Here's Why The BMW i3 Failed And What You Should Know Before Buying a Used or New BMW i3!

electric cars are becoming more and more popular and I like everyone else actually block them I didn't like them at the beginning but things have changed a lot electric cars are very efficient they're fast and they have less parts than regular cars that means they need less maintenance but there's one thing they have in common depreciation unless is a Tesla most electric vehicles depreciate faster than standard vehicles and there is one that is the leader the BMW i3 for today's video I'm going to show you why the BMW i3 is the worst electric vehicle that you can buy new and if you decide to buy one new or used I'm gonna show you what you need to know before you even look for one but before we do that let's talk a little bit about the history of the i3 the BMW i3 concept was introduced back in 2011 at the German outer show the purpose was to make the i3 part of the BMWs new division the project I the car didn't go into production till 2013 the idea behind the i3 was to make BMW a leader in the evie production and possibly take over Tesla and my question is has it actually taken over first let's look at the share market of the BMW i3 versus other electric vehicles since 2013 they have sold about 37,000 units in the US and 1200 units in Canada compared to the Nissan Leaf which sold a hundred thousand units in the US and over 5,000 in Canada now one clear reason is the price let's look at the Tesla which is the most expensive evie the Model S which is triple the price of the i3 from 2013 it sold 140,000 units in the US and over 6,000 units in Canada which makes Tesla 60 percent market share winner another problem with this BMW i3 is depreciation now to be fair it is a BMW therefore it will depreciate faster than most cars but this is actually the leader when it comes to depreciation within five years the BMW i3 has lost close to 70% of the original value Google cars that depreciate faster this one is in second place worse than the seven series the worst part about this car is the MSRP in the USA it starts at 44 thousand dollars with a mediocre range you can find one for under ten thousand dollars with less than twenty thousand miles and that's not the worst part I happen to work with a lot of dealerships BMW dealerships used dealerships as well and they all said the same thing it takes a long time for them to sell one of this because they're not as desirable another problem with this car is actually the range take this for example this offers a hundred and twenty kilometers on a single charge and if you want to get more kilometers you have to get a petrol engine which is tackling the range extender which of course will cost you more money now this is in 2020 and this BMW only offers 120 kilometers on a single charge a Honda I Kona offers better range than this now I think when BMW decided to make this vehicle they didn't think of North Americans they only thought of Europeans which drive only 6,000 miles per year in North America some people actually drive after three hours a day to get to work like myself I Drive a week potentially sometimes about a thousand kilometers a week because I Drive a lot for what I do I actually know someone that owned a vehicle like this that only owned it for three months and after that he got rid of it because he almost got stuck everywhere he went and the problem is that if you add the extend range you're gonna pay a lot more money which is not worth because you have so many options out there instead of buying one like this the next problem with this car yes there is more to it just get a popcorn and have a seat because the problems will continue but don't worry we'll get to the positive side as well this vehicle has very low safety ratings the European safety ratings agency actually rated this only four stars the overall ratings are lower than the other six best selling plug-in electric vehicles the Volvo v60 plug-in hybrid the Renault Zoe the Nissan Leaf the Mitsubishi Outlander the Chevy Volt and the Opel Ampera all of which were rated 5 stars the 2014 model asks got a five star rating one of the best in the market the problem is very simple it's the way this car is built so for example this vehicle weighs 2,600 pounds it is as light as the Apollo super car you can totally have 4 guys lift us from one spot to the other without having to waste the short-range battery the BMW i3 was the first mass-produced car with the most of internal structure and body made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic which is why it is so light and this is why it is so unsafe as well now the positive thing about depreciation it means that you can get a used one for very cheap but be aware if you don't get warranty this vehicle it's not like a Honda Civic where you can just purchase parts online not many manufacturers actually make parts for this so you better get a warranty otherwise this is not a type of car that you can fix in your garage while holding the fire extinguisher in one side and the ranch on the other side the other problem with this car the space it is so small inside on top of that it doesn't offer regular doors they're pretty cool when you open them but at the same time they're not very practical so I'm six-two and let me try to get in here and I actually feel like cramped it is so small on top of that if I had to sit in front of the driver no one can sit in the back because I'm so told and I have to move the seat all the way to the back one positive thing about this that I like is actually the key fob it's so small and so different from any other BMW and the interior looks very futuristic also the exterior looks very different it is of course I had Turner I parked it right beside a Kia Soul which I have it for this week and it is almost the same size as the Kia Soul the other problem in this car too is how we drive so this thing has twenty-four thousand kilometers and in my opinion it feels like it has a hundred thousand everything feels like it's falling apart and again that is my opinion and it's not even fast and that's the the problem with this car too so there are some positive things about this not everything is negative and I understand what BMW is trying to do but the price does not justify this car this wasn't like a $28,000 car that he can buy if you live downtown or if you just drive like maybe 200 kilometers a week I understand that but for day-to-day use this thing gets completely useless and I don't see many of them on the road because they didn't sell a lot in Canada only 1200 since 2013 like that is pretty bad numbers why isn't BMW killing this but I think they probably are hoping that maybe we'll catch up and people start a look into this but today you don't want to buy this car I you can get a Honda Kona then gets up to like 400 kilometers on a single charge and why would you even buy this and the one that we average today is actually a rear-wheel drive model use they look very appealing because they're inexpensive I think I found one model with like 25,000 kilometers 30,000 kilometers about ten or eleven thousand doors or so it didn't have the range extender but it was so reasonably priced for such a almost new car with so many kilometers on top of that people are so concerned about this cars too because what manufacturers don't underst what automakers don't understand about competing with Tesla they think that they could just make a car and just give it to the public and they're happy we made an electric car here you go you have the option it's not that easy the reason why people go for Tesla for example is because Tesla has built the biggest super charging station in the world they have superchargers everywhere I had a test a model last for a week and I show up to kitchen or which is about an hour and 20 minutes away from Toronto and halfway he told me where to stop and charge it I went inside McDonald's charged the car fully charged it was about 100 kilometers and then after I came out McDonald's it was fully charged literally 15 minutes and that's something that people don't understand meanwhile this here will take about 6 hours to charge from home and about I think 3 hours if you find the right charger level 2 or so on you feel every piece of the road in this car every single piece and like the quality interior is not the best it's not even a luxury vehicle compared to like Tesla I thinking of a Honda Kona looks better than this car inside like I understand the design is very futuristic very appealing and so on very interesting but this car is not meant for day to day like to go to work and so on this is probably a weekend car for example if you're retired person and you drive maybe 100 kilometres a week this is the best thing and possibly not buy new because it's such a waste of money 70% of the original value that is a hue drop in my opinion you just can't justify anything about this car used it's an amazing deal but again as I said previously make sure you get a warranty because if you run out of the warranty this car parts are not easy to find they're made specifically to this vehicle and electric cars generally lose value but this has lost 70% of its original value it's actually weighted after the Nissan Leaf now the Nissan Leaf it's very reasonably priced new so it's not even as expensive as this one with that in mind thanks for watching and I hope I was able to help with your decision and again I don't hate on this vehicle it's just my experience and this are probably thinks that you can find your online yourself like the safety ratings the battery range and all that stuff you actually can verify everything you can look for one in your area and see what the original price was versus what they're selling it used with that in mind thanks for watching don't forget to subscribe and like and let me know if you have any specific question that I can answer that maybe I didn't answer and just leave a comment in the section below and at the same time don't forget to follow me and Instagram to find out the upcoming videos be safe Cheers

Channel: Sam CarLegion

Views: 392,901

Keywords: bmw i3, bmw i8, evs

Id: oIrAninJ2e4

Length: 10min 51sec (651 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 27 2020