New vs. Old "Cheapening" and De-Contenting (David Tracy)...

[eNate]

You know @toomanyxjs one reason to hold on to an excessive number of older cars is to be able to create content like this!

 

[alohart]

One of the commenters is correct that most of the decontenting occurred from 2014 to 2015. The rear view mirror lost the digital compass between 2019 and 2021. LCI changes in 2018 included changes to the Giga World (Lodge) interior: darker tan leather, darker wool cloth, armrest and door card leather light tan to beige, less attractive to me but probably not any cost savings.

When we sold our 2014 i3, I swapped its CFRP motor compartment cover for the aluminum one in our 2019 i3. I considered swapping the upholstery, but our 2014 didn't have seat heaters while our 2019 did. That would have made the swap more difficult. Swapping the netting on the back side of the front seats and in front of the center console as well as the center console wrist pad were not important to me relative to the difficulty in doing so.

I considered swapping the rear view mirrors between our 2019 and 2021 i3's to keep the digital compass in the mirror, but the BMW instructions included programming the mirrors which I could not do and didn't want to pay to have done.

But like David Tracy, I did end up with a Galvanic Gold Metallic i3, an uncommon and quite attractive color IMHO.

 

[toomanyxjs]

One of the commenters is correct that most of the decontenting occurred from 2014 to 2015. The rear view mirror lost the digital compass between 2019 and 2021. LCI changes in 2018 included changes to the Giga World (Lodge) interior: darker tan leather, darker wool cloth, armrest and door card leather light tan to beige, less attractive to me but probably not any cost savings.

When we sold our 2014 i3, I swapped its CFRP motor compartment cover for the aluminum one in our 2019 i3. I considered swapping the upholstery, but our 2014 didn't have seat heaters while our 2019 did. That would have made the swap more difficult. Swapping the netting on the back side of the front seats and in front of the center console as well as the center console wrist pad were not important to me relative to the difficulty in doing so.

I considered swapping the rear view mirrors between our 2019 and 2021 i3's to keep the digital compass in the mirror, but the BMW instructions included programming the mirrors which I could not do and didn't want to pay to have done.

But like David Tracy, I did end up with a Galvanic Gold Metallic i3, an uncommon and quite attractive color IMHO.

Do you think that white is actual leather? I, for one, don't. It looks to me like leatherette, but I could be wrong!

For now, I'm keeping my '14. To have the first and last is just cool!

 

[Dutchi3]

My '14 i3 came with white outside mirror caps. Very soon they where changed for black mirror caps. Glad mine are white as it is more contrasting, maybe not everyones taste.

 

[alohart]

Do you think that white is actual leather? I, for one, don't. It looks to me like leatherette, but I could be wrong!

I don't know. However, the white steering wheel seems to be leather with a white coating that eventually wears off rather than leatherette that is colored throughout.

 

[a2oc]

Those nets are gone since 2015, same for the diff drain bolt and the pad next to the parking brake. Compass was gone in 2020, sound insulation for the rex was still there upto 2020. He also missed the trunk floor mounting holes for some straps in the 2014, passenger side mirror auto dim went away from 2017 LCI. If he got the tera world, the leather changed to the vernacasa that you can find in the g20 3er somewhere in 2019, older version has a softer leather. Most are easily retrofitable. He also forgot how much more improvement was on the 2021, better motor mounts, larger battery.