Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Electric Cars

Sad to say but being different seemingly does not sell.

BMW burned a lot of money with the i3.
We did with the small cars as well (Lupo, Golf, ....)
The world said: "Do like Tesla shows..."

So we again changed plans and came top down.
It seems to sell...

From a Morganeers perspective I can clearly understand the urge for simplicity.
Also I had to give in - we are a relatively small group.

It will take a while till expectations and behaviour change.
Hopefully that much time that Infrastructure ist able to keep up and all the other changes in society can be adapted to.

My yearly milage dropped significantly over the last 3 years...
The car I am responsible for starts at over 100 thousand Euros - so it is clearly not the answer to all questions but a very nice electric GT!

So there is no real comparison between these two but you want to buy something eco-BEV?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202301103134661 £40k
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202301022891441 £50k

I would always go for the i8 (or i3). I think the prices on i8's now are wonderful. They hide in plain site.

I'd really fancy an i8 for a couple of years, having owned two i3's I sort of got a 1/3rd of the way there, I'm nervous of when things go - warning light, ping, smoke, pop, £££ as they can be expensive to sort

My first i3 had to have part of the main EV supply harness replaced, was VOR for over a week and took 2 days & two tech's to strip and replace (thank goodness under warranty) they'd done something similar in an i8 the week before after a mouse had chomped some tasty wiring to the tune of £4k

If it were possible, I reckon they ought to put an i8 drivetrain in a CX car

The facelift/LCi i8 Coupe & roadster is a much better car than the original, in many tiny ways... and prices are soft at £60-£65k right now.
Buy from BMW, with a £1000 annual warranty & £35 per month service plan to enjoy 50mpg & all the performance you'd likely wish for in a car that'll comfortably do 500+ miles a day.
& yes, I'm biased!


Will

I reckon the 3 cylinder motor is too tall to fit, & would ruin the weight distribution... you'd get an i3 REX powertrain in though :-)

Will

800 volt cars are due on the scene and available from Porsche already I believe. This should have some minor impact on weight due to thinner cabling. It will also increase motor efficiency due to four times lower i2R power losses which will increase range with same energy (read weight) batteries.

I'd assumed the i8 motor was a bit more powerful? but the i3 is certainly quick, I think it's the same motor I have in my Mini SE and in sport mode it's plenty.

While the i8 gets its 3 cylinder block from a Mini Cooper, the rest of the engine is apparently unique to the i8. Facelift i8 produces 369bhp (228 ICE and 141 EV) and 420 torques (236 + 184) - there's a 20bhp starter motor in the mix as well, managing the handshake between electric and ice motors. BMW worked very hard to keep the weight under 1500kgs,

The Mini SE's power is iirc derived from the later i3 - but the i3 weighs a lot less than a Mini - 1290kgs vs 1770kgs

The BMWs get their performance from a combination of light weight and immediate ev torque. The design philosophy of both to keep weight down - not least by using carbon fibre - kept the cars out of that 'more range, more weight, more power, more weight' spiral.

WIll

Yes, I really like the i3 concept and it was on my shortlist, but when it came to the crunch the Mini was significantly cheaper (£28k) and was British built. We've not found the comparatively limited (100 mile) range to be an issue at all - but then we hardly ever need to do long distances and we have the Morgan or the Land Rover if we do need to.

I reckon you could easily use an i3 Rex as an only car, but I'm not sure you could say the same for the Mini