Do NOT Buy BMW i3 [From an Owner]

[nestiego]

This is for everyone who is tempted to buy BMW I3 over any other electric options.

My simple advice is Don't! Buy any other EV but not i3. You will be thank me for it.

First of all, you can no more rely on BMW service. Depending on who your dealer is, you may get a bad to good service and the BMW doesn't care about it.

Here is some horrible features of i3:

1- Unreliable Materials - Rear End Glass (BMW i3)
The rear end of the car, right above the bumber is made out of glass. It can crack on its own, over temperature change or get fully damaged over a car accident. No matter how small or big the damage is, the whole part has to be replaced and guess what: It is NOT under warranty. So they won't care why it got cracked and they won't pay for it.

Who builds a city car with a glass rear?

I personally had a very horrible experience. When I turned on my car to pull out of a parking, I heard a sound of an explosion, a real explosion. Everyone who heard it thought a bomb exploded including me. I was scared to death. Got out of the car to see what has happened. I found that the entire tailgate glass was shattered into small pieces. The signals are attached tot he tailgate and so over the explosion, the left one was detached and was on the asphalt 2 meters away and the right one was still attached to the wire sitting on top of the bumber.

I had to detach the right signal because it was just hanging and it could damage the wire.

I could not drive the car because I had no left right signals. So it had to be toed.

2- Plastic (Carbon Fiber) skeleton?
The bone of this car is not aliminum. It is carbon fiber. You think that is smart but think of your safety and you would realize why it is not.

The incident that happened to me, happened at night. So I had to wait until morning to get the car toed. Guess what happened during this time? Someone tore this carbon fiber apart (maybe to see if there is anything inside to steel?).

So not only I had to deal with a broken tailgate but also a damaged skeleton. Worse is when I googled to see how this could be fixed I realized that for repair they just cut the tailgate part out and glue a new part there. How safe do you feel to drive a car that is put together by glue?

3- Poor service
Now you would expect workshops or dealers to have the spare parts or know how to fix this. But they don't. They have not got under formal training by BMW to know how to fix it.
As for spare parts, it can take a long time for it to arrive.

4-No warranty on brake or Rear End Glass

You got it right. those two that are a safety measurements aren't under any warranty. I personally had some hard time with the break on my brand new car (I have only driven it for 3k). In a normal driving situation, driving with a speed of 60km, the lousy break would take 30 seconds to put me in full stop. That is if you are very near to another vehicle and that vehicle suddenly stops, you will hit them.


5-Horrible Design (affecting functionality of the vehicle)

The windows are small. They are positioned in a way that if you have an adult passenger sitting next to you, your line of site is hugely disrupted by their smallest hand movement.

I had to tell my husbands many times not to point to anything as I am driving because that would completely cover the small window.

6- BMW I3 Germany is a very small team

Because the dealer I was dealing with was very rude, I contacted BMW Germany. They are a very small team, smaller than your dealership and they simply didn't care.

7- BMW I3 Charger doesn't Unlock

BMW I3 automatically locks in when you plug in the charger and lock the doors. It is supposed to unlock it automatically when you unlock the car. But MANY TIMES IT DOESN'T.

Sometimes you can address it by locking and unlocking your car serveral times. But sometimes that doesn't work. They have a blue button on the side of the car to pull for manual unlock. But that is very hard to pull and well when my husband tried to pull, the button got disconnected from the wire and the wire went deep inside. So basically this option doesn't really work. Or it didn't work with us. If by now, you are still planning on buying an i3, please make sure to test the blue buttons on the car to make sure they work. Because you WILL need to use it many times.

And well sometimes nothing works and your car is locked to the charging cable and you can not do anything or go anywhere.

You would think calling BMW Mobility or service center works. But they connect you to a dealer and if the dealers are closed (which happened to us everytime we went through this) then they say sorry just leave the car there and go.

Many times I had to wait 1 to 2 hours in the cold for the car to unlock and if this is a public charger, then imagin the fees for staying more than the time allowed.

My Story

Now that I have to pay to fix my vehicle, God knows how much....I send a photo of it to a workshop. He was shocked that BMW is not covering it under warranty. Anyhow, I wished before I buy someone had shared with me these points so that I had bought a Nissan. That seems to come with more feature, more range, and it is easy to charge.

Well don't make my mistake...
p.s. If you have a BMW i3 with Shattered glass tailgate please let me know. It seems there are few of us who had faced the same issue. Based on the cracks on my car, it looks like inclusion fracture which means what is used to build that glass can be causing this.

 

[jadnashuanh]

1 - it takes a fair hit to actually break tempered glass.
2 - the whole care is essentially glued together, so a properly done repair with new parts glued to the remaining chassis is as strong as or possibly stronger than the original (but probably adds a few pounds).
3 - this can be true of any car, but my personal experience, it has not been an issue. Really depends on what is needed.
4 - there is something wrong with your braking system. If it's just rust from infrequent use, a few panic stops when nobody is around often will clean them off and restore things. The warranty on brakes and what is included varies depending on what country you are in...warranties vary by market.
5 - How far forward is the passenger's seat? How far forward is the driver's seat? The window sizes are not out of the normal size. Now, the A-pillar is a bit thicker than some cars out there.
6 - The factory support team is not designed to support the end user directly. The dealership network is geared towards being the interface to the public. Note, not all dealerships are the greatest, so it can pay to shop around.
7- this should be covered by the warranty. To unlock when fully charged, requires a software update, otherwise, it should always unlock when you unlock the car. There is an emergency release cable that could be used until it is fixed.

Sorry you don't like the car, but at least your item 5 should have been apparent when you test drove the vehicle, and if a major issue to you, maybe it wasn't the best choice. Most of the others are an issue between you and your dealer, but any dealer should be able to provide warranty service.

 

[i3Alan]

1- Unreliable Materials - Rear End Glass (BMW i3)

I agree this is a poor design choice of awesomely great look but inexcusably expensive to repair, with slightly higher than normal repair frequency for such a panel. However, it does not break easily.

2- Plastic (Carbon Fiber) skeleton?
The bone of this car is not aliminum. It is carbon fiber. You think that is smart but think of your safety and you would realize why it is not.

The CFRP is half the weight of an equivalent steel structure, and is 30% stronger at the same time. This is why carbon fibre is the material of choice for advanced fighter aircraft and race cars and other. The i3 is the first major production car that uses it, but you will be seeing it in more and more cars. Repairs are very different, but are actually easier, and without safety compromise. Parts will typically cost more, but labor will be less. Repair costs are likely to be higher than what independent body shops would charge for steel or aluminum or fiberglass body repairs, but once CF is better known to these body shops, then repair costs should be more comparable. Make no mistake, however, safety is enhanced with this material, not compromised.

3- Poor service

That is a dealer issue. My gut tells me BMW dealers will be above average in service quality, and well above average in service costs, compared to most cars, and on par when compared to other luxury brand dealers. Not all BMW dealers are also i brand dealers, but those that are have been trained in proper servicing of the i3 and i8 and should be able to provide excellent service. There will be lots of bad dealers, however, and a smart buyer will do their homework and find out about a dealer's reputation before using them.

4-No warranty on brake or Rear End Glass

I think you got this mostly confused with your #3, poor service. The brakes are fully covered under warranty. There is no excuse for a dealer that won't help a customer with poorly working brakes as a warranty issue. Only customer caused faults (hard to think of any, but putting water into the brake fluid reservoir tank would be considered a customer caused brake failure) would not be covered under warranty. Likewise, as self-destructing rear glass may be hard to prove it was not caused by the customer or some other person or falling object, etc., but some have reported in the i3 Facebook page getting the glass covered under warranty.

5-Horrible Design (affecting functionality of the vehicle)

The windows are small. They are positioned in a way that if you have an adult passenger sitting next to you, your line of site is hugely disrupted by their smallest hand movement.

I had to tell my husbands many times not to point to anything as I am driving because that would completely cover the small window.

I can't imagine how you could not notice such a problem in a test drive before purchasing. To the contrary, I find the cabin extremely open, with outstanding visibility all around. Even though the A pillars are quite large, they are far enough away that they do not block vision in any serious way. My guess is that you have your seat and your husband's seat positioned in the worst possible way.

6- BMW I3 Germany is a very small team

They have a corporate run i-Conceierge serviceto help. Make use of the help provided, if your dealer is not helping.

7- BMW I3 Charger doesn't Unlock

This is a known issue that is covered under warranty. I understand that they are opening the hole a bit where the locking pin comes through to resolve this issue. Perhaps your sucky dealer does not bother to check service campaigns for such things.

Sorry your experience has been so horrible. My i3 as well as my two friends i3s have all be virtually trouble free, and the most fun vehicle we have ever owned.

 

[kzod]

What turned me off of my BWM dealer was when the guy tried to treat me like I was buying a GM. He lent me a car overnight (great start) then begged me to wait 10-15 minutes whilke he finished up with a customer when I returned and had to get going to shuttle the kids around. I waited almost 25 minutes before I let him know that I had to go. When I called him back he refused to give ma a price over the phone, insisting that I had to come in, offer him a price and bring it in to the manager. I could not believe a BMW guy would actually try that on someone. I argued and he held his ground until I told him that I had no interest in buying a car from him and was disgusted with his shameless pressure tactics. I then hung up. The manager called me the next day and begged for my business, but by that point the damage was done. I haven't felt so disgusted at a dealer's behaviour since I was 22 and got conned on some expensive "preventative" maintenance at VW.

 

[jadnashuanh]

BMW dealerships in the USA are not owned by BMW, so just like dealing with any business, some are better at customer service than others...Don't care where you go or what brand of car you choose.

 

[SSi3]

I love my i3, no issues here... but yes the dealership experience can be poor, all depends on the dealer you use... some are great and welcomed the i-cars with open arms, others didn't care to learn about them. BMW corporate can only do so much when it comes to training franchise dealerships and changing how they think and deal with icustomers.

Sounds like you should have done some homework on the i3 first and just picked up a LEAF in the first place.

 

[ASUN]

I do admire the original post to have the courage to write the above.

It's not easy to talk negative about the car in a forum where it's mostly filled with praises from owners or potential buyers.

This is a good chance to learn more about the car, see it from another angle, and hope for future improvements.

 

[WoodlandHills]

I love my i3, no issues here... but yes the dealership experience can be poor, all depends on the dealer you use... some are great and welcomed the i-cars with open arms, others didn't care to learn about them. BMW corporate can only do so much when it comes to training franchise dealerships and changing how they think and deal with icustomers.

Sounds like you should have done some homework on the i3 first and just picked up a LEAF in the first place.

I was wondering when Default Answer #1 would show up: blame the buyer for selecting the wrong car. Default Answer #1a is to blame the buyer for selecting the wrong dealer.

 

[SSi3]

I love my i3, no issues here... but yes the dealership experience can be poor, all depends on the dealer you use... some are great and welcomed the i-cars with open arms, others didn't care to learn about them. BMW corporate can only do so much when it comes to training franchise dealerships and changing how they think and deal with icustomers.

Sounds like you should have done some homework on the i3 first and just picked up a LEAF in the first place.

I was wondering when Default Answer #1 would show up: blame the buyer for selecting the wrong car. Default Answer #1a is to blame the buyer for selecting the wrong dealer.

Well if the OP feels the design was so "horrible" then why did they buy the car in the first place. Take some ownership of your own decisions in life rather than blaming everyone and everything else.

 

[czarmar]

I've heard several stories of the rear glass spontaneously breaking, perhaps due to a stress flaw, inclusion, etc. It is a horrible design to have a piece of glass that when broken, necessitates replacing the entire bonded rear hatch assembly, which isn't cheap being CFRP and all.

I am really glad to be leasing rather than buying this car, for this and numerous other reasons. Granted, it's a cool car that has some cool features, but too many reasons why it will go back to the dealer in favor of a Tesla when the lease is up - unconventional tires with limited availability or brand selection seem to get punctures more often and wear fast, potential collision costs associated with CFRP seems to be driving insurance premiums up, no panoramic roof, narrow door opening with low roof and high door sill make ingress/egress challenging, ugly styling, uncomfortable seats, coach doors, too narrow to have 3 kids in back, high tiny cargo area, frunk is a joke, camera ACC is unreliable and a far cry from Tesla autopilot, weird square instrument cluster with huge bezel, no standard interior options, like black, grey or tan leather, just brown, no power memory seats.

Why did I get one, you ask? Because the lease payment was about 1/7th of what a Tesla would have cost. I wanted an EV, I like the speed, it has been a good reliable car (BEV) I've driven only BMW for the last 10 years. If it weren't for the fact that I really need 3 across in back, I'd put up with all the other shortcomings given the price at <$100/mo.

 

[ASUN]

I am assuming you are comparing to a Model S?

The i3 is more than half the price of a Model S. They are in two different categories, that's like comparing apples to oranges.

The i3 is in a category of its own. It's right in the middle of the luxurious Model S and the mediocre quality of a Leaf. There isn't really a car that it can be compared to, with a similar price, until the Model 3 arrives.

It's a first gen design, I am sure BMW will improve upon this design in future versions.

Glad you mentioned it is a good, reliable car.

 

[WoodlandHills]

I love my i3, no issues here... but yes the dealership experience can be poor, all depends on the dealer you use... some are great and welcomed the i-cars with open arms, others didn't care to learn about them. BMW corporate can only do so much when it comes to training franchise dealerships and changing how they think and deal with icustomers.

Sounds like you should have done some homework on the i3 first and just picked up a LEAF in the first place.

I was wondering when Default Answer #1 would show up: blame the buyer for selecting the wrong car. Default Answer #1a is to blame the buyer for selecting the wrong dealer.

Well if the OP feels the design was so "horrible" then why did they buy the car in the first place. Take some ownership of your own decisions in life rather than blaming everyone and everything else.

The car is just fine... It is BMW and their dealers that are "horrible". Too bad you can't separate the two very easily, or at all. Blaming the victim only goes so far....... How were we to know that BMW would chose to support this car in a half-hearted manner? I certainly never expected that a "premium brand" would be so unprepared for the introduction of such new technology: No one at the dealer level was anywhere close to being ready to support the i3 when it was introduced. BMW could have caught up, but it just wasn't much of a priority to them and they are still lagging. It took far too long to address the engine mount issue and that reflects the low level of priority BMW place on providing engineering support to the i3.

 

[SSi3]

I was wondering when Default Answer #1 would show up: blame the buyer for selecting the wrong car. Default Answer #1a is to blame the buyer for selecting the wrong dealer.

Well if the OP feels the design was so "horrible" then why did they buy the car in the first place. Take some ownership of your own decisions in life rather than blaming everyone and everything else.

The car is just fine... It is BMW and their dealers that are "horrible". Too bad you can't separate the two very easily, or at all. Blaming the victim only goes so far....... How were we to know that BMW would chose to support this car in a half-hearted manner? I certainly never expected that a "premium brand" would be so unprepared for the introduction of such new technology: No one at the dealer level was anywhere close to being ready to support the i3 when it was introduced. BMW could have caught up, but it just wasn't much of a priority to them and they are still lagging. It took far too long to address the engine mount issue and that reflects the low level of priority BMW place on providing engineering support to the i3.

Re-read the original email... here i'll help:
"5-Horrible Design (affecting functionality of the vehicle)
The windows are small. They are positioned in a way that if you have an adult passenger sitting next to you, your line of site is hugely disrupted by their smallest hand movement.
I had to tell my husbands many times not to point to anything as I am driving because that would completely cover the small window."

And you apparently didn't read the other replies before mine that also pointed out that the car may not have been the right choice in the first place for the OP.

As for the dealers, well, they are their own worst enemies and are not run by BMW corporate, so each one is different and one never knows what they will get when they walk in the door. Some of us have the luxury of multiple idealers to choose from.
Yes the i3 has had teething problems, that's what we get for having the first gen of a car that has never been built this way before in the history of the automotive industry. And when your car was in for service in the shiny, clean, well lit multi-million dollar dealership, did you get free coffee and snacks? a free loaner? free wifi? did it cost you anything at all other than your time? Relax and enjoy our pampered BMW life rather than ranting on the internet.

 

[psquare]

HI Nestiego,

Sounds like you've been going through quite a bit of pain with your i3. My recommendation is always to get in touch with BMW i, who have always been responsive for me, but not always qualified to immediately respond to a problem whilst on the phone to me, for example.

However, using my dealer and BMW i (using old-fashioned phone and new-fangled social media) has helped to raise awareness about issues like the iRemote app and my front windscreen (cracked within the first 6 months and was a pain to replace using an UK insurer).

Personally, my dealer (UK) is doing their best to keep me happy and address any issues I flag with the car. In my first 13 months of ownership, I had to go back to the dealer thrice: once for said cracked windscreen and then 2 software updates (one after the heating didn't work for me on 2 occasions, but the problem has gone away since). In comparison, my previous two ICE cars gave me far more headaches and had to go back to the dealer as often or more.

If there is a genuine issue with your car then you have to make your voice heard with BMW, BMW i and the dealership. Coming on here and telling people not to buy the car might help you to let off steam, but is not productive in terms of your car.

Hope you get it all sorted - keep us updated.

 

[OWG]

To add to psquare's comments, the Internet provides a lot of leverage when it comes to bad service experiences. Most dealers have ratings tools, (google among others) that allow users to post their feedback and rate the dealer. I have noticed while searching my local dealers that when there is a bad experience posted, dealers will respond to try and reverse the negative opinion and resolve the customer experience. You may be surprised how effective that can be. Sometimes it is that you are just not dealing with the right individual in person (i.e Service Manager).

 

[WoodlandHills]

Re-read the original email... here i'll help:
"5-Horrible Design (affecting functionality of the vehicle)
The windows are small. They are positioned in a way that if you have an adult passenger sitting next to you, your line of site is hugely disrupted by their smallest hand movement.
I had to tell my husbands many times not to point to anything as I am driving because that would completely cover the small window."

And you apparently didn't read the other replies before mine that also pointed out that the car may not have been the right choice in the first place for the OP.

As for the dealers, well, they are their own worst enemies and are not run by BMW corporate, so each one is different and one never knows what they will get when they walk in the door. Some of us have the luxury of multiple idealers to choose from.
Yes the i3 has had teething problems, that's what we get for having the first gen of a car that has never been built this way before in the history of the automotive industry. And when your car was in for service in the shiny, clean, well lit multi-million dollar dealership, did you get free coffee and snacks? a free loaner? free wifi? did it cost you anything at all other than your time? Relax and enjoy our pampered BMW life rather than ranting on the internet.

For those who don't know I have one of the early 2014's with the defective whooping Bridgestone tires. BMW admitted that my car made an unpleasant and loud noise when driven on smooth pavement and that it was getting louder as the tires racked up the miles. They also refused to do anything about it at all beyond stating that it was not normal but was acceptable. It took multiple service visits, arguments, and shouting to get a replacement set of tires from my dealer. Imagine my surprise when they began to whoop and howl after only a few hundred miles...... It turns out they replaced my defective tires with another set of defective tires from the same known-to-be-bad lot and simply lied to us.

OK, now you can tell me it was my fault for not checking that my dealer was a lying thief, but really, who knew they would be so damned brazen?

BTW, no snacks, the loaner was a POS wornout 3-year old 3-series. The wi-if was slow and I had to use my LTE......

It would be nice if they spent a little of the money they invested in that shiny new multi million dollar sales room in their staff for ethics training....... Or even I-series technical training.

 

[macgreiner]

Largely my experience as well.

 

[imolazhp]

I only made it to "bumber".

This BMW owner since 2006 says buy it, 10,300 miles on mine in 13 months, I have loved every minute of it.

 

[harty601]

I have not found buying one a terribly easy experience - at worst - un returned phone calls from one dealership, at best having to push a dealership to get a car ordered - get part ex figures etc

I was told by the dealer I ordered mine from that i3 sales do not count towards their targets for numbers of cars sold (the salesman still gets a commission) - but I have got a distinct impression that the dealers do not feel that incentivised to sell i3s. I wonder if it is something to do with acting as "agents" rather than dealerships. I'd be interested to understand the difference between the two.

As BMW are obviously keen to push their new technology and I have read that many i3 owners are new to the brand (as am I), I would have thought it a great opportunity to show new customers just how good the BMW experience can be. The car was fantastic on the test drive - but I have to say, if there was a similar alternative from another premium brand, I would have taken a look.

 

[imolazhp]

I have not found buying one a terribly easy experience - at worst - un returned phone calls from one dealership, at best having to push a dealership to get a car ordered - get part ex figures etc

I was told by the dealer I ordered mine from that i3 sales do not count towards their targets for numbers of cars sold (the salesman still gets a commission) - but I have got a distinct impression that the dealers do not feel that incentivised to sell i3s. I wonder if it is something to do with acting as "agents" rather than dealerships. I'd be interested to understand the difference between the two.

As BMW are obviously keen to push their new technology and I have read that many i3 owners are new to the brand (as am I), I would have thought it a great opportunity to show new customers just how good the BMW experience can be. The car was fantastic on the test drive - but I have to say, if there was a similar alternative from another premium brand, I would have taken a look.

Sounds like a bad dealer, which isn't the car's or BMW's fault. I bought mine from a dealer that had 100 of them on the lot at the time and very much wanted to sell each and every one of them.