What are you getting after your i3?

[m11wlk]

I have had my i3 since May 2014 and since its on a 2 year lease I need to decide what's next pretty quick (remembering the agonising 9 month lead time at the start!).

I definitely love my i3, except for all the cabin rattles (dash, glovebox, speedo screen all annoying me) and I added most options except driving assistant, pano roof and comfort access so I might just add a couple of those and get another one.

Alternatively, about the same price (to me on a lease):

330e M-sport with similar options (a bit faster and the ability to corner at speed again definitely attractive but I don't know if I can be so mainstream as a 3-series )
Merc 350e premium plus with every option except the twobar (includes loads of gadgets like surround camera, steering assist at higher speed, glass roof) From what I have read it's electric range is really nothing in reality (8-12 miles in winter).

My commute is mostly about 6 miles but I do like my rex for the odd 100 - 150 mile round trip without using too much fuel.

Anyone else decided what they will go for next?

 

[i3an]

To use an ICE for a 6-mile commute is engine abuse — it won't even get warmed up! Stick to an EV.

 

[I33t]

I've only had the i3 for a bit over a year. Why would I be wondering what to replace it with? I expect the car to last 10 years before I move it on, my last car lasted 10 years.

Right now, if it was stolen or totalled etc, I'd just get another one.

 

[S3RDP]

The only thing that would put me off replacing my i3 REx would perhaps be the sense in waiting for the longer range MY 2017 car that apparently will go into production in July. Chevvy Bolt looks interesting but unlikely to come to Europe anytime soon (if at all). No way could I go back to an ICE.

 

[freeewilly]

After driving pretty much all the pure EVs available, Tesla is simply the best car on the market now.

 

[Schnort]

I hope they get on the ball and get the model 3 out.

I don't really want a car as large as the Tesla S, even if it wasn't $75k

 

[Boatguy]

I'm also hoping that Tesla will get the Model 3 right. 80% of our trips, and probably 60% of our household miles have no issue with range. A significant part of why we like the i3 is its size and nimbleness. I've also been pleasantly surprised with the cargo capacity. I find I can fit more awkward packages into the i3 than a Mercedes E-class.

Tesla has been building very big cars and the X is larger than the S. If the Model 3 comes out as a 3-series sized car, it will still be too big.

GM will need to vastly improve their build quality and corporate attitude before I have any interest in their products. Getting a new CEO did not change the other 200,000 employees who make up the General Motors DNA. The same finance and legal people who made a calculated decision that it was cheaper to absorb a few wrongful death lawsuits than change out an ignition switch are still there. The interview with Tom M is also revealing in that they considered the Volt as "almost perfect" and the standard against which they measure themselves. And unfortunately VW/Audi have joined GM in the penalty box.

BMW, Mercedes and Teslas are in a whole other league. I wish Mercedes wold get on the EV bandwagon, but they are really dragging their feet.

I think the ideal road trip vehicle would be something like a 5-series/E-series with a 150-200mi EV range and a diesel generator for REX good for another 200mi at freeway speed. Pure EV is going to be an issue for at least another 5yrs; I don't like the idea of planning a trip based on the location of charging stations. When high kWh charging stations are as ubiquitous as gas stations, EV will be a real replacement for road trips.

BMW's REX is the right idea as real ICE replacement, let's see where they take it and if anyone else can figure out the formula.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I'm hoping that the next I-series car is a plug-in hybrid similar to the drivetrain in the i8, but designed for more efficiency and passenger ease of entry and storage. If that works out, I'll sell both of my cars. My ICE only gets used maybe once a month now since I have the i3, when I either need to carry more, or go further conveniently than the i3 will take me. On my ICE I can approach and sometimes exceed 500-miles on a tank, and never have to worry about where I need to refuel it. In the USA, CCS stations, where I live are very few and far between with none along my most traveled route at all. WIth the gaps between service stations on I-90, with the REx, I'd be stopping at nearly every one along the way after the charge was depleted, so it's not viable at all, which is why I chose the BEV for simplicity and less maintenance and up-front costs.

 

[stumbledotcom]

BMW teased its product roadmap in 2015. Over the next decade, the mainstream models will move to plug-in hybrid architectures, similar conceptually to the i8, as standard equipment. We’re already seeing off-shoots such as the X5 xDrive40e on sale now and the 330e officially revealed at the LA Auto show in November. I suspect BEVs will remain restricted to specialty roles, as in the i3’s city car design.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/future-bmw-3-series-lead-ev-revolution

Management has stated repeatedly that the BMW i. sub-brand’s role is innovation. Proving technologies that can migrate to the main brand. Today that means eDrive, CFRP structures, and environmentally responsible yet profitable low-volume, series production methods. I think each future i vehicle will push into new territory. The BMW-Toyota technical sharing agreement could be seen as foreshadowing a hydrogen fuel-cell solution for the rumored i5, for example.

 

[psquare]

After the i3, we're going to get the most gas-guzzling car there is.

Driving an EV made us offset so much fossil fuel and prevent so much pollution, we're basically going to "cash-in" all that credit at the Environment Bank and go large.

A big Range Rover Sport or something

 

[S3RDP]

BMW teased its product roadmap in 2015. Over the next decade, the mainstream models will move to plug-in hybrid architectures, similar conceptually to the i8, as standard equipment. We’re already seeing off-shoots such as the X5 xDrive40e on sale now and the 330e officially revealed at the LA Auto show in November. I suspect BEVs will remain restricted to specialty roles, as in the i3’s city car design.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/future-bmw-3-series-lead-ev-revolution

Management has stated repeatedly that the BMW i. sub-brand’s role is innovation. Proving technologies that can migrate to the main brand. Today that means eDrive, CFRP structures, and environmentally responsible yet profitable low-volume, series production methods. I think each future i vehicle will push into new territory. The BMW-Toyota technical sharing agreement could be seen as foreshadowing a hydrogen fuel-cell solution for the rumored i5, for example.

The February issue of Car Magazine in the UK speculates that the next i model will be a crossover dubbed the i6.

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/spy-shots/bmw/bmw-to-give-i3-a-big-brother-car-february-2016/

► It's the next i car, slotting betwixt i3 and i8
► 300-mile range is the goal for BMW

BMW is closing in on an all-new ‘i’ model, an electric i6 crossover to be big brother to the i3 city car. Scheduled for mid-2020, the i6 was the star attraction at BMW’s long-term corporate planning meeting (nicknamed LUP), the week before Christmas.

Chaired by CEO Harald Krüger, his r&d and design chiefs Klaus Fröhlich and Adrian van Hooydonk, the planning team mulled early prototypes and full-size clay models, including the i6. The latest i concept is said to resemble the DS5, the handsome five-door crossover from Citroën’s wannabe premium brand. The BMW’s shape is classic monospace, all extended roofline and streamlined frontal area, in a bid to reduce drag to maximise range. The i6 is a little longer than a DS5, more in the 3-series saloon bracket.

Krüger wants BMW to be the leading premium brand in a digitised automotive world. So the Bavarian think tank is working 24/7 on high-tech kit, including the latest connectivity features, iDrive gen6, more efficient batteries (here, a cooperation with Mercedes is increasingly likely) and a third new architecture, this time for bespoke electric vehicles.

In addition to the new front-drive and rear-drive component sets, the FSAR architecture features a flat floor above a sandwich section to be filled with batteries. It’s conceived as a modular platform, allowing it to stretch or shrink, the latter to potentially include a new Mini ‘superhero’.

The r&d crew has been considering all kinds of power sources: pure battery electric vehicle (BEV), hybrid, fuel cell. But according to the Munich grapevine FSAR’s primary goal is to give birth to a class-leading electric car. Not a high-floor SUV like the Audi Q6 or Jaguar BEV, nor a low sporty coupe like the Porsche Mission E either, with its ‘topographic’ floor creating footwell recesses between battery packs. To reach 60,000 units a year – significantly more than the carbonfibre i3, for superior economies of scale – i6 will likely boast a more varied material mix, but still with decent carbon content.

BMW’s drivetrain targets are fluid, given the relentless progress expected between now and 2020 in the field of e-motors, batteries, charging systems and performance electronics. The bosses are said to favour a new lithium-polymer battery, which is reportedly capable of tripling the energy capacity to about 500kWh, while cutting costs in half. This technology, which is supported by key suppliers like Bosch, reduces the weight of the battery pack required for a real-world driving range of 300 miles from 600 to 200kg. Power would be transmitted to the road by either two or four electric motors: that’s still to be determined, as is peak output, charging time and the oh-so-critical range.

Use of lithium-polymer batteries could triple energy capacity to 500kWh, cut costs and reduce weight to such an extent that a 300-mile range looks achievable

It's no Audi Q6 e-tron rival, BMW wants it to be a proper five-door family car. It’s not an SUV so it’s unlike Audi’s Q6 E-tron or Jaguar’s E-Pace, and it’s no sports car either, so forget Porsche’s Mission E. BMW wants i6 to be a proper five-door family car, DS5-style

If production car gets big round fogs, they’ll remind us of BMW’s iconic small-car brand. That may be apposite, as the i6 platform could be shrunk down to create a radical future Mini

 

[archieb]

My last two cars I have leased for three years. I do this because technology advances significantly in a three year period, I can stay within the low mileage (10k) restrictions, and the car is under warranty the entire term of the lease.

In 2012 I leased a Volt for 3 years. 34 mile EV range with a gas engine so you could go anywhere. Great car which demonstrated that a pure EV would meet 95% of my driving needs.

When the Volt lease was up technology had progressed so that I could get an EV with an 81 mile range, a 2014 i3 BEV. Best part was my lease payments stayed almost exactly the same. The i3 is the most fuel efficient EV available. Even with gas under $1.70 a gallon locally there are no gas or hybrid cars that come anywhere close to the cost to operate an i3 (using TOD rates).

I expect that by 2018 my next EV will have at least a 150-200 mile range. If BMW offers a model similar in size and construction to the current i3 that will be my first choice. However, if they ever offered a lease special on an i8 I could be swayed to being impractical.

When I think back to my first EV, a 1976 Citicar with a top speed of 38 mph, I realize just how far EVs have come. After that came a 2000 Honda Insight hybrid, a 2006 Dynasty IT NEV, and a 2008 Zenn NEV.

 

[cmj912]

Since I've only had my car since 15 December, I would like to enjoy it for a while until I consider. Modern problems, I know. I'm happy to give a company my money again if it suits my needs and the ownership experience is good. I will say that, so far, BMW has been right. Even day-to-day doing what I want, I'm the "average person that drives under xxx miles per day" that's been referenced so often.
I'm sure technology will have advanced significantly when my 3 years is up. Tesla income bracket aside (and even then, nothing about many 4-door-saloon-with-trunk moves me very much though they are really interesting vehicles), I will say that I hadn't seen anything that I ever wanted quite as much in the EV segment as the i3.

 

[Leasi3]

My thought is to go directly against type and get a giant SUV of some sort, or perhaps a four door pickup.

I've followed this up and down a few times in the past. Big Benz to a GTI, later from an X5 to my i3.

Variety is the spice of life and all that.