[MsGoGoMoto]

I get honks and thumbs up daily when driving my i3.
It is so weird. I get Tesla drivers waving at me.. feels like the bikers salute I get when on my k1200.
It's been a solid month and freeeee charging at the grocery store down the street. I just park, walk to the nearby park and walk my daily 3 miles while my car charges up.

Yeah, I think I'll start hoarding some parts from the junkyards like an extra rim, suspension parts, maybe lights, and side mirrors. 2017 so I'm good on the main battery for a while. I might consider changing out the battery if the price goes down.

[garys3]

With the end finally here, anyone have an idea what it is going to do for resale on the preowned ones?

[TimeFor]

Originally Posted by garys3

With the end finally here, anyone have an idea what it is going to do for resale on the preowned ones?

They'll stay low and continue to go down. Too many other EV competitors that are better equipped coming to market. Current i3 lessees might buy in as inventory disappears, but not enough to move prices much. First time EV used car buyers will be turned away from the i3's minimal range

I love mine, but when the lease is up I'm going to F150 Electric. End of an era

Fingers crossed BMW brings back the subcompact luxury electric crossover segment again.

[restleg]

Sad news

[35mphgolf]

Originally Posted by TimeFor

They'll stay low and continue to go down. Too many other EV competitors that are better equipped coming to market. Current i3 lessees might buy in as inventory disappears, but not enough to move prices much. First time EV used car buyers will be turned away from the i3's minimal range

I love mine, but when the lease is up I'm going to F150 Electric. End of an era

Fingers crossed BMW brings back the subcompact luxury electric crossover segment again.

Yeah I’m in the process of purchasing my 2nd i3 now. Dealer was only willing to move 2% off msrp, but I went through True Car to get a BMW affiliate offer and ended up getting 24.4% off MSRP. From $55k down to $41k.

My deal was military service related but there may be other affiliate offers out there. Also, if you bank with USAA you qualify for that discount.

Hope this helps! Can’t wait to be back in an i3

[4151zero]

Nice! was that the net discount including state and federal rebates /incentives?

Originally Posted by 35mphgolf

Yeah I’m in the process of purchasing my 2nd i3 now. Dealer was only willing to move 2% off msrp, but I went through True Car to get a BMW affiliate offer and ended up getting 24.4% off MSRP. From $55k down to $41k.

My deal was military service related but there may be other affiliate offers out there. Also, if you bank with USAA you qualify for that discount.

Hope this helps! Can’t wait to be back in an i3

[35mphgolf]

Originally Posted by 4151zero

Nice! was that the net discount including state and federal rebates /incentives?

No gov incentives included in the quote
Still get to claim that $8500 (vehicle + home charger)

Dealer discount was just under $3k, then $11k for the affiliate incentive.

[UrbanExtant]

Originally Posted by Noggie

I guess I have said this before, but the i3 is, unfortunately "outdated" in many ways, and with all the new cars on the market the sales will drop.

The good things about the i3, size and practicality, materials used, the fun drive is unfortunately not enough.

I got my 2020 i3 late last year and in the tech department it's lagging behind, it doesn't even have the latest iDrive that BMW have with touch screens, gesture control etc.
All of the competitors have much more advanced infotainment systems, autonomous driving and more safety "gadgets", not to mention range, where most competitors has 1,5-2 times the range.

The i3 will be 10 years old, that s the longest production any BMW have seen in many many years, typically a new model is launched every 7-8 year.

Upgrading the i3 to match the competition is probably not an option.
It makes sense to discontinue the current model.

BMW have new EV's in the line up, and more to come, but none is a direct replacement for the i3, and there does not appear to be one in the future plans.

Sad, but it's how development works I guess.

I kind of disagree. There are only 2, maybe 3 things I really wish the i3/i3s had.

1. Heated steering wheel - stupid omission on BMW's part
2. HUD - sorely missed from my M4 Comp. and X5M
3. Maybe more range/bigger battery - although we do just fine now

I don't love the new iDrive. Like the simplicity of what I have. Connects to my iPhone and does everything I need. I do NOT need a full-on home theater in my car. I'm supposed to be driving, that's the main purpose.

Hubby and I could have had any cars or EVs we wanted this year. Price wasn't a factor in the equation for us. We both chose 2021 BMW i3s cars. Mine's white, his is blue. We love them, and couldn't be happier. We even canceled our launch edition Rivian R1S. Kept being delayed, and having features canceled anyway.

The i3s looks ahead of its time, even now. Amazing car! We both love that it doesn't try to be something its not. It embraces its quirky EV-ness and runs with it. Everything else tries too hard to look like a regular car. That's boring to us.

Everyone can have their own opinion about this, we're just sad to see it go. We were excited when the CEO was interviewed last year and said it would get one more LCI and battery upgrade, and sell until 2024. We planned to get one or two of those right before it was done. We didn't expect the ones we got this April and May would be our last

EDIT- should add, we had an original battery i3. We took delivery December 2015. It was my Christmas present to my husband. We ran the heck out of that. Never had an issue. We live on Cape Cod, and even the original low range battery got us all over the Cape, even to P-Town from East Sandwich! Now with the 2021 i3s range we share one home Lvl 2 charger and charge once or twice a week. Truly awesome cars!

[ovekvam]

Originally Posted by UrbanExtant

I kind of disagree. There are only 2, maybe 3 things I really wish the i3/i3s had.

1. Heated steering wheel - stupid omission on BMW's part
2. HUD - sorely missed from my M4 Comp. and X5M
3. Maybe more range/bigger battery - although we do just fine now

I don't love the new iDrive. Like the simplicity of what I have. Connects to my iPhone and does everything I need. I do NOT need a full-on home theater in my car. I'm supposed to be driving, that's the main purpose.

Hubby and I could have had any cars or EVs we wanted this year. Price wasn't a factor in the equation for us.

Agree completely. Heated steering wheel and HUD would be on my wish list as well. Range is okay, but I would have liked faster charging, like 100kW instead of 50kW. Apart from that, I like the simplicity.

Me and my wife could also afford pretty much any EV on the market, but we went for the i3S.

[Noggie]

Originally Posted by UrbanExtant

I kind of disagree. There are only 2, maybe 3 things I really wish the i3/i3s had.

1. Heated steering wheel - stupid omission on BMW's part
2. HUD - sorely missed from my M4 Comp. and X5M
3. Maybe more range/bigger battery - although we do just fine now

While I don't disagree with you, unfortunately a product need to keep up with the market and the market has moved to more advanced tech, making it less attractive to new/young buyers.

Nobody would buy a Nokia 3310 phone today, while it perfectly fulfills the requirement to call and text, not to mention the battery lasted a week, it's hopelessly outdated today.......

Sadly, when looking at what what tech new EV's have, the i3 is no longer "current", it's "the iPhone 7" of the EV market, perfectly usable, but lacking the latest.
I guess the executives at BMW see that, it's an 8-9 year old platform and they have new EV's on or about to hit the market.
From a pure economic perspective, I understand the decision to end production as the demand is lightly to drop considerably in the near future.

I would also have liked to see your 3 things on the i3, HUD, Heated steering wheel and another 100-150km range.
And as Ove mention, faster charging.
In addition I would have liked some slightly more comfortable seats with some more adjustments and some side support.
But as a daily commuting/errands vehicle, it's perfect.

When I placed my order a year ago, I checked out every EV available, and about to be launched. After a lot of research, I ended up with the i3s.
Had I done the same today, I would probably have gotten a different car, either a VW ID.4 or a Skoda Enyaq, possibly the new Mercedes EQS that is about to launch or the Porsche Taycan Cross Tourismo.

[Coastali8]

From what I’ve seen in the newer EV compact cars that are available does not impress me. It’s back to the same old thing, looking like every other car out there with maybe a few more gadgets to play with and eventually break. Nothing new has a Carbon Fiber passenger cell and in my opinion the futuristic look of the i3. The i3 was ahead of its time and still is. It was never meant to be anything other than an agile city car and has plenty of range and features to fit that purpose extremely well. The only cars in production that I know of that are using Carbon Fiber are million dollar super cars or the i8 and i3. I’m disappointed that BMW has discontinued the i3 and chosen to run with the crowd instead of being a leader.

[Noggie]

Originally Posted by Coastali8

From what I’ve seen in the newer EV compact cars that are available does not impress me. It’s back to the same old thing, looking like every other car out there with maybe a few more gadgets to play with and eventually break. Nothing new has a Carbon Fiber passenger cell and in my opinion the futuristic look of the i3. The i3 was ahead of its time and still is. It was never meant to be anything other than an agile city car and has plenty of range and features to fit that purpose extremely well. The only cars in production that I know of that are using Carbon Fiber are million dollar super cars or the i8 and i3. I’m disappointed that BMW has discontinued the i3 and chosen to run with the crowd instead of being a leader.

Thats basically because back in 2013/14, an electric car was a "statement", they were made to be different, made to stick out as different.
The mass consumer however wants a regular car, and now that EV's are more mainstream, the "statement" and curb appeal is no longer important.
I know many people said they would wait until EV's looked like normal cars before buying one, because they don't want to stand out and they didn't like the design.
The new regular looking EV's are selling very well.

Sometimes it not about being innovative, fresh and exiting, it's about what the mass market want.
In the end they are making these cars with one purpose, to make a profit, nothing else.

[Coastali8]

Originally Posted by Noggie

Thats basically because back in 2013/14, an electric car was a "statement", they were made to be different, made to stick out as different.
The mass consumer however wants a regular car, and now that EV's are more mainstream, the "statement" and curb appeal is no longer important.
I know many people said they would wait until EV's looked like normal cars before buying one, because they don't want to stand out and they didn't like the design.
The new regular looking EV's are selling very well.

Sometimes it not about being innovative, fresh and exiting, it's about what the mass market want.
In the end they are making these cars with one purpose, to make a profit, nothing else.

Well….
Tesla claims to have over one million reservations for the CiberTruck and it’s about as different and in my opinion extremely ugly as it gets.
So there obviously is a large market segment that want their EV to look different.

I'm just guessing… but at least in the US the i3 had no marketing exposure, was a little misunderstood, and was probably a little overpriced compared to similar EV’s as the reason it was not more successful.

[Noggie]

Originally Posted by Coastali8

Well….
Tesla claims to have over one million reservations for the CiberTruck and it’s about as different and in my opinion extremely ugly as it gets.
So there obviously is a large market segment that want their EV to look different.

I'm just guessing… but at least in the US the i3 had no marketing exposure, was a little misunderstood, and was probably a little overpriced compared to similar EV’s as the reason it was not more successful.

Well, the Tesla truck is so extreme that it did not even get an approval in many, if not all European countries. Think the square and edgy design failed to meet pedestrian safety regulations.
Somehow don't think it will sell much outside the US.

Most people want a sedan/wagon/suv, and a small percentage wants something special, just like some people buy exotics and supercars.
never the less, a very limited niche market.

Outside California, I think EV's had a troublesome early years in the US, so bad that I know Norway imported a lot of brand new cars that did not sell in the US, there are thousands of Fiat 500e in Norway, a car exclusively made for the US market.

Once EV's started lookin like normal cars, and got decent range, the EV sales took of in Norway, where over 50% of all new cars sold in 2020 was an EV.

The future will be interesting for sure.
Though the flying cars I dreamed of in the 80's, that were "just around the corner" is nowhere to be seen.

[35mphgolf]

Originally Posted by Noggie

The future will be interesting for sure.
Though the flying cars I dreamed of in the 80's, that were "just around the corner" is nowhere to be seen.

I’m still waiting for my Marty McFly Edition hover board…

[Coastali8]

Originally Posted by 35mphgolf

I’m still waiting for my Marty McFly Edition hover board…

It appears your in for a long wait. Considering the “mass consumer ” will want it to look like every other board with wheels and won’t want to make a statement.

[Noggie]

Haha.

I think the levitating or anti-gravity technology might be quite some time into the future yet.

But self lacing shoes might be possible.

Flying cars were so close in the 80's that they expected them to be mainstream by the year 2000, there were prototypes made.
But we were also supposed to have people on Mars more than 15 years ago.
Things take a bit longer than expected sometimes.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by Coastali8

Well….
Tesla claims to have over one million reservations for the CiberTruck and it's about as different and in my opinion extremely ugly as it gets.
So there obviously is a large market segment that want their EV to look different.

I'm just guessing… but at least in the US the i3 had no marketing exposure, was a little misunderstood, and was probably a little overpriced compared to similar EV's as the reason it was not more successful.

Lol yea no real marketing, people still have no idea what it is around me,

Also yea it's a 50k / 60k dollar hatchback! (With options) Was never going to do well.

Not even power seats!

But it was a design philosophy made real, with what us designers dream of but rarely get to make. And as many have said we tend to make cars with mass appeal. So we make the investors happy with lots of sales and profits!

If they made the proportion more low and wide like a sporty 3 series it may have done better.

Hatch backs here in USA are seen as entry level econo boxes more or less.... not premium vehicles.

Plus our country is spread all over the place and not built like many tight European city's so it was kind of out of place here for many. It just didn't offer the range many needed.

I live 6 miles from work with no freeway so it was more than enough for me. And living in the rust belt it's the perfect car that won't rust.

The materials is what sells it for me not the tech. In fact just based of materials used it's still state of the art and no other car other than the i8 can claim it. It's still pretty special. Also with the material used it's so light that it gives you this lightness and nimbleness that's hard to beat in other EV's

And driving other EV's around I don't feel I'm missing anything either. Quite happy with it and have no desires to own anything else for some time. The fact it's so rare around here I prefer as it stands out among the sea of boring.

And the fact their so cheap here is just nuts, used ones are going for 8k to 10k bucks with 30k miles!
That alone puts it in best bang for your buck status! Lol.