UK i3 buyers - Newbie questions on buying costs

Tengocity · Jul 29, 2014

Hi there, I'm looking in to the i3 for me and wife- it will replace a Z4 and join our existing 335d tourer.

I'm trying to get a good idea of what is a realistic monthly cost to have a REx one, with a view to doing around 10-12k miles per year. Anyone care to share what kind of figures their deals worked out as? And are these as lease deals or PCP's?

We would trade the Z4 in, and expect to have around 3k as a deposit, but would rather minimise the deposit and consider a pure monthly running cost.

Similarly, what are people working out as the cost to fully charge the i3 at home in the UK?

Thanks for any help and advice!

MikeS · Jul 29, 2014

Snap - I sold my Z4 and am waiting for an i3REX.

I opted to take the BMW personal lease option (I am retired so have no access to other deals like those for self employed) and I don’t want to worry about its resale value.

I wanted to pay the full cost up front but the BMW finance would not allow it. Therefore, at the moment I have an offer over 48 months with paying the max deposit (£18800) and then 47 payments of £43.92. However, the costs obviously vary depending on the options you take - my cars total cost for cash was £30210 inc government grant.

Tengocity · Jul 29, 2014

Thanks Mike - so are you saying it's not possible to just buy a car outright with cash? Not that I would!

What have you worked out the real UK cost to charge one up to be?

BrianStanier · Jul 29, 2014

You can certainly buy outright for cash.

The i3 takes about 22 kWh to fully charge. The cost will depend on how much you pay for electricity. We are on a 100% renewable tariff from Good Energy and that is roughly 15p/kWh, so a full charge costs just over £3. Many users have an economy rate and would pay much less.

Plug · Jul 29, 2014

Tengocity said:
What have you worked out the real UK cost to charge one up to be?

I'm keeping records and when I charge overnight on the night tariff I'm paying 91p per full charge (including losses). Since getting the car my leccy bill has gone up by about £15 a month and that's for about 1k miles per month. It's almost laughable how inexpensive the costs are. The longer I own an EV the more I wonder why there aren't more of them on our roads :?:

Tengocity · Jul 29, 2014

Thanks guys, that's really useful.

Anyone leasing or using a low deposit PCP?

I'm guessing that it's going to be £450pm, give or take depending on mileage and length of deal?

bishbosh · Jul 29, 2014

Tengocity said:
Thanks guys, that's really useful.

Anyone leasing or using a low deposit PCP?

I'm guessing that it's going to be £450pm, give or take depending on mileage and length of deal?

I'm on pcp.

Initial cost of car including options and less gov grant £33500

£10000 deposit

36 x £362

Final payment £13500

Thats roughly what it cost me without looking it up...

MikeS · Jul 30, 2014

Tengocity said:
Thanks Mike - so are you saying it's not possible to just buy a car outright with cash? Not that I would!

What have you worked out the real UK cost to charge one up to be?

Yes you can buy it outright with cash but for me that was not attractive as I do not wish to gamble on the re sale value. However, BMW would not let me pay the full personal lease cost up front with a 1p a month finance. What I posted was the minimum monthly payment they would except.

elptex · Jul 30, 2014

bishbosh said:
Tengocity said:

Thanks guys, that's really useful.

Anyone leasing or using a low deposit PCP?

I'm guessing that it's going to be £450pm, give or take depending on mileage and length of deal?

Click to expand...

I'm on pcp.

Initial cost of car including options and less gov grant £33500

£10000 deposit

36 x £362

Final payment £13500

Thats roughly what it cost me without looking it up...

Similar here on PCP:

£30500 cost less gov grant

£7500 deposit
18000 miles per year
£450/mo (36 months)

£11500 final payment (not sure exact amount, somewhere around there)

Tengocity · Jul 30, 2014

elptex said:
bishbosh said:

Tengocity said:

Thanks guys, that's really useful.

Anyone leasing or using a low deposit PCP?

I'm guessing that it's going to be £450pm, give or take depending on mileage and length of deal?

Click to expand...

I'm on pcp.

Initial cost of car including options and less gov grant £33500

£10000 deposit

36 x £362

Final payment £13500

Thats roughly what it cost me without looking it up...

Click to expand...

Similar here on PCP:

£30500 cost less gov grant

£7500 deposit
18000 miles per year
£450/mo (36 months)

£11500 final payment (not sure exact amount, somewhere around there)

That's a pretty hefty mileage! I guess the more miles you do the more it makes financial sense!

elptex · Jul 31, 2014

Tengocity said:
That's a pretty hefty mileage! I guess the more miles you do the more it makes financial sense!

Our daily commute is 74 miles round trip. That comes to a hefty number of miles per year

That doesn't even include non-work-commute mileage.

Tengocity · Jul 31, 2014

elptex said:
Tengocity said:

That's a pretty hefty mileage! I guess the more miles you do the more it makes financial sense!

Click to expand...

Our daily commute is 74 miles round trip. That comes to a hefty number of miles per year That doesn't even include non-work-commute mileage.

At least that sounds like it will be within range to complete without the REx being needed. My wife's commute is around 90 miles so likely she would need the REx most days, which starts to defeat the point I think. However, as it's M25 and M4 it is a relatively economical run.

The more I look at the figures I think the i3 will make a superb used purchase at 2 or 3 years old.

elptex · Jul 31, 2014

Tengocity said:
elptex said:

Tengocity said:

That's a pretty hefty mileage! I guess the more miles you do the more it makes financial sense!

Click to expand...

Our daily commute is 74 miles round trip. That comes to a hefty number of miles per year That doesn't even include non-work-commute mileage.

Click to expand...

At least that sounds like it will be within range to complete without the REx being needed. My wife's commute is around 90 miles so likely she would need the REx most days, which starts to defeat the point I think. However, as it's M25 and M4 it is a relatively economical run.

The more I look at the figures I think the i3 will make a superb used purchase at 2 or 3 years old.

Even at 74 mile range, we'd routinely be using the REX unfortunately--particularly in the winter. Plus a couple evenings in the week when we need to do an additional 10 or so miles (quick shop or to the gym).

Our commute is on the M4 as well; the i3 isn't great at motorway speeds but that doesn't matter at commuter times because we barely break 60mph at those times, with an average trip speed of just 30mph.

Tengocity · Aug 1, 2014

[/quote]

Even at 74 mile range, we'd routinely be using the REX unfortunately--particularly in the winter. Plus a couple evenings in the week when we need to do an additional 10 or so miles (quick shop or to the gym).

Our commute is on the M4 as well; the i3 isn't great at motorway speeds but that doesn't matter at commuter times because we barely break 60mph at those times, with an average trip speed of just 30mph.[/quote]

If you guys are expecting that at 74 miles then makes 90 miles look even more inappropriate. We still haven't had a test drive yet... may I ask which dealer you're using?

elptex · Aug 1, 2014

You definitely need to test-drive it. We have ordered ours through Reading Cooper BMW. 100% recommend the individuals there (verdict is still hung with BMW itself and the lack of care for the UK market).

We did an extended test drive and determined that the battery range is solid for 74 miles per day...except probably for winter. We are now considering getting the battery prep to help alleviate the loss of performance in the cold (we park in our garage so that helps too).

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