[nnni3x5]

Originally Posted by ovekvam

I guess it depends on which cars are offered in your market. The small ones I can think of are Peugeot e-208, Opel Corsa-e, VW e-Up, Skoda Citygo e, Smart EQ Fortwo, Renault Zoe and Fiat 500 e.

Thanks for the list. Unfortunately, I don't think those are available here in the USA. I guess Americans by and large just don't care for the little EV.

[BeastBmW]

Originally Posted by TimeFor

As the i3 has ended production and no replacement planned, anyone thinking of buying out their i3 lease at the end of the contract?

What's the experience doing that? On paper it is a pretty bad deal knowing the market value is way less than our contract residuals. Not sure I would without a significant price reduction.

Surely me

[BeastBmW]

Originally Posted by TimeFor

As the i3 has ended production and no replacement planned, anyone thinking of buying out their i3 lease at the end of the contract?

What's the experience doing that? On paper it is a pretty bad deal knowing the market value is way less than our contract residuals. Not sure I would without a significant price reduction.

Yes bro I am

[bayarea328xit]

Originally Posted by bayarea328xit

Based on comments from musiccitybugs and Encanto, it looks like we will likely end up returning the 2019 i3s BEV in April (assuming no discount from BMWFS).

It doesn't quite make sense -- there are ~ 200 i3 available at BMW dealers, of which, ~ 75 are 2019 or newer model year. The pre-owned market for i3 should cool down rapidly given that it is now out of production for the US (and many other EVs are now in the market). Chip shortage and hot used car market may be to blame.

We'll see where we are in 6 more months.

Update: getting closer to the end of our lease.

No discounts being offered by BMWFS -- straight purchase option at the original residual value.

We'll probably buy out the i3s -- even at our original residual price, ours is a better price compared to similarly configured i3 in the market.

[thepilotman]

There's the Fisker "Pear" ($29,900) which was announced today.

I'm keeping my i3 REX, I love the thing. AFAIK, its the only EV with an onboard generator. (and I don't mean putting a Honda or the like in the back cargo area) I want to order a BMW i4 whenever the ordering window opens for the model I want.
--------
I also put down $250 on a Fisker Ocean, the $49,000 model. It looks like a nice EV after seeing the car at the LA Auto Show.

[mcima]

My i3 lease is up in Sept. Love the car - don't love the back doors. EVs are hard to find and going over sticker price right now so not sure BMW dealer is going to be making any great deals at end of my lease. Wish I could just extend lease one more year...

[Noggie]

Not much leasing in my country, so I bought my 2020 new.
It's been 19 months with the i3s and I have just ordered a replacement, hopefully I will get the new car by the end of the year.
Once I get a delivery week, I will put the i3s up for sale about 4 weeks ahead of that.
They seem to hold their value pretty good, hopefully it will be a quick and easy sale at a good price.

[ovekvam]

Originally Posted by Noggie

Not much leasing in my country, so I bought my 2020 new.

Actually there has been quite a bit of leasing of the i3 in Norway. I recently saw a video from Gardermoen with a lot of returned leasing i3s lined up outside a dealer. Maybe 100+ cars.

[Noggie]

Originally Posted by ovekvam

Actually there has been quite a bit of leasing of the i3 in Norway. I recently saw a video from Gardermoen with a lot of returned leasing i3s lined up outside a dealer. Maybe 100+ cars.

I was thinking leasing in general, most leased cars have been company cars in the past, either service vehicle or people who are getting a car through work as a perk.
"Regular people" haven't leased much, there may be a changing trend, but I would think that the leasing market is very low, probably less than 5% if you exclude company related cars.

My impression is that leasing a car is much more common in other countries, in Norway most people buy their cars.

Funny enough, I checked the top car trading site today, and of the 316 i3 for sale, there was only 19 120ah i3s.

Could be the ones you saw were of the older 94ah model.

[TimeFor]

As we get closer to my end of lease, I'm thinking I may now buy it out at the residual value. I owe 34.5k on it, its 2019 120Ah S w/ Range Extender and every checkbox checked. I have 30k miles and retail on similar seems to be asking 35-38k. Pretty close to being a wash but ugh now Im worried what the interest rates will be like.

I bought the Rivian R1T in March. Kind of still prefer taking the i3 a lot of the time.

[ovekvam]

Originally Posted by Noggie

Funny enough, I checked the top car trading site today, and of the 316 i3 for sale, there was only 19 120ah i3s.

Could be the ones you saw were of the older 94ah model.

I meant the plural form form of i3, not the i3S model specifically. I agree that leasing is not generally common in Norway, but the BMW i3 was quite popular in the leasing market.

[mcima]

The lease on my 2019 Rex is up in Sept and my dealer is not offering any discount over the $31k+ residual. While it is still tempting because thanks to covid I only have about 6k miles on the car, I am looking around for another small EV to lease. Due to skyrocketing gas prices, the market is hot and availability is limited right now.

[Noggie]

Originally Posted by mcima

The lease on my 2019 Rex is up in Sept and my dealer is not offering any discount over the $31k+ residual. While it is still tempting because thanks to covid I only have about 6k miles on the car, I am looking around for another small EV to lease. Due to skyrocketing gas prices, the market is hot and availability is limited right now.

Hmm, I was hoping to get the equivalent of $30-31.000 for my 2020 120ah, which will probably have about 10.000mi/16.000km when the new car arrives.
Hope the market stays strong

[ovekvam]

Originally Posted by Noggie

Hmm, I was hoping to get the equivalent of $30-31.000 for my 2020 120ah, which will probably have about 10.000mi/16.000km when the new car arrives.
Hope the market stays strong

I paid $33K new for our i3S last year, but I could probably sell it with a profit now.

[Noggie]

Originally Posted by ovekvam

I paid $33K new for our i3S last year, but I could probably sell it with a profit now.

I loaded mine up, only thing I don't have is the fancy (fully charged pack leather/white/brown) interior, sunroof and wifi hotspot/wireless phone charging.
Ended up at 360.000Nok (36.000Usd) in November 2020.
It's only done 13.000km, mostly due to Covid and home office.
I see cars with 30-40.000km advertised for 320.000Nok now, so I guess I should be able to get at least 310.000Nok for it, maybe more..... Who knows.
Still don't know when I get the new car, maybe this year, maybe March next year as that is the "cover their ass" date I've been given, so I don't know when I'm going to sell the I3S yet.

[TimeFor]

I thought I was keeping it, but with the used car prices decreasing and BMW unwilling to negotiate buy-outs, I decided mine's going back. Since BMW doesn't make a compelling i3 replacement, I ordered a Tesla this afternoon. Kind of sad, but the Model 3 Base RWD will replace my i3 and it'll be the first time in 22 years I won't own a BMW.

Bummer

[capt_slow]

My residual is $32K for a highly-specd i3 REx. Lease is up in about 6 months and I was on the fence about keeping it. However, I just found out the warranty is crazy on these cars: HV battery is 10/150K and REx is 15/150K!

This combined with the idea that any post-2020 vehicle is bound to have reliability issues stemming from pandemic-driven supply chain problems... I'm SERIOUSLY leaning towards on keeping the car.

[Haywood]

Originally Posted by TimeFor

I thought I was keeping it, but with the used car prices decreasing and BMW unwilling to negotiate buy-outs, I decided mine's going back. Since BMW doesn't make a compelling i3 replacement, I ordered a Tesla this afternoon. Kind of sad, but the Model 3 Base RWD will replace my i3 and it'll be the first time in 22 years I won't own a BMW.

Bummer

Why would you order a RWD Tesla when you can get the i4 e40? The order times have come down for that model and it's 100% better in every way than a Tesla. I don't think you'll enjoy the step down in terms of fit and finish, build quality, and ride. Just take a look at all the users on the i4 forum who have ditched their Tesla's for the i4.

[TimeFor]

Originally Posted by Haywood

Why would you order a RWD Tesla when you can get the i4 e40? The order times have come down for that model and it's 100% better in every way than a Tesla. I don't think you'll enjoy the step down in terms of fit and finish, build quality, and ride. Just take a look at all the users on the i4 forum who have ditched their Tesla's for the i4.

The cheapest i4 with heated seats and destination fee was $53,500 ish but more realistically 55k ish with the options we'd like. The Base Model 3 RWD was 46k but we got the $7500 off and 10,000 free supercharging miles taking delivery before the first of the year. With delivery fee it ended up being $40,900 before tax. With a difference of 12k, it was hard to justify the BMW or anything else for that matter.

I guess it's hit or miss with Tesla quality but so far I haven't seen anything on ours to make me concerned. The interior on the Tesla really surprised me when I saw it in the showroom. IMO its really improved from the Model 3 of a few years ago.

That said, I hate that they removed the parking sensors. They're supposedly going to add the functionality back using cameras and software, but the car doesn't have it yet. And there's no way cameras will be as good as real sensors for parking. The Model 3 is definitely way harder to park than the i3 was. And even though the Model 3 interior is nice, it's still not the uniqueness and quality of my old i3 Tera World.

I love the i3 but the market just changed. With a 36k residual with no option to negotiate, it didn't make sense anymore. My car was worth maybe 30k tops in the current market. It was looking like that car would cost me 20k in depreciation in 2 years. Plus maintenance cost as I was at 35k of 36k miles on the service and full warranty. If the price was right, sure I'd buy another i3 BEV just to drive around LA in. But it'd need to be fully loaded and in the 20's right now.