I'm looking to add an CPO i3Rex as a second car to my X1 s35i; I need the i3 for HOV access and my teenage daughter will (gulp) be driving the X1 soon.
Any advise on:
Model year and package. I want to keep cost down and 2017 seem to be a good cutoff for technology, packages etc. Thoughts on bang for buck in later years? Also is the sport package with added pep worth the extra cost?
What to look for when buying used. Likely I will buy remotely, Bay Area prices are ridiculously inflated locally. Would appreciate advise on asking for reports on battery status, other documentation of status/performance, or other questions I should ask. Scamming I should look our for when buying remotely?
Price. It's dizzying the range of prices out there. 2 cars with the exact same specs can be $1000s different in price. Buying CPO from a dealer, what is a reasonable price and how much is the advertised price marked up (ie how much room is there to negotiate down).
Warranty. I think the current standard is 4 years 35,000 miles? Possible or necessary to purchase an extended warranty?
Charging. What are the upfront infrastructure costs to adding a charger in the garage. I'm also considering going solar since it's not going to be cheap to charge from the grid I expect.
Used the way to go? With multiple incentives and rebates it seems like buying new may get the price down close to used?
Are there any incentives for rebates buying used?
I really appreciate any input and guidance on this!
Model year and package. The 2018 has several improvements over 2017, it has 4G connectivity vs 3G in 2017. 3G is being phased out which means 2017 models will lose remote connectivity. Also most of the 2018 model (although not all of them) have Apple CarPlay. In California the 2017 have already lost HOV access and 2018 will lose it soon, unless the car was never registered for HOV access I am not sure you can use it for that purpose (there could be some exception for low income drivers but I am not sure). As far as packages the tech package and Harman Kardon are the most useful and sought after. Appearance packages are personal choice, I am pretty happy with my Deka world (the base model). You can upgrade the dash trim pieces to wood easily if you want that look. I would not spend the extra for i3s as the 20in tires are susceptible to damage due to poor road condition where I live.
What to look for when buying used. Likely I will buy remotely, Bay Area prices are ridiculously inflated locally. Would appreciate advise on asking for reports on battery status, other documentation of status/performance, or other questions I should ask. Scamming I should look our for when buying remotely? If it is a CPO car it should still have some warranty left? Many i3s are low mileage lease returns and pretty solid cars. You can also use Carmax which gives you a short term and option of additional warranty. If it is from a BMW dealer they can provide the service history of the car. Keep in mind that REX models have more issues in general, but it worth it I believe for the flexibility that it provides using the car. For a 120ah model (2019+) however I think the non-rex BEV is OK.
Price. It's dizzying the range of prices out there. 2 cars with the exact same specs can be $1000s different in price. Buying CPO from a dealer, what is a reasonable price and how much is the advertised price marked up (ie how much room is there to negotiate down). The last time that I checked nicer 2018 REX models were in the $24-25k range. There is some advantage in buying from a BMW dealer or CarMax, but it is a personal decision whether is worth $1000 or not.
Warranty. I think the current standard is 4 years 35,000 miles? Possible or necessary to purchase an extended warranty? It is 4 years 50000 miles, the CPO models have another year (5 years total) and unlimited miles. The BMW extended warranty is too expensive for i3. I am not sure about CarMax. Personally I would not buy extended warranty for later model (2017+) i3, but I can absorb the cost of a several thousand dollar unlikely repair.
Charging. What are the upfront infrastructure costs to adding a charger in the garage. I'm also considering going solar since it's not going to be cheap to charge from the grid I expect. In the Bay Area PG&E offers low rates charging at night, so it is pretty cheap to charge an EV. If you have a dryer 240v plug in the garage it costs $200-$500 to buy a charger (depending on how nice and fast you want). A $200-$250 charger is adequate for i3 battery size. If you don't have a 240 receptacle in the garage it costs about $1000+- to add one on top of charger cost. There could be local or federal tax incentives to cover part of this cost though.
Used the way to go? With multiple incentives and rebates it seems like buying new may get the price down close to used? I don't think you can get the old cheap deals on new i3 anymore because the production for US market has ended.
Are there any incentives for rebates buying used? There could be incentives for low income drivers, but for other groups there are no incentives for used EVs.
Also check MyBMWi3 forums for better advice on i3, the i3 section on this forum is not very active.
