From Electronaut to Electro-not in just 24 short months.
When I think of what just a small group of you fine folks could have done with access to the BMW parts bin and their engineering and design staff, it makes the i3 look really, really bad. Needless to say I won't be a customer of their i3 endeavor. But then I knew that back when an engineering egghead friend of mine took a look under the hood of the E, looked at the welds and said "They crash tested this thing at high speed with this extra weight, right?"
It was a swell car, got twice the looks and comments of the Leaf it was a blast to drive, when it worked which was more often than not, and I'll miss it somewhat. Could have done without the over $30,000 (that's 21, 981 Euros) worth of maintenance it required over the span of 24 months, which was really only about 22 and 1/2 months because of down time. ("And you plan on BUYING this car?")
The BMW i3 is a victory for Dieter, Hans and all those other fashionista Germans mit their $3000 (that's 2,193 Euros) non-prescription glasses. For America, with it's wide open spaces, the i3 is a non starter. At least for me. Maybe if they decide to "electrify" (and engineer, thanks) another real BMW, I'll be back.
Until then...