BMW i3

It’s worth considering the BMW i3 if you’re looking for a high-end electric car that’s easy to drive around town and has a super-stylish interior. We begin our review of the BMW i3

It was first launched in 2013 and received a few tweaks in 2017, including sporty bumpers, LED headlights and an upgraded infotainment system. Instead of the rather small 6.5-inch screen of the old i3, you get a 10.2-inch high-resolution screen with standard satellite navigation.

Unfortunately, the wood-trimmed dashboard and leather seats aren’t standard – they’re only available as part of BMW’s Loft, Lodge and Suite

interior trim packages.

Even without one of these upgraded packages, the i3’s interior looks chic, and there’s plenty of room to keep you comfortable – even if you’re over 180 centimeters tall.

Unfortunately, space in the back isn’t much, but there’s still plenty of room for kids to stretch their legs.  You can buy the i3 as an all-electric car or with a gasoline powertrain. Opt for the cheaper electric-powered model if you spend most of your time driving around town.

If you regularly travel long distances, the extended-range model is more suitable. The BMW i3 electric car’s small gasoline engine charges the batteries as you drive forward and adds 57 kilometers to your total mileage. Its stiff suspension and large alloy wheels accentuate bumps in the road, and you’ll hear quite a bit of wind and tire noise at highway speeds.
The BMW is a stylish small family car that’s worth looking at if you mostly drive around town and have somewhere to charge it.

Engine

The new BMW I3 comes standard with a compact battery pack and a small electric motor driving the rear wheels. BMW claims this combination gives you a range of 200 kilometers between charges, but in real-world conditions you can expect it to run closer to 140 kilometers before you need to start looking for the nearest charging point.

If you regularly travel long distances, you might want to consider the 2017 BMW I3 with an integrated motor. This system uses a small gasoline engine and a generator hidden in the trunk floor to charge the BMW’s batteries on the go. This helps extend the BMW I3’s range to over 330 kilometers and only gives you a slight hum as you drive. It’s barely noticeable at low speeds and completely disappears in the background of the highway.

Interior

Whichever model you choose, you get a BMW I3 interior with a 10.2-inch infotainment display with integrated satellite navigation and digital radio.

You can navigate through its clear, logical menus using a handy control wheel controller on the center console. It even comes with a touch-sensitive surface on top, so you can spell out your zip code using your index finger. It takes a little getting used to, but it’s more intuitive than scrolling the on-screen keyboard by turning the wheel.

Once you’ve programmed the satellite navigation, you’ll get clear and easy to understand directions. It’s specifically designed for the i3 and comes with user-friendly menus that help you track down the nearest BMW I3 fast charging point instead of just showing you local gas stations.

If you don’t like BMW’s own satellite navigation, you can pay 20,157 rubles for the Apple CarPlay smartphone connection . This system allows you to use navigation and media streaming apps on your iPhone via the i3’s built-in display. It’s easy to use and deserves the extra charge. Unfortunately, you can’t get a similar feature for Android phones.

If you’re a serious music lover, you’ll need to upgrade the i3’s standard stereo to a louder, clearer Harman Kardon. It will cost you 55,000 rubles either on its own or be part of the 128,000-ruble i3 Plus package. The latter includes a web browser function for the infotainment system, tinted windows and 19-inch alloy wheels.

Electronics

The core is an iPhone running Android OS 2.0. The touchscreen and buttons are top quality, and the fact that most are created from scratch is cool. The machine may look ridiculous on the outside, but on the inside it’s just beautiful. However, the software running on those tiny screens is illogical in our opinion. We know Android phones sell in greater numbers than iPhones, but that’s an excuse for creating a lousy user interface. The graphics are great, but the iDrive menu system sucks in so many ways. We won’t even go into that right now.

Perhaps we wouldn’t think of it this way if we hadn’t tried the iPhone among cars: the Tesla Model S. The problem with driving a Model S for a day or two is that all other cars subsequently look old-fashioned. Sorry, but Tesla got that absolutely right, and on the Model 3 he takes it to the next level, leaving everyone else in the dust.
Two little screens, and neither of them show you the time when you turn the car off. BMW really needs to improve the user-centricity of the interface. But the visibility outside is great!

Features

All BMW i3 reviews agree on one thing: where’s the Sport mode? That’s what struck us in our first hundred kilometers. In this supercar, after we took her for a test drive. We fiddled with the IDRIVE button, and the most it would do was Comfort mode? The other options are Eco Pro and Eco Pro +. Come on! This is a BMW, people! We recently borrowed a BMW 2 Series diesel, it had the same button, and it had a sport mode!

The diesel still limped like a duck compared to the i3. And seriously, not having a sport mode in the i3 is a huge mistake. It’s not going to help BMW sell this car. The comfort mode is pretty aggressive. However, something strange happens with the gas pedal response. It’s not as quick as we expected. Even the old LEAF was more aggressive than this one. We feel that tiny surge of power when you push the pedal to the floor (maybe half a second or less) is like it’s modeling a slower-responding internal combustion engine.

Eco Pro + ? In our opinion, it just fills in the gap for the missing sport mode, hoping we won’t notice. It turns off the air conditioning and prevents the car from going faster than 90 kilometers per hour. On one occasion it drove us into a frenzy at the end of the Garden Ring.
Judging by the reviews of BMW i3 owners, all of them are in bewilderment: why does Tesla use such modes as Normal , Sport and in performance models Ludicrous (in early Insane models)? The BMW i3 doesn’t.

Options

Even in the company of futuristic electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe, the BMW i3’s interior really stands out. Its expansive windshield and large side windows fill the interior with light and give the impression of spaciousness for such a small car. Even better with the optional panoramic glass roof for 66,000 rubles.

You can buy the interior in one of four color and material combinations. The first – Atelier – is standard on all i3s and comes with cloth seats and blue piping, while the Loft versions – with faux leather upholstery – will cost you an extra 86,000 rubles.
Instead, shell out an extra 128,000 rubles for the Lodge
interior and you’ll get partially leather and wool seats, silver inserts on the steering wheel and a gorgeous eucalyptus wood panel.
Top-spec Suite
versions are more expensive (they cost an additional 171,500 rubles), but you get leather seats, leather trim for the torpedo lid and a dark oak-colored dashboard, as well as advanced mood lighting and velour mats.
Whichever BMW i3 specs you choose, you get a 10.2-inch infotainment display with integrated satellite navigation and digital radio.

Appearance

The doors. You know, those weird back doors. You love them OR you hate them, or you love AND hate them. We’re partial to the latter. They’re so cool, but if you want to sell a lot of cars, you shouldn’t build doors like this one.

In many situations, these doors make the car more roomy. In other cases, they are a hassle and the car often has trouble determining whether the rear doors are closed.

You get practicality with small children in the back, but adults do feel insulted by needing instructions on how to get in and out. Also, why is it a 4 seater auto? The back seat can easily accommodate 3 people. At least 2 adults and a child in the middle.

The exterior of the BMW i3 conveys agility from the very first glance. And it announces it in style. The two-tone painted surfaces and short protruding edges exemplify modern design. The absence of struts in the doors is an interesting engineering decision from BMW. Completing the look is the panoramic roof. The unique and spacious interior of the BMW i3 can only be felt after one look through the open “bus doors”. The open, inviting design makes entry and loading easy and convenient – without compromising safety, as the closed doors act as a protective center pillar.

Its standard U-shaped LED headlights flank and brand symbol: the grille. Underneath, the bumper visually elongates the front of the car with large designer turn indicator lights and gives them an extremely powerful expression. Resembling a diffuser, the rear bumper measures 40 millimeters more than the previous model and dominates the width of the rear end. Located on the glazed tailgate, the “eDrive” and “i3”
lettering is offset to the outside. The BMW logo with blue accents accentuates the characteristic black beltline and further emphasizes the obvious sportiness.

The black roof pillars in chrome frosted glass are examples of these small details. They emphasize the innovative design of the vehicle and give it a certain elegance.

The changes for this revised iteration are minor, with a facelift bringing glossier black trim, new bumper moldings and changes to the lighting, although the more powerful i3s tested here also sits 10mm lower and the fenders are 40mm wider.
The lower ground clearance is the result of a sports suspension setup that includes new springs, dampers and lateral stability stabilizers, and there’s the option to adjust throttle response and “tighten” the steering with a new sport mode.

In line with performance, the new 2018 BMW I3 gets 20-inch alloy wheels with tires that are 20mm wider than anything previously offered – the trade-off is improved grip with worsened rolling resistance, although the standard car’s comfortable turning circle of 9.86m also increases to 10.31m.

Still, these are just tweaks, and the drivetrain hasn’t fundamentally changed. Samsung’s lithium-ion batteries together make up one 33kW BMW I3 battery (up from the 22kW but not physically larger) introduced earlier in the lineup. The battery is distributed across the floor of the car, and an electric motor powers the rear axle via a single-speed gearbox.

The BMW I3 Hybrid is a 38 hp two-cylinder gasoline engine that drives a generator for the battery pack.

Generations and configurations

1 generation