowing the car as soon as you release the accelerator - even before applying the brakes - so car starts slowing quick than anticipated. I don't think that would be bothersome (and maybe even a good thing) in normal road driving.

Regen braking does take a bit of getting use to, where you were use to releasing the throttle to starting braking with this system all you do is slightly ease off on the throttle to start braking and depending on how much you ease off depends on the amount of braking it does. Personally I only use it in town driving but you didn't have the option to turn it off.

I know it's weird but once you get use to it the actual system is brill.

Originally Posted by bensanford

The drive side roof piller seemed to block my view a bit, but maybe that was because I was looking to the left more in the autocross course than I would in normal driving, and the course was mostly left turns. I haven't noticed that issue in either my 230i or my wife's 330i.

Rear visibiltiy through rear window seemed reduced from my experience with my other BMWs, but I like the hatchback otherwise.

These aren't unquie to the i4, they are all typical 4 series Gran Coupe quirks unfortunately.

[sor]

Originally Posted by mtech8

Was at the dealer's today to service a car and decided to take the i4 out for another spin.

[Display]
Not sure if others experienced this. But does the steering wheel (in a comfortable position) partially block your view of the dash/display?

Looking at those photos, I think maybe you found the reason for the iX hexagonal steering wheel the tops of the gauges would fit perfectly in that.