Newbie

[magic77]

Just wanted to say hi.

About to purchase and i3 and just wondering what everybodies experience it has been.

Would be good to find out about long term usage and also how its been on long drives. Dont do many but occsionally a 200 /250 mile drives will be on the cards.

How did it perform, and how noisy is the rex as I get mixed info on line

Anything else worth knowing before I pull the trigger on the order.

thank youy

 

[NHi3REx]

I've had my REx for just under two months now, and have used the REx a few times under varying conditions. Like you, I have the occasional extended (100+ mi) trip, which is what attracted me to the i3 REx over a pure EV.

The first time I had the REx engage was to initially test it to make sure it worked by not charging the battery overnight. My initial impression was actually pure panic because as I watched my range decrease, it simply went blank ("--") with around 3-4mi remaining, and I didn't hear or see anything (I expected the center display to illustrate the REx was engaged). It was only after exiting from the highway and turning down the radio that I noticed the hum from the motor which calmed my nerves.

I've also made a 125mi each way trip between NH and RI, which was pretty much uneventful. As this was mainly highway, the transition from battery to REx was seamless, and I ended up stopping for gas a little sooner than I probably needed to as I knew I'd be right on the edge of the combined range (5F temps). The most memorable part of this endeavor was topping off the gad tank after a whopping 1.4 gallons

Finally, just this past weekend I was running around town on some extended errands requiring the REx to manage much more city/urban driving than previous uses, and I must admit the hum was much more noticeable. I would stop well short of saying it was disruptive or obtrusive, but having the motor continuously turn on and off at stop signs and traffic lights certainly caught your attention versus just having it hum in the background.

Good luck!

 

[janner]

My experience of the ReX is that you don't notice it turn on but sometimes you notice it when you're slowing down. The car is so quiet on electric that when you you hear the ReX you begin to wonder whether its noisy. Then you get back into an ICE car and realise that the ReX running is no noisier and maybe quieter than a ICE car.

 

[jadnashuanh]

The REx does not always run at the same speed, so depending on the load, it can easily fall into the background noise. And, it purposely slows down as you do to minimize the noise.

 

[magic77]

Thats good as read in few places its very loud which suprised me.

I take it all the coding chat regarding the REX is more about US specs and its in-ability to run from 75% battery or are there any tweaks in uk as well

 

[nowtta60]

I've done 3,600 miles in 2 nearly months 67% electric the rest on REX (obviously). BUY! BUY! BUY! Yummy. This is the car you are looking for.

My first day was 150 miles. And every day I'm commuting 120. Have done a 160 mile trip to visit friend with no charging. I am in the UK - so we get to use up the fuel first if we want. I keep about 25% battery if on a long trip so you can do some "overtaking" for a few miles, let the battery run below the set point and then slow down to let the REX catch up with the set point. TBH - you'll usually hit traffic that does that anyway.

I have learned where to knock the REX off on my way home - to the point it annoyingly kicks in about 100 yards from home sometimes (despite having 6.5% battery and the sat nav knowing I'm 0.1 miles from destination) and then still insists on doing it's cool down cycle (runs a radiator fan somewhere under the car).

Noise wise - you do hear it, and it reminds you of how your wallet is being emptied faster than stopping to put more electricity in ;-) But it's not intrusive, sound like there's someone riding a nice quiet BMW 650cc scooter about 20 yards behind you (not one of the noisy 50cc wasps). I must go for a ride in my Diesel X-Trail just to remind myself of what noisy is! It's been sat on the drive for 2 months poor thing! The revs pick up as you go faster, it stops at 10mph and starts up again at 20mph. Unless you have really low SOC when it will embarrasingly keep running, destroying the portrayal that you are saving the planet and tippy toing around using nothing but wind and sun power and fairy dust.

Funny isn't it - you'd never ask someone if you can hear the engine in a 1.6 Jetta - because they'd say - er, what? Like of course you can - its' an engine, what did you expect? And that's the thing, don;t agonise over using it, think like I do - if I didn't have that little motor, I'd have to wait another 3 years to get an EV when the Telsa 3 comes out as I can't be doing with hoping the rapids aren't broken/occupied and getting annoyed with public chargers getting ICEd. I'm at the point where I'm going to sell the X-Trail and drive a 1000 mile trip to France in the summer. I'm confident that as long as I stop of regularly for fuel - and pick campsites with electric hook up then it will be just like driving a regular car. the best bit of course being that at weekend I often do 200 miles - but not all at once and all on electric.

As an experiment - I'm seeign how long my fuel tank lasts. Filled up 3 weeks ago, and still have 2/3. 490 miles done so far :-0. That's more to do with me giving up on the 120 miles a day commute, driving in 1 day, and using the train in between. Means I can use a public charger without much disruption to my schedule and more importantly as good as the ACC is in the i3 traffic assist, you can't yet sleep! The train solves that last bit.

 

[i3atl]

I've done 3,600 miles in 2 nearly months 67% electric the rest on REX (obviously).

Wow, I think that's the lowest percentage of electric miles I've heard of in an i3 - glad it's working so well for you. Maybe you'll end up being the leader in REx miles after you've had your car a bit longer, as most people wouldn't have purchased an i3 with your commute.

EDIT - well sounds like you've adjusted your daily travel, so maybe your electric mile percentage will only go up from here.

 

[magic77]

thanks nowtta60. that's great to read.

This is the key out of a 5 day week two days are about 70 mile commute and others be luckly to get 10 miles.

its all looking good for it. Have a i3 booked for 24hours from Friday to Saturday so will be doing a bit of driving I think to get better feel for the car.

Then just case of colour. Shame no EBII option

 

[justanotherdrunk]

shes a superb city car - not so much a high speed freeway bomber

instatorque super low speed quick

really like the one pedal brake regen driving

at high speed i dont hear the rex - - at low speed its noise is not a problem

free (included), unlimited fast dc charges during the lease 2.2 miles from home

:lol:

 

[uktechie]

REX essential in UK unless you never do more than 50 miles per full charge.

You can hear engine but other traffic more noisey.

250 miles ok just plan trip if you can for your electric or gas stops.

10000 miles total done in my REX no problem 3000 on gas all good :mrgreen:

 

[magic77]

Thank you for all the info. Its been very helpful and has settled some of the mind worries etc.

Got the car for 24 hours this weekend so plan is to do lot of driving to get a good idea on how it feels.

Plan was to go down the company car route, joys of running own company but it seems the big bag is going to be dropped tomorrow and everybody with 0co2 emission company cars are in for a :evil:

Still being a rex it already has a 5% bik so even with the planned increases over next 3 years still might prove a viable option.

Just a shame no good deals on teh cars. Lets just hope they dont pull the 5k contribution tomorrow as well then

Thank you for the help now to just order and wait

 

[roofless]

>>> Just a shame no good deals on teh cars.

I don't know where you are, but the deals are quite good is many areas, especially here in the US. There's a whole section of the forum about buying/leasing an i3, check it out to see what kind of deals people are getting: http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3

 

[magic77]

in the UK currently we get government grant of 5k however this might come to an end with the annual government budget looming. Apart from that dealers are not giving any special deals or rates

 

[jadnashuanh]

Different marketing scheme in the UK verses the USA as I understand it. In the UK, you're essentially ordering a car from the factory, and not buying it from a dealer and stock he owns (plus, not all BMW dealers can facilitate an order for one for you). IN the USA, the dealer owns the car and sells it to the end user, so there's a lot more room for negotiation.

 

[pastyboy]

I've done 3,600 miles in 2 nearly months 67% electric the rest on REX (obviously).

Wow, I think that's the lowest percentage of electric miles I've heard of in an i3 - glad it's working so well for you. Maybe you'll end up being the leader in REx miles after you've had your car a bit longer, as most people wouldn't have purchased an i3 with your commute.

EDIT - well sounds like you've adjusted your daily travel, so maybe your electric mile percentage will only go up from here.

I have had mine for 6 months and 4,500 miles with just 10% on Rex, but sometimes I have used the rex just to be sure of getting home (I did not always really need it) or to be a bit of a hooligan! It really is a difficult car to drive slowly. We have done a couple of 260 mile trips in that as well.

The noise is very minimal from the Rex and with the radio even at moderate levels I do not notice it. At high speeds the wind noise is more intrusive, but acceptable. HK is definitely a good option by the way. The self park is a gimmick (unless you are a total numpty at parking) designed to fleece you of your money just to get the front parking sensors. The pro-nav is a great package. I have the normal headlights but had a demo with LED and can't say that I miss the upgrade. If it had Xenons like my 330Ci that would be a different matter, but most of the time I am in urban environments. The luggage space is surprisingly small, even though the outside dimensions are not dissimilar to our Golf GTi which can swallow up twice as much or more.

We keep the 330Ci for summer days with the roof down, the Golf (with 122k miles) for load carrying (roof racks and trailers are not for the i3) and the i3 is now our main car. You will love it (your own that is, not ours!).

 

[psquare]

We've done just over 800 miles in our REx since March 1st. No use of the REx yet at all. It still has the full tank the car came with when I took delivery. Our daily local mileage is around 35-50 miles, so well within the limits of the electric range. The REx is our second car and for very long ranges we have a Diesel, which has probably done 150 miles since March 1st.

My wife loves the car, but also admits that she feels comfortable driving it because it has a REx. Someone on here said that the REx is a good entry-level EV and I tend to agree with that. As my work situation can change, I also have to take longer distances into account, which was another argument to spend the additional £3k for a REx (believe me, I would have loved to blow it on some extras instead !).

 

[mjk]

Most of the anxiety I've had regarding the REx has come from the reports I've read here about the sudden deceleration when the SOC drops below a certain percent (3.5%?).

So far I haven't encountered that, but I did purchase the DVDinMotion patch and I do activate the hold state of charge feature at 75% when I'd doing longer trips or those where I climb through mountains.

As for noise, I haven't heard a lot of noise from the REx. Once when it had been working hard and I came to a stop, it did keep running and the impression I had immediately was that I was driving an original 50s VW Bug. Didn't bother me.

 

[magic77]

thanks everybody for your help i3 is on order delivery for hopefully june 26th. All toys ticked