Chicago Area

[RExingIT]

I know there are several i3 owners in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. I'm trying to make connections with anyone in the west suburbs.

 

[spinball]

I'm in Milwaukee.

Did you see Schaumburg now has a CCS charger?

 

[RExingIT]

Spinball. I hadn't seen that Schaumburg has a CCS.

I just looked on PlugShare. Is it the one up at the BMW dealer?

 

[spinball]

No it's at a BMW NA building apparently.

 

[RExingIT]

Looks like there are 2 more CCS stations available now in the suburbs. One at Woodfield Mall and one just north West of Willow Rd and Rt. 43.

Slow but steady progress.

 

[shredder]

Greetings! A few days into my i3 and I'm also in the Chicagoland area. So far so good in the cold n ice!

 

[wlsmith12]

I live in Chicago and I am thinking of buying a used 2014-15 I3 rex. How is the cabin heater (weak or very good) and how much does the real cold days affect you -15 below. Driving in winter any issues? I do not have a garage but have a 220 outlet. Also the dealer is trying to tell me the rex engine has changed from 2014-2015? He is saying the 2015 has a higher output?

 

[CaptainABCD]

Bumping this old thread -- looking for other i3 owners in Chicagoland who have a coding cable and software. Just picked up my CPOE '15 Rex and need to get that hold feature working for when I drive out of the metropolitan area.

 

[wlsmith12]

Greetings from West Chicago area..

 

[scheumanrj]

Hello from Wheaton

 

[madmax]

Hello fellow I3 owners,

I'm in Palatine, long time EV advocate , purchased a 2015 I3 REX Terra (Solar Orange) from Motorwerks of Barrington.
Traded in a Ford Focus Electric (an extremely underrated EV).

Coded the following features and my opinion of it.

Enable REX Manually - A must have
Enabled the extra 1/2 gallon Gas - Nice to have
AM Radio - Useless
Tire Temp & Pressure- nice to have
Turned off welcome gongs and seat belt warnings - nice to have

In my opinion the weakness of the I3 is the wheels & tires, I wish they were more standard.

 

[jhu321]

being in the chicago area, i've found that i've really never needed to do the Hold thing with the rex. Chicago is so flat that the 6% it maintains is enough that the rex can keep up with the energy demands. I coded it when i first got it, but then when the dealer upgraded my software, my coding got wiped and i never bother putting it back... i think the only times my rex ever fires is when it need to do maintenance, but in all reality the range is more than enough in the chicagoland area as long as you have access to chargers where you go regularly

 

[madmax]

I use my REX a bit different then most..

when ever I get up on the expressway and the traffic flow is fast (70+) I turn on the REX to save battery for the Destination.

This comes in Handy on my monthly trip to Milwaukee, I am generally at about 75% battery by the time I hit Gurnee, so I can turn it on until I get to Milwaukee, do my errands, head back home and turn the REX back on.

Generally I can make it to Milwaukee and Back on one charge and 1 tank of Gas. with room to spare, while traveling the with the flow of traffic.

I haven't had the Car through the winter yet, so I assume I will have to either charge or refuel during that trip in the cold months.

This is a trip that was a total pain in the ... with my Ford Focus Electric.. with that car I would have to top off my charge in Gurnee (about an hour) charge in Milwaukee (about 2 hours ) then charge a little back in Gurnee (about an hour) adding about 4 hours to a two and half hour (driving) trip.

I hope BMW continues the REX concept, nothing is faster then having your charger on board and able to use it in real time even if it is gas powered.

 

[czarmar]

I’m also in Palatine - I had a laurel mega Bev for a two year lease and recently got a ionic giga Bev. I just got TJA going and would love to help others interested in the same mod..

 

[madmax]

CZARMAR,
TJA ?, Traffic Jam Assist ?, I've done some research on it and I would like to try it.. which TJA module did you go with ? the one that goes in the steering wheel ? or a different one?

Are the lane markings in the Chicago area good enough to be caught by the camera?

I have the e-sys stuff (cable & software, although I need to update the software) and the IOS version of bimmercode on my ipad as well as a ODBC2 wifi adapter.

I recently had the airbag patch applied and everything was reset , I added the most important things back quickly (range extender @ 75%, extra Fuel, Rolls Royce sounds). but haven't got around to adding other fun stuff.

Also, I have the 20" "premium" wheels and I can't find any decent replacements.. Ideally I would like to have nice looking 19" wheels on all four corners with rotatable tires. the potholes in cook county are killing the 20"'s slowly but surely, and you can't get all weather tread on 20's.

anyone found any 19" aftermarket wheels that fit the I3 (I've seen the ones that tirerack supposedly sells, when I called they didn't have them in stock ) Rial x10's but have seen no reviews/feedback on them.

 

[czarmar]

I got the quidzel one that goes in the steering wheel and e-sys is the way to go for that mod. It works decent enough for most of the NW burbs, never got a chance to try some of the tougher roads, but it's not really going to work well if it doesn't have good markings and wide lanes. I got tired of Illinois and moved to the Southeast US. No more snow and crazy taxes!

Look around for someone turning in their lease and selling off snow wheels. That way you can have the 19's for winter, and nice ones for summer. I personally liked the look of the Giga/Tera 19"s over the 20's, plus you can get them with all season. TBH, all seasons aren't great for Chicago, but it will keep you going (with caution) when the roads haven't been plowed, and fine afterwards. The summers aren't safe at all in winter.