New owner of i3 94Ah with Rex in Melbourne, Australia

[REMAIM]

I have just taken delivery of this BMW i3 in Melbourne, Australia. These cars are pretty rare in Australia and weren't very popular due to Australian's obsession with long holiday road trips. At the moment there are only 15 i3s advertised for sale in a country of 28 million people, and only 3 or 4 were the 94Ah model like mine.

I purchased it without seeing it in person as it was located in far north Queensland, and I am in Melbourne which is very South. I paid to have it transported about 3400km down the east coast which took about ten days due to the transport truck drivers swapping loads in capital cities along the way.

So far I am very pleased with my gamble as it has travelled low kilometres for a 2017 car, has a high specifications, low battery degradation, was a low price and seems very much at home in the bustling city of Melbourne.

The photo is when I picked it up from the transport depot, unwashed, after its huge road trip from Townsville to Melbourne.

 

[Mustrum Ridcully]

Looks good, and I am sure we all wish you many, many kilometres of happy electric motoring,

 

[Steve Gmail]

As a city commuter, it is totally and absolutely fit for purpose and you'll be pleased with the performance particularly with numerous charging stations available in MLB however, your facts on numbers of i3's in Oz are totally correct.

Unlike the US or EU, there wasn't many sold down under hence, very few have had accident damage that could warrant writing them off. This makes it difficult for any reasonable spare parts availability (I'm pointing to the 94ah battery packs to retrofit into the earlier models)

Yes, I have a 2015 REX with a fitted 60ah battery and the range was......."OK" @ 120 kilometers on a good day when new, before needing the REX, but the range has dropped off significantly since, and is down to 60 odd kilometers. This is OK as a city commuter but not good for 100+ kilometre trips to the city and suburbs 'cos I'm running the REX back and forth on every trip which is defeating the purpose of having an EV.

BMW have quoted me AUD$31,000 to upgrade the battery and control systems so I'm very envious of the posts about the guy in EU who can change them over for 4000-4500EU or the guy in the US for US$6000.

Enjoy the heck out of your late model i3 but be aware, that you are driving a car that is not fully supported by the dealerships or BMW Australia when it comes to major component replacement - battery packs in particular!