Is I3 Right For Me?

[kgorczyn]

Greetings Everyone!

Glad to have found this forum, possible future I3 Owner here. Just wanted to run this by you guys to see if this car was made for me....

I'm thinking of buying a 2014 BMW I3 w/REX.

I currently have a 2013 C-Max Energi so I have some experience with EV - My C-Max has about 20 miles of EV Range then I get about 40mpg. I love the C-Max but still spend about $100 on gas a month with my commute. I have 106k miles on the car with what appears very little capacity loss. Still get around 20 EV Range. Have had zero problems with this car. I was going to give the C-Max to my mother (who currently drive an old SUV to her job (18 miles round trip) and spending $140+ a month on gas. I figured I can cut that down to about $20-$30 if I give her the C-Max.

My Commute is 78 miles round trip during the week for work. 20 miles of that is 55mph or less, 58 miles of that is 70mph HIghway with a few occasional traffic jams. I am in Florida so AC is on 9 months of the year. Maybe a handful of days where I would use heat in the cabin in the so called Winter.

My goal is to have 90-100% of commute on battery. It is not possible to plugin at my work.

Am I being realistic here? Of course I will not be doing 80mph on the highways.

Would having a daily complete depletion of battery be detrimental in the long term? What kind of capacity loss has been observed? Any other thoughts? On paper this looks like the perfect car for me. Before the C-Max I had a e39 528i Sport - Which I put about 290k miles before I gave it to my brother - still running strong - great cars! Would love to be back in a BMW.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Pb617]

Is the 78 mile commute daily or weekly? Either way a 2014 i3 REX can work for you. Combined battery and REX you should be able to do 150 miles. You can code the car so you can turn the REX on when you hit 75% battery to hold the charge and get more range on battery. You live in Florida so i don't think it would get cold enough to affect battery range for you. You should also look into getting a level 2 charger installed at your home because the level 1 charger it comes with takes a long time to fully charge the car.

From what i have read, the battery can not be completely drained. there is a buffer to protect it and even if you don't code the car to have the REX turn on sooner, it will kick on at 6% and should slowly charge. Unless you're driving 80mph on the highway in 95 degree heat with the AC blasting, lol. Battery capacity loss is very little even on the higher mileage i3's. The batteries have an 8 year 100k mile warranty.

I know the used market for i3's is attractive, but you should also look into leasing a new one for what it would cost you to buy pre-owned. At the rate they are depreciating a 2014 might not be worth much at all in 3 years, unless you plan to keep it for a long time. Plus the 2017's have a 50% larger battery so you can easily get 120-140 miles on battery alone, add the REX and you can get 180-200 miles out of it. You might be able to get a great deal on leasing a new one this time of year.

 

[theothertom]

Good advice from pb617
I would add that you will need access to a L2 charger when you get home.

 

[kgorczyn]

Yes - L2 Charging at home is already in place (Using with C-Max)

I'm aiming for about $15k for an i3 w/REX and under 40k miles (So I have some bumper to bumper warranty left.) I'm not a fan of leasing.

My Daily Commute is 78 miles, not weekley. So 78x5 so about 400 miles a week.

 

[jadnashuanh]

On a good day, you might not need to burn any gasoline with that model year. The newest version, you would be able to do it reliably all on battery. Most of FL is relatively flat, so hills aren't an issue. The car has a huge windshield, so to help limit both UV and IR, you probably would want to consider tinting. If FL allows the windshield to be tinted, that would be the best. 3M's Crystalline tint has the highest protection with the least darkening, but it's expensive - partly because of the material, and related to that, it's thicker than many, and fitting it to the large, curved windshield is tough. The installers there should have some experience, and the prices may be lower than in some other markets. The a/c system, primarily when you want the fan cranked up, does affect range. Pre-conditioning with a departure time would help in the morning, but would give you the maximum benefit if you could do it at work, but that appears not to be the case. You can precondition the cabin at any time, but it's best if you can do it while connected to the EVSE to retain maximum range. BMW sells a partial car cover for the car...it really does help to limit the solar gain, and would be worthwhile purchasing for while parked at work. I don't know about FL, but some states (I think the Federal program has expired) offer a significant tax credit for businesses to add EVSE...you might talk to your boss about that. Chargepoint may put one in for them, essentially for free.

Comfort is a personal thing. I don't have any issues with mine, but I don't drive it 2+hours a day. Every body is different...the seats are decent, but I think my other car is better. It is fun to drive, and the consistently available torque is addictive.

 

[Pb617]

+1 on the window tint! Especially in Florida. I did 30% ceramic tint all around on mine except for the windshield. I am planning on doing the windshield with 3M Crystalline before next summer.

If you haven't driven one yet, lookup your local BMW dealer. Some offer an extended test drive program, so you can drive it around for 2-3 days to see how it works for you, that's what i did. I was sold within 20 minutes of driving it.

http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Cont...Wi3ExtendedTestDrive.aspx?mobileoverride=true

 

[MikeWint]

I bought a 2014 Rex 3 about months and love it so far, but my commute is a lot shorter than yours. A couple of things to consider:
- AC will knock about 10 miles off of the electric range
- the Rex turns on at ~6%, so I expect the Rex will be on every day you commute
- as stock, you can only access 1.8-1.9 gallons of the fuel tank

You will need to get the car coded so you can turn on the Rex before it hits 6%, the Rex takes a few minutes to warm up, can’t keep up with 75mph driving, and a safety mode kicks in when the battery gets ~3%, so I try not to spend much time below 10% especially in highway driving. I think the car can work for you, but you’ll be spending more time at the gas station than you think, and may need to keep a 1 gallon can in the frunk just in case.

I wanted to lease a ‘17, but the #’s didn’t make sense vs a CPO used for me. WIth a shorter commute, the only time I need the Rex is for occasional road trips, and up to about 100 miles away is easy. I’ve put 4000 miles on the car already and really don’t worry about range. Because your commute is just beyond the electric range of the ‘14, I think you would really benefit from the extra range of the larger battery in the newer i3’s. I’m a big fan of the car, just trying to give you an honest view...