A BMW i3

ali · Post by **ali** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 4:19 pm

Had the B3 in at last for the airbag recall last week.
They had the car for 2 hours so I was offered a test drive to kill some time.

As none of the current BMW models really float my boat I asked for an i3 and they were happy to oblige.

It has rewritten the rulebook on city cars in my view,
Why anyone on earth would want to drive anything else in a city/urban environment is beyond me.

The car is a very impressive thing in all ways from the carbon fibre monocoque to the fit and finish inside.

The way it surges with 170bhp and 180 ft/lbs is incredible
The torque curve is linear to about 60 mph then it drops off a tad after that.
It ios fully electric and has a little 647cc engine whuch works as a generator to make electricity to power the electric motors so nopt your conventional hybrid. It is what I view as a true hybrid.

It doesn't need as many computery things as it has though.
You don't really need lane assist, hill start assist, distance assist etc. If you need/rely on them then you shouldn't be on the road.

It does have park assist which I tried out. I can reverse park most vehicles into tiny little spaces sop I thought I'd see how the i3 got on as it does it itself.
Found a space and the car started to park via sensors , cameras and computers and I;ll give it its due It did a very good job . Finished at a slight 10 degree angle to the kerb where as I would have been parallel . This is where it has a fatal flaw though. If you are so bad as to be unable to park in a space and the car does it for you then how the hell do you get back out said space? The car only parks it doesn't get you back out. I can see a flood of people stuck in their i3s unable to get out of tight parking spaces.
It will only parallel park, it won't slot into a drive in supermarket bay though.

The car handles like it is on rails even with skinny 185 tyres on 20" wheels and it has ample ooomph for when you need it.
If I had the money and inclination to have a city car the i3 would be my choice

MCB · Post by **MCB** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:34 pm

I saw it at BMW Park Lane during its launch period.

Then again when we went to BMW in Munich. They would let me take a drive but had forgot my licence

Have to admit though. It is a very impressive bit of kit.