i3 on the Streets of San Francisco

[stumbledotcom]

Took delivery of my Andesite Silver, Giga World i3 BEV tonight, May 15. The folks at Sonnen in Marin told me I was their first. They had a second i3 in Andesite Silver but with Mega trim on the showroom floor, already marked sold. Its only options seemed to be 20" wheels. So much for the Terra only at launch rumor.

Now that I've seen and touched all three interiors, I'm very pleased with my decision to go with Giga, aka Lodge. But that's just personal taste.

Departed the dealer showing 76 miles of range. Left it in comfort and made no attempts at eco driving. Easily outpaced other traffic over the Marin hills and Golden Gate Bridge. The effortless acceleration is addictive.

Not sure one-pedal driving will work in SF. There were some downhill intersections where the regen alone did not bring it to a full stop. Even after applying the brakes and zeroing the speedo, lifting off the brake pedal allowed forward creep. My regular commute route transverses the steepest parts of Nob Hill so it will be interesting to see if the i3 rolls backwards when starting on uphill sections.

The only sour note in the whole process is charging. Bosch, BMW's infrastructure partner, has been completely incompetent. I live in a condo with a multi-level garage so the install is not single-family home straight forward. Nonetheless, I've been talking to Bosch reps since March 25 and have yet to get an estimate for the level 2 charger install. The first contractor they sent out looked around and flaked. No estimate. The second spoke to me on the phone but never even did a site visit. Now they claim a third will contact me next week. Yeah, right. Fortunately one of my parking spaces happens to have 110v outlet next to it so I got permission from the HOA to use it temporarily. My office is only three miles away so I'll be able to limp along with the level 1 trickle and an occasional visit to a nearby public station.

 

[Stevei3]

Hi stumble,

welcome to the club I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do !
I'm eagerly awaiting (your) user experiences from the US of A, so that Tom's question whether the i3 is 'too European' can be answered conclusively

Regards, Steven

 

[stumbledotcom]

Thanks for the welcome. I am not the person to answer that question. I learned to drive and developed my automotive tastes in a Saab 99. Since then, I've only bought from VW or BMW. Today, I live and work within San Francisco. I anticipate my i3 will rarely leave the city limits. The typical American suburb seems foreign and exotic.

 

[stumbledotcom]

This morning I took California St into the financial district. It's the often-photographed, steep street with Cable Car tracks. As I suspected, the regen effect could not induce a stop. Foot was off the accelerator and the meter indicated full regen yet the i3 maintained a steady 20mph to the bottom of the hill. Had to resort to brakes at the light. Predicted range did go up a mile though.

When stopping on uphill sections, firmly pushing the brake pedal does engage a hill holder function, just as with my E90. Still I got a touch of roll back when moving off the brake pedal. Not sure if it releases faster or the i3 accelerator isn't as linear. I'll have to experiment a bit more.

 

[Gonville]

The manual says that there is a "Hill Start Assist" or "Drive off Assist" for that situation. Page 100 in the English Manual. If the foot brake is depressed and you are on a hill. Then when you take your foot off the brake and as you transfer it to the accelerator pedal it holds the brake for a few moments before releasing. So you have to keep your foot on the brake pedal and the transfer to the accelerator otherwise it will roll back but is adequate for most situations.

Same feature is on the 5 series it just pinches the electric parking brake (handbrake) for about half a second then releases. Takes a bit if getting used too and is a bit if a pain if you are parallel parking on a hill and you want it to roll back and it doesn't!

 

[Gonville]

OK so it is 2 seconds not half a second.

 

[XXL]

why not use the handbrake. When you are buckled in the handbrake auto releases

 

[RJSATLBA]

Hallelujah, I'm a big fan of the handbrake, of whatever sort. I know I'm in a minority because 9 out of 10 cars stationary in front of me in a queue have their brake lights on, and at night their strong modern eye (sic) level brake lights dazzle me, I frind the handbrake to be simple, effective and considerate to whoever is behind me!

 

[stumbledotcom]

As I said, I need to experiment more. My initial feeling was that the i3's hill hold released faster than with the e90. Not a huge issue. Just a matter of adaptation. Keep in mind San Francisco likely presents one of the more extreme scenarios. Stop and go traffic on streets with 20 to 30 percent grades is not exactly common.

Also, the i3 doesn't have a handbrake. During that split second of rollback, my first impulse was to grab the lever. It's ingrained from decades of driving manuals. The push button brake takes a second or two to engage. I don't believe it will help.

 

[Gonville]

I think you'll find the handbrake is pre engaged? There shouldn't be a roll back. I haven't tried it in those angles though.

I also have the auto handbrake option on the F10. That working with ACC is great. So it engages as soon as ACC comes to a halt and then there is definitely no roll back on hills. Let's see tomorrow if i3 has that.

That means no dazzle to those behind. ;-)

 

[stumbledotcom]

I posted a video of the i3 parking assistant working in the real world. Or at least a San Francisco street complete with traffic. (Whether SF constitutes the real world or not is probably best left to other forums.) Before I took delivery, I anticipated the feature would fall into the gimmick category but I've used it a dozen or so times in the two weeks I've had the i3. Now I'm glad it came along with the front sensors and rear camera. Maybe this will help someone trying to decide whether to get the option or not.

http://youtu.be/wxor_ckUxR0

 

[I33t]

Thanks for that. Other reports I have read say you have to apply the brakes yourself, this is much better!