How does highway driving impact your range?

[RJSATLBA]

Tomasz, I think resale will be a problem with or without the DC charger, because of future improvements to the i3 and more competitors becoming available (including the Tesla Model 3). I would only consider a lease or Owner's Choice option at this point.

Look at it this way: how much depreciation is there in a 3 year old smartphone or laptop? An EV is exactly the same at this stage in its development, you would have to be nuts to actually buy one....

Leaving aside other pros and cons you are only nuts to buy one instead of leasing if the leasing companies have been naïve enough not to price such resale issues into their leases, which seems rather unlikely.

 

[WoodlandHills]

Tomasz, I think resale will be a problem with or without the DC charger, because of future improvements to the i3 and more competitors becoming available (including the Tesla Model 3). I would only consider a lease or Owner's Choice option at this point.

Look at it this way: how much depreciation is there in a 3 year old smartphone or laptop? An EV is exactly the same at this stage in its development, you would have to be nuts to actually buy one....

Leaving aside other pros and cons you are only nuts to buy one instead of leasing if the leasing companies have been naïve enough not to price such resale issues into their leases, which seems rather unlikely.

That's a very good point. A lot will depend on that actual resale value at the end of the 3 year lease. If the Finance guys are in charge and if they have factored in all the variables correctly (including predicting the recent oil price crash) then sale vs lease will be a wash. But if the Marketing guys have some input, the lease price may be set artificially low in order to spur sales of a new model. It is all a big guess on both parties part.....

 

[roofless]

The current lease promotions (in the US) are for 2 years. I haven't worked out numbers yet, but when I asked one of the salesmen how the Owner's Choice monthly payments compare with a lease, he said OC would be a little higher but not much. I also asked if the current lease promotion, which is supposed to end on Feb 2, would be extended, and he thought it would be until at least the end of Feb.

I noticed there's a separate forum here for topics related to buying or leasing an i3: http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3. I haven't looked there yet, but if our upcoming test drive in a couple of weeks works out, I'll definitely browse that forum before making a deal.

 

[Tomasz]

That's a very good point. A lot will depend on that actual resale value at the end of the 3 year lease. If the Finance guys are in charge and if they have factored in all the variables correctly (including predicting the recent oil price crash) then sale vs lease will be a wash. But if the Marketing guys have some input, the lease price may be set artificially low in order to spur sales of a new model. It is all a big guess on both parties part.....

You got that wrong. Finance guys are in charge. That's why there is so many financial decisions visible in the car (e.g. 1.9 gal tank to get full CARB credit). They are also fully aware of economy of scale and I can assure you they know exactly how much money they need to loose on that first batch got get the critical mass going. They've decided to artificially bump residuals to start selling them, to lower the production costs in the future. Look how sales jumped in August when they've done the adjustment.

 

[i3Alan]

The differences between lease and OC costs are trivial. Different states may apply sales taxes differently, and the tax credits may differ, and the first payment on the lease occurs as the last payment on the OC, but the terms and fees and total costs are otherwise virtually the same.

With a lease or OC, the customer decides whether to keep the car at the end of the lease/OC term. If BMW made the residual too high, then the smart customer will turn the car in, saving the difference between what the car is actually worth then and what the residual was set to at the beginning of the deal. That leaves the customer with having paid less than fair market for the short term use of the car. If BMW sets the residual too low, then the customer has the option of keeping the car at a price below the market value. So long as the finance rate is low enough, then delaying the decision on whether to keep the car long term or short term can be a financially beneficial decision for the customer.

For a "normal" car where depreciation is fairly well known at the time of purchase, the finance terms and other leasing/OC costs can make an outright purchase the smarter deal. I normally pay cash for a car, but this time I paid half up front for an OC deal with nearly zero monthly payments (minimizing interest costs), because I believe BMW set the residual too high, and will take advantage of that if that is how it turns out.

 

[roofless]

My wife finally got to do an extended test drive. The dealer I was working with initially was making it difficult to get a test car, mainly because they were using their demo i3's as service loaners instead of reserving them for test drives. We finally went to another dealer, who immediately gave us a new (non-demo) car from their inventory to try out. That car had the Giga World and Technology packages, plus heated seats (which we didn't need).

As I said when I started this thread, my wife's commute is 60 miles round trip, all highway. The dealer who loaned us the car is 30 miles away in the other direction, all highway. My wife drive the i3 home from the dealer, then I drove it for about 5 miles on local roads (no highway). The battery was only partially charged when we picked up the car, but enough to avoid the Rex kicking in. We charged at home for about 13 hours overnight, which got the battery to about 85%. My wife commuted the next day, no problem making the 60 miles on battery alone, with some charge left to spare. Charged overnight for 14 hours, again reaching about 85%. The next day my wife drove the 30 miles to work, then 60 miles from there back to the dealer to return the car. The Rex didn't kick in until about 45 miles into the return trip, meaning my wife got about 75 miles on battery alone, even though the battery wasn't completely charged. My wife was driving about 75mph on average. So, battery range was more than enough, partly because we live in South FL, where the temperature is usually within the ideal operating range (77-104 F, according to BMW), although it's been quite a bit cooler than that lately.

My wife is sold on the i3, so I'm doing my homework to get ready to lease one. I was originally considering the Owner's Choice program as one option, because I could claim the entire $7500 tax credit, but then I realized the extra sales tax I would have to pay would offset the most of the additional credit, so I'll stick to a lease. Once we get the car, I'll buy a home charger (not the BMW one) so we can charge the car in 3-4 hours.

 

[Tomasz]

My wife is sold on the i3, so I'm doing my homework to get ready to lease one. I was originally considering the Owner's Choice program as one option, because I could claim the entire $7500 tax credit, but then I realized the extra sales tax I would have to pay would offset the most of the additional credit, so I'll stick to a lease. Once we get the car, I'll buy a home charger (not the BMW one) so we can charge the car in 3-4 hours.

Way to go!

The L2 charger is a must though. I got mine second day after I was unable to get to 100% before leaving house.