Hi Guys,

[John O'Malvern]

Googling (as you do) I bumped into a thread to which I wanted to contribute. So here I am.
I've owned a July 2016 Protonic Blue ( ) BEV for nearly 3 years, and love it.
Now we've replaced the big family car with a Hyundai Ioniq 5, which is good in many ways, but not as nice as an i3!
John

 

[iCJ]

Welcome. That Ioniq 5 is one nice car.

 

[eNate]

Welcome to the forum! Two EVs is nice.

I started with a used '17 i3 4½ years ago as an electric "test" and we replaced the 2nd gas car with a VW ID.4 about 1½ years later.

The kicker was that I loved the i3 so much that after 2 years of ownership, I replaced it with a new '21 i3 around the time the last of the US i3s were being moved out of the dealerships. It's a car for the ages and so unlike everything else available today.

Hyundai seems to be the big legacy EV mover at the moment and I've been generally interested in everything under their umbrella, including their Kia and Genesis offerings.

 

[TheAirman]

Pictures of both of yours, please.

Mine:

 

[808Pants]

Googling (as you do) I bumped into a thread to which I wanted to contribute. So here I am.
I've owned a July 2016 Protonic Blue ( ) BEV for nearly 3 years, and love it.
Now we've replaced the big family car with a Hyundai Ioniq 5, which is good in many ways, but not as nice as an i3!
John

Go on about the "not as nice part." What are you less than thrilled with about the Ioniq? I love our i3, but the day will come when I need a somewhat larger EV that can more readily accommodate two kids AND a Costco run, for example. I've never owned another EV, but suspect I'd find a Leaf (etc) boring by comparison.

 

[Tech Admin]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[alohart]

The kicker was that I loved the i3 so much that after 2 years of ownership, I replaced it with a new '21 i3 around the time the last of the US i3s were being moved out of the dealerships. It's a car for the ages and so unlike everything else available today.

Even though our 2019 i3 BEV is almost identical in features to a 2021 i3 BEV, I would like to own a final year model as you do. A beautiful Galvanic Gold 2021 i3 BEV is available at a local Mini dealer. Even though chip shortages in 2021 apparently prevented some 2021 i3's from having the Harman Kardon (HK) entertainment system and maybe even the wider navigation screen, this i3 has the HK entertainment system, the Technology & Driving Assist package with the wider screen, and a moonroof, so it's really loaded. Maybe that's because it was manufactured in March, 2021, rather than later. About the only option it's missing is the heat pump which isn't needed in Honolulu.

I decided not to buy it because I don't want the additional weight, rainwater leak potential, added complexity, and the hotter cabin temperatures of an i3 with a moonroof. I'm also not a fan of its Mega World trim which has fewer interior and no exterior door handle LED's and is possibly missing some other features compared with my favorite trim level, Giga World. The front seat fabric in this i3 is noticeably stained which the dealer was unable to remove during dealer prep. I considered swapping interiors with our 2019 i3 until I learned that different door cards are used on i3's with the HK option due to the speakers in the doors that are missing without this option.

Finding a local 2021 Giga BEV with the Tech package and no moonroof in any color but Fluid Black or Mineral Gray in excellent condition is not likely, but I'll keep looking.

 

[John O'Malvern]

Go on about the "not as nice part." What are you less than thrilled with about the Ioniq? I love our i3, but the day will come when I need a somewhat larger EV that can more readily accommodate two kids AND a Costco run, for example. I've never owned another EV, but suspect I'd find a Leaf (etc) boring by comparison.

 

[John O'Malvern]

Oh, ******** ****** ****** ****** *****!
I've just spent ages writing an essay on the pros and cons, went to enter a temp degree symbol (ALT+0176 on my keyboard) and everything disappeared.
So, in brief:
Door handles are awkward
too much down menus on touch screen
Lane assist always comes on.
No wiper for the rear screen, and it and camera get dirty easily
some controls unintuitive / hard to pick.
I get around 3m/kwh, but 4 from the i3. But it is big, heavy, and comes on wide tyres. (But then that's better than a lot of the competition, I think.)

But very comfy, spacious, quiet, eats miles, nicest car style inside - bar the i3 [and possibly the Honda e]
Fast charging (>200kW even in cold weather if you have the battery warmer function .)
Really interesting styling, one of the smartest EVs - no - cars out there IMHO.
V2L

The problem is that many evs do many things better than an i3 (better range, space, ride, tech, charge rate eg) but the i3 is uniquely a nice place to be, and fun to drive. It's just 'got it'.

 

[McDuff]

Googling (as you do) I bumped into a thread to which I wanted to contribute. So here I am.
I've owned a July 2016 Protonic Blue ( ) BEV for nearly 3 years, and love it.
Now we've replaced the big family car with a Hyundai Ioniq 5, which is good in many ways, but not as nice as an i3!
John

I like that car as well, but I read some difficult stuff about that car and similar in the Guardian this morning: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/feb/24/smart-keys-car-crime-thieves-hi-tech-arms-race

 

[John O'Malvern]

It seems most keys now transmit signals (but they may 'go to sleep' if left stationary) which can be picked up and used to unlock and mobilise the car.
The answer is to keep the key fob in a metal box [etc] so those signals are contained [cannot be picked up].

 

[eNate]

I don't know much about BMW's implementation in the i3, but VW's KESSY -- at least the current variants -- employ signal timing to thwart relay attacks.

Inserting a man in the middle, in this case the additional transmitter and receiver that the expectant thieves are using, adds small but measurable time delays to the signal, which are then rejected by the vehicle.

In fact, I believe that system is accurate enough to judge distance from the vehicle down to feet / meters, which is how they accomplish auto-unlock as a key approaches the vehicle.

There was a Wired article years ago that called out the i3 as being one of the cars that withstood a relay attack, but it was short on details and said that it was able to be started anyway -- sort of an unclear message, but like I said, short on details.

Here's the Wired article: https://www.wired.com/2016/03/study-finds-24-car-models-open-unlocking-ignition-hack/