Another tuner i3.

[WoodlandHills]

This one is not too bad either: http://www.bmwblog.com/2014/11/07/bmw-i3-tuned-3d-design-studie-japan/

The interior changes are pretty nice too. But what's up with the Japanese market cars being 20 mm lower than the rest of the world? Do folks just have to order the JDM parts for their cars to drop them factory style?

 

[F8L]

Looks nice but I bet it rides terrible. Even with good coilovers, there is not enough suspension travel and those low profile tires. Eek says my kidneys. LOL

 

[WoodlandHills]

I bet in Japan or Germany it will ride just fine. They have decent roads over there unlike in the US of A where in order to keep taxes low they have stopped maintaining the pavement. Instead of paying a tax to the government, you pay a similar amount every few years to a garage to get your suspension repaired and bent rims replaced so it all winds up costing the same.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I bet in Japan or Germany it will ride just fine. They have decent roads over there unlike in the US of A where in order to keep taxes low they have stopped maintaining the pavement. Instead of paying a tax to the government, you pay a similar amount every few years to a garage to get your suspension repaired and bent rims replaced so it all winds up costing the same.

I'll second that! Everyone seems to hate to up the federal gasoline taxes (and the Feds have not been kind and used all of them for roads), but we likely spend much more on vehicle maintenance than we would on fuel taxes because of the extra wear and tear on tires, shocks, springs, etc. A few states have upped their portion of that tax, and are funding keeping their roads up, but look at any states, especially on the state of their bridges, and you'll find many on the 'red' list indicating way past the time for repair or replacement. People tend to want to postpone this until it is way too late. Often, maintaining things means less money overall for everyone involved. Kind of sad...let the next guy pay for it.

FWIW, some states are considering a road tax on EV's based on mileage driven, since they generally are not paying any road taxes. If implemented, that would take away some of the cost incentives, but if you look at the initial purchase incentive, you'd have to drive a LOT of miles to have it end up costing the same as with an ICE and buying all of those gallons of fuel.

 

[F8L]

Smooth roads are rather dreamy.

 

[Neil]

FWIW, some states are considering a road tax on EV's based on mileage driven, since they generally are not paying any road taxes. If implemented, that would take away some of the cost incentives, but if you look at the initial purchase incentive, you'd have to drive a LOT of miles to have it end up costing the same as with an ICE and buying all of those gallons of fuel.

And those of us with the REX Could end up being double taxed. Not to mention other similar vehicles. How are they going to know how many miles were driven on gas versus electricity? Are they going to just trust us to report? I'd advise all REX owners to keep their eyes and ears open about this topic. Does anyone have any more specific info about what the proposals are at this time?

 

[klaus]

Here's the pics from the article for those to lazy to click through :lol:

 

[nowtta60]

It tells me 1 thing. The bonnet needs to be body coloured. 2nd car I've seen where it's not black and it looks so much better.

I shall be getting mine painted ASAP after delivery. Maybe leave black up the edges though as the orange bits on the door body by the mirror don't look right. ;-).

 

[dculber]

It tells me 1 thing. The bonnet needs to be body coloured. 2nd car I've seen where it's not black and it looks so much better.

+2, my newly ordered i3 is sitting @ the docks so i am just over a week away from getting it. One of the first things will be to wrap the car. Planned on getting the hood body colored and the rear bumper blacked out to match. Then it needs a drop in a bad way! Also working on getting some rims, but as you know there are limited options

 

[jelloslug]

FYI: According to the BMW service manuals the i3 for the Japan market gets manual adjustable height suspension standard.