I called into my local BMW dealership this afternoon, and coincidentally it was the first day of the BMW nationwide roadshow with the i3. Newcastle had been chosen for the start of the roadshow, presumably as we're all more enlightened/broad-minded/less parochial than other areas of the UK...

Anyhoo, there was a fleet of 6 i3's on-hand to try, some with range extenders (a BMW scooter derived engine in the rear), and in a variety of trims and colours.



It would have been rude not to have put my name down for a demo'.

A very personable blonde took me around the car (her product knowledge was very impressive) before allowing me to take the car on what was a 25 - 30 mile test drive.

The i3 is considerably larger in the flesh than the pictures suggest. And, at least to my eyes, is a striking piece of automotive design. There's some great details on it, such as the LED strip surrounding the opened charging port so it can be accessed and used in the dark.

The fit and finish of the car was brilliant. The doors feature frameless glass, which is always a plus-point for me.

The car can charged from flat to 80% in 1 hour with the fast DC charger installed at home, and with the compact home charger and via a 13-amp socket, it takes 7-8 hours. Cost was mooted as being c. £2 for 100 miles of travel, dependant upon electricity tariff and driving style.

Lots of the cars functions can be accessed remotely by a SmartPhone App and in addition, charging points could be pre-booked via the App. Pre-booking electronically locks-out other users from a specified and booked charging point. Neat.

The car's standard Sat' Nav' was preprogrammed with all the current charging points in the UK.

Relating to my comments in the thread about LCD displays, the dash' of the i3 is beautiful. I did not drive a car with the 'Loft' interior, but did sit in one and I stand by my comments that this is one of the nicest and most interesting car interiors I have seen for a long while. The LCD displays (of which the central one for navigation is BIG) work very well, regardless of ambient light. It is very bright and sunny up here at present and so it was a good test for them. The displays themselves are of Apple Retina-esque quality.

The 'transmission' mode selector is on the steering column and consists of a knob which is twisted to either R, N or D. Park is engaged with a separate push button. Given that all auto's are now electronically controlled, this arrangement makes much more sense than having a 'pretend' lever/knob on the centre console. The centre console itself house the obligatory cup-holders and the parking brake switch, as well the i-Drive controls.

Whilst most of the secondary controls are accessed via the i-Drive, most, if not all, of the controls one uses with regularity are good old fashioned 'hard' switches, for heated rear window, heating controls and such like. There is also a bank of 'soft' switches which can be configured to the driver's preference.

Passenger accommodation is good; even with the driver's seat set for my 6'3" height there was leg room for a small adult behind. The seats are incredibly thin - although very comfortable - and I was told they were developed in conjunction with an aircraft seat manufacturer. The boot is usefully large too, even in the range extender version I tried.

The rear doors are suicide, like the Mini Clubman, but there are two rear passenger doors unlike the Clubman which has only one rear passenger door on the driver's side.

The car has keyless entry and so 'starting' was a case of pushing the power button, waiting for the display to indicate 'Ready', and then twisting the knob into D. The car has three distinct modes; 'Comfort', 'Eco' and 'Eco-Plus'. Each has various energy use 'allowance' settings, with the Eco-Plus restricting the heated seats temperature amongst other things.

I was advised the throttle response in 'Comfort' would take getting used to... as would the requirement to have little or no use of the brake pedal.

As expected, the car power train was utterly silent, with the only sound in the interior whilst standstill being the ventilation fan.

The girl accompanying me on the drive said the 0 - 30 mph time was as quick as the current M3. And whilst this may sound implausible I can vouch that the car can be ferociously quick from a standstill. It's weight is a little over a tonne, and combined with the instant torque from the motor, it can be hussled along. 0 - 60 mph was quoted as being 8 seconds.

Driving-wise, I took it along a stretch of dual carriageway, A-roads and a section of urban crawl. The ride is firm with little body roll; it's probably how anyone would imagine a small BMW would handle. Steering is typically modern with very little feel. And it's rear wheel drive.

Driving position and height reminded me of the late, great Audi A2 and the first generation Mercedes benz A-Class. I guess not surprisingly as they all share the sandwich floor layout.

Performance is impressive and on the dual carriageway, even in Eco-Plus, the thing responds like no petrol/auto' equipped car does.

The car is quiet with only a little wind noise and the sound from the optional 20" wheels and tyres. I prefer the über-aero standard 19" wheels to the bling style fitted to the car I tried.

The most interesting part of the experience is the regenerative braking. On the Prius one can choose between normal, with just a little regen' braking, or 'B' mode which when the throttle is released, the car slows rapidly as the car goes into 100% generator mode.

The i3 is like the Prius in 'B' mode all of the time, and if one is able to anticipate the traffic (and there's no requirement for an emergency stop of course) there is no necessity to use the brake pedal in most driving situations. Lifting-off results in rapid slowing and it is such that the brake lights are automatically applied, even though the brakes per se are not.

With the car fully charged when I took it, and in 'Comfort' mode, it was showing a range of 79 miles before it had adapted to my driving style. After my journey and switched into 'Eco-Plus' mode the range was an indicated 85 miles.

All-in-all I was impressed.

The girl advised that it was recommended to have the Winter pack; this allowed preheating of the Li-Ion battery pack in cold weather (amongst other things) which improved cold weather performance. I took this to mean range.

But there's a considerable down-side. Spec'ed as I would want one - range extender, panoramic roof, 'Loft' interior and Winter Pack, the cost of the car is a smidgen under £39,000, before the government £5,000 subsidy.

The cost includes the supply of a home rapid DC charging station, with a standard installation charge of £350.

If the cost of the car was £19,000 I would probably have put my signature to the contract hire documents there and then.

One interesting option, the name of which I forget, was to pay £40 per month for 'points' which allowed one access to a fleet of BMW's at dealers if a car of larger size than the i3 was required, and for long journeys. Different types of cars and usage required varying points. IIRC the car comes with 700 points to use.

Edit: I have corrected the price, as it less the £5k government subsidy.

 

Good review.

One of my neighbors has one.

 

I would be interested too hear how he gets on with it in 'the real world'.

With free parking and no congestion charge, the economics of owning one in the 'smoke' may well stack-up slightly better than elsewhere.

Waiting list is currently (oh dear...) 8 months, so there's evidently a bit of demand for it.

 

They are bloody expensive
My M3 (which does 0-100 as fast as a new M3 give or take ) does 19mpg. If I do 6k miles that's 315 gallons

At £6/gallon that's only £1800 a year in fuel

This one doesn't add up but maybe against a soulless diesel it does?

For a petrolhead they're a quandary

 

Good review. Everything but the price seems right. I'd have one at 15k

 

I don't see quandary. I did correct the maths to the nearest £100

Ten years to break even assuming zero fuel cost versus your fuel cost Jason maybe less if petrol goes up is not how long anyone keeps a car. Or do the manufacturers want us to stop buying a new car every 3 to 4 years? I doubt it.

 

Ok a non starter

I like the idea of emissions less cars, being a runner and sometime cyclist but...

 

Interesting read.

I like the concept of the i3 because of its intelligent construction. Sort of if you could buy it with a regular BMWINI lump, it'd be great.

OK, it would be far too expensive & not sell; such is the fate of all cars that are too intellighent for their own good.

The electrics bit remains to be seen. At least they've taken the opportunity to re-invent the car, unlike those depressing Reno/Nissan things.

The Good News is BMW is panicking they won't be able to build 'em quick enough, so full marks for having the balls, etc.

 

I saw one at our local 'out of town shopping mall' on the weekend... I quite like it.

Although I was watching Thomas and Friends this morning on Milkshake and it was an episode about a battery powered engine that kept running out of juice and getting left behind by Thomas and his steam powered chums. Made me think of the i3.

 

Good review Poley, like you say if they'd halve the price they'd be flying off the shelves.