BMW i3s 120Ah 2020 review

I'm Tom Baker, this is Chasing Cars, and this is the BMW i3s. The BMW i3 was one of the first really recognisable electric cars on Australian roads, and it's been in production globally since 2013. It's now 2019, so this, you know, really funky original design for an urban EV is still kicking. And that kind of gets to the crux of what I want to answer in today's video, which is whether or not the BMW i3 or the i3s, as we have here, is still a relevant electric car in today's market. Now we're living in a world of the Tesla Model 3, the Hyundai Kona Electric, you know, both of which have a lot more range than this car and are completely different form factors, more conventional form factors. The i3s is still a weird little thing that I kind of love because it's just so distinctive and different. It's got a 260 kilometre range, so, you know, not up there with the Tesla, but potentially great for a second car. So, is the BMW i3s still likeable? Is it any good? Does it make sense as an electric car? That's what we're going to find out. But if you haven't already done so, please subscribe below the video and hit that notification bell so you never miss one of our full-length uploads. The BMW i3 still has what I consider to be a weird and wonderful interior that really sets something of a benchmark for how electric vehicles can adapt to the packaging constraints, or lack thereof, of this kind of vehicle. Because we're used to combustion engine cars which have a big, heavy, bulky engine up front which pushes the cabin backwards, a transmission tunnel running through the centre of the car, potentially a differential going to the rear wheels, and all of that stuff takes up a lot of space. Now, in the i3, you don't have that. You do have the skateboard of batteries, a 42 kilowatt-hour battery underneath the car, and that's why, given it's quite short and chunky, we're sitting quite high here in the cabin. But otherwise, the motor is at the back, this is a rear-wheel drive car, and all of this space is just opened up and liberated back to you, the passenger, which I think is really, really nice. We have this beautiful, open, airy space, super good visibility going forward, massive windscreen, completely open tunnel here, so you can actually slide across the seats. So say you're parked next to something really, really close to you, on your right-hand side, you can actually just slide out and exit to the left. Then, of course, there's the fact that we do have back seats. There's a suicide door layout, so it's not the most practical, but it is usable here and there. There's a decent amount of room in the back seat for children, adults, eh, not so great. But what I love is just the judicious selection of materials and the gorgeous sort of sustainable stuff that you find in this interior. Now, I'm not hell for leather about, pun the pun, about sustainable materials, but BMW have done it so well in this car that I actually prefer it to most other arrangements. So we have this beautiful, sustainable wood, which BMW grow themselves in sustainable forests. We've got recycled sort of plastic bottle material on the secondary surfaces. We've got nice seats here, which are artificial leather, nice brown colour in this car. Steering wheel is amazing, like something out of a, you know, the Jetsons' vision of the future. Beautiful thin rim, not like those real chonkers in the current 3 Series M Sport. No spoke down here, so it's completely open. Futuristic gear selector, stuff like that, I'm not sure if it was necessary, but it's kind of cool. The rest of it is largely taken from previous generation BMWs, so we've got an older iDrive system with a rotary controller, nice floating screen up here. It does have wireless CarPlay, which is pretty cool. We then have a second digital screen in front of us for range, your speed, and other trip computer information. Storage is great, as you'd expect, given this car doesn't have any bulky, oily bits anywhere. So we've got huge door bins, nice big tray under here, under this adjustable armrest with a USB-C port. Kind of like a wine bottle holder or something down here in the centre tunnel. Big glovebox. It's a nice, open, airy, practical car. Plus, I love the twin sunroofs on this version. So, is the BMW i3 still a good electric car? Is it still relevant in 2019, the age of the Tesla Model 3, the new Polestar, Hyundai Kona Electric, etc.? Yeah, you know, I actually think it is. There are some obvious shortcomings to the BMW i3 in terms of range, but in many other ways, this EV feels like a really nice fit for driving in town. Not sure it could be my only car, but say I was running a 3 Series Touring or some other nice wagon or SUV, I'd love to have this in my garage as a second car, actually, because this is what I'd want to drive around in while I'm doing my errands in town. It's just so suitable for that. Small, easy to park, turns on a dime, fun to drive because it's got rear-wheel drive and instant usable in terms of the stuff that I do in and around Sydney, which is the vast majority of my driving during the week. And I think it is for most people, no matter what city you live in. BMW have even ditched the range extender version of the i3 in Australia because the feedback they got from their customers, limited in number though they may be, was that the range was good enough. So let me know what you think down below in the comments about that. So what we have here is a 42 kilowatt hour battery, so not the biggest in the industry, nor the most advanced, which is why the 260k range is a little bit less than what you'd proportionally expect from a battery of this size that was brand new. But that said, the i3 has been developed throughout its lifespan to extend its range, and so it started as a 60 amp version in 2013. We're now up to the 120 amp hour version, so that's how the range has sort of doubled, I think, since this car came out. We're making 135 kilowatts of power and 270 newton meters of torque in the i3s. There's a little bit less power and torque in the standard i3, and then there are a range of additional adjustments to this car that are targeted at performance for the S version. Stuff like a sporty suspension, bigger 20-inch wheels, a new tune for the stability control system. Yeah, that's all good. Basically, it just feels like a nice little go-kart. BMW have given it this really instant, direct, light steering, so it feels like it wants to manoeuvre just instantly. You have these skinny little front tyres, so turning is amazing, but you don't have a huge amount of front-end bite. I think what sets it apart from the Tesla Model 3, apart from obvious differences of shape, is that even though the price is about the same for an entry-level Tesla, the build is totally different. So, BMW have built this like a traditional car. There's no panel gaps, there's no rattles, squeaks, obvious quality deficiencies of any kind to my eye, and this is the third i3 I've driven which has been that way. So, you're kind of buying into traditional manufacturing practices, and I think that is kind of like nice peace of mind. One thing that feels slightly different to me than an i3s that I drove last year is that the ride seems slightly softer. That might be a placebo effect, because I've been driving a lot of hard cars lately, but yeah, it's compliant. It's definitely firm, but it's compliant. I think I could daily this easily. On the safety front, it's not that great in terms of the autonomous features or adaptive features, because it shares a lot of its platform with the old 1-series and the minis. So, those are cars that never got blind spot monitoring or rear cross-traffic alert, for instance, or lane keep assist. So, you've got adaptive cruise control, you've got autonomous emergency braking, a reversing camera, but that's largely it. So, those are my impressions of the BMW i3s. One of the earliest production EV cars that was really a feature on Australian roads is actually aging pretty well. It's a fun car to drive, it's easy to see out of and easy to park, and it has a beautiful and beautifully made interior. Yes, it's a little bit more expensive than most, and many people will now go straight to the Tesla Model 3, but in case you're still looking for something a little bit quirky, something manufactured with the kind of know-how of a legacy automaker, and that BMW badge, I actually think the BMW i3s is still worthy of close consideration. Now, if you haven't subscribed to Chasing Cars, please do so below the video, and as always, thanks for watching.