i3 in Canada?

[Birdman325]

Not sure whether i3 discussions specific to Canada should go in the Canada forum or in a non-Tesla forum, so apologies in advance.

Just wondering if anyone has real world experience / thoughts with an i3 (preferably with range extender) in Toronto winters, in particular, RWD (I believe the i3 is only RWD, correct?) and the super thin winter tires.

I have also heard those tires don't last all that long and they are very expensive.

Thinking about some alternatives for a used car for my son and daughter to share and an electric for running around the city seems like a good choice (even used Model 3s are pretty pricey).

TIA

 

[darkenergy]

Certainly don't want to buy an i3 new.

The tires are specific to the i3, no other car uses them. 'nuff said.

I haven't driven one in the winter, but our Smart ED works fine in the winter, with cold battery fade as the obvious caveat. RWD also.

Somebody I met once managed to get to Virginia with a REX version. But it was apparently a bit painful.

Rubber door seals tend to get chewed up, based on what I've seen at the Autoshow.

Frunk is not weather sealed.

 

[Birdman325]

Would never buy one new. The Model 3 is a much better “deal”. But used i3 s are quite a bit cheaper.

 

[Goodtohave]

As a former Leaf owner it is the way to go for a used car if budget is an issue.

Lots of them around, reliable and nice to drive.

I am a die hard BMW guy, have had many and have a 328xi 6 speed wagon next to my Model 3.

I wouldn’t touch an I3 off warranty. You have no choice but to service at the dealer.

 

[pcons]

+1 for a used leaf vs i3. But IMHO an even better option is a used volt. Either gen1 or gen2 are fully capable of being a great teenager car. Less EV range than the i3 but the Range Extender on the I3 is a joke, something like only five litres. On the volt you can go 500 to 600 kilometers. its also not nearly as dorky looking, and a used one should be comparable to the i3.

I put about 110,000km combined between my two volts, only around 3,000 kilometers were using a range extender. For driving around the city it's the perfect car.

 

[Birdman325]

A Volt, not a Bolt, correct?

 

[darkenergy]

+1 for a used leaf vs i3. But IMHO an even better option is a used volt. Either gen1 or gen2 are fully capable of being a great teenager car. Less EV range than the i3 but the Range Extender on the I3 is a joke, something like only five litres. On the volt you can go 500 to 600 kilometers. its also not nearly as dorky looking, and a used one should be comparable to the i3.

I put about 110,000km combined between my two volts, only around 3,000 kilometers were using a range extender. For driving around the city it's the perfect car.

My problem with the Volts is that they are 100% ICE under 4C. Which is basically 5/12 of the year.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Have an i3, and it is a pretty good car for running around town. Easy to park. Would be good for a college student.
On the other hand, it is useless for long trips, finding working charging stations can be an issue, especially if there is no charging on campus .
Frequently get note from BMW that a service is needed. It is done free, under warranty, but still need to take it to dealership for those services. If you don't run the gas motor for a couple months, it will ask you to run it for a "maintenance" period to keep the parts functioning. Need to remember to run it enough to burn the older fuel in the tank. Then you can refill it with fresh gas. Modern gas has alcohol in it and goes bad more quickly.

It is zippy and easy to drive. The tires are their own issues and are expensive. Sometimes even hard to find special order items.

BMW was planning to orphan the car, but just recently changed their mind and will keep making them for a while.

They are a great economical choice, as used ones are pretty cheap. If it is out of warranty, those economics can go south quickly as BMW charges a ton for any work.

Due to the small battery and fuel tank of the older ones, keeping them charged up can be a hassle. Will depend on local available chargers and the amount of free time your student may have. It is relatively easy to do some studying while charging, so might not become much of an issue for a student. BMW pays for charging for the first couple years on a new one, but you will need to see how much it will cost your kids to charge. You can set up an account and give them a card. You will be billed, and kinda keep track of your kids that way

The i3 is well built and pretty safe. They handle well at slow speeds, and going through snow should be as good as other RWD cars.

Saying all this does not in any way take away from the fact that the Model 3 is, in all ways, the far better car. Cost more though. If the kids are going to use the car for road trips or coming home to visit, the Supercharging network will make it a better choice.

 

[Birdman325]

Super helpful. Thx

 

[bijan]

My problem with the Volts is that they are 100% ICE under 4C. Which is basically 5/12 of the year.

I'm pretty sure it's lower than that at 1.6C and that can be disabled in settings. There's a second one at -10C and that can be disabled through hacking some fuses or something. @pcons would know the details.

 

[pcons]

My problem with the Volts is that they are 100% ICE under 4C. Which is basically 5/12 of the year.

Not true. The factory settng goes down to -10C before the engine kicks in, but there's a very simple modification you can make to the outside temperature sensor that gets around that. I did this mod to both of my volts. I did a bit more extravagantly and wired a switch to the inside, but all you really need is a 25-cent resistor. Easy peasey.

The origin of why the volt works this way anyways is a long story, but the short version is that running the engine below -10 was required to pass a defrosting test on the windshield. There is a ton of information out there saying that this is bad for the battery to bypass, but none of that is true. In fact it was one of the volt engineer's the published the first instructions for how to bypass this.

my source: 110,000 km combined between both gen1 and gen2 volts with only a few thousand km on dino juice.... Zero battery/range degradation over that time (the volt really babies the battery)

 

[Kappelan]

My problem with the Volts is that they are 100% ICE under 4C. Which is basically 5/12 of the year.

By default the settings are to become ICE under -1, but you can change it to -10.

 

[Kappelan]

my source: 110,000 km combined between both gen1 and gen2 volts with only a few thousand km on dino juice.... Zero battery/range degradation over that time (the volt really babies the battery)

We drove about 45,000 km on our first generation Volt, with our 2 gen. we are at 68,000 already with 50,000 of them electric, we drive and travel a lot.

 

[Victoria3]

I had an i3 before my model 3. I wanted electric and had an early reservation on a model 3. Ended up getting highly frustrated with Tesla when they opened ordering to everyone before working through their reservation list. Picked up a used 2014 I3 and put 15000kms on it before getting my model 3. Zero problems with it and I really liked it. I went with a BEV model...better electric range, faster, and far more reliable. I'd suggest to anyone looking at one that if the BEV model (no range extender) doesn't meet your needs, I would just give them a miss. Almost all reliability problems are associated with the range extender. In Victoria's mild winters real world range was around 110km and in the warmer months I could eek out about 150km. Never drove it in the snow as we have ice vehicles with 4x4 when needed.