2015 BMW i3 with REx

[Rovert]

[rguti153]

Wtf awesome

[BMWCurves]

Haha beauty of having 100% of your torque at 0 RPM.

[derbo]

Fastest 0-30 baby

Sent from my Moto X

[Whammy]

Congrats on the purchase those I can't say I envy you. I drove an ex-coworker's Tesla Model S. While fast and nible, the gearhead in me hated it. Nothing to do, no transmission, and no noise.

[Imola.ZHP]

I don't think I'd want to auto-x something with a higher center of gravity and paper thin tires, to be honest...
Do you think you could handle hard cornering without flipping it? I haven't got a clue how stable they feel since I've never driven one.

The tires will definitely be a problem if you're a fast driver. Is there even a class for the i3 yet?

As mentioned by others, COG is actually quite low in this vehicle, yes, the tires are not wide, but they make up for the loss in contact patch width-wise by making a larger front-to-back contact patch. If you care about reading about it, check out this article on the tire technology for the i3, http://www.cnet.com/news/tire-tech-t...ecopia-ep500s/. If BMW didn't want the car to be driven aggressively or used in auto-x, then they most likely wouldn't have had i3 dealer training events that included auto-x action.

https://youtu.be/qYbYJOD5PHg

https://youtu.be/npNZzCK8fKc

Quite a few BMW staff have videos like these from before/during launch of the car. I haven't yet seen any owners use the car at auto-x although I have seen it be discussed. Not sure if the car is classed yet or not, that would be something I would need to find out.

These cars are REALLY stable. It's insane how well they hold during cornering. I've driven one and very surprised especially with those tiny little thin ice skating blades they call tires.

The CG is actaully comparable.

i3: 18.5"
3-series sedan: 20.0"
4-series coupe: 19.6"


Other cars:

Toyota FT-86 / Subaru BRZ / Scion FR-S: 18.1"
Tesla S: 17.5"
Lexus LFA: 17.7"
Porsche 911 GT3: 17.9"

Awesome information, thanks. Yes, the car is carbon fibre reinforced plastic body with all plastic body panels on an aluminum frame. The battery pack is mounted between the frame rales and axles lending for a decently low COG.

Interesting. I guess having those heavy batteries nestled at the height of the axles really helps keep the center of gravity pretty low.

Yup!

I had to send that video to so many friends when I told them I was buying an i3, afterwards they understood.

Wtf awesome

Agreed, although we don't know how much the M3 (purposely or not) spun the tires.

Haha beauty of having 100% of your torque at 0 RPM.

Yes, it will definitely jump off the line!

Fastest 0-30 baby

Sent from my Moto X

Haha, yeah, my commute is 2.2 non-bike friendly miles so I don't need much more speed than that.

Congrats on the purchase those I can't say I envy you. I drove an ex-coworker's Tesla Model S. While fast and nible, the gearhead in me hated it. Nothing to do, no transmission, and no noise.

I hope no one envy's me, different strokes for different folks! I do miss my clutch and have often hunted for it as well as the manual shift lever since purchase. The car just keeps growing on me though, I can't describe it. I kind of like the quiet ride actually.

----

Did a bunch of more coding this morning, so much that I need to review my list to see what all I did, lol. I did get a chance to check out the flashing brake force display tonight after I got to work. LOVE IT! I've always had this reflex when in an emergency braking situation to hit the hazards button to get the vehicle behind me's attention. It will be a hard habit to break, but now the car will do it for me.

[JB3]

New ride, new project thread.
...
Yup, pretty much public transportation all the way to pick up my MSRP $55,850 vehicle, haha, I'm so cheap! At that point I had spent about $30 including food.

The remainder of the trip went pretty well, the unlocked REx and additional fuel capacity gave me about 75 miles of range between fill-ups.

D: @msrp. Owned your ZHP for 9 years??????? Wow man I have a feeling you might regret getting rid of something that you loved enough to own for 9 years. The car is so cool though! and 75 miles? I can see why you have range anxiety. Damn!

lolwut!

Fastest 0-30 baby

Sent from my Moto X

1. put "GET SOME" on the license plate.
2. Stoplight Drag Race everyone to 30.
3. Double tap brake lights and hit hazards, slow down.
4. Give them the "sup son?" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ at the next light.
5. ???
6. Profit!

As mentioned by others, COG is actually quite low in this vehicle, yes, the tires are not wide, but they make up for the loss in contact patch width-wise by making a larger front-to-back contact patch. If you care about reading about it, check out this article on the tire technology for the i3, http://www.cnet.com/news/tire-tech-t...ecopia-ep500s/. If BMW didn't want the car to be driven aggressively or used in auto-x, then they most likely wouldn't have had i3 dealer training events that included auto-x action.

I'd have two concerns. 1. Getting home, I'm sure AX would smoke the range. (I guess you could just carry a gas can, right?) 2. Sidewall roll causing tarmac damage to the wheels.

Any cheap track wheel fitments out there for it?

[Imola.ZHP]

I guess I didn't discuss plans for the car. Keep in mind that the first two years of ownership are technically a lease, leasing was the best option for me for many reasons including the tax incentive situation. With that in mind, mods will be relatively limited for the first 24 months of ownership. Lets be clear, I currently fully intend to buy the car at the end of the lease, but a lot can happen in 24 months so I don't want to over-step any boundaries with the car until it is financed in my name.

First 24 months of ownership:
#1 TINT! - Going to get quotes this week! Will probably do ceramic to help keep as much heat out of the car as possible, the more the AC runs the more juice it takes from the battery pack. So ceramic tint really seems like a logical choice for this vehicle. I will be looking at doing the legal limit (I don't like to attract cop attention) in Tennessee, 35%. I loved the additional 35% tint I had on my ZHP's windshield. LOVED IT. This windshield is so big though I'm not sure if its such a good idea, again the cop attention situation. I'll see what else they have to offer and then make the best decision.

#2 Wheel Arch Reflectors and Mirror Mounted Side Marker Smoke Vinyl Overlay's - I bought a couple of rolls of smoked vinyl for the ZHP, I only ever ended up getting the clear in the R/C/R taillights done and it was such a chore to get them to look right that I never attempted the side markers or the front corners. With the i3, however, the wheel arch reflectors look to be flat so this should be a quick and easy mod (knocks on wood). Yes, they do sell the body-colored replacements for $110 per pair (or at least they do for the front that has no light in it, the rear arch reflectors have a running light in them), but this smoke vinyl I have is already paid for and I think it will look good on the car for now. Perhaps I'll go for the painted replacement set for the front of the car once the price of them starts to come down. In addition to the reflectors I'm going to attempt to smoke overlay the mirror mounted side markers on the car. This will be challenging because although they look flat in pictures, and they mostly are, they wrap around the side of the mirror and there are some hard edges or corners to contend with. For all of these I plan to attempt to remove each piece from the car so that I can attempt to wrap/shrink the vinyl around the edges for a cleaner look. I hope to start on this this week.

#3 LED High-Beam Bulbs, LED Front Signal Bulbs - For whatever reason the lights in the lower part of the bumper are the high-beams, not fog lamps, I don't know, maybe bi-LED headlamps don't yet exist? I wonder if we'll see this at face-lift and the return of fog-lamps to the car where the current high-beams are. Anyhow, the high-beam bulbs are just regular halogen which look very odd on the car given that the low beams are LED as well as nearly every other bulb on the car except for the front signal bulbs which are also located in that same area on the bumper (as the high beams). These have to go. I will probably wait for the cost of the High Beam bulbs to come down, LED's seem to be becoming more and more mainstream and their prices are coming down, but I'd still like to get them even cheaper. As for the turn signal bulbs, there is a pair on Amazon.com that a few i3 owners have purchased and had good luck with so far, I'll probably order those this week.

Reminder of ownership:

#1 most important mod after the remainder of the car is financed - SPRINGS! - Right now there is basically only one option, Cobra Suspension 1" drop. Perhaps there will be more options by the time I am ready to pull the trigger on this but if not, this setup looks really nice. Here is a FB friends Solar Orange with the drop.



You can easily compare this to my car in my sig pic, the fender gap is drastically reduced. For whatever reason i3's in Japan are lower than i3's in the rest of the world. Supposedly it is an m-perormance suspension kit but it is not available outside of Japan, yet. This might be another option in a few years. I just spent way too much time looking for a particular picture I had seen in the past showing the lower ride height. I had no luck, but it does exist. I'll add it if I ever come across it again.

#2 (Crossing Fingers) some VMR wheels. I would love some v710's, but if they make any of their designs skinny enough for the i3 I will probably take a set. I keep asking them to look into it on their IG account. I hope my work pays off at some point! If I were good at photoshop I could do a photo, but I'm not, so I can't.

#3 I hope at some point, either as a facelift or as a well-fitting aftermarket option, that the lower rear bumper can be swapped out for something closer to the original MegaCity concept car.



For whatever reason the i8 got a rear bumper nearly identical to its concept, but the i3 got this other design (only way to put it nicely) that almost looks like the car is trying to excrete an early 2000's model Honda Accord from its rear end.

#4 Somewhat inline with the rear bumper change I really like the recent trend of the carbon fibre body kit trim, along the front bumper, down the side-sills and across the back. I hope someone makes some cool stuff for the i3, there is a company out of Japan that has made a lower front bumper piece like this as well as a different upper rear spoiler but their prices are a bit pricy right now. I'm sure this is because the car is new.



3D Design front lip spoiler, its ok, but I hope some other options come about.

[JB3]

Ah ok, that all makes sense. Hopefully they have some aggressive value when purchasing at the end of a lease.

35% on the front? Cray talk! lol. I'm old and my eyes aren't as sharp as they were, but it would be great for oncoming lights for sure. I had Air 80 on the front, and TBH, the only difference I noticed in heat was in the first 10 minutes. After that, the car felt as hot as no windshield tint, so I don't think I'll spend that money again myself.

Good plans for mods for a lease vehicle, and good plan on waiting 2 years to go further. Just don't be like me, and kick yourself for selling your ZHP 2 years from now.

[derbo]

3D Design makes some nice lips but they are pretty expensive.

I would definitely wait for better options for the suspension. The car is still a niche product and it has limited aftermarket options until people start deciding to modify them. Perhaps call suspension companies and see if they are willing to prototype stuff with your car and you could get a massive discount on the car?



Either way, enjoy it! I wish my commute was short enough to use one of these badboys.