"Janx38" (Janx38)
12/10/2013 at 16:20 • Filed to: None
15
20|
"Janx38" (Janx38)
12/10/2013 at 16:20 • Filed to: None | 15
| 20 |
Passenger Seat Reviews is a semi-regular feature I will be doing. As I am unfortunately not yet old enough to get my driver's license I will be reviewing different cars from a passenger perspective.
One of the perks of having a friend whose dad works for BMW is that you always get to ride in a variety of BMW's newest offerings. Last week I received an invitation for a ride in a brand new BMW i3 which officially scheduled to be released in the US sometime early next year. Also, all my potato phone pictures were terrible so I just pulled all of the pictures except the first one from Google Images. Without further ado here is my review:
Exterior 7/10
I can't really decide whether I love it or hate it. Everything about the i3 is super futuristic. The kidney grilles are just two pieces of plastic stuck onto the short snout like hood and the entire hatch is finished in a glossy black leaving only narrow openings for the tail and reverse light. Even the turbine like wheels look rather futuristic with their black accents. One thing I did not like however is the weird beltline which makes a sharp dip where the second row window begins. The design also does a good job of making the i3 seem smaller than it actually is which becomes especially evident when you see the interior…
Interior 9/10
The interior in the i3 has to be one of the best interiors I have ever had the pleasure of being in. It is a lot more spacious than the exterior would suggest and there is plenty of headroom even for tall people. Everything is centered around the digital dashboard and the nav/infotainment which is suspended over an unusually large storage area. I really liked the matte textured wood on the dashboard and the rest of the interior were all very high quality and soft to the touch in typical BMW fashion.
Acceleration 8/10
0-60 comes at around 7 seconds which in itself isn't particularly fast by today's standards but it feels a lot faster because the electric motor has a flat torque curve. That means off the line it can beat much more powerful cars. Obviously routinely flooring it (not like we did that or anything) will greatly decimate your range.
Audio 10/10
Now you may be scratching your head asking yourself why a car that is supposedly silent gets a perfect score for audio. Well that's exactly the point, if you want it to be the car is virtually silent (except for a tiny bit of wind noise) even at highway speeds. But if you floor it the i3 makes a wonderful starship enterprise-esque whirring and whooshing sound which drew the attention of multiple confused pedestrians. I didn't try out the stereo system but my guess is that it's pretty decent.
Ride 9/10
The ride is superb, the suspension soaks up potholes road imperfections very well but it is still firm enough to be pleasant during some spirited driving. All in all it is a pretty good balance between comfort and performance.
Handling 8/10
Honestly, since I haven't actually driven the car I can only talk about how it feels. There is a fairly small amount of body roll during hard cornering. Cornering speeds are pretty good but we never pushed the car to its limits for obvious reasons.
Toys 9/10
This car has a bunch of toys as you might expect from such a futuristic vehicle. There are two screens in the car one is a navigation unit and the other is a general infotainment display which shows stuff like range, speed and temperature. Also, there is an app which basically controls every aspect of your car. You can do things like set the temperature and program charge times from your smartphone. Only time will tell if this is actually useful or just a gimmick.
Passenger Fun 8/10
Being a passenger in a BMW i3 is actually more fun than I thought it would be, mainly because scaring unsuspecting pedestrians by silently cruising down the road and then accelerating past them with a nice whoosh is my definition of fun. Other than that there are plenty of ways to entertain yourself in the i3 such as admiring its wonderful interior or watching its range drastically drop as the driver floors it on the onramp. In all seriousness though accelerating out of corners in the i3 is really fun due to the torque which is always available.
Jalopmeter score 8/10
140 points
Value 7/10
The BMW i3 will have a MSRP of 41,350 dollars (EDIT: As someone in the comments pointed out, you do get a federal credit of 7500 dollars making it a better deal) which I guess is justifiable because it is the first in its segment. The target audience is people who want a practical and efficient city car but at this price point it really doesn't make that much sense because living in a city is already expensive and I cannot imagine that many people in the city want to pay that much for a car. I was actually considering giving it a 7 because there are always rich people who are drawn to the novelty of the i3.
83/100
(This is my first post on Oppo and I would really like to get some feedback. Also, I tried to change the categories for "passenger seat reviews" a little because it is hard for me to grade things like the gearbox. If you have a better category just write it in the comments)
Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif
> Janx38
12/10/2013 at 16:22 |
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Welcome!!! And that was a pretty good review. Wish you had more pics but it did feel good on the whole (snicker).
PRBot II
> Janx38
12/10/2013 at 16:24 |
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Nice write-up, man!
Welcome to Oppo!
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Janx38
> Janx38
12/10/2013 at 16:25 |
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Is it just me or are some pictures showing up twice? If so how can I fix it because when I try to edit it everything is normal?
Party-vi
> Janx38
12/10/2013 at 16:25 |
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This is very cool, but could we have a bonus category of what the owner/driver thinks about the car? Like a small blurb about what your friend's dad thinks about living with the i3 daily?
Squid
> Janx38
12/10/2013 at 16:26 |
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Kill it with fire! but then again I wouldn't turn one down to take it out and play with for a while. . . But mein gott it is ugly!
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Janx38
> Party-vi
12/10/2013 at 16:28 |
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Thats a great idea. I'm going to try that for the next review :)
Vee Ate Injun
> Janx38
12/10/2013 at 16:30 |
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good, practical, easy-to-digest review.
i think adding a picture of the engine to the reviews would be appropriate for this audience. though, in this car i suppose you go with a picture of the area where an internal combustion engine would be. ( wait, does the i3 have a hood/bonnet/trunk? if so, what's in it?)
i agree about the interior (looks-wise because i haven't sat in it yet). it feels very concept car-like, and that wood dash is very nice.
GhostZ
> Janx38
12/10/2013 at 16:30 |
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Great post.
If this car was a 2-door coupe, with the same drivetrain (160 HP and on-demand 180 ft/lbs? Hell yes!) with the same weight, it would literally be the ideal car. It's already lighter and more powerful than a BRZ, with the same wheelbase and basic dimensions. With the right tires it probably handles close as well. The only thing holding it back is its city-car looks. A 4-seat coupe based on the i3 would be awesome.
With electric car discounts, savings on gas and insurance, etc. you'd probably come in cheaper than a BRZ too.
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Janx38
> GhostZ
12/10/2013 at 16:31 |
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I definitely agree!
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Janx38
> Vee Ate Injun
12/10/2013 at 16:32 |
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Thanks! The car has a regular hatch in the back and a frunk under the hood.
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Vee Ate Injun
> Janx38
12/10/2013 at 16:35 |
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ah, i found a pic of the very modest-sized frunk:
PS9
> Janx38
12/10/2013 at 16:41 |
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Hey, automakers. We get it. We know we're heading over the looking glass and you have to find a way to make your cars consume far less than they do now if we still want cars to drive in the semi-distant future. We get it. Electrics and battery packs have completely invaded our supercars. They are gonna be a bigger part of our motoring landscape whether we want 'em there or not, and we get that too. But you know what?
Goddamn , you do not have to make your new powertrain prototypes so muthafuckin' butt-ass ugly. You don't need to do that. Just because it has something new under the hood doesn't mean the hood and all the sheet metal attachted to it have to look like a 3D printer and a paint mixing machine had a vomiting orgy. Why can't you just give us a normal looking car with new bits in it? It doesn't even have to be breathtaking like the P1 or the 918. Just normal. The person interested in a prototype electric or hybrid car might not be looking to stand out for having the ugliest car in his whole neighborhood.
tl;dr in looks, we want more of this:
And no more of this:
wbizarre - OEM fetishist
> GhostZ
12/10/2013 at 22:07 |
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I would bet that's in the works! They just need a car with broader appeal/functionality at the moment, to get people on board.
BMW-Uter
> Janx38
12/10/2013 at 23:05 |
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"Value 6/10"
Don't forget that the $41,350 base price is before the $7,500 federal credit (and some states offer up to $2,500 more). I'm not saying it's cheap, but the credits help.
Mirko
> Vee Ate Injun
12/11/2013 at 03:53 |
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The pictures of the interior - the first two - look concept-car-like, because they are from the i3 concept, not the production car.
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Vee Ate Injun
> Mirko
12/11/2013 at 05:41 |
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true. but, i was referring to an in-person sighting of the car a few weeks ago and as far as i understood it was a near-production car that wasn't going to change much. so we'll see if the production car... has wood .
George B
> BMW-Uter
12/11/2013 at 07:41 |
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Yes, I was gonna say that as well. State and federal subsidies will have a noticeable impact on the purchase price of the vehicle.
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Janx38
> BMW-Uter
12/11/2013 at 12:21 |
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I didn't think of that while I was writing the review, but you definitely have a point. With the federal credit the i3 would be in the same price range as a BMW 320i, which is a lot fairer.
therotaryisdeadlonglivetherotary
> Janx38
12/12/2013 at 16:01 |
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The i3 and forthcoming i8 are the only cars of interest coming from BMW to me. The M division leaves me cold recently for some reason, but the i cars are radically different from almost everything out there in a, to me anyways, interesting way.
Joojoojoo98981
> Janx38
12/20/2013 at 23:58 |
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Hello, I actually am this friend he is talking about in the review and I must say: The i3 is a pretty awesome car, but we only had it for about 4 days so I was able to have fun with it several times. The sound truly is starship-enterpriseish and when you turn on the motor you don't even know if it's on! I agree on my friends review of the i3 and it sound's very reasonable, good job!