Sorry to depress you, but last year there was a waiting list and a lucky persion allocated one could sell it at over list!
There is of course the possibility that after owning it for a while they did just that
"She is also quieter than a dead person, apart from when the petrol engine kicks in and starts to hum like a workshop compressor that’s overdone the Night Nurse.
And this, alas, is where the tide begins to turn.
Even though she is the first mini car I have experienced that is as easy to get in the back as the front (thanks to the rear-hinged coach-style doors), this huge plus is thwarted by one of the most ridiculous car industry innovations of all time.
But there’s an even bigger reason to pass on the i3. I kept a brief travel log to help me explain why.
Check out the distance, destinations and range for both the petrol engine and electric engine, whose two gauges tormented me sadistically the whole time I was behind the wheel.
5.05am. Home to Radio 2.
Distance 30.6 miles.
Petrol range 47 miles.
Battery range 54 miles.
I had the heater on as it was 1.5°C outside and I had the lights on because I didn’t want to die or get arrested for causing someone else to.
I had the radio on to see what my colleagues and the rest of the world was up to and I had the interior light on as I was writing this.
Just before I set off, my petrol miles went down to 46, and my electric miles went up to 55, even though I hadn’t moved an inch.
5.47am. Arrived Radio 2.
Petrol range 42 miles.
Battery range 28 miles
9.53am. Radio 2 to ITV
Distance 3.4 miles.
Petrol range 57 miles.
Battery range 24 miles.
All accessories turned off.
Arrive at ITV.
Petrol range 59 miles.
Battery range 19 miles.
12.09pm. ITV to home.
Distance 32 miles.
Petrol range 59 miles.
Battery range 18 miles.
Arrived at home.
Petrol range 47 miles.
Battery range 1 mile!
You get the idea?
It’s like spinning plates, not knowing what’s going to be left in which power source by the time you get to where you want to go – if you get there at all.
The next day I was leaving London on the A40 and had to turn round to go back into town unexpectedly, which caused me to question whether or not I should book a hotel room just in case.
The overall range capacity is so limited, even from max capacity, and the margin for error becomes exponentially more buttock-clenching with the passing of every mile.
On top of which, when I got home every day I had to find time I don’t really have to fill up with petrol, as well as plugging into the mains for a charge.
How I yearned instead for my single weekly visit to the service station.
I’m so sorry to report this car is almost marvellous, but in the end not at all.
She may well have killer looks and more than a touch of pep in her step, but she’s just bags more trouble than she’s worth, which, by the way, in BMW’s opinion is circa £40,000 for the model I tested.
Do yourself a favour. Forget about saving the planet – which you really can’t do – and save your money instead – which you really can.
Chris Evans.