So I bought a thing on vacation, then drove it approx. 1600 miles home.

"JMKarstetter" (jmkarstetter)
07/10/2019 at 22:29 • Filed to: None

Yes, I bought an i3 to join the family. It’s a 2017 Deka World REx 94Ah with all of the options, and I got it CPO. And I love it!

I bought it just outside of San Diego while on our family vacation to Disneyland. I had found one closer, but didn’t have the bigger battery or sunroof like this one, and it wasn’t this super awesome blue.

After a couple of days of Disneyland stuff and other touristy stuff in L.A. we proceeded to head home. As an extra security measure to make sure we weren’t stranded in the desert I stopped by a Home Depot and picked up a 2 gallon gas can and stored it in the frunk. Maybe not entirely the safest, but better than having it in the car and possible giving off fumes. I didn’t end up using it fortunately.

We took I15 and I40 to get home and stopped off to take a few photos and see some scenery on the way home.

It was a good trip back, although I’m pretty sure I have now stopped at nearly every gas station between Oklahoma City and L.A. It worked for us though, as my daughters are 5 & 8 years old and are always hungry or have to use the bathroom.

As for the car, it drives and handles well, and being electric is pretty quick. Dealer told me it’s the quickest car in BMW’s line up from 0-30, which I have also read elsewhere. It is quieter than I was expecting as far as roan noise goes. The seats are awesome and the girls never complained about their butts hurting as they do in my 2015 SHO, and they can both see out of their windows, which is very difficult in the SHO.

I charged it at 4 quick charge stations for just under an hour each time to fill the battery, and stopped at a LOT of gas stations as mentioned previously.

This one was conveniently at a gas station, which is perfect for this car.

And two of the chargers I stopped at were at a Walmart, and one at a Sam’s Club. The Walmart chargers were convenient as I needed to grab more windshield washer fluid and snacks, and Rain-X for the windshield.

I love the look of the C7 Vette, but I have to say I like the uniqueness and looks of the i3 a little better.

Anyway! Enough mumbling and terrible grammar, here are some more photos of the trip! And yes, I did take it very carefully and not too far off paved roads onto very poorly maintained dirt roads, I just didn’t get any photos. I did get some of it on some unpaved pull offs though. .

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DISCUSSION (35)

Maxima Speed > JMKarstetter
07/10/2019 at 23:34

Dude that’s awesome. They are amazing looking little things. What’s the gas on them? Well it’s gas charging batteries right?

someassemblyrequired > JMKarstetter
07/10/2019 at 23:37

Friend has one with the range extender, he loves it.

I should probably mention h is other rig is a diesel, lifted F350, which he also loves.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > JMKarstetter
07/10/2019 at 23:39

Very nice! What’s the EV only range like?

I’ve been keeping my eye on used prices, especially for the very first ones. They are getting down there. I’ve wondered how long it would take to drive from Southern California to Southern Alberta, if I were to import one. :P

JMKarstetter > Maxima Speed
07/10/2019 at 23:54

Yeah, they refer to it as a generator over an engine, because it never actually drives the wheels, just gives the battery power. When I did use just the range extender I got around 40-45MPG.

JMKarstetter > someassemblyrequired
07/10/2019 at 23:56

Right now I have have my 2015 Taurus SHO and my 2006 Land Cruiser. The SHO is getting sold and the Land Cruiser I’m keeping for a long long time.

JMKarstetter > BaconSandwich is tasty.
07/10/2019 at 23:57

With the bigger battery you can get 100 miles easy. I’ve gotten around 11 0 miles so far, but that’s with the extra weight of the range extender.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > JMKarstetter
07/11/2019 at 00:04

Very nice, I really wanted to go look at one of these when car shopping recently. That blue must be super rare.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > JMKarstetter
07/11/2019 at 00:06

Nice choice in color, by the way!

MrDakka > JMKarstetter
07/11/2019 at 00:18

Well it looks like you got parking like a Bimmer driver down

JMKarstetter > MrDakka
07/11/2019 at 00:38

I’m trying! but I’m still in training. I still use my blinkers.

JMKarstetter > BaconSandwich is tasty.
07/11/2019 at 00:38

Thanks, I’m glad I ended up taking the extra trip and getting the color I wanted over the white one.

JMKarstetter > MiniGTI - now with XJ6
07/11/2019 at 00:59

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the numbers before, and it was rather low. Honestly the i3 alone is a fairly rare car.

phenotyp > JMKarstetter
07/11/2019 at 01:13

Time to code it! I just loved being able to unlock the gas tank and program one of the dash buttons to turn on the Rex, get rid of the startup screens, fiddle with the sounds and key fob buttons. Made me really feel like I was finally driving the future I expected 20 years ago.

I haven’t taken mine on that long a road trip, I’ve always wondered whether the seats would still seem comfortable after that long (my E60s’ seats were the 20-way, and the most comfortable butt-holding devices ever conceived, and fantastic on long drives).

JMKarstetter > phenotyp
07/11/2019 at 01:28

I had it coded for the REx hold and gas tank unlock since about 10 minutes after I bought it. I haven’t done anything else yet though.

And my REx enable is number 1, number 2 is navigation map and number 9 is the screen where I can turn on the REx and view the battery percentage.

I need to get in and check out more of the coding options soon. I am using the Bimmercode app and a OBD2 Bluetooth dongle to do it.

phenotyp > JMKarstetter
07/11/2019 at 01:31

Same here. Living in TX, it’s especially nice to be able to turn the AC on from the key fob in the summer.

JMKarstetter > phenotyp
07/11/2019 at 01:34

I need to set that up! I have the ability to do it from the BMW app, but it never seems to actually work. All of the other functions do, just not the climatize function. Where are you in Texas?

phenotyp > JMKarstetter
07/11/2019 at 02:02

Austin. And, conversely to your situation, I was never able to get the BMW app to work— it would never accept a password, for some reason, and I gave up on it.

JMKarstetter > phenotyp
07/11/2019 at 03:22

Norman, OK here, and the last couple of days we have had some pretty hot weather, so having that will be nice. I’m from the northwest and don’t do well in this heat. What year and color is yours?

random001 > JMKarstetter
07/11/2019 at 06:27

One of us! One of us!

random001 > phenotyp
07/11/2019 at 06:28

This is an option I didn’t know existed. I must do this.

random001 > JMKarstetter
07/11/2019 at 06:30

Same here. Climate activation never works for me, so I just use the app for watching the charge. Well, I did, until I got the JuiceBox. The level 2 charger was a complete gamechanger for owning this car. I kind of wish I’d waited for the larger battery, but I still have 30% left after my commute on a hot summer day, so I know that I don’t need it, either.

random001 > Maxima Speed
07/11/2019 at 06:31

It’s the world’s only actual series hybrid! Fun fact.

carcrazydan738 > JMKarstetter
07/11/2019 at 08:27

How does it handle? I have to ask because the tires on those are almost as narrow as a road bicycle tire.

Maxima Speed > random001
07/11/2019 at 08:29

Fisker Karma:

Kinja'd!!!

random001 > Maxima Speed
07/11/2019 at 08:51

Last I checked, the Fisker Karma was a joke to just about everybody, but also, there’s this:

“Once the battery is depleted, or when the driver activates the “Sport” paddle on the steering wheel, the front-mounted 260-hp, 2.0-liter Ecotec four-cylinder direct-injection turbocharged gasoline engine powers a generator that sends electricity directly to the drive motors.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisker_Karma

Which makes it not a true series hybrid. More like a hybrid series hybrid...

HoustonRunner > phenotyp
07/11/2019 at 09:15

I can do that with my Burb also...though I’m burning dino juice when I do :)

Maxima Speed > random001
07/11/2019 at 09:28

Kinja'd!!!

random001 > Maxima Speed
07/11/2019 at 09:34

Lol! To be fair, you’re partly right, because the Karma CAN operate as a series hybrid, recharging the battery with the engine, and running the motors from the battery, not directly from the motor, but given that it also has the parallel hybrid capability, it’s not a true series hybrid like the i3.

Jayhawk Jake > JMKarstetter
07/11/2019 at 10:17

I really want to pick one of these up as a daily, but I can’t justify it at the moment. That blue is pretty though, and it’s cool to see proof that it could be used to go really far.

phenotyp > JMKarstetter
07/11/2019 at 11:38

Kinja'd!!!

2015; my first one was a 2014 CPO, unfortunately totaled in a small accident. It really doesn’t take much to rack up the $$s in a low-volume car with really expensive, unique parts. F ound this 2015 less than a week later, almost identical except it has the HK sound system (WAY better than the standard), black floor carpet (much less prone to dirt stains), but no backup camera or park assist. Better pics of my first one .

I’ve still only bought 5.75 gallons of gas in the last 2 years. I keep the battery percentage on the main display (cycling through with the left stalk button), and the nav always up on the split screen.

I’ve really, really liked these cars. They’re stupid expensive new, but buying a just-off-lease CPO for less than a new Civic? I couldn’t resist. The love child of a spaceship and a golf cart. I mean, I’ve bought it twice.

Cé hé sin > random001
07/11/2019 at 13:07

Er....no, or not any more . Nissan and their e-power sys tem would like a word.

random001 > Cé hé sin
07/11/2019 at 13:51

It’s the USA’s only true series hybrid!

random001 > Cé hé sin
07/11/2019 at 13:51

But yeah, I didn’t know about the e-power. They stole that from BMW anyway....heh

JMKarstetter > carcrazydan738
07/12/2019 at 00:11

Pretty well, with the batteries being so low and the frame being made of carbon fiber and all of the materials for the interior are lighter weight , it’s very bottom heavy. It corners pretty nice. My understanding is that BMW engineered it to have narrower but large diameter tires to increase aerodynamics while keeping almost the same footprint of a wider smaller tire.

JMKarstetter > Jayhawk Jake
07/12/2019 at 01:01

I love it so far, and the colo r was what I really wanted, so I’m happy, I was a little bummed that it didn’t have the wood on the dash because it’s the lower model, but everything else is perfect, and I can always get that later. And yeah, I don’t want to say I’m surprised it made it just fine, but I almost am. The trip took a little longer than I planned due to the stops, but oh well.