Sound-proofing

[Robin]

I was going to buy the i3 but the interior noise when driving at 30mph - possibly the carbon fibre shell - has put me off.
Please invest in some really good sound-proofing.

 

[MikeS]

Mine is near silent and 30!

 

[jadnashuanh]

FWIW, I also think the car is quite quiet, but what can put people off is the limited road noise. Because there isn't the muted hum of an engine and exhaust, the noises the car does make become more obvious. When designing the car, the engineers were looking at ways to save grams...adding more noise suppression materials would add pounds. This is one reason why there aren't powered seats or a powered hatchback, among many other small things. I've only owned one car where I added sound-proofing to, an Infiniti M35, which while quiet at running around, the drone at speed was just terrible after a short while. Finally sold that car cause it bugged me too much.

 

[bwilson4web]

My Prius is quiet but the i3 is like a library with one exception.

I stopped while driving into a scattered rain shower, the ones that start with the sparse, 'big drops'. When stopped, the i3 sounded like being inside a bass drum. Once moving, no problem.

Bob Wilson

 

[LCTRNZ]

My i3 BEV is extremely quiet even at speeds in excess of 30mph. my 330i ZHP is not nearly as quiet. granted the hum of the exhaust is awesome, i cannot complain about the i3. I ordered the Harmon Kardon sound system, so perhaps the sweet sound of the speakers covers wind noise. Either way, I am quite impressed and pleased with the noise level.

 

[epirali]

I was going to buy the i3 but the interior noise when driving at 30mph - possibly the carbon fibre shell - has put me off.
Please invest in some really good sound-proofing.

I am an audio engineer and incredibly sensitive to car and road noise. It is the one factor that will always keep me from buying a car (unless it is a track car). I hear no real road noise in the i3 except wind noise and that is really at speeds above 50 mph. In fact the car has no squeaks and rattle either and I can hear the light noise of the motor.

So what noise are you hearing? Was something wrong with the tires? Was this during a test drive? You should drive another one before deciding.

 

[kc1]

@epirali are you seriously claiming that with your super sensitive professional ears you don't hear the motor whine (rather than light noise)? It's really noticeable in my wife's 16 Rex

 

[jadnashuanh]

I suppose it's possible that a unit's gear reduction pack is noisy, but while I think everyone can hear the whine of the motor at times, most do not consider it a show stopper. Considering that the motor tops out at somewhere near 14K RPM, and is tuning a set of gears, IMHO, it's pretty quiet and nothing like the roar of an ICE with all of its normal harmonics. One reason why you can hear the motor/gear train noise is because everything else is so quiet.

 

[epirali]

@epirali are you seriously claiming that with your super sensitive professional ears you don't hear the motor whine (rather than light noise)? It's really noticeable in my wife's 16 Rex

I am seriously claiming that I hear no objectionable noise in my 15 i3 w/Rex. I hear the tires, the wind and the electric motor but they are all in the very quiet range of any car i have owned, electric or ICE.

Audis are among the most heavily sound proofed cars out there and the i3 is as quiet as my Audis in road noise and obviously quieter than the ICE even with good sound deadening.

So if your motor whine is louder than you ICE engine you may have an issue.

Update: I actually listened carefully again today on a cold day (40 F). The dominant noise in the car at 50-60 mph is definitely wind noise, and below it is the tires. At on speed do I hear anything but the faintest motor "whine" or noise inside the car with the windows rolled up.