russtyjames
Member
Somehow I managed to borrow a BMW I3 overnight on Sunday with the one condition it was to be retuned for Monday morning when they had back to back test drives booked. I really wanted to borrow one so that I could drive it on my normal roads and also convince my wife it would handle the daily duties with ease. We are looking to get an BEv which be driven 40 miles daily along A/B/M roads (mostly above 40mph), the I3 wont be used as a city car.
The Route
Chalgrove -> High Wycombe - 20 miles Battery
High Wycombe -> Chalgrove - 20 miles Rex
Chalgrove -> Egham -> Ace Cafe - 100 miles Rex (then home)
Chlagrove -> High Wycombe -> BMW - 50 miles Battery
First Impressions
Wow what a car as per all the reviews. Amazing amount power whenever you need it, It really is quick. It seems to pull well in all situations even up the steepest hills or at 80mph on a motorway. I tended to want to drive it like a hot hatch and overtake everything in sight, I gave my father in law a fun journey back from the dealers. The space is modern and spacious with tons of storage, I nearly lost my phone a few times. The I3 was fairly well specked and the LED headlights stood out as an option that I now need to consider.
The Ride
I would say it's firm but comfortable. On the country roads around here it was subtle and soft with slight initial body roll into the corners. Once you get used to this its great fun to drive, I chose to come home the Eco Pro + route as it's such a joy to drive. The Eco Pro + routes are normally fun as they avoid all motorways and take in every back road you didn't know... You will feel a pothole if you hit one, I think this is down to the wheel/tyre size combo. It wasn't really a problem and no worse than the Volvo we have now with 17inch rims and low profile tyres but maybe I'm used to it. The car felt slightly light on the motorway and sensitive to steering movements but again I would need to get used to the driving style.
The Range
The battery seems to hold up well after a full charge. Today with some traffic jams, spirited driving on A/B roads and then a good average speed on the motorway I would have managed around 72-75 miles. If I drove a lot more sensibly I feel the 80 miles quoted is achievable. It amazed me how much the climate control will reduce your overall range, on a full charge it removed 8 miles off the total range if I kept it running.
Re-gen brakes
This was the most amazing part of the driving experience for me and could completely change my driving style. The throttle pedal was really adaptive allowing you to vary the amount of regenerative braking you wanted to apply easily controlling where you stopped and how quick. The Re-Gen had little effect above 65mph but really started coming into force below 50mph, if you came completely of the pedal it will slow down so rapidly that it applies the brake lights. I managed to slow from 60mph+ and make my turning (10mph) with no problems on the first go. It's hard to hold the throttle in the neutral position where it's neither drawing power or charging, there is no easy demarkation on the pedal instead you have to find this by looking at the screen. I would imagine after a longer time behind the wheel you would instinctively find this.
Hill starts
The BMW I3 had hill hold assist like a manual car, this gave you time to come off the brake pedal and the onto the throttle without rolling backwards. It also had an electronic parking brake that is automatically released when you touch the thortle, you could always use this if you didn't want to sit on the brakes.
The Range EXTENDER
A clever seamless bit of kit that allowed me to drive over 200 miles that otherwise wouldn't have been possible. The range extender kicks in and the car drives as normal with no restrictions, I could keep on going providing I didn't mind stopping for fuel all the time. It has stop start technology that cuts the engine when you stop or drive below 10mph so people don't hear you have an engine. You can sometimes hear it, it found the stop start technology drew to my attention it was running and when it stops. It also seemed to work very hard at times, you could clearly hear the engine when it was and feel the vibrations in your feet. On the motorway when pushed the engine will also work hard, it didn't sound to different to my normal car. Also when I pulled up to the house it didn't cut out and you could clearly hear the engine outside. Overall I liked what it gave and how there was no dip in performance, 80% of the time I couldn't hear the engine running. This won't be an option I will be ticking as I think a BEv will meet our needs, we also have a second car for longer journeys.
Petrol Stops
It felt really strange filling up an electric car and even more fun as the average spend was around £7-8. The petrol assistant came out last night and asked if that was the new BMW I3 and why I was putting petrol in it... It seemed to average around 60 miles on the petrol before I was wanting to fill it up again.
Looks
It transpired last night that the looks of the I3 aren't to everyone's taste. The first guy wound down his windows at the traffic lights and asked if I'd had my eyes closed when I bought as it was f**king ugly, I also had a similar comment outside the Ace Cafe after I had parked up. It does seem to draw attention and some people actually did like the looks...
Overall
I loved the car. It fast, fun, economical and should fit nicely into our daily lifestyle. I just need to get a firm delivery date now...
The Route
Chalgrove -> High Wycombe - 20 miles Battery
High Wycombe -> Chalgrove - 20 miles Rex
Chalgrove -> Egham -> Ace Cafe - 100 miles Rex (then home)
Chlagrove -> High Wycombe -> BMW - 50 miles Battery
First Impressions
Wow what a car as per all the reviews. Amazing amount power whenever you need it, It really is quick. It seems to pull well in all situations even up the steepest hills or at 80mph on a motorway. I tended to want to drive it like a hot hatch and overtake everything in sight, I gave my father in law a fun journey back from the dealers. The space is modern and spacious with tons of storage, I nearly lost my phone a few times. The I3 was fairly well specked and the LED headlights stood out as an option that I now need to consider.
The Ride
I would say it's firm but comfortable. On the country roads around here it was subtle and soft with slight initial body roll into the corners. Once you get used to this its great fun to drive, I chose to come home the Eco Pro + route as it's such a joy to drive. The Eco Pro + routes are normally fun as they avoid all motorways and take in every back road you didn't know... You will feel a pothole if you hit one, I think this is down to the wheel/tyre size combo. It wasn't really a problem and no worse than the Volvo we have now with 17inch rims and low profile tyres but maybe I'm used to it. The car felt slightly light on the motorway and sensitive to steering movements but again I would need to get used to the driving style.
The Range
The battery seems to hold up well after a full charge. Today with some traffic jams, spirited driving on A/B roads and then a good average speed on the motorway I would have managed around 72-75 miles. If I drove a lot more sensibly I feel the 80 miles quoted is achievable. It amazed me how much the climate control will reduce your overall range, on a full charge it removed 8 miles off the total range if I kept it running.
Re-gen brakes
This was the most amazing part of the driving experience for me and could completely change my driving style. The throttle pedal was really adaptive allowing you to vary the amount of regenerative braking you wanted to apply easily controlling where you stopped and how quick. The Re-Gen had little effect above 65mph but really started coming into force below 50mph, if you came completely of the pedal it will slow down so rapidly that it applies the brake lights. I managed to slow from 60mph+ and make my turning (10mph) with no problems on the first go. It's hard to hold the throttle in the neutral position where it's neither drawing power or charging, there is no easy demarkation on the pedal instead you have to find this by looking at the screen. I would imagine after a longer time behind the wheel you would instinctively find this.
Hill starts
The BMW I3 had hill hold assist like a manual car, this gave you time to come off the brake pedal and the onto the throttle without rolling backwards. It also had an electronic parking brake that is automatically released when you touch the thortle, you could always use this if you didn't want to sit on the brakes.
The Range EXTENDER
A clever seamless bit of kit that allowed me to drive over 200 miles that otherwise wouldn't have been possible. The range extender kicks in and the car drives as normal with no restrictions, I could keep on going providing I didn't mind stopping for fuel all the time. It has stop start technology that cuts the engine when you stop or drive below 10mph so people don't hear you have an engine. You can sometimes hear it, it found the stop start technology drew to my attention it was running and when it stops. It also seemed to work very hard at times, you could clearly hear the engine when it was and feel the vibrations in your feet. On the motorway when pushed the engine will also work hard, it didn't sound to different to my normal car. Also when I pulled up to the house it didn't cut out and you could clearly hear the engine outside. Overall I liked what it gave and how there was no dip in performance, 80% of the time I couldn't hear the engine running. This won't be an option I will be ticking as I think a BEv will meet our needs, we also have a second car for longer journeys.
Petrol Stops
It felt really strange filling up an electric car and even more fun as the average spend was around £7-8. The petrol assistant came out last night and asked if that was the new BMW I3 and why I was putting petrol in it... It seemed to average around 60 miles on the petrol before I was wanting to fill it up again.
Looks
It transpired last night that the looks of the I3 aren't to everyone's taste. The first guy wound down his windows at the traffic lights and asked if I'd had my eyes closed when I bought as it was f**king ugly, I also had a similar comment outside the Ace Cafe after I had parked up. It does seem to draw attention and some people actually did like the looks...
Overall
I loved the car. It fast, fun, economical and should fit nicely into our daily lifestyle. I just need to get a firm delivery date now...
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