Swapping the A2 for a BMW i3 - thoughts please

Hey Andy no ur wrong I do like the i3 .. my neighbour has got one and the dimensions are very similar .. I do think the design is very fussy especially along the window line but I love the treatment they've given the interior .. the materials and layout .. but it's the range with all current electric cars apart from Tesla .. I love the torque from the off .. it also offsets my love of the exotic.. no you've got me wrong I absolutely love technology & innovation in cars .. I probably do have a slight problem with BMW I guess but not with the i8 or the i3 ..

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Interesting reading. Can i ask a question of you i3 defectors regarding these rear doors?

Are you saying you cannot open the rear door without the front door open ? That being the case is it possible to cause damage by them both being open the accidently closed in the wrong order. The front door closed and the rear one striking against it accidentally?

Happy motoring ladies and gents ;)
 
murdo said:
Interesting reading. Can i ask a question of you i3 defectors regarding these rear doors?

Are you saying you cannot open the rear door without the front door open ? That being the case is it possible to cause damage by them both being open the accidently closed in the wrong order. The front door closed and the rear one striking against it accidentally?

Happy motoring ladies and gents ;)
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the front door uses the catch mechanism of the rear door and so if the rear door is not closed the front door cannot latch onto anything. As for can they be damaged in any way by the wrong sequence being used I haven't had the bottle to try it yet. But if that IS possible and happens then BMW would be ripped apart by the motoring press. So I am pretty sure that it can't happen. But I will check and see.

A more wirryingvthing tgat i hat I need to check is that (health and safety kicking in here as I am sure you in particular will find relevant) is that I am not sure if the rear occupants can actually open the rear door if, for example the front occupants were unconscious due to an incident? I will have to try that too. But in relation to that there is no opening window in the rear doors either.

As i say, I will try all of this out when I get home and hopefully someone else will try it before me!

it just seems to be more issues than advantages with the doors at the moment. But we will see.

By the way, I am not included in the "Defector" list, still having my A2 and the wife's 90

Steve B
 
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budword said:
It needs 3 seats in the back

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Yes but that assumes that you will ever need to carry 5 of you.

Ours is for me and my wife and occasionally two grandchildren.
So we are happy enough with the four seats.
Of course larger families would prefer 5 or more seats even.

My A2 has four seats and that has never caused us a problem. So 4 is ok for us.

A fifth seat in a small car is always a compromise.
The middle seat is rarely big enough and it reduces the side seats useful area even when not carrying 5.

So I agree 5 may be necessary for family car.

Steve B
 
Hi barry,

I too love exotic cars and run a import company www.bhpimports.co.uk - so iv got alot of offsetting to do!!!

The range for me with the REX isnt a issue, im not likely to use the REX much, just in case of emergency and im lucky enough to have the ability soon to plug in at work for FREE - meaning it shouldnt cost me a thing to run my i3 which is a big bonus.

But your right, the doors are a nightmare!! and yes the torque is awesome.
 
on the rear seats and doors.

Steve, the front doors need to be operated to exit the rear doors, so indeed in accident the rear ocupants do have no emergency exit.

as for closing them on each other, iv tried and its all rubber to rubber or foam so youd have to shunt them pretty bad to cause any damage in the wrong order.
 
Yes,

just tried this a few moments ago, the doors can hit each other if half way open, but I coulds see metal to metal contact being possible, but I wasn't going to try it properly.

Yes the rear door opener is disconnected when the front door is closed and with no rear opening window it is not ideal!!!

But one thing I did find the well hidden handle in the back of the headrest that makes the front seats come way forward, further than when you use the one on the bottom of the seat (that is just for reclining really).

I wonder what the emergency services would make of a rear passenger who cannot get the door open? I suppose it is not much worse that an two door car though? That has rear passengers with no way out if there is an unconscious person in the front seat!

So I will not let that worry me too much, but it is a definite negative!

The rest of the car is still pretty much bang on!

Pleased with the range too.

I am down to 29% charge and I still have enough charge to get me to and from the train station 10 more days before needing a charge, without having to switch to the reduced power setting!!

Found a clear road on the way home and tried flooring the accelerator. Just one word, WOW.

Still having trouble trying to get the coming home / leaving home function to work. It is all set but not yet working. (I don't think it is automatic, I have it working on the spare programmable button on the key fob)

For anyone on here that is fed up of hearing about the i3, sorry, but they are addictive. So if you see i3 in the heading of a thread on here please just ignore it.

I would rather chat to like minded A2 owners who appreciate quirky cars than switch to another forum that would not be as much fun or as pleasant as this one.

Steve B
 
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0-60 in 6.5 seconds in the electric only i3 Steve ;)

Regarding the rear doors and safety, there is one thing i learnt recently and something that should be talked about more.

Removable headrests... I was told that they are apparently there for emergency use for smashing a window to get out safely.


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manhattan$ said:
0-60 in 6.5 seconds in the electric only i3 Steve ;)

Removable headrests... I was told that they are apparently there for emergency use for smashing a window to get out safely.


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Another feature of the A2 that was years ahead of its time then!!!!

Steve B
 
manhattan$ said:
0-60 in 6.5 seconds in the electric only i3 Steve ;)

Regarding the rear doors and safety, there is one thing i learnt recently and something that should be talked about more.

Removable headrests... I was told that they are apparently there for emergency use for smashing a window to get out safely.


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Wow Paul,
The same claimed 0-60 of my TT, I best get a re- map done before I square up at the lights mate lol...
 
Jeffers66 said:
Wow Paul,
The same claimed 0-60 of my TT, I best get a re- map done before I square up at the lights mate lol...
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Surprises a lot of people at the lights Jeff, lol.

Official time is 0-62 7.2, i think. Although Its been timed on youtube hitting 6.5 0-60 in one of the reviews.


I heard theres a map for the i8, just waiting for a i3 map





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Birchall said:
Yes but that assumes that you will ever need to carry 5 of you.

Ours is for me and my wife and occasionally two grandchildren.
So we are happy enough with the four seats.
Of course larger families would prefer 5 or more seats even.

My A2 has four seats and that has never caused us a problem. So 4 is ok for us.

A fifth seat in a small car is always a compromise.
The middle seat is rarely big enough and it reduces the side seats useful area even when not carrying 5.

So I agree 5 may be necessary for family car.

Steve B
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Totally understand your point Steve.

Though the A2 bench is the only way for us larger families to have an A2. It is the only reason why I'm not driving an i3. Why didn't BMW consider this small compromise like Audi did?

I posted something a while ago about multimac (www.multimac.co.uk) which enables those with 3 or 4 littluns to consider the delights of an i3 as a practical family car. Alas my kids have out grown our seat.

The price is eye watering, though if you can afford an i3 then you can afford a multimac! Plus like me, it saved me thousands in tax in running a 3 series touring as company car instead of a co2 heavy MPV. I also sold the seat after 4 years for 2/3 of what I originally paid for it.
It's also aluminum! A little reminder of the A2 some have left behind if you like.

Hope I don't persuade too many more out of their A2s. But if like me, others are frustrated at BMWs narrow sightedness, and they can't justify leaving one of their kids behind, then there is always another option!

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budword said:
I posted something a while ago about multimac (www.multimac.co.uk) which enables those with 3 or 4 littluns to consider the delights of

Hope I don't persuade too many more out of their A2s. But if like me, others are frustrated at BMWs narrow sightedness, and they can't justify leaving one of their kids behind, then there is always another option!

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Love the Multimac, what a great idea!!!!
 
The first charge lasted 130 miles and that includes a lot of high speed driving by the delivery driver from Brighton to my home and then 60 odd miles in my hands.

Got down to 8Miles left and took it to a nearby services on the M4 and they have DC chargers.

So I hooked it up for 30 minutes and had a coffee. I was pleasantly surprised to see the range at 98 miles, that is 90 miles charge in just 30 minutes. That makes the car a viable short trip car and I wasn't sure it would be.

Also I am the type to want "full fat" of everything and so the three settings on the power I thought would stay on "Comfort" (more or less sport mode) and never moving from there.

But tonight on the drive back from charging I tried Pro + (the most economical setting) and I found it absolutely fine for normal driving with plenty of power and the 56 MPH limit didn't make any difference around town anyway. So I plan on using Pro+ for the next trips and see what range I can get out of it.

I thought I would balance out the "positive" with a "negative" comment (keeping to the "Electric" theme)
The negative is the auto wipers and the i3 is not the only car with this niggle.
The idea of auto wipers is that if it starts to rain the wipers kick in automatically (of course) and of course this is what the i3 wipers do!! BUT !!!!! only if you have them switched to Auto (again, of course) and the big BUT is, when you switch the car off it switches off the auto wiper setting.

So when it rains you have to switch on the "Auto" wipers???? As I say I have had other cars that to, but WHY??????????????
I will have to look to see if there is a hidden setting or something that keeps the auto switch on, but I am not sure there will be on!!

Steve B
 
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Keep posting about the i3 its a great car
What a set of plonkers vw audi are lieing about emissions , balancing them out across the range etc so you get a fleet average instead of doing something genuine
Nearest weve got to this is etron and that is twice the price of a prius and although it looks slightly nicer inside and out
I will not waste my money on it, i3 definitely maybe.
I want one however it will take two years onto my retirement age so will wait i think
 
manhattan$ said:
Removable headrests... I was told that they are apparently there for emergency use for smashing a window to get out safely.
Click to expand...

Not sure about that. If you want to fold the rear seat flat, you have to remove the head rests. The Lupo has a special place to store them.

RAB
 
RAB said:
Maybe, but thay's not why they are removable. They are removable because they have to be adjustable.

RAB
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I don't think thats the reason either as the i3 doesn't have adjustable or removable front headrests.

I was referring to Birchall's quote about people getting out of the rear of an i3 in an emergency due to the way the rear doors are designed. Removable headrests make a good emergency tool to brake the windows.




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