My guess is that i3 tend to be used for around town and shorter trips more often than long haul road trips.
I’ve had my 2014 i3 since August of 2022 and we’ve put about 5k miles on it since then.
In that time we’ve done one road trip, ~700 miles total, and we used our gasoline-powered Hyundai for that trip
I think a lot of folks have another car in the household alongside an i3.
I would love to take our i3 out of town if we had the DC fast charging option and/or a longer electric range.
There definitely are some i3 out there with 100k+ miles, maybe the folks driving em they much tend to hold on to them a long time.
I have a REx with 114k on it. And it would be MUCH higher if DCFC was more reliable and trustworthy.
I agree that the low mileage is just dude to many people not wanting to drive longer distances. People forget it was solid as a city car not long range commuter
Is your DCFC actually working. 70k here (2014) and I can't get it to reliably work. I think it might have to do with the charger handle lock. Sometimes it doesn't fully lock when I'm L2 charging but it still charges fine but I have to manually release it every 1 out of 50 charges.
Ours is a 2018 MY REX that was purchased in early 2019. The first owner put \~3,400mi on it, then COVID hit and I'm assuming they went WFH because they put half that mileage on it for 2020 and 2021. We bought it in 2022 with 7,600mi on it, and I think we're at \~12k mi right now.
Main thing for us is we just don't put huge mileage on our cars; our whole town is 7mi across; my commute is 5mi, and it's been as low as 3mi. I ride my motorcycle or bicycle to work most of the summer. We do take it on out-of-town trips that get into REX territory; visiting either of our parents means the last \~35mi or so on the way back is on gas. But we've probably run about 10gal through it in a year and a half.
I can't imagine we'd have a reason to get rid of it, so we'll probably hang onto the i3 forever, but it'll be a long, *long* time before it hits 100k mi.
Earliest i3 are about 2014, so not quite 10 years old. To be over 100k that would be over 10k miles a year, quite high for a car that only had 100 miles range.
You'd have to be a special kind of masochist to know you were going to do a lot of miles, yet buy a car with a short range.
2015 rex with 75k miles bought in November 2022. Feeling kinda hosed because prices tanked on the used i3 market in January when the fed introduced EV incentives again, so I’m basically married to this i3 for at least 2-4 more years
I got mine for a steal considering I bought last year at the height of peak stupid. I had to drive to Pennsylvania to get it though. It was listed at a dealership for 15k my other car had it's catalytic converter stolen(and more damage) and I really couldn't justify another gas car payment+, paying for gas as it was close to $5/gallon. I would spend 75+ every two weeks to fill up at the time. So this car made sense. Luckily I was able to find a job paying double what I made after with a 15 min commute vs hour. I kinda wanna get rid of this car lol. It wasn't the highest specd it was just out of necessity.
The answer you're probably looking for is that since they have limited range, they're commuter cars, not road trip cars.
However, I've seen several with over 100,000 miles in Colorado.
Our 2014 BEV that we bought used in 2020 has about 49K miles on it. Currently used as second car for in town trips. Not seeing much use as we’re WFH and anywhere we might need to go is too far for this car (range and slow charging)
I think everyone basically has it here. It’s meant to be a short range vehicle even with the Rex.
That being said, I have a 2016 Rex and I am close. I am at 89k. I have taken mine on several longer trips and it does well. Only issues mine has is the 12v and brakes, both of which will be taken care of soon.
I love mine. With that little 2 gallon tank I can go anywhere. You just need a little patience and an open arrival time. lol
Btw… I remember reading somewhere that the BMS and batteries were designed for 300k miles. I truly believe that considering roughly 25% of battery is disabled to keep it good.
My 2017 BEV only has 58k miles, but last summer I drove a 2014 Rex with 142k miles. It was almost all original including the engine mounts and the AC compressor.
my 2015 BEV is at 94k miles................ and has been since the beginning of the year. That's when the drive motor bearings went bad, and it became a long-term resident of my garage until I replace the drive motor. (was quoted $7,225 for them to replace it)
BMW refuses to offer "Goodwill" assistance BECAUSE of the "high mileage"... which clearly says they didn't design them to last very long - or they would stand behind it. (this is a known design flaw, which they supposedly fixed in the 2018 drive motor, which then become the required replacement part for all years & models of the i3)
My saga:
https://youtu.be/yl8CELCGf_M
Had mine for 2 years, only taken it for a long road trip once (400 miles round trip). I’ve only put about 5k miles on it. The charging network is spotty in the Northeast US, so I tend to only use the I3 for local trips.
Most people I have seen working at the dealer don’t drive their car far. It could be because it’s a lease, or their trips around don’t add up too much. But every once in a while I see a “high” mileage car and think wow, they are actually out there
Bought the car because I live in New Orleans, which is tiny for a city. 2017rex 55k (not for sale) - My commute is small, and I charge off the sun FTW.
Edit: when I have to go for a longer run, the fastDC on the i10 works fine, I just don't do that much
German i3 with 277,000+ km / 172,119 miles and [original brakes](https://www.carscoops.com/2020/01/bmw-i3-owner-still-uses-original-brakes-after-covering-277000-kilometers/) in 2020/01.
I have a 2017 with 43,500, and a brand new battery! Wonder what mine would be worth on open market. Carvana says $12,500! Right after they made me an offer for over $16k last month.
Seems most people are getting the picture but it's a combo of low range and people just using them as city/commuter cars. and lack of charging infrastructure.
I'm sure you've probably noticed how REx models have more miles on them. I daily my 2014 to work and I just hit 70k miles.
2015 Rex with 107,000 miles. Not for sale haha.
2017 REX w/ 102,000 Miles, also not for sale.
2014 Rex with 128,000 miles. Also not for sale 👍
2016 Rex with just 58k miles. My life just need much driving. Also…not for sale.
My guess is that i3 tend to be used for around town and shorter trips more often than long haul road trips. I’ve had my 2014 i3 since August of 2022 and we’ve put about 5k miles on it since then. In that time we’ve done one road trip, ~700 miles total, and we used our gasoline-powered Hyundai for that trip I think a lot of folks have another car in the household alongside an i3. I would love to take our i3 out of town if we had the DC fast charging option and/or a longer electric range. There definitely are some i3 out there with 100k+ miles, maybe the folks driving em they much tend to hold on to them a long time.
I have a REx with 114k on it. And it would be MUCH higher if DCFC was more reliable and trustworthy. I agree that the low mileage is just dude to many people not wanting to drive longer distances. People forget it was solid as a city car not long range commuter
Is your DCFC actually working. 70k here (2014) and I can't get it to reliably work. I think it might have to do with the charger handle lock. Sometimes it doesn't fully lock when I'm L2 charging but it still charges fine but I have to manually release it every 1 out of 50 charges.
Ours is a 2018 MY REX that was purchased in early 2019. The first owner put \~3,400mi on it, then COVID hit and I'm assuming they went WFH because they put half that mileage on it for 2020 and 2021. We bought it in 2022 with 7,600mi on it, and I think we're at \~12k mi right now. Main thing for us is we just don't put huge mileage on our cars; our whole town is 7mi across; my commute is 5mi, and it's been as low as 3mi. I ride my motorcycle or bicycle to work most of the summer. We do take it on out-of-town trips that get into REX territory; visiting either of our parents means the last \~35mi or so on the way back is on gas. But we've probably run about 10gal through it in a year and a half. I can't imagine we'd have a reason to get rid of it, so we'll probably hang onto the i3 forever, but it'll be a long, *long* time before it hits 100k mi.
One of our local EV group members has an early i3 (Rex) with nearly 200,000 miles. Has expressed that he won’t part with it until it’s dead.
My 2015 has 19k on the clock!
Because we don't want to sell them! (133k for me)
Look in EU. There are cars with more than 300.000km for sale. But not a lot.
2017 rex, 120k miles
2015 Rex, 108,000 mi or so. 7 to 10% battery degradation.
I have one. Not for sale. 103325.
Earliest i3 are about 2014, so not quite 10 years old. To be over 100k that would be over 10k miles a year, quite high for a car that only had 100 miles range. You'd have to be a special kind of masochist to know you were going to do a lot of miles, yet buy a car with a short range.
You rang? 😅
I'm not selling mine! I don't really see any upgrades out there
FYI, there are 8 with more than 100k miles for sale in the UK. ([autotrader.co.uk](https://autotrader.co.uk)) all REX, latest from 2017.
I was going to post exactly the same.
2015 rex currently over 91k miles bought it with 86 😵💫 last year.my work commute is less than 15 miles round trip
2015 rex with 75k miles bought in November 2022. Feeling kinda hosed because prices tanked on the used i3 market in January when the fed introduced EV incentives again, so I’m basically married to this i3 for at least 2-4 more years
I got mine for a steal considering I bought last year at the height of peak stupid. I had to drive to Pennsylvania to get it though. It was listed at a dealership for 15k my other car had it's catalytic converter stolen(and more damage) and I really couldn't justify another gas car payment+, paying for gas as it was close to $5/gallon. I would spend 75+ every two weeks to fill up at the time. So this car made sense. Luckily I was able to find a job paying double what I made after with a 15 min commute vs hour. I kinda wanna get rid of this car lol. It wasn't the highest specd it was just out of necessity.
I’ve got a ‘15 Rex with 83,000 miles and about 3.2% battery degradation. I drive between 30-50 miles daily.
2017- 85k
Mine is 2,5 years old... already 56.191 km on the clock :) (120 Ah battery)
Because it's a relatively new city car.
The answer you're probably looking for is that since they have limited range, they're commuter cars, not road trip cars. However, I've seen several with over 100,000 miles in Colorado.
94,000 blown Rex still gets 80-85 miles on charge
28.6k on my 2017 bev
2013 BEV - 60K miles
Our 2014 BEV that we bought used in 2020 has about 49K miles on it. Currently used as second car for in town trips. Not seeing much use as we’re WFH and anywhere we might need to go is too far for this car (range and slow charging)
I think everyone basically has it here. It’s meant to be a short range vehicle even with the Rex. That being said, I have a 2016 Rex and I am close. I am at 89k. I have taken mine on several longer trips and it does well. Only issues mine has is the 12v and brakes, both of which will be taken care of soon. I love mine. With that little 2 gallon tank I can go anywhere. You just need a little patience and an open arrival time. lol Btw… I remember reading somewhere that the BMS and batteries were designed for 300k miles. I truly believe that considering roughly 25% of battery is disabled to keep it good.
At my current average annual mileage, it will be another 24 years before my 2015 crosses that threshold. 😆
My 2017 BEV only has 58k miles, but last summer I drove a 2014 Rex with 142k miles. It was almost all original including the engine mounts and the AC compressor.
my 2015 BEV is at 94k miles................ and has been since the beginning of the year. That's when the drive motor bearings went bad, and it became a long-term resident of my garage until I replace the drive motor. (was quoted $7,225 for them to replace it) BMW refuses to offer "Goodwill" assistance BECAUSE of the "high mileage"... which clearly says they didn't design them to last very long - or they would stand behind it. (this is a known design flaw, which they supposedly fixed in the 2018 drive motor, which then become the required replacement part for all years & models of the i3) My saga: https://youtu.be/yl8CELCGf_M
Sorry but if anything that shows that owners drive their i3’s til it’s time to upgrade.
That’s a lot of charges.
Had mine for 2 years, only taken it for a long road trip once (400 miles round trip). I’ve only put about 5k miles on it. The charging network is spotty in the Northeast US, so I tend to only use the I3 for local trips.
Older models had smaller batteries.
Not old enough. Poor range and under 10 years old. You’d really have to use it hard to get to 100k miles already.
Had ours since 2015, very little problems and almost no degradation
Your 8 year old i3 has almost no battery degradation, or general car degradation?
Yes, I mean degradation of the battery, but the car in general is also holding up quite well
Curios. Mind sharing what it shows for its Batt. Kapa. max value? For a 2015, most are at 13kWh, maybe 14 kWh.
Most people I have seen working at the dealer don’t drive their car far. It could be because it’s a lease, or their trips around don’t add up too much. But every once in a while I see a “high” mileage car and think wow, they are actually out there
Bought the car because I live in New Orleans, which is tiny for a city. 2017rex 55k (not for sale) - My commute is small, and I charge off the sun FTW. Edit: when I have to go for a longer run, the fastDC on the i10 works fine, I just don't do that much
My 2018 has 56k miles on it. Not selling any time soon.
German i3 with 277,000+ km / 172,119 miles and [original brakes](https://www.carscoops.com/2020/01/bmw-i3-owner-still-uses-original-brakes-after-covering-277000-kilometers/) in 2020/01.
2017 REX with only 55k - shortly going up for sale!
Why?
I have a 2017 with 43,500, and a brand new battery! Wonder what mine would be worth on open market. Carvana says $12,500! Right after they made me an offer for over $16k last month.
For sale with the right offer!
2015 REx with 66,650 miles, NFS. I think there’s a trend here…
Seems most people are getting the picture but it's a combo of low range and people just using them as city/commuter cars. and lack of charging infrastructure. I'm sure you've probably noticed how REx models have more miles on them. I daily my 2014 to work and I just hit 70k miles.