UK i3 options

[janner]

As always, working through a car's options before buying is a nightmare and the i3 seems no different. I am looking at an i3 ReX which at the moment I seem to have convinced myself I could have as an only car even though I do at least one 300mile round trips a month.

I don't think the i3 necessarily needs metallic paint but it seems to help the resale value.

The BMW Media package Business is standard but with a bigger screen the BMW Professional system seems to one to go for. However it's not clear in the brochures what you get with Professional that you don't get with Business. Anyone able to help?

I want parking sensors at each corner of the car but it seems that to have this I need the whole Park Assist Package. Is this correct?

I rather fancy the Driving Assistant Plus package for the sheer ease of driving on the UKs congested roads but it's quite expensive but worse than that to have it you need to upgrade the interior to at least 'Loft' in order to get the multi-function steering wheel. Is this correct and has anyone got the Driving Assistant Plus?

I thought I would need the BMW 32 amp home charger but I fairly sure that I would normally be able to charge through a 13 amp socket for 12-14 hours most times. Any views?

 

[ironsia]

To save the money I put into the Driving Assistance Plus (& enforced the interior upgrade) and Parking Assistance I went for the basic 19" wheels and Capparis White. You will need dark floor mats with the upgraded interior (maybe not if your life is purely urban with smooth loafers, no kids or animals and invariably immaculate clothes). I went for cheap 3rd party made-to-measure.
It turns out that 19" wheels are advantageous in that you avoid an odd unwanted acoustic effect (whoop-whoop), and the necessity for a second set of wheels for winter tyres. Also turns out that white is a surprise popular choice, certainly among the Californians who are the most vocal on the FB i3 group, so I hope that'll help the residual value.
I couldn't convince the domestic chancellor of the exchequer that there was enough benefit in the Professional Media package. She's probably right. I'm not that impressed with the navigation. I'd rather have a good 3rd party sat nag mounted closer to the driver eye-line.
The i3 Rex as a whole is terrific.
DC fast charge is worth while IMHO, and I'm very glad I ordered it.
Until we move house, we're using the standard 13A plug level 1 charger overnight at home, but a 20 minute Level 3 charge-up has been great on longer trips, replacing petrol consumption. The jury is out as yet as to whether the reliability, availability and pricing of fast charging will be good enough in the medium term. My bet is yes, but I could be proved wrong.
I've bought a level 2 cable from Germany, but haven't yet found an opportunity to use it. I don't often want to stop for 3hours or so at a charging location away from home. N American level 2 outlets have the cable attached, Europeans need to bring their own.

 

[FrancisJeffries]

N American level 2 outlets have the cable attached, Europeans need to bring their own.

That's true if you charge away from home, but the level 2 charger comes with or without a cable. If you plan to charge only at home, then you don't need to buy the expensive cable, and you might as well get the charger with the attached cable for the same money (£95). And if charging overnight is OK for you, you won't even need the expensive level 2 charger at all. Also, I've found hotels happy to let me charge from an ordinary socket overnight, which can be handy to save petrol, but you'll need a long extension lead (and unwind it while charging to keep it cool).

I got the Rex and 19-inch wheels. I decided not to get the DC Rapid charge for reasons I have rehearsed several times elsewhere on this forum. But I have also found that having the i3 Rex as our only car is highly feasible. For long journeys (> 120 and up to 700 miles round trips) we simply use the car as an "ordinary" ICE car with a rather small petrol tank, and fill up every 70-80 miles. That option is not available to our US colleagues because they aren't allowed to switch the Rex on when the battery is down to 75% like we can in Europe. In fact, I've programmed the soft button 8 to toggle the Rex on and off, which makes it easy to switch without looking away from the road.

But the car is in no sense ordinary - we love it.

 

[PluviaPlumbum]

I have recently had a second 2 day demo ahead of my own vehicle arriving and I'm rather glad I specified the Parking Assistant plus, Generally I am pretty good at Parallel parking and the i3 being 4m long will fit into many a tight space - however like many modern cars the rear three quarter visibility is not fantastic and the front of the car is not visible at all; being able to simply press a button and let the car do the hard work is quite appealing. Plus my wife who will be driving this more frequently than me will like this feature I'm sure!

 

[i7fan]

As always, working through a car's options before buying is a nightmare and the i3 seems no different. I am looking at an i3 ReX which at the moment I seem to have convinced myself I could have as an only car even though I do at least one 300mile round trips a month.

300 miles round trip is quite doable. Fully charged and with a full tank of petrol you can get to your destination (just about). Then you need to top-up (both electricity and gas). Now it is ready for the return trip. This is probably the worse case scenario. For example, if you can fit in a stop to recharge midway on each leg you may even get away with not using the Rex. This probably means DC rapid charge as you do not want to be travelling 1 hour, charging 4 hours then going for another hour. Journey time tripled!

I don't think the i3 necessarily needs metallic paint but it seems to help the resale value.

For me this was the hardest decision. Ordered non-metallic grey. Changed my mind and went to silver. Then decided on white. Luckily(?), when I contacted the dealer I was told it was too late to change without delaying production.

The BMW Media package Business is standard but with a bigger screen the BMW Professional system seems to one to go for. However it's not clear in the brochures what you get with Professional that you don't get with Business. Anyone able to help?

You get quite a lot. Bigger screen. Faster CPU. Faster GPU. 20GB hard disk. Better sat-nav with real-time traffic info. Information Plus. Internet access with online entertainment.

I want parking sensors at each corner of the car but it seems that to have this I need the whole Park Assist Package. Is this correct?

That is right. I was annoyed with this blatant attempt to sell me features I do not want just to get what I wanted. To spite them I left out the whole package. But see next...

I rather fancy the Driving Assistant Plus package for the sheer ease of driving on the UKs congested roads but it's quite expensive but worse than that to have it you need to upgrade the interior to at least 'Loft' in order to get the multi-function steering wheel. Is this correct and has anyone got the Driving Assistant Plus?

Looking through the interior options I actually preferred the standard setup (well, Suite is better but the price...). However, I have to get the Driving Assistant and thus in this case was forced to select Loft.

I thought I would need the BMW 32 amp home charger but I fairly sure that I would normally be able to charge through a 13 amp socket for 12-14 hours most times. Any views?

You can get a Rolec 32A charger for FREE.

 

[i7fan]

That's true if you charge away from home, but the level 2 charger comes with or without a cable. If you plan to charge only at home, then you don't need to buy the expensive cable, and you might as well get the charger with the attached cable for the same money (£95). And if charging overnight is OK for you, you won't even need the expensive level 2 charger at all. Also, I've found hotels happy to let me charge from an ordinary socket overnight, which can be handy to save petrol, but you'll need a long extension lead (and unwind it while charging to keep it cool).

As I said, you can get a 32A charger free from Rolec (better be quick as the government grant may run out). It comes with a tethered cable or a type 2 socket. I tried to get them to install the socket version and supply the separate cable but they wanted to charge me more than £200 for the cable. As you probably know, it only cost £165 from BMW! So I went with the tethered cable. All done for nothing.

 

[janner]

Thanks for helpful advice.

Will look into free Rolec 32A charger. Will certainly get Rapid DC charger - had hoped it would be standard by now.

Media package professional - I guess I'll just have to try it out. I would like the bigger screen but I don't really want Internet Access.

How does the Driving Assistant Plus work if it doesn't have parking sensors?

How come you had to have it - was it work stipulation? And how do you find it in operation - I think it should be as important as ABs to safety?

 

[Bunter]

I didn't think I would want/need the 30 amp charger at home, and I don't for weekday use but it really transforms weekend use to the point that I now consider it essential. While you're talking options I believe Enhanced Buetooth option is necessary for video playback on the centre display. Possibly not something that is all that well known.

Bill

 

[electricvirgin]

I got the upgraded navigation mainly for the bigger screen and love it. However if the basic system lacks Real Time Traffic Information then its worth upgrading just for that, it has saved me hassle several times and always seems very accurate.
The driving assist is very good too, you soon get used to it and it works well. However in certain lighting conditions it can drop out of cruise rather rapidly so you have pay attention! It also brakes sharply if someone steps in front of the car, and this is a great safety feature i think.
Finally i thought long and hard about the DC option and am glad i ordered it in the end, i have only used it about 8 times but each time its been able to keep me electric instead of using the engine. I also suspect it will help resale although its a hard call.

 

[RJSATLBA]

I got the upgraded navigation mainly for the bigger screen and love it. However if the basic system lacks Real Time Traffic Information then its worth upgrading just for that, it has saved me hassle several times and always seems very accurate.

No need to cough up for the Pro media package to get RTTI, it is available as an add-on to the standard nav system for about £120 if I remember correctly, that's what I opted for.

 

[Hengus]

I am still struggling with all the options. I have convinced myself that I do not need automatic parking but I am unsure about Driving Assistance Plus given mixed reports on this and other forums. Is it radar or camera spacing on the car in front? How reliable is it in spray, and low sun? Can it actually read passing speed limit plates, and does the system provide an overspeed warning?

 

[S3RDP]

I am still struggling with all the options. I have convinced myself that I do not need automatic parking but I am unsure about Driving Assistance Plus given mixed reports on this and other forums. Is it radar or camera spacing on the car in front? How reliable is it in spray, and low sun? Can it actually read passing speed limit plates, and does the system provide an overspeed warning?

I initially opted for Driving Assistant Plus after loving the experience when I went out in a demonstrator but was convinced by the sales agent that it was not a necessary option if you don't drive much in heavy traffic but that Park Assist was a popular choice. It is not the automatic parking that sold it to me but the need for front sensors and the usefulness of the cameras to avoid kerbing the wheels. After much deliberation and reading the enthusiastic comments about Driving Assistant Plus I went for both. Didn't want to regret not ticking the box after the event. I resigned myself to paying more than I initially expected but the technology is amazing.

 

[janner]

Driving assistant Plus is an expensive option because you also have to choose an upgraded interior as well, so it's about £1,800 all up. Difficult to recommend at that price but have used it, it does make motorway driving in the UK really easy. It uses a camera to judge distance and holds your position in the moving traffic queue no matter what speeds they reduce to. If you want to overtake just point the car at an empty lane and it accelerates into it until it reaches the speed you've pre set. It's a very good safety feature, it stops you getting into a constantly accelerating speed regime just to get out of the traffic and it helps eake out the battery. I did 120miles without touching any pedal at all.

 

[Hengus]

Thanks. I am just slightly concerned about uncommanded disconnects at speed which I understand can lead to REGEN braking. Have these problems been resolved?

As a follow on - what about professional or business Nav? I have professional Nav on an F11 but apart from RTTI and the nice display it lacks many of the functions of my old Tom Tom. My agent told me the professional sat nav upgrades will be issued free. Other forums suggest that this is not the case. Apart from a smaller screen and RTTI, what am I actually getting for £960?

 

[kc1]

...holds your position in the moving traffic queue no matter what speeds they reduce to...stops you getting into a constantly accelerating speed regime...

In my experience it works for this (70% of the time) but fails miserably at the other supposed benefits, in particular at lower speeds - especially for the pedestrian and collision warning and intervention. Despite flashing lights it hasn't once actively applied braking, as it is supposed to. Also at lower speeds, it almost never takes off again from a halt without having to apply the accelerator again. IMHO it adds very little to standard cruise control.

 

[SuperM]

...holds your position in the moving traffic queue no matter what speeds they reduce to...stops you getting into a constantly accelerating speed regime...

In my experience it works for this (70% of the time) but fails miserably at the other supposed benefits, in particular at lower speeds - especially for the pedestrian and collision warning and intervention. Despite flashing lights it hasn't once actively applied braking, as it is supposed to. Also at lower speeds, it almost never takes off again from a halt without having to apply the accelerator again. IMHO it adds very little to standard cruise control.

During my test drive, the sales guy told me that it's not intended for emergency braking (too slow to react). The distance the camera measures cars is not that big either. I will not take this option if I go for the i3, because I would never be capable of really relying on it

 

[Hengus]

Thanks. The British jury is very divided on the value of Drive Assistant Plus and the Parking package. At the moment, my order has neither and I need to make any changes soon.

 

[noodle]

The only options I've specced are heated seats and rapid charge. I'm a LEAF owner at the moment but I'm switching to an i3 for the joy it brings when driving (and the security/practicality of the ReX).

However I've convinced myself that I'm not going to fall into the trap of speccing lots of options and bumping up the price. The extra equipment is no doubt really nice (and really cool) but not essential in my opinion. The business nav which I'll be having still provides all the functionality of a normal nav, just has a smaller screen and misses a few software bonuses like a 3D map of some urban areas and some 'Eco Pro+' driving tips, I think. I haven't heard of any nav upgrades except for the very early buyers of the i3 a year or so back.

If I were you I'd test drive i3's with different options fitted and see what you can live without. I would have loved to have dropped £5k on options but this is an awesome car and I don't need LED headlights or a larger nav screen to put a massive grin on my face each time I pilot it. I'll let you know if I regret my decision in mid-March when the little pocket rocket arrives