Lots of problems

[Apial]

Hi,

I've had my i3 just over two weeks now, and things are very upsetting.

First was its 130 mile journey home from the dealer. It wouldn't charge at Ecotricity and then things got a bit worse when the engine management light came on. So it was taken off on the flatbed and a BMW 330 M sport arrived as a loaner. It turned out that it needed a new high voltage cable and a new lambda sensor. Then on the way back to the collect the repaired i3, the loaned BMW picked up a flat in the back tyre, a runflat. The tyre could not be repaired, so Enterprise charged me the full £250 excess for a new tyre, even though it only had 4mm left on it. It also will not charge correctly, still not using the preset off peak option, so a two day software update was planned for week three until...

........... we nearly got to the end of week two , before the another flatbed experience. This time it looks a lot more trouble. The check drive train light came on, and also the handbrake self disengaged whilst stationary on a hill, several times.

Now I'm back in another Enterprise BMW 320D, and the i3 is up on the lift. A high voltage isolation fault is shown, but there isn't really one. BMW say it needs a new electronics unit that is mounted on the engine, and also they want to fit new engine bolts as part of a quality enhancement. Unfortunately the bolts are on back order and might take a week to arrive. The handbrake issue is as yet undiagnosed, but hopefully is something to do with either the software or electronics problems.

This car has been creating faults faster than plate tectonics, and I'm wondering where it is all going to.

I've only owned the car 18 days, and if it will all be ok in the end I would like to keep it, but is this beginning to be a lemon? Should I get my money back?

 

[websterize]

Yes, I'd work with your dealer on swapping it for another comparable i3. Yours sounds like a bad apple.

 

[PhilH]

I'm assuming you're in the UK, since you mentioned Ecotricity. There's no such thing as a "lemon" in UK law: acts apply: the Consumer Rights Act 2015 if it was bought after 1 October 2015, and the Sale of Goods Act before then. Given that you probably signed your contract before that date, but took delivery afterwards, I'd suggest getting some proper advice. It's worth doing this quickly, since the new act gives you 30 days to act, and the old one has issues about whether you've "accepted" the goods.

Try Citizens Advice consumer helpline: telephone: 03454 04 05 06 and see what they advise.

 

[Apial]

Hi, a quick update.

I decided that a swap was going to be almost impossible to do due to a total lack of stock of used i3 Rexs in the UK. There were a few fully loaded and a few poverty spec cars available, but nothing in the middle and at the right price. So I got the car back and prayed.

Well the prayers have not only worked, but BMW have made me a very generous goodwill gesture for my troubles! The car is working perfectly and managed 77.7 miles with 8% charge still left in 0C temperatures, just yesterday. Full marks to BMW Customer Services.

Ecotricity charging points still seem to work correctly only half of the time though, but that's not the cars fault of course. And Enterprise have agreed to refund me for the flat tyre bill proportionately for the wear used on the hire cars tyre. Its amazing what happens when you complain to their Head Office in America. All of a sudden a policy document is provided giving the % charge according to how much wear is left in the tyre, despite their Damage Unit staff and Branch managers never having heard of it ever before.

Now I have arranged for a 32A Rolec charging unit to be fitted at home. The 13A one that came with the car could take 10 hours or so to charge up a flat battery, so I am looking forward to the 3 hour charging from the Rolec. It means that I will be able to complete the charging with ease in the 7 hour period of off-peak charging on E7, and be able to add another journey into the same day when needed.

 

[didja]

Nice to see this update but keep us informed if you have more problems.