still searching for my Unicorn 2021 i3S

[Arm]

If anyone would be interested in a 2019 i3s BEV connect with me.

 

[tongsli]

thanks Alohart. That sun just kills. I hate looking at the hood in full sun. Nice pics! I still do love the color. So in my life I've had a white 87 VW golf, a white 1999 VW Passat, a 2000 Silver VW Jetta, a 2018 Protonic Blue BMW i3, a white 2021 BMW i3, and now the 2019 Jucaro Beige BMW i3S

The Protonic Blue was nice and this Beige as well, but they are the darkest cars I've ever owned. Unfortunately there are a lot of Fluid Black i3's out there

 

[tongsli]

If anyone would be interested in a 2019 i3s BEV connect with me.View attachment 1048

I have one question: does the front black section or the bumper/hood have any road rash from debris? I know you've said the roof is in good shape and the car is garage kept. I just found your for sale thread.



thanks,

Lito

 

[Arm]

I have one question: does the front black section or the bumper/hood have any road rash from debris? I know you've said the roof is in good shape and the car is garage kept. I just found your for sale thread.



thanks,

Lito

Hello, I can send you more photos if you like off line. But to answer your question, no there is no road rash or chips. All the rubber seals, etc are in perfect condition. Since my ownership I've treated all areas regularly with sealant treatment.

 

[Marki3]

I am still searching for my unicorn. (a loaded 2021 i3s In giga or mega world trim with almost all available options.)
in almost any color other than Black.
For example, searching for BMW-used cars on the BMW USA website occasionally raises good prospects.
Here is a non-sport 2021, for example, that ticks a lot of the boxes other than the sunroof and HK sound system
https://www.bmwofraleigh.com/certified/BMW/2021-BMW-i3-cc33f15fac180e20cdcbf207c2fd0f29.htm?adobe_mc=MCMID=10032053599699665153655806650933295393|MCORGID=29C8F0CC540D9E5E0A4C98A1%40AdobeOrg|TS=1718232307&sd_referrer=cpo.bmwusa.com

another without the Sports version
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicle/715836787?referrer=/cars-for-sale/all-cars/gold/bmw/i3/newcastle-me?endYear=2021&featureCode=1136&featureCode=1180&featureCode=1078&newSearch=true&searchRadius=0&sortBy=distanceASC&startYear=2018&zip=04553&clickType=listing

And I search all major websites for used i3s several times a week, looking for 2021s coming off of a 3-year lease, but all the ones that do tick all my boxes some times absurdly overpriced,

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicle/717182957?city=Nobleboro&listingType=USED&makeCode=BMW&modelCode=BMWI3&newSearch=false&=&referrer=/bmw/i3/s/nobleboro-me?newSearch=false&&searchRadius=0&sortBy=distanceASC&startYear=2020&zip=04555&searchRadius=0&sortBy=distanceASC&startYear=2020&state=ME&trimCode=BMWI3|s&zip=04555&clickType=listing

Hi,

I just bought 2 i3s from Greenlight Auto in LA. Both with low miles, fully loaded and both qualified for the used EV rebate. Ended up at the $18k mark with all fees etc. Shipped them home and both are in great condition and have no issues at all. I have no affiliation with them but they do seem to find some good i3s cars with reasonable prices. One was 2021 and the other was 2020. The Fiat is also electric!

 

[mfogarty]

I love my Imperial Blue. At some point it is going to the detailers to be polished and detailed. However, even with a good wash and dry at home it looks real good. In fact I think the colours on all i3's are very nice (I do have a soft spot for the gold though!).

 

[tongsli]

Hi,

I just bought 2 i3s from Greenlight Auto in LA. Both with low miles, fully loaded and both qualified for the used EV rebate. Ended up at the $18k mark with all fees etc. Shipped them home and both are in great condition and have no issues at all. I have no affiliation with them but they do seem to find some good i3s cars with reasonable prices. One was 2021 and the other was 2020. The Fiat is also electric!

How do you keep the black one swirl free?

 

[Mustrum Ridcully]

I found my unicorn at last, and only 550 bucks open shipping charges away
The only negative is the fluid black paint, my least Desirable paint, so perhaps a respray or a wrap will be in its future

 

[eNate]

$25k and only 13,000 miles! Sa-weeet! Buy it! Deal with the black later. Congrats on the nice find.

 

[tob1as]

I found my unicorn at last, and only 550 bucks open shipping charges away
The only negative is the fluid black paint, my least Desirable paint, so perhaps a respray or a wrap will be in its future

This sounds like my unicorn - my current one is a 2017 black. Full leather though… And I have been looking for a 120 Ah to maybe replace the 2017 some day. Most I have seen don’t have HK, large center screen, sun roof, nor leather seats… Exterior color doesn’t really matter that much to me, but for some reason we have ended up with black cars the last three times

 

[Mustrum Ridcully]

I wonder if anyone on this forum has done a color change respray or a wrap of their i3, and if so, would like to talk about it. I like the combo of wool and natural light brown leather over the dark brown of rh the full leather.

After just three years, the car's value has decreased from its original $54k sticker price to just $25k, which is what I am spending. I'm wondering who took the hit: the selling dealer in Virginia or BMW leasing? It's not my problem, though, as at my age and with my health, I expect this to be my forever car. If it weren't for my broken right arm, I would have stuck with my 2004 MINI Cooper S, but I've been told it could be 6 to 8 months before I am comfortable driving its 6-speed manual again.

 

[Mustrum Ridcully]

$25k and only 13,000 miles! Sa-weeet! Buy it! Deal with the black later. Congrats on the nice find.

thanks. What is this Heat pump item I see on the original invoice?

 

[eNate]

thanks. What is this Heat pump item I see on the original invoice?

It's a reverse air conditioner of sorts (well, actually, that's exactly what it is). So rather than the PTC heater providing all of the cabin heat, the heat pump is used to create warm air more efficiently in most conditions.

It's only an option on the BEV, standard equipment some years in some markets, and is installed in the space taken up by the fuel tank on Rex models

Unfortunately a test by Wisely indicates that it's not all that much more efficient, but this could vary by climate.

 

[Mustrum Ridcully]

well, it sure was a cheap option ($150 on a BMW new car invoice I consider cheap so I was not expecting much).
The only option on my wish list that is Missing on this i3S, other than one of my paint colors, is the parking assist. This broken right arm is making me feel my age, but I have never had a car with it. I now have to have Handicapped plates or a hang tag on my car, so I seldom have a problem parking, and the rear view camera in reverse looks like fun. Y

 

[alohart]

well, it sure was a cheap option ($150 on a BMW new car invoice I consider cheap so I was not expecting much).

The attached image is from the BMW I01 Heating and AC Systems Training Manual. Of course, the actual energy savings of a heat pump over an electrical resistance heater depend on the ambient temperature with lower ambient temperatures reducing a heat pump's efficiency. This is why an i3 with a heat pump also includes the same electrical resistance heater as i3's without a heat pump.

The heat pump option was inexpensive because almost everything needed by a heat pump is already included with the A/C system. The heat pump option adds a few valves and tubing that redirect refrigerant according to the operation mode. What's particularly clever is that the battery pack could be cooled by the A/C while the cabin is heated by the heat pump.

The only option on my wish list that is Missing on this i3S, other than one of my paint colors, is the parking assist. This broken right arm is making me feel my age, but I have never had a car with it. I now have to have Handicapped plates or a hang tag on my car, so I seldom have a problem parking, and the rear view camera in reverse looks like fun. Y

Our 2014 U.S. i3 had the Parking Assist option. The only reason that I was willing to pay for it was because there was no other way to get the reversing camera. I tried parallel parking assist only once because cars behind me had to wait so much longer for parking assist to park compared with had I parked myself. Not only was it too slow to be useful, but it could drag a curbside rear wheel along a curb damaging it.

Based on my and other i3 owners' experiences with Parking Assist, I suggest eliminating Parking Assist a requirement when purchasing a used i3 unless the reversing camera wasn't included as standard equipment. I can't recall the year that it became standard equipment in the U.S.

 

[Mustrum Ridcully]

What's particularly clever is that the battery pack could be cooled by the A/C while the cabin is heated by the heat pump.

Art that is too clever by half. Thank you for that excerpt from the training manual.
I think the 2018 model year made backup cameras a requirement for cars sold in the US.

 

[Dutchi3]

If I understand correctly, the heat pump is only for heating, not cooling? So the A/C cools the battery, cools the interior or both at the same time? By the way, the only thing that I missed in winter (in the Netherlands that is) was a heated steering wheel, as the heated seats were often enough to stay warm.

 

[robthebold]

If I understand correctly, the heat pump is only for heating, not cooling? So the A/C cools the battery, cools the interior or both at the same time? By the way, the only thing that I missed in winter (in the Netherlands that is) was a heated steering wheel, as the heated seats were often enough to stay warm.

Since Art's training manual info suggests that the heating mode option only requires some extra valves (so a reversing valve setup) in addition to the A/C version, then the heat pump is bi-directional. Which is the only sane way to do it . . . with the disclaimer that there's a lot of not sane stuff done in this world, of course.

 

[alohart]

If I understand correctly, the heat pump is only for heating, not cooling? So the A/C cools the battery, cools the interior or both at the same time?

"Heat pump" describes a technology that pumps heat from a warmer source to a cooler destination, but it doesn't create any heat unlike an inefficient electric resistance heater. A heat pump can heat or cool a space depending on whether the space is the destination or source of the transferred heat. When in cooling mode (a.k.a., "air conditioning"), heat is extracted from cabin air or battery cells through a heat exchanger and exhausted into outside air through a heat exchanger behind the grill below the bumper. When in heating mode, heat is extracted from the outside air via the grill heat exchanger and exhausted into the cabin via its own heat exchanger. An i3's heat pump isn't used to warm battery cells in cold weather; an electric resistance heating element under the battery cells heats the cells.

In the Netherlands as well as in much of the rest of the wealthier world, heat pumps are replacing heating and air conditioning systems replacing two different systems with one system more efficient system.

 

[Dutchi3]

"Heat pump" describes a technology that pumps heat from a warmer source to a cooler destination, but it doesn't create any heat unlike an inefficient electric resistance heater. A heat pump can heat or cool a space depending on whether the space is the destination or source of the transferred heat. When in cooling mode (a.k.a., "air conditioning"), heat is extracted from cabin air or battery cells through a heat exchanger and exhausted into outside air through a heat exchanger behind the grill below the bumper. When in heating mode, heat is extracted from the outside air via the grill heat exchanger and exhausted into the cabin via its own heat exchanger. An i3's heat pump isn't used to warm battery cells in cold weather; an electric resistance heating element under the battery cells heats the cells.

In the Netherlands as well as in much of the rest of the wealthier world, heat pumps are replacing heating and air conditioning systems replacing two different systems with one system more efficient system.

Yes, I understand the technical and physical aspects of a heat pump, just not exactly how it is applied to the i3. So you have a conventional A/C compressor that cools the battery only, and a heat pump that does the cabin heating/cooling, apart from having also a ptc heater when it is too cold for the heat pump to operate? Or is the heat pump only for the heating of the cabin in winter and in summer, the conventional A/C takes care of the cooling? There are two on board compressors then, or only one (the heat pump)? i3 models without a heat pump have only the A/C compressor to cool both the battery pack as the interior?

PS. in the Netherland, the popularity of heat pumps has quickly diminished, due to high electricity prices and consumption in an already overloaded electricity network, high initial costs to install them, the noise they make in crowded neighborhoods etc. We have the best domestic natural gas network in the world and natural gas is a very clean fuel (only water and CO2) so we better continue using natural gas until we have a better solution. Heat pumps do not cut it. The people that benefited from heat pumps as early adopters where wealthy people that have solar panels and could profit from big tax incentives, poor people usually live in bad isolated houses and could not profit from incentives aka the usual story.