Who thinks it is time to get a BMW i3 for the channel? Here is a breakdown of the chapters in this video: 0:00 Buying a used BMW i3 - Overview 0:25 Buying a used BMW i3 - The Internet Search 0:51 Buying a used BMW i3 - Refining the Search 3:08 Buying a used BMW i3 - The Bad Weather Test Drive Pack 4:34 Buying a used BMW i3 - Test Drive and Inspection 8:44 Buying a used BMW i3 - The VIN Check 9:54 Buying a used BMW i3 - Diagnostic Check Results 11:14 Buying a used BMW i3 - Should I buy this BMW i3?
Steven, you have done all the common sense things I would ordinarily do when buying a car, but I knew absolutely nothing about EV’s when I bought mine. I found the used i3s to be competitively priced among their peers, and I liked its pug styling. So I found one advertised in my state of Florida to be in “perfect” condition and spoke with the owner long enough to establish what perfect meant to me. I made a low ball offer, he accepted and I drove with a friend 120 miles to him to buy it on the spot for cash if “perfect”. From all I could see he was honest, not desperate, and it was more than perfect. He and his wife both had one, but I liked his color better anyways. He was buying a newer model i3 with the again increased Ah rating. It was charged up to 124 miles and I arrived home with 6 miles to spare on ECO Pro mode. And in the last few miles, I punched it from a stop light just to see what that was all about and grinned from ear to ear when I hit 60mph in the blink of an eye! Not a Tesla, but easily as spirited as my Chrysler Limited 200 3.6 and quicker off the line! I got lucky Steven! I then spent 2 days in my carport with my owner’s manual trying out every last feature and function including battery status. (I still have not looked underneath lol only because I would have great difficulty getting back up. My heated seats, even in Florida, are simply wonderful and I don’t need to leave them on once acclimated. Another feature you may have overlooked is the Harmon stereo system which is no slacker. After all that self indoctrination I came to realize that just as the seller told me, I got a really good deal on it. This part of my narrative was specific to you Steven with kudos for your caution and selective criteria. Here is my recently formed canned response: I have had my “Litl’ Blue” 2017 BMW i3 BEV 33Kw 94Ah since 01/25/2021. I bought it in showroom condition from an original owner with 24k on the odometer. I’m 75, drive it about 30-100 miles a month mostly to pick up online ordered groceries and to visit the VA clinic. I use a 240V, 16A (3.84Kw) Level 2 charger in my carport routed inside as an alternate to my dryer outlet. I get 13.5 miles per hour of charging, and at home my FPL electric cost is $0.031 per Mile. If there is a more perfect EV out there, I simply don’t want it. I don’t need more range, acceleration, styling, features, reliability, comfort, handling, or value. Litl’ Blue is obviously my Forever Car. Paid $16,500 but was offered $24,000 by Edmunds 3 months ago which tickled my worn out ego. You will name yours too.🚙 P.S as an edit. Mine has a moon roof too; that was my non-negotiable requirement.
100% awesome! Thanks for sharing your great experience. I think that BMW have made a perfect car too. I know a lot of folk want to have a longer range battery in their car - but I don't think they realize that the result is a much heavier car that takes a lot longer to charge. I'm not sure it is a BMW though...as it doesn't need constant maintenance!
Absolutely love the manner in which you present your material. Also, yes please get the i3! We are having our 2017 i3 delivered in a few hours and would love to share the journey with you. 😊
A heat pump was an expensive option whereas there are choices for fitting heated seats. There are some UA-cam videos showing how to fit heating pads into your seats. You could also try to buy seats from a wreck. I just bought good quality wool seat covers and then bought some simple 12v seat heater pads as an accessory. The heat pump and low mileage are big plus points along with being available close by. ✌
The heat pump works really well so I can't say I've even missed the heated seats...although I have bought half of the components already to put in the factory heating.
Hi, surprisingly there were on 2 times during the whole winter when I missed them. The cloth seats as well as the pre-heat function via the app means that you can get away without them. That said, I still think it's crazy that a modern car doesn't have them as standard.
Enjoyed your analytical process. Are you in Denmark? (I used to live in Aarhus) Just got our 2017 last summer here in Seattle USA area. We paid above average to get one exactly as we wanted: -From a good climate (California) -REX (spacious American West!) -18 months warranty still on it -White/Black -Giga interior -ADAS and H/K -19" wheels So far, 10,000 miles later, it's been flawless (and used only 38 liters of gasoline). The steering seemed too quick-geared for freeway at first, but now seems natural. We never hesitate to used it for 300-mile day trips.
Hi, thanks for watching and sharing your i3 experience! You chose a great set of features, but you already know what that would do to the price here...it adds at least 50%, so I will be upgrading a few things myself along the way. I live close to Aalborg :-)
How cool. I was a University exchange student from USA to DK in 1987. I remember visiting Aalborg. Scenic fjord passes thru city. You sound more British than Dane. Is that right? You probably know the REX model was most popular here in America. As long as the EV range surpasses petrol range, it qualifies as full EV.
It's getting to be quite a frozen fjord at the moment. I can sound Danish, oooh, for about 10 seconds, haha. I'm guessing that full EV status means that it qualifies for some subsidies or incentives - those kinds of things are strangely missing here, although there is recent talk of a special home EV charging kW price that may get introduced, which would bring the price down to about the same as the US average electricity price. It's a start :-)
Looked up kWh rates there...ouch. We pay $.10 per kWh residential here (lots of hydropower). Still cheaper than our cheap petrol ($2.60/gallon). As far as incentives, nationally there's a $7500 tax credit on new. We instead used a state incentive of "no sales tax on the first $16,000 for used EVs". We paid several $k more to get the best-condition used i3 we could find. I nearly forgot how expensive cars and fuel were in Danmark. Tak!
My brother got me an OBDII reader from China that talks to an app on my phone. It works like a charm, and he told me he only paid $3.50 for it. The program I use allows me to clear the latest code so I can shut the light down, and gives me the option to clear all the codes from history. I like the i3. I had a chance to drive a friend's one day, and I was really impressed.
Hi, I'm still impressed :-) As for cheap OBD2 readers...I am wary of using anything from a manufacturer that doesn't have a reputation to uphold. If a cheap unbranded unit malfunctions and fries your engine ECU, then there is nobody to complain to.
I think you should go for it. You will soon get over the lack of heated seats mate. I just want to see your experience and expertise on an electric car. Plus the soothing voice 😁
The i3 is a luxury item - if you take it with some options. The 2 top interior lines with leather or leather/wool mix, heatpump AND heated seats (the seat hearer can also pre-heat your battery), AC/DC fast charging, harman/kardon sound, LED matrix lights, big screen nav, mobile phone integration and all the little helpers for parking and driving. And keyless entry, of course... If you don't take these, it is just a good car...
Retro fitting the desirable heat pump is probably unrealistic. Fitting the heating pad would be feasible or you could swap seats altogether. I have used an aftermarket heated seat cover and it met the need even if it looked less than tidy.
Hi, it is certainly a bit of work to add the battery heating element, especially as I haven't even noticed the lack of heated seats so far. But good to know that there are options.
In the US if a shop replaces or fixes something because you had a check engine light they will automatically hook the computer up once they've finished repairs and clear the codes which erases the dtc's anyway on newer cars showing one or two old dtc's is a good indicator that the car is actually in good shape but on older cars with lots of Miles this could not be a good indicator in fact if you're looking at cars that have 150000 plus miles and there's tons of old dtc's stored in the car's computer that is not a good sign either cuz that means that there is lots of repairs coming up that you will need to exact unless they have vehicle service history records for you to show that the repairs have been done.
Its interesting how we both seem to have the same interests and ambitions. This has been going on for a few videos now. You always upload videos that are thoughts in my own mind. :D And about the video: "Should I buy this i3 without heated seats?" - No, dont buy. Heated seats are very effective to warm yourself up. Its more important and effective than the Heatpump. "Should I buy it and retrofit , heated seats and make a video about it?" - Nvm. Forget what I said. BUY IT! :D
Thank you Steven. Excellent review. The heat pump is fast and effective. Way quicker than ICE. Heated seats are nice, but with the wool cloth, not essential. Nicely specked I3. Especially for DK. Jeg har ogsa boet i Arhus. For langt siden. In Vancouver now. Often wonder how it would be if we had remained there. No mountains. But much less homelessness, opioid deaths, social inequity and dirty money.
Glad you liked it - keep an eye out for some more i3 content in a day or so. :-) Definitely no mountains, that's for sure! I suppose every country has its good and bad points, but big 'international' cities have extra challenges that you probably don't find in the rest of the country.
Speaking as someone who lives in frigid Canada, I would buy it for the heat pump and cope with the lack of heated seats. By the way, good on Norway for becoming world leaders in electric car adoption. You're making the rest of us look bad.
Hi, the heat pump works really well, and should just be standard on all electric cars I think. The heated seats are a bit of a strange one - they need a power feed from the EV battery, so they only come as a combined 'winter pack' option that includes an electric main battery pre-heater. So far I haven't missed the heated seats as it is easy to open the BMW Connect app, and have the car warm itself up ready for you :-)
@@StevenBTuner I find heated seats are only a big deal if you have leather seats. Ditto for ventilated seats. Leather seats are extra cold in the winter and extra hot and sticky in the summer compared to regular cloth seats. So much for leather being a luxury feature lol.
Rauno Aaltonen, also known as "The Rally Professor" test drove an i3 and said "it's like you're driving a car with 1000 horse power". Rauno was one of the first four inductees of the Rally Hally of Fame. The guy won the 1000 Lakes Rally, the RAC Rally the Monte Carlo Rally, the Alpine Rally, the Finnish Rally Championship and won the European Rally Championship which was the precusor to the WRC. The guy knows a good time when he sees one. ua-cam.com/video/wSyhvNub1So/v-deo.html
A superb video! Ideal for dirt and gravel drifting for sure. The electric motor and drive-train is very very different to anything most folk have experienced, and it's definitely weird. I would say it is like a 600hp car car up to 50mph, and then from 50-70mph it is like a 300hp car, and then from 70-90mph it is a 170hp car. So it is the complete reverse of every other BMW car out there - almost all of which are torque limited in the lower gears and only really fully get going at Autobahn speeds.
Pricing of i3 is super funny. You can find 20tkm driven cars for 21k euro and then 100tkm driven cars 17k euro. You pay almost nothing for driving and value even does not go down!
Very true! I don't think the wholesale market knows how to price electric cars in general yet. There are some electric cars that suffer pretty bad battery degradation, and then there are cars like Teslas and the i3 that use very high quality cells that don't suffer much at all over time.
The depreciation in the first three years, at least in the US, is horrific. After that, prices don't go down much. Telsa are similar, except they don't seem to lose value hardly at all from new. Supply and demand is a wonderful thing. I bought my fully optioned 2017 i3 BEV for $19,999 in 2019 and can sell it now in 2022 for $19,999 having put 25,000 miles on it.
@@StevenBTuner it's a cold weather option pack. You'd only bother with battery preconditioning in a cold climate. Equally, heated seats are pointless in a warm climate. Hence, they bundle the two features together. The battery heaters are electrical resistance heaters and not related to the heat pump or cabin heating.
i'm always amazed by people driving a 60k or more worth car with no bluetooth 😂 (edit: i'm not talking about the car in this video, just pointing out the fact that sometimes, ppl have very expensive cars with no bluetooth and don't pay attention to some options)
@@StevenBTuner Sure, just pointing out your attention to detail with the list etc. I ment it's shocking to see sometimes high value cars lacking basic modern functions. The 'people on the phone' syndrome in a 100k car is laughable. Thanks for all your amazing work and videos !
@@2Drezik What basic functions are those? I have an i3 and it has bluetooth. It works for the phone, music (a bazzilion speaker Harman Kardon speaker system) and does all of the usual functions. It lacks no basic functions. What's great is doing things that aren't available in other cars in the used car price range - like turning on the AC from your phone, or checking on the fuel status of the car (state of charge) etc etc.
Steven, you’re incorrect. Batteries are rated in Ah. This is the industry standard way to do it. BMW is not wrong doing this. Amps and Hours is good. Everything else is a bunch of marketing. Anyhow watts is Amps x Volts. Also known as VoltAmps or watts.
Hi, thanks for watching! Ah is a great way to compare batteries...but only if they all have the same voltage. It is pretty challenging to remember the voltage of every different electric car battery so using kWh gives a good and fast way to compare the sizes of those 'electron tanks'.
Volts are actually irrelevant to know w/o amps aside from trivia. 33Kw/*1000 = 33,000W then divided by 94Ah = 350V+-. 33Kw however is informative. The average range of a 33Kw is 124. Thus 124/33 = approx a 3.76Kw Draw under average use.
@Wooly Chewbakker If I said 37K somewhere then that was a typo. My 2017 Bev is 33K & 94Ah. Depending on environmental conditions I get 132 miles on occasion with a full charge but I am always looking for no less than 124.
I could hardly believe the i3 seat heaters are an option, even my Fiat 500e has seat heaters standard. I had my i3 control panel replaced under warranty, didn't notice for months they had replaced it with a no seat heater buttons panel. I wonder if the pads are in the seats, not connected on the non optioned examples.
Hi, it struck me as pretty strange too, but on the flip side...I haven't really noticed as the heat pump warms the car up almost instantly, and the cloth seats don't transfer the cold to you the way that leather seats do. My understanding is that all seats have the heating element in them as standard.
You did not look in the front? There is a frunk and a number of liquide reservoirs. Further: Heating pump functionality is important. They loose coolant and the non conducting coolant requires dedicated equipment.
Hi, very true! I ran out of time, so I only opened up the frunk long enough to see that there was a charging cable. It turns out that the Dec 2020 service wasn't actually done (it was marked as done), so I will be covering those kinds of things when I do a video on the regular service items.
Hi Steven! Good job with the video. I have a bin full of OBD2 Readers, as I had to first hand research what’s best for my E38, E39, E53, E46 bmw’s, as I’m by own mechanic. Looking to now buy a i3, which OBD2 Readers have you tried with the i3? And do any read the Samsung Battery temp? It’s oil and coolant Thermal Management Fluids? Thanks!
Hi, I just got around to plugging in the Autel MaxiAp AP200 into the i3 to see what live data is available - and it works as well for the i3 as for every other BMW I have used it with, by which I mean very well indeed! The high voltage battery temperature is available by following the menu to Diagnostics-->Body-->EME Electric Machine Electronics.
@@WFO. Hi, I think I will have to do a video series on that topic...but certainly the instant acceleration to 50mph / 80kms/h leaves pretty much every other car on the road in the dust, - which makes city driving stress free and entertaining.
Heated seats are (probably) only used 3 months of the year, the rest of the time they are redundant so with the heat pump, I’d go for it. Out of interest, what’s the price (in your location) for a 2017? Here in the U.K. they sit at about £12-13k for something reasonable. I’ve always liked the idea of the i3 as a whizz about but found it totally underwhelming when I drove it - definitely a city car and anything outside of that, it’s just out of its depth ‘drive wise’. Great video as always - still missing the dual camera presentation which was your quirk - good content and down to earth views 👍
Hi, if I'd have had more time then it would have been interesting to see how long it takes for the heat pump to warm things up from stone cold. Another video perhaps ;-) When the i3 was introduced as a concept in 2012 it was called the MCV, the Mega City Vehicle, and that sums things up perfectly - it has a high seating position with good visibility, a low center of gravity and simply astounding performance at city driving speeds. But you're 100% right, it is not a car to replace a regular BMW that is designed to work well at autobahn speeds. During my test drive my feeling was that it was time to hit the button for 2nd gear once 70mph was reached... I don't even want to think about the price compared to the UK. This one was a very good price for DK, and it works out to be about £20k. I'm glad someone liked my 2 camera setup :-)
Hey everyone I have a question I really really love the bmw i3s but I also love the Prius I’m trying to decide which to get help me out on which is the better value
Hi, they are very different cars and there are lots of i3 variants, so I'm not sure it is all that easy to work out value in general, so it really comes down to personal requirements. Hybrid cars have about 10 times as many moving parts to wear out compared to a fully electric car, so the ongoing servicing costs are very different. The BMW has a carbon fiber frame - which probably is going to scare insurance companies into making you pay higher premiums. Also the economy is quite different - US EPA ratings are 50-58MPG for the Prius (2017) vs. 106-129 MPGe for a fully electric i3 (2017) - which means that the i3 is twice as economical if you can charge it at home all of the time, but if you have to charge it away from home then the effective MPGe will probably be almost the same as the Prius. The Prius has a 121hp and is a comfortable car for the motorway, whereas the BMW has a 170hp and is more of a little city rocket.
All i3' that use 3G wifi service will cease to have navigation, connect drive services, no more app services, no more satellite radio, no more voice control, no bluetooth, no SOS, no more updates after February 2022.. These cars will be useless and can not be updated to 4G. BMW is blaming cellular services. BMW will not update these i3' to 4G.
Not true - sorry. This is only relevant if where you live is shutting down its 3G network. At present this is the USA and Canada only, and even this is not definite.
@@simonreeves2017 3G worldwide will cease to exist soon enough. Buy yes, I am speaking specifically about BMW and 3G services in the western hemisphere. In North America there will be no 3G services for any BMW vehicle starting in early 2022.
@@simonreeves2017 I live in Europe - Czech Republic and 3G is supported only by one provider and will be completely shut down soon. So nope, this is a world wide thing.
Here in the USA in 2023, we now have only one tire brand available for the i3: Bridgestone Ecopias. I really want an i3, but hate Ecopias with a passion. The sidewalls are about as thick as a condom.
Hi, I did a bit of a search around the US tire websites...and sure enough, there is very little to be found for the i3. How annoying that the full range of possible tires isn't available in the US!
Hi, I hope I'm not pushing folk with my vids. Tire life on an i3 could be very long if you drive very gently all the time, but if you use all of the amazing low end power then you will need to rotate the tires front to back every year in order to get the longest life out of them.
Hi! Very interesting to see how you approach the search for a new car. If you want the i3 for personal use I’d say go for this one - I’m sure you’ll find out how to retrofit heated seats. If you want to buy this for the channel I doubt there will be many viewers though due to it being quite rare (I’m sure you’re already aware of this). Looking out for your next video cheers!
Hi, thanks for watching! Those are good points - my feeling is that this kind of car is also an introduction to the full or part electrification of many modern BMWs, and it is probably about time I caught up with the present ;-)
What they don’t tell you… Cost to replace battery = $16,000 BMW warranty 8y or 100,000 miles currently no other extended warranty available in the market.. If you buy used make sure it’s with the lowest mileage possible.
Hi, it isn't like a Tesla, so it is entirely possible to swap out a faulty module without replacing the entire battery. On top of that, the cells are very high quality to start with and there are folk that have reported 200 and 300,000kms without any issues or degradation.
@@StevenBTuner I can't remember his channel's name, but there's a guy in England who buys and sells used EVs. He has all the equipment for testing all the components. He had a Renault Zoe in with 100,000 MILES with only 2% battery degradation. Pretty sure I could live with that!
@@dlittlester Hi, most cars now have very good battery thermal management and high quality cells - so rapid battery degradation is a problem only for a limited number of vehicles now.
Hi, thanks for watching! It isn't cold that often any more in Denmark - a week or two of snow each year, and the ground is frozen for one week out of four years, timed exactly for when it is necessary to dig a long channel to install a 32A underground cable to an electric car charger :-)
@@StevenBTuner Thanks Steven, going on your accent I thought you might be from either Australia or from New Zealand so I was surprised to see your i3 is a left hand drive.
Who thinks it is time to get a BMW i3 for the channel?
Here is a breakdown of the chapters in this video:
0:00 Buying a used BMW i3 - Overview
0:25 Buying a used BMW i3 - The Internet Search
0:51 Buying a used BMW i3 - Refining the Search
3:08 Buying a used BMW i3 - The Bad Weather Test Drive Pack
4:34 Buying a used BMW i3 - Test Drive and Inspection
8:44 Buying a used BMW i3 - The VIN Check
9:54 Buying a used BMW i3 - Diagnostic Check Results
11:14 Buying a used BMW i3 - Should I buy this BMW i3?
Did you look in the front?
Steven, you have done all the common sense things I would ordinarily do when buying a car, but I knew absolutely nothing about EV’s when I bought mine. I found the used i3s to be competitively priced among their peers, and I liked its pug styling. So I found one advertised in my state of Florida to be in “perfect” condition and spoke with the owner long enough to establish what perfect meant to me. I made a low ball offer, he accepted and I drove with a friend 120 miles to him to buy it on the spot for cash if “perfect”. From all I could see he was honest, not desperate, and it was more than perfect. He and his wife both had one, but I liked his color better anyways. He was buying a newer model i3 with the again increased Ah rating. It was charged up to 124 miles and I arrived home with 6 miles to spare on ECO Pro mode. And in the last few miles, I punched it from a stop light just to see what that was all about and grinned from ear to ear when I hit 60mph in the blink of an eye! Not a Tesla, but easily as spirited as my Chrysler Limited 200 3.6 and quicker off the line!
I got lucky Steven! I then spent 2 days in my carport with my owner’s manual trying out every last feature and function including battery status. (I still have not looked underneath lol only because I would have great difficulty getting back up. My heated seats, even in Florida, are simply wonderful and I don’t need to leave them on once acclimated. Another feature you may have overlooked is the Harmon stereo system which is no slacker. After all that self indoctrination I came to realize that just as the seller told me, I got a really good deal on it. This part of my narrative was specific to you Steven with kudos for your caution and selective criteria. Here is my recently formed canned response:
I have had my “Litl’ Blue” 2017 BMW i3 BEV 33Kw 94Ah since 01/25/2021. I bought it in showroom condition from an original owner with 24k on the odometer. I’m 75, drive it about 30-100 miles a month mostly to pick up online ordered groceries and to visit the VA clinic. I use a 240V, 16A (3.84Kw) Level 2 charger in my carport routed inside as an alternate to my dryer outlet. I get 13.5 miles per hour of charging, and at home my FPL electric cost is $0.031 per Mile. If there is a more perfect EV out there, I simply don’t want it. I don’t need more range, acceleration, styling, features, reliability, comfort, handling, or value. Litl’ Blue is obviously my Forever Car. Paid $16,500 but was offered $24,000 by Edmunds 3 months ago which tickled my worn out ego. You will name yours too.🚙 P.S as an edit. Mine has a moon roof too; that was my non-negotiable requirement.
100% awesome! Thanks for sharing your great experience. I think that BMW have made a perfect car too. I know a lot of folk want to have a longer range battery in their car - but I don't think they realize that the result is a much heavier car that takes a lot longer to charge. I'm not sure it is a BMW though...as it doesn't need constant maintenance!
if is a good price yes go for it
Benzin ist König.
Absolutely love the manner in which you present your material. Also, yes please get the i3! We are having our 2017 i3 delivered in a few hours and would love to share the journey with you. 😊
Hi, the i3 has been bought, and you can see my experience with charging it for the first time in my latest vid!
@@StevenBTuner Great to hear! Looking forward to following your videos.
A heat pump was an expensive option whereas there are choices for fitting heated seats. There are some UA-cam videos showing how to fit heating pads into your seats. You could also try to buy seats from a wreck. I just bought good quality wool seat covers and then bought some simple 12v seat heater pads as an accessory. The heat pump and low mileage are big plus points along with being available close by. ✌
The heat pump works really well so I can't say I've even missed the heated seats...although I have bought half of the components already to put in the factory heating.
No heated seats don't buy... The heated seats save you more energy than the heat pump
Hi, surprisingly there were on 2 times during the whole winter when I missed them. The cloth seats as well as the pre-heat function via the app means that you can get away without them. That said, I still think it's crazy that a modern car doesn't have them as standard.
Enjoyed your analytical process. Are you in Denmark? (I used to live in Aarhus)
Just got our 2017 last summer here in Seattle USA area.
We paid above average to get one exactly as we wanted:
-From a good climate (California)
-REX (spacious American West!)
-18 months warranty still on it
-White/Black
-Giga interior
-ADAS and H/K
-19" wheels
So far, 10,000 miles later, it's been flawless (and used only 38 liters of gasoline).
The steering seemed too quick-geared for freeway at first, but now seems natural.
We never hesitate to used it for 300-mile day trips.
Hi, thanks for watching and sharing your i3 experience! You chose a great set of features, but you already know what that would do to the price here...it adds at least 50%, so I will be upgrading a few things myself along the way. I live close to Aalborg :-)
How cool. I was a University exchange student from USA to DK in 1987. I remember visiting Aalborg. Scenic fjord passes thru city.
You sound more British than Dane. Is that right?
You probably know the REX model was most popular here in America. As long as the EV range surpasses petrol range, it qualifies as full EV.
It's getting to be quite a frozen fjord at the moment. I can sound Danish, oooh, for about 10 seconds, haha. I'm guessing that full EV status means that it qualifies for some subsidies or incentives - those kinds of things are strangely missing here, although there is recent talk of a special home EV charging kW price that may get introduced, which would bring the price down to about the same as the US average electricity price. It's a start :-)
Looked up kWh rates there...ouch.
We pay $.10 per kWh residential here (lots of hydropower).
Still cheaper than our cheap petrol ($2.60/gallon).
As far as incentives, nationally there's a $7500 tax credit on new.
We instead used a state incentive of "no sales tax on the first $16,000 for used EVs".
We paid several $k more to get the best-condition used i3 we could find.
I nearly forgot how expensive cars and fuel were in Danmark.
Tak!
@@donswier :-)
Buy it!
My brother got me an OBDII reader from China that talks to an app on my phone. It works like a charm, and he told me he only paid $3.50 for it. The program I use allows me to clear the latest code so I can shut the light down, and gives me the option to clear all the codes from history.
I like the i3. I had a chance to drive a friend's one day, and I was really impressed.
Hi, I'm still impressed :-) As for cheap OBD2 readers...I am wary of using anything from a manufacturer that doesn't have a reputation to uphold. If a cheap unbranded unit malfunctions and fries your engine ECU, then there is nobody to complain to.
I think you should go for it. You will soon get over the lack of heated seats mate. I just want to see your experience and expertise on an electric car. Plus the soothing voice 😁
It'll be an adventure! :-)
Cant wait for the next video
Hi, thanks for watching! Next video coming soon.
The i3 is a luxury item - if you take it with some options. The 2 top interior lines with leather or leather/wool mix, heatpump AND heated seats (the seat hearer can also pre-heat your battery), AC/DC fast charging, harman/kardon sound, LED matrix lights, big screen nav, mobile phone integration and all the little helpers for parking and driving. And keyless entry, of course...
If you don't take these, it is just a good car...
Hi, those are great suggestions for sure!
Retro fitting the desirable heat pump is probably unrealistic. Fitting the heating pad would be feasible or you could swap seats altogether. I have used an aftermarket heated seat cover and it met the need even if it looked less than tidy.
Hi, it is certainly a bit of work to add the battery heating element, especially as I haven't even noticed the lack of heated seats so far. But good to know that there are options.
In the US if a shop replaces or fixes something because you had a check engine light they will automatically hook the computer up once they've finished repairs and clear the codes which erases the dtc's anyway on newer cars showing one or two old dtc's is a good indicator that the car is actually in good shape but on older cars with lots of Miles this could not be a good indicator in fact if you're looking at cars that have 150000 plus miles and there's tons of old dtc's stored in the car's computer that is not a good sign either cuz that means that there is lots of repairs coming up that you will need to exact unless they have vehicle service history records for you to show that the repairs have been done.
Very true!
Its interesting how we both seem to have the same interests and ambitions.
This has been going on for a few videos now. You always upload videos that are thoughts in my own mind. :D
And about the video:
"Should I buy this i3 without heated seats?" - No, dont buy. Heated seats are very effective to warm yourself up. Its more important and effective than the Heatpump.
"Should I buy it and retrofit , heated seats and make a video about it?" - Nvm. Forget what I said. BUY IT! :D
Haha, thanks for the great comment!
Thank you Steven. Excellent review. The heat pump is fast and effective. Way quicker than ICE. Heated seats are nice, but with the wool cloth, not essential. Nicely specked I3. Especially for DK.
Jeg har ogsa boet i Arhus. For langt siden. In Vancouver now. Often wonder how it would be if we had remained there. No mountains. But much less homelessness, opioid deaths, social inequity and dirty money.
Glad you liked it - keep an eye out for some more i3 content in a day or so. :-) Definitely no mountains, that's for sure! I suppose every country has its good and bad points, but big 'international' cities have extra challenges that you probably don't find in the rest of the country.
turn signals are optional
Don't want to use any extra electricity if you don't have to! :-)
Amazing Video, I must of screen shot about 5 pics from this video 👍👍👍
Hi, glad you like it!
Speaking as someone who lives in frigid Canada, I would buy it for the heat pump and cope with the lack of heated seats.
By the way, good on Norway for becoming world leaders in electric car adoption. You're making the rest of us look bad.
Hi, the heat pump works really well, and should just be standard on all electric cars I think. The heated seats are a bit of a strange one - they need a power feed from the EV battery, so they only come as a combined 'winter pack' option that includes an electric main battery pre-heater. So far I haven't missed the heated seats as it is easy to open the BMW Connect app, and have the car warm itself up ready for you :-)
@@StevenBTuner I find heated seats are only a big deal if you have leather seats. Ditto for ventilated seats. Leather seats are extra cold in the winter and extra hot and sticky in the summer compared to regular cloth seats. So much for leather being a luxury feature lol.
I would not buy an i3 without comfort access - heated seats - Harman Kardon audio.
Hard to find in that combination.
Hi, those are some pretty good options for sure.
Rauno Aaltonen, also known as "The Rally Professor" test drove an i3 and said "it's like you're driving a car with 1000 horse power".
Rauno was one of the first four inductees of the Rally Hally of Fame. The guy won the 1000 Lakes Rally, the RAC Rally the Monte Carlo Rally, the Alpine Rally, the Finnish Rally Championship and won the European Rally Championship which was the precusor to the WRC.
The guy knows a good time when he sees one.
ua-cam.com/video/wSyhvNub1So/v-deo.html
A superb video! Ideal for dirt and gravel drifting for sure. The electric motor and drive-train is very very different to anything most folk have experienced, and it's definitely weird. I would say it is like a 600hp car car up to 50mph, and then from 50-70mph it is like a 300hp car, and then from 70-90mph it is a 170hp car. So it is the complete reverse of every other BMW car out there - almost all of which are torque limited in the lower gears and only really fully get going at Autobahn speeds.
Excellent video, soft spoken but hard data, ha ha
Pricing of i3 is super funny. You can find 20tkm driven cars for 21k euro and then 100tkm driven cars 17k euro. You pay almost nothing for driving and value even does not go down!
Very true! I don't think the wholesale market knows how to price electric cars in general yet. There are some electric cars that suffer pretty bad battery degradation, and then there are cars like Teslas and the i3 that use very high quality cells that don't suffer much at all over time.
The depreciation in the first three years, at least in the US, is horrific.
After that, prices don't go down much. Telsa are similar, except they don't seem to lose value hardly at all from new. Supply and demand is a wonderful thing.
I bought my fully optioned 2017 i3 BEV for $19,999 in 2019 and can sell it now in 2022 for $19,999 having put 25,000 miles on it.
If you don‘t have the heating seats you also don‘t have the heating for the battery.
Hi, you've lost me there. I'm not sure how the electrically heated seats would be connected to the cabin/battery heating system.
@@StevenBTuner It is so. You only have a heating system for cabin and battery when you have a seating heat.
I'll now have to have another look at the VIN check features/options list as well a detailed look at some heating/cooling system diagrams!
That is some weird stuff going on there alright! Now it is making even less sense that either/both of them are not standard equipment on all i3s...
@@StevenBTuner it's a cold weather option pack. You'd only bother with battery preconditioning in a cold climate. Equally, heated seats are pointless in a warm climate. Hence, they bundle the two features together. The battery heaters are electrical resistance heaters and not related to the heat pump or cabin heating.
When’s your next video coming Steven?
i'm always amazed by people driving a 60k or more worth car with no bluetooth 😂 (edit: i'm not talking about the car in this video, just pointing out the fact that sometimes, ppl have very expensive cars with no bluetooth and don't pay attention to some options)
Hi, this i3 has bluetooth for music and telephone - are you thinking of an earlier model?
@@StevenBTuner Sure, just pointing out your attention to detail with the list etc.
I ment it's shocking to see sometimes high value cars lacking basic modern functions. The 'people on the phone' syndrome in a 100k car is laughable.
Thanks for all your amazing work and videos !
@@2Drezik What basic functions are those?
I have an i3 and it has bluetooth. It works for the phone, music (a bazzilion speaker Harman Kardon speaker system) and does all of the usual functions. It lacks no basic functions.
What's great is doing things that aren't available in other cars in the used car price range - like turning on the AC from your phone, or checking on the fuel status of the car (state of charge) etc etc.
E46 M3 as well? Look forward to the i3 videos though.
Nice choice!
Steven, you’re incorrect. Batteries are rated in Ah. This is the industry standard way to do it. BMW is not wrong doing this. Amps and Hours is good. Everything else is a bunch of marketing. Anyhow watts is Amps x Volts. Also known as VoltAmps or watts.
Hi, thanks for watching! Ah is a great way to compare batteries...but only if they all have the same voltage. It is pretty challenging to remember the voltage of every different electric car battery so using kWh gives a good and fast way to compare the sizes of those 'electron tanks'.
using only Ah to compare batteries is like clapping with one hand, I agree with Steven
Volts are actually irrelevant to know w/o amps aside from trivia. 33Kw/*1000 = 33,000W then divided by 94Ah = 350V+-. 33Kw however is informative. The average range of a 33Kw is 124. Thus 124/33 = approx a 3.76Kw Draw under average use.
@Wooly Chewbakker If I said 37K somewhere then that was a typo. My 2017 Bev is 33K & 94Ah. Depending on environmental conditions I get 132 miles on occasion with a full charge but I am always looking for no less than 124.
I could hardly believe the i3 seat heaters are an option, even my Fiat 500e has seat heaters standard.
I had my i3 control panel replaced under warranty, didn't notice for months they had replaced it with a no seat heater buttons panel.
I wonder if the pads are in the seats, not connected on the non optioned examples.
Hi, it struck me as pretty strange too, but on the flip side...I haven't really noticed as the heat pump warms the car up almost instantly, and the cloth seats don't transfer the cold to you the way that leather seats do. My understanding is that all seats have the heating element in them as standard.
You did not look in the front?
There is a frunk and a number of liquide reservoirs.
Further:
Heating pump functionality is important. They loose coolant and the non conducting coolant requires dedicated equipment.
Hi, very true! I ran out of time, so I only opened up the frunk long enough to see that there was a charging cable. It turns out that the Dec 2020 service wasn't actually done (it was marked as done), so I will be covering those kinds of things when I do a video on the regular service items.
More like a frunklet - strangely, no cover
Hi Steven! Good job with the video. I have a bin full of OBD2 Readers, as I had to first hand research what’s best for my E38, E39, E53, E46 bmw’s, as I’m by own mechanic. Looking to now buy a i3, which OBD2 Readers have you tried with the i3? And do any read the Samsung Battery temp? It’s oil and coolant Thermal Management Fluids? Thanks!
Hi, I just got around to plugging in the Autel MaxiAp AP200 into the i3 to see what live data is available - and it works as well for the i3 as for every other BMW I have used it with, by which I mean very well indeed! The high voltage battery temperature is available by following the menu to Diagnostics-->Body-->EME Electric Machine Electronics.
Steven B. Tuner that’s great to know, thanks so much!
Did you buy it?
Certainly did!
@@StevenBTuner What do you like best? Least like?
@@WFO. Hi, I think I will have to do a video series on that topic...but certainly the instant acceleration to 50mph / 80kms/h leaves pretty much every other car on the road in the dust, - which makes city driving stress free and entertaining.
It's a ugly pig of a car. Buy it anyway and fit the heated seats
Haha, no mincing words! :-)
@@StevenBTuner He is a Nissan Juke fan.
buy that car!
:-)
My dreams car
:-) Thanks for watching!
Heated seats are (probably) only used 3 months of the year, the rest of the time they are redundant so with the heat pump, I’d go for it.
Out of interest, what’s the price (in your location) for a 2017? Here in the U.K. they sit at about £12-13k for something reasonable.
I’ve always liked the idea of the i3 as a whizz about but found it totally underwhelming when I drove it - definitely a city car and anything outside of that, it’s just out of its depth ‘drive wise’. Great video as always - still missing the dual camera presentation which was your quirk - good content and down to earth views 👍
Hi, if I'd have had more time then it would have been interesting to see how long it takes for the heat pump to warm things up from stone cold. Another video perhaps ;-)
When the i3 was introduced as a concept in 2012 it was called the MCV, the Mega City Vehicle, and that sums things up perfectly - it has a high seating position with good visibility, a low center of gravity and simply astounding performance at city driving speeds. But you're 100% right, it is not a car to replace a regular BMW that is designed to work well at autobahn speeds. During my test drive my feeling was that it was time to hit the button for 2nd gear once 70mph was reached...
I don't even want to think about the price compared to the UK. This one was a very good price for DK, and it works out to be about £20k.
I'm glad someone liked my 2 camera setup :-)
Hey everyone I have a question I really really love the bmw i3s but I also love the Prius I’m trying to decide which to get help me out on which is the better value
Hi, they are very different cars and there are lots of i3 variants, so I'm not sure it is all that easy to work out value in general, so it really comes down to personal requirements. Hybrid cars have about 10 times as many moving parts to wear out compared to a fully electric car, so the ongoing servicing costs are very different. The BMW has a carbon fiber frame - which probably is going to scare insurance companies into making you pay higher premiums. Also the economy is quite different - US EPA ratings are 50-58MPG for the Prius (2017) vs. 106-129 MPGe for a fully electric i3 (2017) - which means that the i3 is twice as economical if you can charge it at home all of the time, but if you have to charge it away from home then the effective MPGe will probably be almost the same as the Prius. The Prius has a 121hp and is a comfortable car for the motorway, whereas the BMW has a 170hp and is more of a little city rocket.
Having an i3, I would say the heated seats is more important
Hi, thanks for watching! With the cloth seats and the car being able to be pre-warmed via the app - means that I haven't missed them yet.
All i3' that use 3G wifi service will cease to have navigation, connect drive services, no more app services, no more satellite radio, no more voice control, no bluetooth, no SOS, no more updates after February 2022..
These cars will be useless and can not be updated to 4G. BMW is blaming cellular services. BMW will not update these i3' to 4G.
Hi, I'll certainly do some more investigation on this issue...
Not true - sorry. This is only relevant if where you live is shutting down its 3G network. At present this is the USA and Canada only, and even this is not definite.
@@simonreeves2017
3G worldwide will cease to exist soon enough. Buy yes, I am speaking specifically about BMW and 3G services in the western hemisphere. In North America there will be no 3G services for any BMW vehicle starting in early 2022.
@@simonreeves2017 I live in Europe - Czech Republic and 3G is supported only by one provider and will be completely shut down soon. So nope, this is a world wide thing.
I would like some petrol engines ;)
I'm hearing you! :-)
Paldies par informaciju 0:27
Here in the USA in 2023, we now have only one tire brand available for the i3: Bridgestone Ecopias. I really want an i3, but hate Ecopias with a passion. The sidewalls are about as thick as a condom.
Hi, I did a bit of a search around the US tire websites...and sure enough, there is very little to be found for the i3. How annoying that the full range of possible tires isn't available in the US!
why push them to get a i3 over the s-trim which is cheaper in the long run on wheels and tires?
Hi, I hope I'm not pushing folk with my vids. Tire life on an i3 could be very long if you drive very gently all the time, but if you use all of the amazing low end power then you will need to rotate the tires front to back every year in order to get the longest life out of them.
Hi! Very interesting to see how you approach the search for a new car. If you want the i3 for personal use I’d say go for this one - I’m sure you’ll find out how to retrofit heated seats. If you want to buy this for the channel I doubt there will be many viewers though due to it being quite rare (I’m sure you’re already aware of this). Looking out for your next video cheers!
Hi, thanks for watching! Those are good points - my feeling is that this kind of car is also an introduction to the full or part electrification of many modern BMWs, and it is probably about time I caught up with the present ;-)
@@StevenBTuner I'm interested in the i3 as my Wife really wants one! Go for it!
What they don’t tell you…
Cost to replace battery = $16,000
BMW warranty 8y or 100,000 miles
currently no other extended warranty available in the market.. If you buy used make sure it’s with the lowest mileage possible.
Hi, it isn't like a Tesla, so it is entirely possible to swap out a faulty module without replacing the entire battery. On top of that, the cells are very high quality to start with and there are folk that have reported 200 and 300,000kms without any issues or degradation.
@@StevenBTuner I can't remember his channel's name, but there's a guy in England who buys and sells used EVs. He has all the equipment for testing all the components. He had a Renault Zoe in with 100,000 MILES with only 2% battery degradation.
Pretty sure I could live with that!
@@dlittlester Hi, most cars now have very good battery thermal management and high quality cells - so rapid battery degradation is a problem only for a limited number of vehicles now.
What country are you in? Looks very cold.
Hi, thanks for watching! It isn't cold that often any more in Denmark - a week or two of snow each year, and the ground is frozen for one week out of four years, timed exactly for when it is necessary to dig a long channel to install a 32A underground cable to an electric car charger :-)
Thank you for an interesting video, which country are you in ?
Hi, filmed in sunny Denmark!
@@StevenBTuner Thanks Steven, going on your accent I thought you might be from either Australia or from New Zealand so I was surprised to see your i3 is a left hand drive.