Testing the Range Extender - 2014 BMW i3 Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,316
edited March 2015 in BMW

imageTesting the Range Extender - 2014 BMW i3 Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com editor James Riswick tests the 2014 BMW i3 Range Extender in the real world. How far can it go on its small tank of gas?

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Comments

  • throwbackthrowback Member Posts: 445
    James, your example clearly shows why these cars as simply suburban runabouts. having to avoid "large" highway grades is inconvenient at best.
  • kirkhilles1kirkhilles1 Member Posts: 863
    "...my speed gradually dropped from 74 mph down to 56 mph by the time I reached the summit.".

    Again. Deal. Breaker! That's just not acceptable for a modern car. 80 Mph needs to be a requirement for a Range Extender. Here in the South (NASCAR land) where you better be exceeding 80 mph or you'll get run over, going 56 mph would make you the most dangerous car on the road.

    Here's a thought. Bump the engine up a bit to where you can go 80 mph in 100 degree and 10 degree weather and bump the gas tank up a couple more gallons.
  • empowahempowah Member Posts: 71
    Here are instructions on how to "hack" an i3 REx so that the range-extender can turn on earlier -- rather than at 6%. This creates a larger buffer, which is helpful on long trips involving hills.

    http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2141

    Software can also increase the size of the gas tank from 1.9 gallons to 2.4 gallons.
  • darthbimmerdarthbimmer Member Posts: 606
    throwback said:

    James, your example clearly shows why these cars as simply suburban runabouts. having to avoid "large" highway grades is inconvenient at best.

    Agreed. These limitations are tolerable for running local errands or a short commute. Either way it's an "around town" car. It is NOT suitable for someone looking to make a long commute more economical.
  • fordson1fordson1 Unconfirmed Posts: 1,512
    Not ready for prime time.
  • veedubber86veedubber86 Member Posts: 57
    Yeah, I'm going to agree. If I owned one of these, I'd have to own another car too.
  • spdracerutspdracerut Member Posts: 8
    @forson1, of course it's ready for prime time just as much as is a Ford F350 Super Duty. Or a Smart car. These are niche vehicles that are excellent at what they are designed to do. For getting around tight and congested cities, the i3 and Smart are great for that. Ford F350 Super Duty? Good luck trying to park that anywhere along the beach cities here in LA. It won't even fit in a parking garage in Santa Monica. It doesn't really fit in the narrow road lanes either. Does that make the F350 any less ready for 'prime time'? No. It's excellent at what it's designed to do which is tow and haul a lot of stuff out in the more open countryside. Any vehicle that gets more specialized willl be better at the area of specialization (in this case, minimal use of energy/fuel), and worse at something else (power).
  • flyingsherpaflyingsherpa Member Posts: 2
    Some people criticized the Volt having too large (84hp) a range extender, but I think this articles proves GM made the right call. They sized it so it could go 70mph up any hill in the US. The Volt slowdown mentioned in the article was due to the author not engaging Mountain Mode like he should have... he was in the middle of an efficiency driving contest and didn't want to turn on the engine. If used as directed, you won't experience any slowdowns in the Volt. I still like the i3, but would never consider it as my only car unless it had a bigger Rex and gas tank.
  • karmonkarmon Member Posts: 7
    It "Needs" Premium fuel (91 Octane)? Wouldn't have taken that as a high octane engine???
  • fordson1fordson1 Unconfirmed Posts: 1,512
    spdracerut said:

    @forson1, of course it's ready for prime time just as much as is a Ford F350 Super Duty. Or a Smart car. These are niche vehicles that are excellent at what they are designed to do. For getting around tight and congested cities, the i3 and Smart are great for that. Ford F350 Super Duty? Good luck trying to park that anywhere along the beach cities here in LA. It won't even fit in a parking garage in Santa Monica. It doesn't really fit in the narrow road lanes either. Does that make the F350 any less ready for 'prime time'? No. It's excellent at what it's designed to do which is tow and haul a lot of stuff out in the more open countryside. Any vehicle that gets more specialized willl be better at the area of specialization (in this case, minimal use of energy/fuel), and worse at something else (power).

    Pal, you're the one who set up the F350/i3 straw man argument, not me. The i3 with range extender is not ready for prime time because it has an operating mode that renders it unsafe for mainstream use on a modern road system.
  • joninsdjoninsd Member Posts: 1
    Excellent post, thank you! One point I'd like to make - James because of the specificity that you slowed to 56 mph on the way up the grade, it's very likely you had the car in EcoPro+ mode, or switched into that mode from EcoPro on the way up. EcoPro+ has a top speed of 56 mph. I found out the hard way one day on the freeway and don't use that mode unless I'm on slow suburban or city streets. In the other two modes, you can go as fast as you like, although EcoPro has a self-set speed limiter that can be overridden by hitting the gas hard. The car is Plenty fast on the freeway, hill or not.
  • anotherdrunkanotherdrunk Guest Posts: 30
    edited March 2015
    i only used the rex once for ~50 miles when new

    didnt know how long the car was sitting on the lot or how old the gas was

    wanted fresh gas


    no perceptable change in drivability
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