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      11-04-2013, 11:45 AM   #1
BMWMico
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i3 hands-on experience and video walk-around

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      11-04-2013, 01:16 PM   #2
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He made the comment that power seats will be available, but I think he is misinformed! Is there a place under the floor to store the cover?

That solar orange color is a tough one, in many videos, it looks almost a nice deep red, but in others, it is a very powerful orange...guess we'll have to wait to see it in person, but I'm guessing it is really orange.

If you look online in some of the visualizers, you can see there's a moderate difference in the headliner and therefore headroom with and without the sunroof, but if you want anything other than the base vehicle's interior, you are stuck with a sunroof, which could be a deal killer for me and maybe some others, at least how it was announced for marketing in the USA. It's almost like they are treating tall people as second class citizens.

I'm hoping my local dealer will get one people can at least sit in way before the actual sales start. Rather than hoping, I would like to know if it is a viable choice for me!
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      01-21-2014, 01:59 PM   #3
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      01-21-2014, 02:39 PM   #4
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There is no part of solar orange that could be mistaken for red.
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      01-21-2014, 11:56 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMWSFMico View Post
Thanks for posting this Mico. Very brave of you to do this on what is apparently your first drive in the car. LOL at you going 80 on 280.
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      01-22-2014, 07:16 AM   #6
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Nicely done. Thanks for posting Mico. It's actually happy to go up to the regulated 93mph speed limit. At these high speeds if you back off the accelerator and fell the rage grabbing it does make it feel like it doesn't want to go faster as you mentioned but I think if you drove it a little more you would realize that was the strong regen holding you back at the higher speeds because you may have backed off the accelerator a bit too much.
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      01-22-2014, 01:20 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jadnashuanh View Post
He made the comment that power seats will be available, but I think he is misinformed! Is there a place under the floor to store the cover?

That solar orange color is a tough one, in many videos, it looks almost a nice deep red, but in others, it is a very powerful orange...guess we'll have to wait to see it in person, but I'm guessing it is really orange.

If you look online in some of the visualizers, you can see there's a moderate difference in the headliner and therefore headroom with and without the sunroof, but if you want anything other than the base vehicle's interior, you are stuck with a sunroof, which could be a deal killer for me and maybe some others, at least how it was announced for marketing in the USA. It's almost like they are treating tall people as second class citizens.

I'm hoping my local dealer will get one people can at least sit in way before the actual sales start. Rather than hoping, I would like to know if it is a viable choice for me!
Hi Jadnashuanh-

I'm 6'3" and the first criteria for me in car shopping has always been can I fit comfortably in the car -- which usually rules out about 99% of cars.

I test drove the i3 at two different dealers last weekend and I am happy to report that I had plenty of room. The cars I drove both had sunroofs, and I still had a couple inches of headroom to spare. And I had tons of leg room -- more than in my current AudiQ5 and more than in my wife's current BMW X3. Plus the cabin is amazingly light and open feeling. Unless you are like 7' or something, I'm confident that you will feel comfortable once you get to try the car.
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      01-22-2014, 03:47 PM   #8
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Had a chance to try to sit in the i3 last week...it was quick, at the car show they'd been instructed to keep it locked, but I twisted arms a bit...it appeared the seat was all the way down, but when I planted my butt then tried to turn into the vehicle, as far as I could bend over, my head hit maybe 3" from the top. I'll try again when they offer a real test drive, but while there may be enough room once in...since I do not bend very well, it did not appear it would be viable.
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      01-22-2014, 08:30 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jadnashuanh View Post
Had a chance to try to sit in the i3 last week...it was quick, at the car show they'd been instructed to keep it locked, but I twisted arms a bit...it appeared the seat was all the way down, but when I planted my butt then tried to turn into the vehicle, as far as I could bend over, my head hit maybe 3" from the top. I'll try again when they offer a real test drive, but while there may be enough room once in...since I do not bend very well, it did not appear it would be viable.
Weird. You really should try again. It's a bummer that (to keep weight down and to keep draw on the battery down) they don't offer motorized adjustment of the seat, so everything is manual.

Next time you try, ask the dealer to adjust the seat for you before you try to get in. There's an incredible amount of forwards/back travel in the seat -- they should start you off with it shoved all the way back for you. The mechanism for adjusting the height is oddly non-intuitive, so again make sure they have lowered it all the way for you to start off with.

For me (and again, I'm 6'3") I found the fully low position was TOO low, and even the fully back position was too far back. I've never before encountered that in any car, let alone a car with this small a wheelbase.

Good luck to you.
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      01-22-2014, 09:58 PM   #10
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I'll try again...FWIW, I have a friend the same height, and where he has plenty of headroom, my head hits...long torso, he has long(er) legs, same height. I'm about your height...I'd like to fit, we'll see when I can gert a bit more time to play.
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