5Series.net Reviews the 2014 BMW i3
In continuation of my BMW reviews, here is the crazy futuristic vehicle that is BMW’s i3.
When you first walk up to the i3, you understand it’s a car. That may sound weird, but as a gearhead, and one firmly stuck in the need for a combustion engine, the i3 is what environmentalists want the future to be for all cars. It’s a hybrid electric car that wants to show the way for all automobiles, and it does.
I’ve already driven the Tesla Model S, and had my entire viewpoint changed, but for those who didn’t read that article, here is a short summary. I wanted to hate it. I wanted it to be a massive pile of horse crap. I wanted it to fail and fail and fail. It didn’t. At. All. It took my preconception of electric cars and threw it on its head. Or maybe on my head. It’s massively strange getting into a car and not feeling or hearing the engine. It’s a bit disconcerting when you begin your journey. You feel odd and are a bit nervous when driving it, at least at first. Then you mash your foot to the floor and it all sort of makes sense.
(Read instructions before your baby gets thrown out of the car?)
And that’s what BMW tries to capture with the i3. That sense of odd, but awesome. And guess what? It does. The i3 is a spectacular car. It’s still very weird getting into and driving at first, but as soon as you start off, this weird smile just gets plastered to your face. It’s not the odd styling. It’s not the fact that it has a carbon tub. Rather, it just gets down to the fact that you have immediate torque. I liken it to a roller coaster. It’s that sort of linear acceleration. You are here, and then you are very far away. It’s a truly amazing feat what BMW did with this car. They took a tallish box and made it fun and quirky, but the pièce de résistance is definitely that engine. That hybrid electric motor is awesome. Instantaneous torque coupled with the regenerative braking make this car weirdly fun.
But let’s talk about the regenerative braking. BMW states that this car is a one-pedal-driving car, meaning that the regenerative brakes are powerful enough for you to just take your foot off the accelerator and never use the brakes. I was skeptical. I’ve been in cars that have very powerful regen brakes. The Tesla has them. My wife’s Outlander Sport has them. It’s an odd feeling when you first start using them, but then you get used to it and it just becomes second nature to feel them working. Nothing, though, compares to these brakes. BMW wasn’t lying: you could literally just use one pedal to drive this car. The regenerative brakes were so strong that during my test drive I didn’t use the actual brake pedal once. I was still unsure, so I covered the brakes, but I never touched the pedal. I couldn’t believe it, but BMW definitely went for the most advanced green technology they could muster. This included the materials they used for the interior of the car, too.
(This is not how you use the “no brake pedal” function)
When you step inside the car, you are greeted with a concept car. Then you’re told that this is actually the production car. Everything is futuristic and funky. The seats are two-piece manual sport-ish seats. They are tall, and purely functional. No power anything, and I love that. I love the fact that they are manual. In a car like this, trying to save weight, trying not to tax the electric system more than needed, the seats perfectly suit the car. Plus, they are finished in this lovely linen-type fabric that feels just as soft as leather, but looks awesome especially with the rest of the car’s theme.
The dash has a large block of wood with a wonderful grain to it that pulls the entire car together with its green image. It looks like driftwood BMW found on a beach somewhere. It may not be, but it makes the driver feel more efficient and green.
The BMW i3 is like a Prius on steroids … naturally organic steroids, obviously. And from that wood, out comes the two display panels, and I do mean “from the wood”. The displays almost look like they are growing out of the wood. It’s very cool.
I really have only three small complaints from this car. First, the rear seats. They are hard to get into due to the dainty nature of them. Also, the driver and passenger’s seat belts are actually connected to the rear door hatches, meaning that when you want to put someone in the back seats, you have to take your seat belt off, or you risk choking the driver. At this moment I have to apologize to the guy who was getting his turn in the i3 because I did this exact thing to him. Sorry if I gave you a burn on your neck or anything.
Next is the suspension. It’s rolly, but at the same time a bit harsh. I have no idea how BMW accomplished that. I first tried putting it through some esses, and the car lumbered about like an old German car. I wasn’t too surprised by this due to the fact that this car has no sporting credentials and doesn’t claim to be sporty, but then I took it over some rough rail tracks, and it was like the car was going to fall apart. It didn’t rattle or anything, but man did we get shaken up going over it.
And lastly, there is a fair amount of wind noise in the cabin. I know that BMW saved weight wherever they could to make it more fuel efficient, but if I’m going to buy a BMW, I at least want it as quiet as a BMW can be.
This car is definitely the future: Recycled material, hybrid electric powertrains, and greater and greater efficiency. Think about the three hypercars right now. All use hybrid-electric powertrains, and all are hugely fast, but what makes this car, and those hypercars awesome is the combination of the immediacy of the electric torque coupled with the overall power of the gas engines. This car relied totally on its electric power unit with a small gas engine to charge the batteries, but this is where cars are going, and we as enthusiasts shouldn’t be afraid of it because what these cars offer are pure smiles. I drove the i3 for about a half hour, and my smile never left my face. I definitely shortened the range of the car, but just going from 0-60 is a complete blast because the torque just mashes you in your seat. It’s electrifying.
Honestly if this car doesn’t do well, BMW marketed it wrong. This car is a blast to drive and puts a real question in whether to buy the Tesla. The BMW is cheaper, has better range, and the quirkiness of this car puts it in a league of its own. Maybe it won’t challenge the Tesla directly, but Prius owners had better take notice. This car makes your pious-mobile look like an oil-burning coal mine that dumps toxic waste into a pond filled with baby ducks. Go out and try it. I guarantee you will dig it.