What to do before delivery?

Hello everyone, my i3 lands at the port on June 6th. I know its a couple of weeks after that until I take delivery of the car. I wanted to see what advice any owners have for me in preparation of picking up my car? Anything I need to make sure the dealer does? Home preparation, or anything else you can think of?

Maybe the dealer shouldn't forget to activate the air condition. That happend sometimes...

I prepared nothing at home.

Sadly, it does not go without saying that you should ask the dealer to fully charge your car before picking it up. This is a technology new and unfamiliar to BMW dealers, and some of our friends in the U.K. actually had a problem with this. Not a big deal with a REx, but really bad juju if you purchased a BEV.

If practical, install a 240 volt EVSE of at least 30 amp capacity in your home charging area. Commercial charging opportunities are generally far more expensive and staggeringly less dependable and convenient than a simple charge at home.

Over on the Facebook i3 group we complied a list of "things to do":

Your car is delivered with both charge rates purposely set to low. You need to go into the idrive settings > Charging and adjust to maximum setting. Be aware that you can set these yourself and you might need lower settings depending on available current when charging.

Both seats will likely be jacked up to the maximum height. Pull the lever to go down so your wrist can rest on the pad by the iDrive.

Be mindful of the speed restriction setting in ECOPRO (75mph) and ECOPRO+ (55mph). You may need to adjust it. Switch back to Comfort mode before executing a passing maneuver.

The rear passengers can let themselves out by pulling the front seat headrest cable and pushing the seat forward to reach the door pull.

To lay the rear seats flat, there is a fabric loop that you pull on the bottom corner of the seat back.

The front trunk is not water tight and under certain conditions water may spray up into it so don't put anything in there that can be ruined it if gets wet. If you need to do so, buy a watertight bag to store it in. Many people will keep their 120V occasional use EVSE up there. While it is indeed fine for outdoor use, I'd recommend storing it in a waterproof bag up there also so water doesn't pool up in the connector frequently.

There is an extra drink holder under the arm rest that you can insert at the front of the center console. The drink holder from the ActiveE is not compatible as it has a much larger mounting stem.

Check to make sure the AC and charging system is working before you leave the dealer; BMW disables both for shipping and the port or dealer needs to enable it before delivery. There were quite a few people in Europe that had this issue. It is evidently a 15 minute fix to enable the A/C at the dealer, provided your dealer has been trained on this and knows how to do it!

Download the BMW i Remote app from the iTunes store and have your CA register you for it. More detail: There are two BMW apps , MY BMW Remote app and BMW Connected app. Which is correct?BMW i remote and BMW Connected (both for US) are correct. My BMW Remote was used for the ActiveE and is no longer applicable. Is the BMW Connected app used to monitor charging, precondition etc.. or is that a different app? The i Remote is for pre con and opening the doors etc. The Connected one does have some monitoring but it's mostly to run apps in the car (via a standard USB-to-phone cable rather than bluetooth) Go to iTunes App Store, put in search string “BMW” in search box, Filter for iPhone Apps only. (See photo of resulting apps, loaded as a separate file under the title "BMW iPhone Apps for i3")

Ask your insurance company for the Hybrid or Electric Vehicle discount.

Press the end of the turn signal stalk on the left side of the steering wheel to display the external temperature on the driver info screen.

Press the button on the left side of the driver Information screen to reset the trip odometer displayed on that screen. The other trip computer is in the iDrive.

To play Pandora in the car, install apps from ConnectedDrive menu in idrive, then plug your phone into the USB cord and launch Pandora. The Pandora icon will appear in the radio menu. You can then use idrive to control Pandora in the center screen.

Download the BMW ConnectedDrive App to get many other features and apps like BMW Radio, Audible, Glympse, Amazon Cloud Player, Rhapsody, Stitcher, Aupeo, Facebook, Wiki Local and Twitter. You have to connect the USB cable to make it work.

When charging you can use the hook on the charge flap to hold the plastic "gas cap" cover. there is a small slot under the plug cover that aligns with it. Or you can drape it over the top of the J1772 plug rather than letting it dangle in the wind against the paint.

Before you leave the dealership, put the car into reverse with no surrounding obstacles and verify that the sensors all work.

If you are getting an an Electronaut Edition i3 Rex without the Technology Package, you may be missing the default code 606 navigation package. Make sure it is there before you take delivery.

When you get home, press the BMW Assist button on the overhead console (open the button cover to reveal it) and speak with a representative to activate and set up your account. It takes about 5 minutes.

Send a place to your car: You can send a place in Google Maps to your car using the Send to Car feature. The first step is to add your car: Go to https://www.google.com/maps/sendtocar. Click Sign in and enter your account information. Click Add car or GPS device. Select “BMW" from the car type dropdown menu. Type in your account ID (email address) provided by your car manufacturer in “Account ID” field. Go to Google maps, look up a business or address and click the More link to send. Once you send it from your pc google maps to the car you click my messages under bmw connected in the iDrive. Open the message and you will see the checkered flag to initiate navigation.

If it bothers you that the radio keeps playing even after you walk away from the car, press the Start/Stop button again with your foot off the brake pedal and it will shut off.

Check to make sure the tow bolt is located in the frunk of the car or elsewhere. Page 195 of the owners manual says the tow fitting is located in the storage compartment under the hood. It should be wedged into the foam caddy for the tire inflation kit.

Here's a YouTube video that may help you set up the universal garage door opener for Giga and Tera models: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s11Y5qGf04s

You can set your presets (above the AC 1 thru 8) to different functions to fit your own needs. I did this in the ActiveE, and to simplify the process, hopefully this will make sense. Go into the idrive and select your sub menu, example click on vehicle info, then choose trip computer. Don't select trip computer, but turn the idrive controller over it until the check mark shows. Then select the preset you want, and press and hold until it confirms. it should then show up on the top of the screen with the rest of the presets in blue. You can absolutely go into the sub menus and select options to save on some things, but not on others. Play with it. I also selected all of my radio/satellite presets and saved the presets as a preset. When you leave the radio is preset mode, you can then scroll thru the radio presets on the steering wheel while in other menus.

Download the following apps and set up the associated accounts: Chargepoint, Greenlots, Plugshare, Recargo, Blink, Carstations.

This is perfect and exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Tom!

I've had my car for nearly 3 months and learned stuff in that post, thanks Tom. Saved.

EDIT
For UK users, I entered my ConnectedDrive user name rather than my email and it works sending from GoogleMaps to the car.

Regards

Bill

It's great to hear that Southern CA is finally getting i3's! Have fun with your new car!
I ordered mine in Jan 2014 and was told it is week 20 for production, sales guy said it should be here by late June - I kinda don't think that's correct
What week was yours? Does anyone know what production week they are making right now? And how long does it take once the car reaches production to delivery?

Thanks!
This blog site is terrific and I hope to be telling stories about my new i3, if it ever gets here!

I ordered mine at the end of February. It began production April 21st, left Germany around the 10th of May, and hits Port Hueneme on June 6th!