Looking to purchase a used i3 rex, have couple questions about the option packages.

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RostHaus

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Purchased a 500e last year and I was immediately hooked on EVs. So I decided sometime this year I would more usable EV like an Bmw i3 rex to replace one of my ICE cars.

I've been searching particularly for a Tera, Giga, or Deka with AAC and parking assist. So a pretty loaded car. But I've been having a little trouble finding both or finding mis-advertised cars.

Are there option codes I should look for?
Is there anything from the appearance that could tell me instantly? for instance I notice on the 2019's the Tech driver package is the only way to get full LED headlamps... Was this the case in previous years? 14'-17'


Ideally I'm looking for a 16'+, because my state offers significant rebate I might try to take advantage of.
 
Thanks! I had completely forgotten about Vin decoders. Its been about a decade since I've purchased a used car while looking for a particular option. I'm a little rusty.
 
I know exactly what you mean. You're going through listings with generic descriptions that don't even match what the manufacturer calls them. So let's start with the photos. Typically the gallery will start with exterior photos. Instead of swiping right to see more photos of the exterior and then the interior, swipe left if the app/website enables you to and look at the interior shots first.

Before we go on, note that there's a difference between parking assist package and driver's assist package. The parking assist package will parallel park by itself but it won't have adaptive cruise control.

Okay, back to the photos.
1. Look at the center console at the emergency brake button. If there's circle below it (green one), then it has the driver's assist package. If it doesn't, then it doesn't. It could still have the parking assist package though, so...
2. Look at the center console at the bottom where all the controls are near the arm rest. There will either be a parking assist button or there will just be a blank space.
3. Another way to tell is to look at the steering wheel. The left side will have blank areas if it doesn't have the driver's assist package. Driver's assist package will have all steering wheel buttons on the left side occupied.

Exterior photos don't promise you anything, but it'll help.
The wheels. Look at the wheels. If the wheel doesn't have any black in it, it's likely that it's a base model w/o any packages at all. If it has one of two other fancier wheels that have accented black areas, then it may have packages that you want. Again, it's not a dead giveaway one way or the other.

Look at the front. The windshield will have a camera if it has the driver's assist package.

Look at the price. If the price is under 20k, then it most likely doesn't have the driver's assist package you want and certainly won't have the harman kardon sound system upgrade. Either that or it's got extremely high mileage. If it's priced over 32k, then you're looking at 2017 model with the higher capacity battery. 2016's with what you're looking for should fall into the 23k-26k range I'd say. I got mine for 25k with 12,700 miles and it only has the driver's assist package. Don't look at any that have extremely low mileage like 3k miles. Those have been sitting around on the lot and I wouldn't think too highly of the health of the battery.

SUMMARY:
It is rare that a car will have both the driver's assist package AND the parking assist package. Driver's assist package seems to be more common from my search of i3's.

As far as 2016's go, you won't get the best deal. I have a 2016, but only because I wanted the limited Edition with the Deka World interior that was produced only from April - June. If you want the best deal, you want a 2015 with at least one of the packages with mileage under 20k for $20-21k USD.
 
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Thanks for the details response!

I'm only considering the 16', if in fact the $3,500 state rebate comes through and is available for me to use. Even then I may just consider going with a 94h Rex 17', as I've found a few 17' i3s locally that are just a $1k more than some 16's.
If that doesn't come through I'll just go out of state for an exact option 15' I'd want, like did with the Fiat.

After a bit more research, I'm slowly considering just getting the AAC(edit ACC) and the full LED headlamps. I'm not sure anyone in my family parallel parks often enough for it to be a deal breaker. But I do want to be able to retrofit the traffic assist.

Hows the Deka interior holding up? I've yet to sit in one, just due to the fact I hadn't found looked at one without the options I was looking for. I have noticed some significant wear in some of the Gigas(door card and Drivers seat), which was surprising considering most don't have more than 25k on them.
 
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I've had mine for 22k miles with kids in it on weekends. The interior is holding up fine. The Deka World interior is cloth like the other non Terra World ones. I specifically chose the Deka World b/c I liked the dark color, hated the brown Terra and really preferred not having a white steering wheel which I've seen get pretty dirty fairly quickly.

If the 94ah battery one is only $1k more, definitely get it unless you're not okay with the slower acceleration (it will be heavier than the smaller battery version). The 2017 will also have the latest software which the 2016 and below can't have. I believe the 2017 may have apple car play. You'll have to double check on that. I could be wrong and maybe only on the 2018.

What is AAC?

All i3's will have LED headlights except the 2016 Value Package Limited edition model. I compensated by getting aftermarket LED bulbs ($100 and a PITA to install and not recommended). I'm glad I installed the aftermarket lights as they make a world of a difference and these days there are versions designed specifically for reflector headlamps as to not blind drivers like they did 5 years ago with older technology. But putting them in there took 4+ hours and you can only use one specific kind due to the required size that barely fits. The bulbs are set in place not by twisting like 99 out of 100 cars. It uses a latching ring instead. Hopefully you won't have to learn what I mean and you get an i3 with stock LED's.
 
Meant to write ACC, (adaptive cruise control).

I'm in the same line of thinking about the lighter interiors. After owning a VW Phaeton with one of the lighter interiors, I told myself never again.

Didn't know the software was different on the 17's from the older model years. I had figured the 18' refresh was it.

Thanks for the info on the LEDs, didn't realize the Value Package was the was they nixed the LEDs.
I just went through a slightly similar pita with the tiny headlamps of 500e. Had some issues finding LEDs that fit in the housing and worked with Canbus.
 
The adaptive cruise control is part of the driver's package not to be mistaken with the parking assist package. Finding an i3 with both those packages do exist but they're quite a bit more rare than ones that have one or the other. I could be wrong. It could be the 2018's that have the refresh software. You'll have to look into that. The 2018's weren't in my list of choices at the time. It was either a 2014 for dirt cheap, a 2015 with the best value or the 2016 with the interior I really wanted.

The Value Package is pretty rare, at least in the US. I can't say for other countries, but for sure in the states the Value Package is the only way the car comes without LED's. It's quite a downgrade. Crazy how luxury car makers still make cars with halogen lights. If they go halogen, at least use projectors right? Halogen on a reflector housing is pretty primitive but that' the sacrifice I took to get the Deka World a year earlier than when it officially came out.
 
sipabit said:
The adaptive cruise control is part of the driver's package not to be mistaken with the parking assist package. Finding an i3 with both those packages do exist but they're quite a bit more rare than ones that have one or the other. I could be wrong. It could be the 2018's that have the refresh software. You'll have to look into that. The 2018's weren't in my list of choices at the time. It was either a 2014 for dirt cheap, a 2015 with the best value or the 2016 with the interior I really wanted.

The Value Package is pretty rare, at least in the US. I can't say for other countries, but for sure in the states the Value Package is the only way the car comes without LED's. It's quite a downgrade. Crazy how luxury car makers still make cars with halogen lights. If they go halogen, at least use projectors right? Halogen on a reflector housing is pretty primitive but that' the sacrifice I took to get the Deka World a year earlier than when it officially came out.
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How often do you through tires? My wife is interested in this car (probably won't get it for another 2 or 3 years though) but we heard tire wearing is one of the biggest issues in this car.
 
I might not be a good person to ask b/c prior to this car, I was used to getting tires every year in the first few years of ownership and then once ever 2.5 years. So any improvement on that is a great improvement for me. I just got new rear tires maybe 3k miles ago. I'm currently at 34k miles, so let's call it new set of tires after 30k miles. I got it used though, so I can't say if the set I replaced was the first set, but I presume it is.

The tire wear shouldn't be what deters you from getting the car. Maintenance is what it is. The amount is offset by the savings of cheaper fuel and less maintenance overall. If you drive the car conservatively, you'll get more mileage out of the tires.
 
sipabit said:
I might not be a good person to ask b/c prior to this car, I was used to getting tires every year in the first few years of ownership and then once ever 2.5 years. So any improvement on that is a great improvement for me. I just got new rear tires maybe 3k miles ago. I'm currently at 34k miles, so let's call it new set of tires after 30k miles. I got it used though, so I can't say if the set I replaced was the first set, but I presume it is.

The tire wear shouldn't be what deters you from getting the car. Maintenance is what it is. The amount is offset by the savings of cheaper fuel and less maintenance overall. If you drive the car conservatively, you'll get more mileage out of the tires.
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Can you elaborate on the maintenance costs? What exactly makes this car expensive to maintain?
 
Tires, you only have once choice of tires so you can't shop around for anything cheaper. Some say they also don't last as long as other tires they've used on their other cars.
Although oil changes may not be that big of a deal and spark plugs perhaps easy too, a lot of people won't touch it b/c it's on an electric car. So if you're not expecting to learn how to do it yourself, chances are that you're going to the dealer to do it. With savings on fuel, it will offset the cost of the "maintenance", but it's still something you can avoid all together by getting the BEV.
 
Took awhile to find, but ended up getting a Fluid Black 2016 i3 Rex Terra 21k mi with ACC, Park Assist, HK sound and 19's 428 turbines.

I had it shipped in and picking it up tomorrow morning!
 
That's exciting. Post a pic! Mind if we ask how much it ran you? That's fully loaded! My guess is $20,400 - 21,200.
 
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