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Showing posts with the label interior

BMW i3 REx One Year Review

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Delivery day: May 21st, 2014 Well that went by fast. After waiting patiently for years for BMW to bring the "Megacity" car, their first production electric vehicle to market, my first year of ownership really flew by quickly. On May 21st of last year I was the first i3 REx delivery in the US. My one year review is about a month late, but that has only given me some more time to gather my thoughts about it. About a month into ownership last year, I authored two posts dedicated to my initial likes and dislikes . Many of those initial thoughts still hold true, but I've also had some changes of opinion as well as discovering new annoyances and new attributes which I appreciate. One of the few pictures I have of my car in its real color; Laurel Grey. I wrapped it red the first week I had it. Overall I'm very happy with my i3 and there isn't another car I'd prefer to have. It really suits my needs while offering the perfect balance of performance, utility, comfort ...

BMW i3 REx vs Chevy Volt: My Take

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The Challenge Last week I was contacted by High Gear Media Senior Editor, John Voelcker and asked if I had interest in doing a head to head comparison piece between my i3 REx and a Chevy Volt. Green Car Reports contributor David Noland (who happens to own a Volt and a Model S) wanted to pit the Volt against an i3 REx and asked John to reach out to me and find out if I was up for it. I liked the idea of swapping cars and driving side by side for a few hours and that met David's needs as well. David wanted to do an efficiency test and measure the miles per kWh's used driving 15 to 20 miles in a city environment, and then do the same thing at highway speeds of 65 to 75mph. Going in, David expected the i3 to be more efficient in the city driving test, but the Volt to be more efficient on the highway test where weight plays a lesser role and aerodynamics are more important. The i3 is tall, has a large front area and is a bit boxy compared to the Volt. This creates a much higher CdA ...

After 2,000 Miles: The Likes

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Now that I've had my i3 for nearly a month, I'm starting to get a good feel for what I like and what I don't. My initial thought was to do one post with both the likes and dislikes at this point, but after assembling the lists, I realized I wouldn't be able to spend enough time on each topic if I did it that way. Therefore I decided I'd do two consecutive posts, with one for the likes and one for the dislikes. I'm tackling the easy one first, the likes: Adaptive Cruise Control With Stop & Go: This feature is really useful. It's kind of like locking in on the vehicle in front of you with a tractor beam and letting it pull you along. I've found it great for both low speed and high speed driving and the car will even come to a complete stop and accelerate again once the car in front of you does. The only things that aren't perfect is I've found it sometimes leaves too large of a gap in between you and the car you are chasing (for safety reasons...