Air Conditioning

Boatguy · Jul 2, 2015

I don't see any postings here so it looks like nobody else is having A/C problems.

The A/C failed to work on our i3 BEV right after delivery, but after a s/w update and a day in the shop it's been ok. But it's also been winter. Now it's summer and the A/C has been very sporadic. Sometimes it comes on when the A/C button is not even on, blowing very cold air, other times even with the A/C Max button on, it blows hot air. In short, the A/C is entirely unreliable so into the shop it goes. Which brings me to my second complaint.

To get into the BMW dealer with a loaner (because the i3 is never a same day fix), I need to wait 3 weeks. By coincidence, I also called for an appt on my Mercedes today ("check engine" - usually a false alarm) and I could get an appt with loaner in 3 days. So is the MB dealer a better dealer? Do MB's require less maintenance (not likely), or is it just a bad BMW dealer?

But once again I find it paradoxical that I can get a better service response on a $1,300 Apple laptop than on a $50,000 BMW.

dudeman618 · Jul 2, 2015

I bought my brand new 2015 i3 Friday night and was really hot driving home. I found the AC would not blow cold no matter what I did. I returned early Saturday morning and the salesman tried everything that I tried. The heater wasn't working either. They offered me a loaner, but I was going out of town for the the week for vacation/holiday, so the service manager said he couldn't give me one because it might be fixed by Tuesday and he'd be out a loaner for the rest of the week.

I got a call on Monday, the AC compressor wasn't working and they have the part in stock, so it would get replaced. Wednesday he called and said the compressor was installed but they are seeing a fault with the heater and had put in a call for BMW corporate tech support for assistance. It is now Thursday night and I have no update. Friday is a holiday for many businesses, and I will be home Sunday so I have little idea when I will see the car in working order.

This is the same dealership where I took my 335XI for service when it was tripping limp mode codes, they said it needed the twin turbos replaced. That would cost $5700, "Would you like to do that today?" No thank you. I took the car to an indie shop and they fixed the car for $140, they only had to replace a couple of vacuum hoses. I said I would not return to this dealer, but I did and bought a car from them.

--- new BEV i3 owner.

i3atl · Jul 2, 2015

Boatguy said:
So is the MB dealer a better dealer? Do MB's require less maintenance (not likely), or is it just a bad BMW dealer?

The i3 is very often a same-day fix at our local dealer (for example, the KLE update - typically done same day).

If I were you, I would check with a few other dealers.

WoodlandHills · Jul 3, 2015

I have only taken mine in a couple of times, but the shortest wait was 5 days. No such thing as overnight service on an i3: the KLE was 7 days including software update. My dealer said that parts cannot be ordered until the vehicle is actually in the shop, no preordering parts for a rapid turnaround as per BMWUSA.

Schnort · Jul 4, 2015

Boatguy said:
I don't see any postings here so it looks like nobody else is having A/C problems.

The A/C failed to work on our i3 BEV right after delivery, but after a s/w update and a day in the shop it's been ok. But it's also been winter. Now it's summer and the A/C has been very sporadic. Sometimes it comes on when the A/C button is not even on, blowing very cold air, other times even with the A/C Max button on, it blows hot air. In short, the A/C is entirely unreliable so into the shop it goes. Which brings me to my second complaint.

To get into the BMW dealer with a loaner (because the i3 is never a same day fix), I need to wait 3 weeks. By coincidence, I also called for an appt on my Mercedes today ("check engine" - usually a false alarm) and I could get an appt with loaner in 3 days. So is the MB dealer a better dealer? Do MB's require less maintenance (not likely), or is it just a bad BMW dealer?

But once again I find it paradoxical that I can get a better service response on a $1,300 Apple laptop than on a $50,000 BMW.

My AC didn't work on delivery either. It took about a week to get fixed. Since then, it seems to be fine, and I've never noticed a case where the AC couldn't 'keep up'.

I'm in central Texas, btw. We haven't seen any 100 deg days yet, and I park in a garage, but it's still been pretty warm the past few weeks.