I don't think the BMW I3 has quite dropped into the bargain basement category, and of course if you are a driver who takes it into a main dealer for "servicing" with BMW expect compulsory wallet-emptying whatever trivial fault they find.mickthemaverick wrote: 15 Mar 2023, 22:57 Thanks Neil, my friend who is thinking of getting a Leaf has one overiding factor. She wants to be able to drive to her Mum's without recharging and that is a journey of 97 miles so it suggests to me that we need to be looking at the newer 30kW versions for her needs. Now it will probably mean a higher mileage car to stay within budget so I'll start looking!!
The REX model may well be a good idea for the driver who needs to do a regular trip of 100 miles without charging. Most I3 Rex drivers I have spoken to at the chargepoint rarely call on the petrol range extender.
Here is a 2014 I3 Range Extender model which hasn't quite dipped under £10,000 here 69,000 miles (£10,995)Review of the 2014 model i3 Rex.
https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-revie ... 14-review/
....it’s a range extender, which means that the petrol engine never actually drives the 19in wheels as in hybrids, such as the poster-child Toyota Prius. In the i3 Range Extender, there’s a rear-mounted, two-cylinder, 647cc scooter-derived engine that works as an on-board power station, coming on stream to charge up the floor-mounted, 230kg battery pack. The rear wheels are only ever driven by the 168bhp, 184lb ft electric motor. So, there’s always monster torque on tap…
What’s the benefit of having the petrol engine on board?
Whereas the all-electric i3 is out of juice after a maximum of 100 miles, the Range Extender’s engine allows up to 186 miles (following an eight-hour battery charge’s worth of go). Once the battery pack’s energy has been swallowed up, there’s a tiny nine-litre fuel tank to allow 80-mile hops courtesy of the 34bhp petrol engine. Useful, but hardly an intercity GT car.
Neil
