Will a 2014 be okay?

RedactionAndy · Apr 22, 2018

Hello all,

I've been a reader for a couple of months now, and I appreciate all the insight on this forum.

We're close to buying a used i3. We've found one that has everything that we want--right color, right options (including DC charging), CPO, and it's within our budget. The only concern is that it's a 2014 REx. I don't mind having a car that's a bit older, and I understand that the CPO warranty won't last as long. A similar 2015 is running about $4,000 more, so I'm good with that deal. The car will have plenty of life left for our needs.

My only concern is that I've read that I should stay away from the 2014 REx models. But I've never seen an explanation of this statement that lets me evaluate the actual risk that a 2014 will be a problematic car. The best I can tell is that the 2014 was the first model year, and the REx had some bugs. I'd appreciate any additional insight into this issue. Will buying CPO help me increase the risk that I got a good one? Have users on this forum had consistent problems with the 2014s? I know that this topic has been discussed a bit elsewhere, but I'd like to put a bit more color on the story.

(BTW, we'd probably be fine with a BEV. But there are not that many for sale in Georgia, and we'll save easily more than $1000 over the life of the car because we do NOT have to pay Georgia's alternatively fueled vehicle registration fee with a REx--which is now up to $213/year!)

Thanks very much folks.

jadnashuanh · Apr 22, 2018

There have been a few hardware things on the earlier i3's, but those have generally been addressed by service campaign or software updates. Being a highly computer driven vehicle, the operational functionality can be changed with software verses hardware for many things. The newest ones have a larger battery, but for many people that's not a real functional issue, but is an emotional one. A CPO should have had all of the relevant service campaigns and recalls already applied. One thing you might ask for is to have the maps updated to the current version as part of the deal, if it's not already been done along with the iDrive phone interface software (you can do both yourself, but why bother on a new to you vehicle?). The REx engine isn't new...it's been used in other BMW products before. It's use in the REx is new, but as an engine, it's not a new design.

If the service history is good, personally, I wouldn't have an issue with the 2014 REx. I don't think the running changes made over the next year were very significant. Having the optional in 2014 DC fast charging port is probably a good thing. Other than that, very little changed in the next year.

viking79 · Apr 23, 2018

According to TrueDelta (individuals submit problem reports to them) the 2014 is actually about the same reliability. I imagine it might be that they had more issues initially, but were fixed under service campaigns and warranty work as the previous poster indicates.

People saying to avoid 2014, maybe saw the early issues being faced by those buyers and recommend against it. As long as cars have been repaired I think they are mostly identical between 2014 and 2015.

I have no affiliation with TrueDelta other than I provide data to them for my cars.
https://www.truedelta.com/BMW-i3/repair-frequencies-1218,2014-2017

Eric

psquare · Apr 24, 2018

Fully agree with everything said above. As long as the vehicle has gone through all service recalls and software updates were applied the car should be fine from this perspective.

Ours is just over 3 years from new now and plan is to keep it for at least another 2-3 years. The 65-85mi range electric doesn't bother us, as we only use the i3 for local journeys (rural England). By 2020/21 I might have a look around at other new models available then, but will likely also look at a used 2017/18 i3 with the larger battery.

Alternatively, I might check out any battery swaps available in Germany (currently priced around €10000). This obviously will depend on the overall state of our current i3.

I keep saying it on here - it's a wonderful car, saves us a lot of money and is fun to drive.