Seriously starting to dislike the i3-please skip if disagree

[alohart]

A couple of posters have stated and my owner's manual agrees that pressing the unlock button on the fob unlocks the rear hatch which seems to be pretty common behavior among various car brands (well, some brands require two unlock button presses). I haven't read a response from you about this. Have you tried pressing the unlock button on the fob to unlock the rear hatch? There is a setting in iDrive for the behavior of the unlock button, so maybe it's not set as you prefer. The button in the door jam shouldn't have to be pressed to open the rear hatch.

 

[epirali]

A couple of posters have stated and my owner's manual agrees that pressing the unlock button on the fob unlocks the rear hatch which seems to be pretty common behavior among various car brands (well, some brands require two unlock button presses). I haven't read a response from you about this. Have you tried pressing the unlock button on the fob to unlock the rear hatch? There is a setting in iDrive for the behavior of the unlock button, so maybe it's not set as you prefer. The button in the door jam shouldn't have to be pressed to open the rear hatch.

Sorry didn't mean to avoid the question. Absolutely unlocking the car by any method set (one click, two click) unlocks the rear, then you can use the "handle" to open. But combine this with the fact that "Comfort Access" is tied to interior color and there is the problem. In most other cars you can have keyless entry (comfort access), so you just walk up with the key in your pocket and grab the handle and open the back. OR you can press a key on the fob that unlocks and RELEASES the hatch/trunk. These methods are both pretty common these days.

With the i3, and ASSUMING it is not ok to choose beige in order to open your trunk without unlocking the whole car, neither is the case. And the last flaw that completes the frustration is the when the car unlocks in park there is no option to unlock everything. So you drive off, the hatch locks, you stop, get out and go the back and the hatch is not open. You have to unlock AGAIN, or remember to press the release button when you get out.

This is the exact kind of detail of bad decision that I am trying to point out that keep being ignored. In itself it is a daily annoyance, or requires two steps where everywhere else it is one step. I can open the frunk the few times I need it from inside, but this would have been solved by just using the trunk release button that almost every other remote except i3 has (they chose the frunk for some reason for that button). And I access the trunk hatch at least twice every day.

 

[Stevei3]

I'm afraid it doesn't help you, for there are subtle differences between EU and US cars, but over here, the fob has a programmable button in stead of the 'emergency' button. This is set to unlatch the trunk in our car (which doesn't have keyless entry). I never use it because if we stop and press 'Start/Stop', both doors and the trunk unlock. This is not changeable in the settings of your car ?
Regards, Steven

 

[epirali]

I'm afraid it doesn't help you, for there are subtle differences between EU and US cars, but over here, the fob has a programmable button in stead of the 'emergency' button. This is set to unlatch the trunk in our car (which doesn't have keyless entry). I never use it because if we stop and press 'Start/Stop', both doors and the trunk unlock. This is not changeable in the settings of your car ?
Regards, Steven

Honestly that is exactly what I am looking for/talking about. That is perfect. We don't have the button on FOB, and here setting the unlock doesn't unlock the trunk.

I am baffled by some of the restrictions and decisions that are put on the car here in the US. Remember you also get a full tank Rex and you get the hold state of charge. Both of which make the Rex truly useful.

Maybe I should just give up and move to UK? It may also explain why some people here don't seem to understand the frustration level, they are not suffering from the same flaws.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Most vehicles do not unlock the trunk or hatch from it's manual latch unless the whole car is unlocked. The default in the USA is to only unlock the driver's door, and it also unlocks the EVSE port door. If you really want the whole car unlocked, there are two ways to do it, from the fob (double press) or the door buttons. I just don't see your frustration on this. IMHO, it is a safety situation...in some places when you stop, you may not want every entry point unlocked in your car. Once you've had it for awhile, it will become second nature to unlock the trunk if you need access.

Yes, comfort access gives you other options, and you have to decide if the extras are worth it to you. Obviously, you did not. YOu can't blame BMW for that. It's not like they changed it along the way...that's the way it works in our market.

 

[epirali]

Most vehicles do not unlock the trunk or hatch from it's manual latch unless the whole car is unlocked. The default in the USA is to only unlock the driver's door, and it also unlocks the EVSE port door. If you really want the whole car unlocked, there are two ways to do it, from the fob (double press) or the door buttons. I just don't see your frustration on this. IMHO, it is a safety situation...in some places when you stop, you may not want every entry point unlocked in your car. Once you've had it for awhile, it will become second nature to unlock the trunk if you need access.

Yes, comfort access gives you other options, and you have to decide if the extras are worth it to you. Obviously, you did not. YOu can't blame BMW for that. It's not like they changed it along the way...that's the way it works in our market.

I am not blaming BMW, I am simply pointing out this is a bad design decision. Please read my entire post, where I actually explained the number of factors that go into this frustration. For example a trunk release instead of frunk release on the FOB, which all cars I have seen have, would be just fine. But you can not simply dismiss what I say by ignoring the part that doesn't fit the narrative.

 

[WoodlandHills]

The thing you have to understand is that a lot of people think the i3 is a unique and iconic object and it bothers them if you do not. Your evaluating the i3 as if it was just another car and holding it to the same standards as all the other cars we have owned totally ignores the "specialness" of the i3 and just shows that you "don't get it". From this point of view any defects are just the price of new technology, and boneheaded design choices are due to technological imperatives that you are too dim to fully appreciate. BMW engineers are the best and most advanced on the planet except for their software engineers who are only world class and the i3 is perfect as designed. All issues with the car are simply due to them being bought by people who did not bother to take the time to fully research the i3 or else are just whining by chronic malcontents. BMW has never overstated or misrepresented anything about anything in any of their promotional material ever, you just misunderstood. if you don't care for some of the software design that controls your i3 then you do not understand the brilliance of the designers and must be too rigid to change over to the correct (BMW) way of doing things: it's your fault.....

Does this help to understand the reaction to your posts?

 

[epirali]

The thing you have to understand is that a lot of people think the i3 is a unique and iconic object and it bothers them if you do not. Your evaluating the i3 as if it was just another car and holding it to the same standards as all the other cars we have owned totally ignores the "specialness" of the i3 and just shows that you "don't get it". From this point of view any defects are just the price of new technology, and boneheaded design choices are due to technological imperatives that you are too dim to fully appreciate. BMW engineers are the best and most advanced on the planet except for their software engineers who are only world class and the i3 is perfect as designed. All issues with the car are simply due to them being bought by people who did not bother to take the time to fully research the i3 or else are just whining by chronic malcontents. BMW has never overstated or misrepresented anything about anything in any of their promotional material ever, you just misunderstood....

Does this help to understand the reaction to your posts?

Yes it does, and thank you for the reasoned explanation (rather than name calling). The irony is that I also view the i3 as special in technology, or at least conceptually special. But by my reasoning something that has SO MUCH thought and design (and money) put into its creation should not be damaged by trivial flaws. I look at Tesla, see its terrible user decisions, and can chalk it up to a young company that has no background or knowledge. But with BMW I can't. They should know better. I drove my M Roadster today just for comparison, and found it doesn't suffer from a lot of the issues I listed (including a perfectly balanced steering wheel with just the right characteristics for "sporty" driving).

And in a strange sense in my world view a car like the i3 should be held to a HIGHER not lower standard than, say, another Honda. Most people who evaluate a car don't know and don't care about the "how," "why" or effort involved. They just get a visceral and emotional experience from the ownership and driving.So when I say these issues do impact the perception of the car I don't think explaining how the flaws are ok because the car is "special" will get most people to put down $40K+. I have to tell you I find that Audi understands this better than most car companies.

And I have attempted over and over again to state clearly the logic of why I say what I say. This is not to get people to agree, but rather to see its not "whining." But obviously its wasted effort. I guess it doesn't occur to people that if I didn't care about the product I would not bother to understand or comment on it.

I manufacture multiple products myself. Nothing nearly as complex as an i3 or even a basic car, but complex enough. The last thing I would want is for customers or potential customers to NOT tell me WHY they don't want my product. Constructive criticism seems to have no place in the modern psyche. All we have is a team mentality, "us" vs "them," and anyone who dares stray from the party line is "them."

 

[spinball]

The thing you have to understand is that a lot of people think the i3 is a unique and iconic object and it bothers them if you do not. Your evaluating the i3 as if it was just another car and holding it to the same standards as all the other cars we have owned totally ignores the "specialness" of the i3 and just shows that you "don't get it". From this point of view any defects are just the price of new technology, and boneheaded design choices are due to technological imperatives that you are too dim to fully appreciate.

This is simply not true. It's quite clear epirali is taking things to an extreme and it's perfectly fine for him to have this opinion. You should ask my wife about the numerous things I complain about that she finds trivial. But simply because others have a different perspective doesn't mean we have built altars in our homes to worship the i3. :roll:

I'm under no illusions this is the perfect car for all people. My first advice was to get rid of it if it doesn't make you happy.

 

[mjk]

$53K is a lot of money to spend for a car you are unhappy with. Aside from the things that should be fixed under warranty, and even with the possibility of coding HSOC, if you don't think you can become ecstatic about owning the i3 then you'll not do yourself any kindness by keeping it and feeling you're suffering.

 

[I33t]

She took one look at the other color interiors and basically was horrified. So how do I explain to her that she just should "accept" that basic features are now missing because BMW said so? You think this will make her a convert to the BMW products?

How you explain it is to show her the convenience of comfort access and the lack of convenience without it before you sign the contract. Then look at the interiors again. If she still can't stand the interior of the cars with CA, then just walk away or if you are still hell bent on buying a car so you can hate it, buy it anyway and spend hours complaining about it on the internets.

Wow, you just choose to ignore what I say, so ok. You are right, I am just complaining. So please stop reading. Why waste your time any more?

I responded to your request for how to explain to your wife the option choices you faced when thinking of buying an i3 in the USA.

How could I possibly have ignored what you posted. I responded to your specific request.

It's a pity you did not take the time to think through the USA options and to explain them correctly to your wife. The result would have been either no i3, or an i3 with CA but less than perfect color upholstery for you. You can fix upholstery, but adding CA is not possible.

 

[epirali]

I responded to your request for how to explain to your wife the option choices you faced when thinking of buying an i3 in the USA.

How could I possibly have ignored what you posted. I responded to your specific request.

It's a pity you did not take the time to think through the USA options and to explain them correctly to your wife. The result would have been either no i3, or an i3 with CA but less than perfect color upholstery for you. You can fix upholstery, but adding CA is not possible.

Sorry I should have been clear, that was rhetorical statement. I wasn't trying to explain anything to her. I was trying to explain to people her that she, being a pretty savvy car person, rejected the option because the color was not to her taste. The point, again, is that it was very UNWISE to tie a functional option to interior colors. It makes no sense. It also makes no sense to keep telling people to "explain" or to replace upholstery to compensate for bad decision by the car maker.

Why do you think you are being helpful with a comment like "If she still can't stand the interior of the cars with CA, then just walk away or if you are still hell bent on buying a car so you can hate it, buy it anyway and spend hours complaining about it on the internets?"

I bought the car because I wanted to experience the car, own it, drive it, enjoy it. It was an experiment. I may end up getting rid of it. Meanwhile this thread may help someone decide to skip the car, or it may help them get the car but with much better understanding.

 

[I33t]

And I have attempted over and over again to state clearly the logic of why I say what I say. This is not to get people to agree, but rather to see its not "whining." But obviously its wasted effort.

Constructive criticism seems to have no place in the modern psyche. All we have is a team mentality, "us" vs "them," and anyone who dares stray from the party line is "them."

Sounds good in theory, but if that was the case, why would you title your 'constructive criticism' post "Seriously starting to dislike the i3-please skip if disagree"

Probably, because you are well versed in waving red flags at bulls. Why would you only want people who agree with you to post in this thread? Because you actually wanted people who disagree with you to post, so asking them not to will bring them all here so you can whine your head off and have fun trolling.

If you have genuine concerns 'constructive criticism' send it to BMW. The only genuine concern (Rex control) has already been very well stated here and to BMW USA.

 

[epirali]

And I have attempted over and over again to state clearly the logic of why I say what I say. This is not to get people to agree, but rather to see its not "whining." But obviously its wasted effort.

Constructive criticism seems to have no place in the modern psyche. All we have is a team mentality, "us" vs "them," and anyone who dares stray from the party line is "them."

Sounds good in theory, but if that was the case, why would you title your 'constructive criticism' post "Seriously starting to dislike the i3-please skip if disagree"

Probably, because you are well versed in waving red flags at bulls. Why would you only want people who agree with you to post in this thread? Because you actually wanted people who disagree with you to post, so asking them not to will bring them all here so you can whine your head off and have fun trolling.

If you have genuine concerns 'constructive criticism' send it to BMW. The only genuine concern (Rex control) has already been very well stated here and to BMW USA.

Please do not assume what I am doing, and honestly calling people "trolls" or "whine your head off" who are stating reasonable complaints is not justified. I tried to come up with a thread title to make clear that it is NOT meant to engage in exactly this kind of pointless name calling. Rather I wanted people who are willing to help by pointing out flaws or thoughts on what I am seeing. Yet it seems the "trolls" as you call it are the ones who are picking a fight, name calling, or just trying to shut the thread down.

I am sorry if you can't tell the difference between whining and reasoned argument.

 

[I33t]

Why do you think you are being helpful with a comment like "If she still can't stand the interior of the cars with CA, then just walk away or if you are still hell bent on buying a car so you can hate it, buy it anyway and spend hours complaining about it on the internets?"

I bought the car because I wanted to experience the car, own it, drive it, enjoy it. It was an experiment. I may end up getting rid of it. Meanwhile this thread may help someone decide to skip the car, or it may help them get the car but with much better understanding.

I agree that pointing out your error may not seem helpful to you. You chose to buy the car and you have told us you had plenty of opportunity to see what the options were, but you bought it anyway. You cannot now tell us that you didn't know any of this before delivery. It was your choice, and now you want to try to make BMW pay for your own error with negative reports on a forum.

 

[epirali]

Why do you think you are being helpful with a comment like "If she still can't stand the interior of the cars with CA, then just walk away or if you are still hell bent on buying a car so you can hate it, buy it anyway and spend hours complaining about it on the internets?"

I bought the car because I wanted to experience the car, own it, drive it, enjoy it. It was an experiment. I may end up getting rid of it. Meanwhile this thread may help someone decide to skip the car, or it may help them get the car but with much better understanding.

I agree that pointing out your error may not seem helpful to you. You chose to buy the car and you have told us you had plenty of opportunity to see what the options were, but you bought it anyway. You cannot now tell us that you didn't know any of this before delivery. It was your choice, and now you want to try to make BMW pay for your own error with negative reports on a forum.

Sorry but I just can't let you continuously twist and misrepresent what I am doing. This is not about options, but it is about functional and characteristics of the car that I do not find well thought out. The totality of the experience was less than the sum of its parts. This is my experience with the car. And as I stated before I am comparing this to various other EV cars that I own.

Others may disagree, as other people here have managed to do (and state their great like for the i3) WITHOUT trying to project unbased motives or see evil plots. I think we can trust people to be able to read various opinions and decide for themselves.

 

[I33t]

Sorry but I just can't let you continuously twist and misrepresent what I am doing.

So you didn't know about the options before you bought the car?

You have claimed you did know, and that is the basis of my response. Did you investigate the options properly and were they explained to you correctly before purchase, or did you rush in and sign up after a cursory look? If you did investigate, why did you order?

Which is it?

 

[epirali]

Sorry but I just can't let you continuously twist and misrepresent what I am doing.

So you didn't know about the options before you bought the car?

You have claimed you did know, and that is the basis of my response. Did you investigate the options properly and were they explained to you correctly before purchase, or did you rush in and sign up after a cursory look? If you did investigate, why did you order?

Which is it?

Please go back and read my posts, I am not going to repeat over and over. The issues I have posted put together become a significant negative. The feature combinations isn't the main or event significant portion of my points. Not having comfort access is acceptable IF you don't then fail to also use a remote button for opening the frunk not the trunk. A sporty handling is fine if you are a sport car, but a steering wheel with no dead spot and overactive steering is not ok (I'm sorry did I order the wrong steering column option?)

I knew all the options for the car, and chose the least objectionable combinations. And with that my points as I offered them stands.

 

[I33t]

Not having comfort access is acceptable IF you don't then fail to also use a remote button for opening the frunk not the trunk. A sporty handling is fine if you are a sport car, but a steering wheel with no dead spot and overactive steering is not ok (I'm sorry did I order the wrong steering column option.

Sorry, didn't you say you are an engineer? And you investigated all the options as an engineer would, but you didn't look at the key fob?

Steering dead spot may be your personal preference, but not for me, and I suspect most. One of my other cars is a Porsche, and although it has mechanical steering, it has no dead spot either. Wouldn't have it any other way. Wouldn't want slower or deader steering than what we have in the i3 either. Could have some more feedback but we have to remember this is a light car with narrow Tyres. Having had plenty of sports cars, I don't find the ride and handling in the sports car class, but it is nicely firm without being harsh. In fact, it rides pretty much typical for a BMW.

 

[epirali]

Not having comfort access is acceptable IF you don't then fail to also use a remote button for opening the frunk not the trunk. A sporty handling is fine if you are a sport car, but a steering wheel with no dead spot and overactive steering is not ok (I'm sorry did I order the wrong steering column option.

Sorry, didn't you say you are an engineer? And you investigated all the options as an engineer would, but you didn't look at the key fob?

Steering dead spot may be your personal preference, but not for me, and I suspect most. One of my other cars is a Porsche, and although it has mechanical steering, it has no dead spot either. Wouldn't have it any other way. Wouldn't want slower or deader steering than what we have in the i3 either. Could have some more feedback but we have to remember this is a light car with narrow Tyres. Having had plenty of sports cars, I don't find the ride and handling in the sports car class, but it is nicely firm without being harsh. In fact, it rides pretty much typical for a BMW.

Actually my M Roadster is much better and almost perfect in steering, so it may be typical of some BMWs but not all. The i8 also does not behave that way and is near perfect in handling and ride. I understand and respect you like the steering/handling/suspension, please understand/respect that I do not.

Yes I am engineer, but I would have never guessed to check the key fob. That is a pretty small detail and I would have never in a million year think that it would be so badly thought out.