How is your i3's reliability ?

[gps1539]

Hi

I've have an i3 REX for 6 mths now and had no issues, however watching this owners vblog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHDUMhR6HLk made me a little nervous about long term ownership costs.

Is your i3 reliable or usually in BMW's service dept?

 

[TheMK]

It's too soon to tell based on the entire fleet of i3s what the weak points are, but I've seen the following come up more than once.

1. Range Extender issues (only applicable if your care is so equipped)
2. Climate Control power electronics.
3. Suspension dust covers tearing
4. Interior rattles and squeaks.


The oldest cars in the fleet are now 5 years old. Over those past 5 years, BMW has made numerous recalls to upgrade weak points in the i3's original design, from motor mounts, KLE, software instabilities, vent lines. One of the things you'll want to make sure to do is to keep things well lubricated. It's too soon to tell, but eventually the differential and gear oil will need to be changed, additionally some of the bushings may need to be lubricated.

 

[PBNB]

We got an extended warranty which goes another 4 years from now. The car is a 2015 so we should be covered if there is a meltdown. Everything in the car is working fine since we have had it over the past 6 months. Getting this warranty took some time as the car came from California but after many emails back and for with BMW Canada, we now have a warranty.

Our Level 2 charger is so handy to keep it charged up and the re-programmed 75% Hold SOC works great. I did about 150kms of driving yesterday and still had about 20% battery when I returned and only used 1/4 of the fuel. So that makes me happy.

I had to go to BMW to get a set of winter wheels which is still bothering me. The lack of selection and availability seems to be a big oversight when planning this car.

Anyway, we are looking forward to smooth trouble free motoring with this car for at least 4 more years.

 

[TheMK]

We got an extended warranty which goes another 4 years from now. [snip]

Anyway, we are looking forward to smooth trouble free motoring with this car for at least 4 more years.

What was the price range of the warranty? I'd consider getting one as long as I felt like I'd get my money back in repair bills. I have enough confidence in this car that I haven't seriously looked into one (yet), but I'd like to hear your experiences as it's something I may still consider.

 

[PBNB]

What was the price range of the warranty? I'd consider getting one as long as I felt like I'd get my money back in repair bills. I have enough confidence in this car that I haven't seriously looked into one (yet), but I'd like to hear your experiences as it's something I may still consider.

It was a bit pricey. To add 3 additional years and take us to 100,000 kms. was just under $4k CDN for the Platinum BMW Warranty. I did this for a few reasons but the main purpose was to get the car under some sort of warranty. Since we bought it used and it came from a different country, we were able to get a car in great shape with under 20k kms for a great price compared to used ones in our area. We wanted to ensure that if anything went wrong, BMW Canada would help us out. I am sure that they would but in the end, they don't have any ties to tis car. I don't know how dealing with BMW US would treat us.

We also wanted to make sure that the battery warranty carried over to us. So by forcing the issue, we were able to jump on the remaining 4 year warranty and add 3 more years. Our car hit the streets in California in Dec 2015 so we are now good til Dec 2022.

 

[jadnashuanh]

There are two companies that make winter tires for the i3: the OEM Bridgestones and Nokian. This time in the season, it might be hard to fine either of them. Buying the car in the USA means it will have TPMS in the wheels, which, if you're going to buy new wheels, too, will add to your costs as the stock Canadian vehicles use the ABS sensors rotation rate to determine when a tire is low, and that functionality won't be active in your car. I've not looked to see if that is an easily programmed thing, but my guess is that if it sees the TPMS receiver, it won't switch to the ABS logic to determine a low tire. The logic is probably in the main computer, but you may not be able to turn it on.

I use their car cover. WHen sliding that on/off the roof, it ended up tearing that small rubber gasket that goes between the two trim pieces on the roof near the front door. I think it caught the end and eventually tore it. Was mostly cosmetic, but they replaced that for free. I had the charge plug latch stick and had to use the emergency release until that was tweaked, and one time, the end on the plastic cable came off. When they replaced it, it got rerouted incorrectly, and jammed. The ultimate fix was to ream the hole the pin slides through slightly and to use some lube on it occasionally. I've found a shot of aerosol lithium grease or WD40 seems to work for months after one shot. If the pins in the receptacle get wetted frequently or you're near the ocean with salt spray, some WD40 in that area, too, probably would help for long-term reliability. They're gold plated pins, but still wouldn't hurt to clean them off with a shot.

 

[PBNB]

There are two companies that make winter tires for the i3: the OEM Bridgestones and Nokian. This time in the season, it might be hard to fine either of them. Buying the car in the USA means it will have TPMS in the wheels, which, if you're going to buy new wheels, too, will add to your costs as the stock Canadian vehicles use the ABS sensors rotation rate to determine when a tire is low, and that functionality won't be active in your car. I've not looked to see if that is an easily programmed thing, but my guess is that if it sees the TPMS receiver, it won't switch to the ABS logic to determine a low tire. The logic is probably in the main computer, but you may not be able to turn it on.

I stopped in to grab set of winters from BMW and I asked them about the TPMS. The wheels we got were the last set on the floor and had been there for a while. I mentioned that our car came from the US and they said these new wheels have the sensors in them so we should be good.

Apparently, the CDN 2018 I3s has TPMS sensors rather then the ABS rotational system. It looks like they have come back to our area. Good timing for us I guess. No need to look into programming. I think the sensors would just sit idle in the wheels on earlier CDN i3's since there is no system to read the data. However, that would seem to be a waste for BMW to install sensors in wheels of earlier cars if they don't need them. Perhaps the wheels I got were setup for an i3s and the owners decided not to take them.

 

[gps1539]

It's too soon to tell based on the entire fleet of i3s what the weak points are, but I've seen the following come up more than once.

1. Range Extender issues (only applicable if your care is so equipped)
2. Climate Control power electronics.
3. Suspension dust covers tearing
4. Interior rattles and squeaks.


The oldest cars in the fleet are now 5 years old. Over those past 5 years, BMW has made numerous recalls to upgrade weak points in the i3's original design, from motor mounts, KLE, software instabilities, vent lines. One of the things you'll want to make sure to do is to keep things well lubricated. It's too soon to tell, but eventually the differential and gear oil will need to be changed, additionally some of the bushings may need to be lubricated.

Thanks, sounds like they are reasonably reliable and no car design is perfect.

 

[EVMan]

I had a 2016 and have 2017, and had only once issue ( electronics fail )
So it seams 2016 onwards are quit good
But i must add, the service is extremely expensive , so ....

 

[Hengus]

I have a 4 year old i3 Rex. Other than technical recalls, the only issue that I have had is a failure of the fuel flap to open. This required a replacement fuel sensor. I did take out an insured warranty, and I would do so again if I was keeping the car.

I should add that the thing that has impressed me is the almost constant range that I have been getting year-on-year (allowing for seasonal changes). I have seen little evidence of any battery degradation.

 

[GeorgeC1]

2018 coming up on 1 year old. Not a single issue the entire year. Hope I am not jinxing it!

 

[cyr21k]

I made a discovery this morning on my way to work. I left my home with 80mi of charge and hit the hwy going flow of traffic at 68 miles. My 1st discovery is while driving I found it difficult to keep the white dot in the middle. On average, I try to keep the dot within middle and 2nd tier which usually marks mi/kw at 4.5 to 3.2. My driving experience led me to believe the higher the "readings" the better I'm maintaining the charge. ( Please chime in if I'm incorrect) I quickly noticed my charge decreased by 2points as I fought to keep speed within 68-70 mph and keep the dot in the middle. I became so angry that I switched driving style to "Comfort" and floored it to about 80. Immediately my charge dropped from 60 to 52 but I realized the dot stayed in the middle during high speeds which almost got me to my 1st transition point ( fwy ramp) with about 48-49 miles. I recall YouTube video saying driving this car carefully doesn't stretch out the miles and after seeing the response from flooring it I think I understand . What's your understanding of "driving carefully".

 

[cyr21k]

I purchased my 2015 I3 1/25/19 so I'm still learning how to fully operate and maintain efficiency. I see many posts of holding your charge and using the extender to drive. I need your help to understand the effectiveness of doing so and how have using extender so often created a maintenance issue, If Any.

When I bought the car, I was under the impression the extender was solely used to get you to the next charging station and NOT meant to replace a traditional combustion engine. My fear of using the extender is the wear and tear which will occur and cause me to replace the unit.

I'm I being foolish?

 

[bwilson4web]

Hi,

A Prius owner since Oct 2005, there has been a lot of written about how to drive our cars efficiently. My approach has been to maximize tuning of the car:

• four wheel alignment - both front and rear with minimum camber.
• maximum sidewall pressure - reduces rolling drag and improves handling although rougher ride.
• lubricants - use highest quality and change twice per year, Spring and Fall.
• transmission oil - change at least once, twice is better to get the what can not be drained.

As for driving, I get behind a larger vehicle and use dynamic cruise control to follow, not tailgate. The speed range of larger vehicles is particularly efficient and they don't make inefficient changes. Following traffic will see the larger vehicle and pass without causing further problems.

Bob Wilson

 

[alohart]

four wheel alignment - both front and rear with minimum camber.

What about toe? With 0 toe, there would be less scrubbing (i.e., greater rolling resistance) although with a bit more tendency to wander. Minimal camber should reduce uneven tire wear, but does it reduce rolling resistance?

maximum sidewall pressure - reduces rolling drag and improves handling although rougher ride.

I can confirm that this works. However, I have always set the tires that have the higher recommended inflation pressure to the sidewall maximum pressure with the other tires the same recommended difference in inflation pressure between front and rear; e.g., the recommended i3 inflation pressures are 33F/41R, so I increase the inflation pressures to 43F/51R, 51 psi being the sidewall maximum. BMW recommends a pressure difference between front and rear, so I blindly maintain that difference

As for driving, I get behind a larger vehicle and use dynamic cruise control to follow, not tailgate.

Large vehicles can launch road debris which can break the windshield of a following vehicle. For this reason, I avoid following large vehicles although the aerodynamic benefit of doing could be positive. Some surmise that one must follow dangerously closely to get a meaningful aerodynamic benefit. I have no experience that would support or refute this.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Probably the biggest range hog is drag. Drag goes up with a velocity cubed factor...so say at 30mph, 30^3=27000...40mph, 40^3=64000, or about 2.4x more drag. It gets dramatically bigger as you go faster. Say at 80mph, 80^3=512000 or almost 19x more drag than at 30mph.

IOW, speed is your biggest range killer.

Throw in on the REx in the winter that if you turn heating on, all of that heat comes directly from the battery so 1W of heat takes 1W from the battery, well, by the time you throw in the fan, a bit more. On the BEV, with a heat pump, 1W from the battery might produce as much as 3-4W of heat into the cabin...a significant savings that you can see from the EPA ratings between the two models. A lot of that difference is from the heating, but a significant part is also the increased weight of the REx engine and accessories.

The steadier you drive at one speed, the more efficient you'll be since it takes more energy to accelerate than it does to go a steady speed. You gain some of that back with regen, but not if you use your brakes to slow down.

Another significant thing that will affect range is the temperature...the colder it gets, the less capable electrons can flow through the battery, limiting not only how fast it can discharge (in extreme cases, the car will limit your maximum acceleration, and possibly top speed), but how much can be extracted.

Setting a departure time will warm the battery and optionally, the cabin if it is hooked to an EVSE during that time. That can help maximize your range.

When it comes to the maximum range display, that will depend on your mode of operation and the last 18-miles or so of your driving...it assumes you will continue to drive as you have been. But, if you have a destination set into the nav system, it will then know the speed limits, grades and road conditions, and your estimate will be better. Keep in mind, it assumes you'll be using the speed limit when you do that which may not be true.

Just like the EPA ratings for ICE vehicles, unless you duplicate their driving, and the computer can do it much better than you can, your results will likely be different. Those are done under strict temperature, speed, acceleration profiles...your real-world results rarely will match.

 

[bwilson4web]

four wheel alignment - both front and rear with minimum camber.

What about toe? With 0 toe, there would be less scrubbing (i.e., greater rolling resistance) although with a bit more tendency to wander. Minimal camber should reduce uneven tire wear, but does it reduce rolling resistance?

Yes. I have the temperature monitoring set and also used a IR photography to confirm. Lower temperature means less rolling drag.

Bob Wilson

 

[RexMan]

My i3 was registered in March 2017 , it's 2 years old now , I have it 1 year 4 months.

It's a Rex, have used it quite a bit, absolutely 0 issues and the battery capacity is still 100% , 30,000 miles.

Never suffered loss of power even on a long spin at 75 Mph.

I have not got bored of it and still enjoy trashing it about and on back roads around Ireland you would swear BMW made the i3 specially for Irish back road driving, it's a lot of fun.

 

[bcnbuda]

Here's an actual problem and how it was resolved with my 2014 i3 Rex with 30,000 miles.

For several months I was experiencing a problem with the power steering. When I turned the car on I would get a message about increased steering effort and drive moderately and a message I had to dismiss. The power steering would be dead. It really wasn't too bad except when trying to back out of the garage or make a tight turn at slow speed into a parking space, etc. Usually I would stop somewhere and when I came back out and started the car it would be back to being normal and no more increased steering effort needed. Etc. I considered it a nuisance but since it "auto-corrected" I figured I could live with it. Once I even took the car in for the problem but they couldn't reproduce it and so I had to leave. A lot of people have been reporting this problem on various forums.

Finally the power steering gave up the ghost altogether and it would not "auto-correct" no matter what I tried. Finally I took it in to the dealer and they diagnosed it as some component of the steering assembly and the repair was going to cost $5,000.00, ~1/3 the value of the car! They explained that you cannot replace individual components of the steering assembly, you have to replace the entire assembly and the part alone is $3600.00 and is in short supply so they didn't know how long it would take to get the part! Needless to say I was in shock after being given this news. I decided I would need to try "alternative medicine" as the car is out of warranty based on its age although not based on the mileage. Told them I'd have to think about it. So next day I went back up there to pick it up where I was informed that the service agent was making a case to BMW for assistance with the repair, agreeing with me that regardless of warranty that part should not be failing after only 30,000 miles. He told me to keep the loaner, that it is a safety issue, and wait for a response from BMW about it before I did anything else.

Next day he called and informed me that BMW was willing to pick up 90% of the cost of the repair, my out of pocket being $500. Well, it seems like I paid practically that much just to have the oil changed and the brake lines flushed recently so I considered that a very fair offer. I would have preferred it to be zero cost for me but I reasoned it is out of warranty and that was less than I would have expected. I just wasn't; expecting it to be $5,000.00.

So anyway, it took them only a couple of days after that to get the part. It took longer to get it out apparently than it did to get it. That and their lead technician was working on it and he kept getting pulled into other stuff. I was not in a major hurry because I had a very nice loaner and I would prefer it be done correctly rather than quickly. It took 11 days including 2 weekends to get it back. Driving it on the way home seemed fine and I guess only time will tell but it feels great to drive. The service agent said they really haven't seen any major issues with these cars, mainly tires because they are the only source for those (editor's note: and they don't last all that long apparently) and that this situation seems to be an outlier in his experience. Take that for what it's worth coming from the BWM dealer but I guess they would know better than anyone.

Overall, I wish it had't happened but I thought the dealer and BMW handled it about as well as I could expect given that it was not technically still under warranty. My advice, if you're having any power steering problem and it's still under warranty get on record with the dealer and ask them to fix it before it's out of warranty and explain you don't want the kind of shock I got when or if it finally goes completely out.

 

[Zpmada]

Extremely reliable!

I've owned many cars and I'd say my 2015 i3 rex is the most reliable car I've ever owned. I have 73,000 miles on it and didn't bother getting the extended warranty, because I can't see myself making the cost back on repairs. I've purchased the car with 31,000 miles.

I like how relatively simple the car is for something that cost over $50,000 new. For example, no problematic air suspension, no power seats. These are things that I don't want because I can just see them causing problems as the car ages. I like how the engineers thought to include backup cables to unlock the charger or gas door manually if those things ever were to fail.

I barely use my REX, but it's been a life saver those days when I drive a couple hundred miles. Oil changes once or twice a year, haven't had to replace brake pads or rotors. Really amazing. I'm very happy with the car.

Many car manufacturers are producing turbocharged ICE engines for fuel efficiency. I keep thinking about all of those moving parts that will need replacing in the future, turbo vacuum lines, etc. The i3, although a new technology, is quite nice and simple for the long run.

When I hear BMW, I think reliable. They are used as taxis and police cars in Europe. The i3 is said to be slightly more reliable than those other BMW models too. It's not going to be problematic like an old Jaguar or Ferrari. Yet, the exotic materials used in the car makes you feel that you are driving something special... and you really are Anyone that I let drive my car is blown away by the performance. Where else can you get a car today that is 2,600-2,900lbs, rear "engined", rwd, that takes off like a rocket. Sometimes I imagine that I'm driving an older 911... minus the smell and sound ofcourse