I bought the BMW i3-REx in May because it was in my price range; had dynamic cruise control and collision avoidance, and; enough range to reach Nashville for doctor appointments. Then in December when the BMW was down, I bought a Prius Prime Plus to replace our backup, Gen-3. Only the BMW i3-REx has never been to Nashville. Still, I could be persuaded to take the Prime if we'll learn something. The poll is just to gather some thoughts from the community. Thanks, Bob Wilson
I honestly would be worried to take the BMW up here. With that tiny gas tank, you'd be filling up a lot. Also I never seem to get good fuel economy up to Nashville from Birmingham. I'd probably be nervous! Although it might be a fun adventure! But I think we would all be interested in your fuel economy on this trip in the Prime now that it is warmer... so maybe that's the thing to do?
depends on whether you want your excitement on the road to exceed that of your doc's appointment. personally, i'd just take the prime. 70 mpg ain't too shabby, and you don't have to spend all your downtime at whole paycheck.
I was checking plugshare and noticed Nashville has two, fast DC chargers which are compatible with the Bimmer. From the house, Mapquest shows 116 miles and the Bimmer has a combined gas and electric range of ~150 miles and the car is coded to maintain 75% SOC. This would be an excellent opportunity to do a combined gas-electric drive and document how well it works in real life. All of my earlier, cross-country trips were gas-only. I should be able to get fast-DC charge metrics in Nashville and when I return home. I'm pretty interested in the 80% in 30 minute charge metrics and true range. Sad to say, the Prime can only use an L2 at 16A ... not really useful for EV range on a cross-country drive. Bob Wilson
What ever you do, don't buy that German Money pit if you are serious about reliability and resale value. Nothing is gonna beat a Toyota I promise you that. You can lease the bimmer but NEVER ever buy. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Too late and it was the motor mount bolt failure that led to buying the Prius Prime: This will stretch out the Bimmer miles so the warranty will go to January 2019. I had calculated 50,000 miles by the summer of 2018. The single-source, tires on the Bimmer are 3x the price of regular tires and may have wear issues. There are some tuning tricks I'd like to try: Cooled exhaust (some risks) Transmission oil change and testing After-body taper and/or aeroshell Expanded/aux fuel tank I bought the BMW i3-REx thinking it would a nice, last car to tinker. But the $1.8k cracked windshield; $300 for two tires; poor handling of intermittent backup camera failure, and; motor mount bolt failure. Well I realized it could be a last car that eventually might become 'lawn art.' I was (and am) looking forward to self-maintenance. Bob Wilson
Those German cars are famous for becoming lawn ornaments. That's why I steer clear away as they are not worth the investment. Their cars are soo over engineered and complicated to fix and many times you need thousands of dollars in fancy dealer level scan tools to work on these BMWs and Mercedes. Ha a Mercedes CLS needs a computer to be hooked up just to tell the stupid thing that you just replaced one, $1k air shock absorber to recalibrate it. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
What really freaks me out about the i3... you can buy a used one with 25k on the odometer for 17 thousand! That's insane.
That depreciation though. that's why they loose soo much value, because they are too expensive to maintain and repair. There are kids that think they're getting a good deal on a used BMW until they face the reality of owning one. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
The battery ones, yes. The REx are a little more pricy. What is happening are the leases are ending so more and more of them are showing up on eBay. I just did a quick survey of 'completed sales': $22.5k - BEV, 17k mi $18.5k - BEV, 1.7k mi When I bought mine, a lower trim BMW i3-REx went for $26.9k but I wasn't looking then. I got mine for $29.9k, 6.5k mi; coded it, and; headed for the pass (i.e., I-40). I'm over 19k mi including the too frequent and too long repair actions. This morning I hopped in the Bimmer and the cabin was toasty warm, 34F outside. So I left the Prime on the charger. Coming into work, I don't even care about 'Prius-style' driving and drove into work like I had to be somewhere. Even when I arrived, I could not have turned on the REx to extend the range because it was still above 75% SOC . . . more EV range than a Volt-2. If I want, I can easily gas-scotch to Nashville or anywhere else my wife and I want to go OR take the Prime. Bob Wilson
This would be a wobbler for me. The Prime has more alphabet-soup inspired driving aids, and it seems that it would be the better road warrior - AND it's either more efficient, or it's not. The i3 is "probably" more fun to drive in a city - which Nashville certainly qualifies, and gas free has its own efficiency. I'd probably be tempted to take the Prime. It might be coolish and the border area around x363 might be an interesting place to test the Prime's EV grunt since it's more topographically diverse than some other areas. Good Problems to have for the eco-chic. Prime or i3????
Upon reflection, take the Bimmer for any trips in single charge-tank range and the Prime for longer or casual around town. The Prime has a little speed advantage but the infrequent refueling is its advantage over the Bimmer. Bob Wilson
