Tesla model 3 owner, 14k miles. Just rotated the tires, that's all. I guess I need to have the battery coolant changed in 2 years.
Electricity cost is 1/3 of my gasoline cost for the same commute.
Probably have to do the brakes after 100k miles. I rarely use them, the Regen is fantastic!
Best car ever.
Cost of owning a BMW i3
41–50 of 102 posts
Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3
#42Their i3 isn't even an electric car, it's a hybrid with a petrol engine (range extender). The title claims the content is somehow about electric cars in general, but it's just one datapoint about one model and one owner. FWIW, my maintenance costs for almost 3 years with a Tesla S90D were so far: €290 for changing and storing winter tires. No repairs, no breakdowns so far, despite some abuse on italian country roads.…
Your costs for a ICE car wouldn't be much more. There were be a few oil changes in there, but they are not expensive.
Don't know where you live but a regular yearly service with oil and cabin filter change is around €200 for a basic ICE car at a dealership in Austria. €290 for a Tesla would definitely be cheaper here.
Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3
#43Their i3 isn't even an electric car, it's a hybrid with a petrol engine (range extender). The title claims the content is somehow about electric cars in general, but it's just one datapoint about one model and one owner. FWIW, my maintenance costs for almost 3 years with a Tesla S90D were so far: €290 for changing and storing winter tires. No repairs, no breakdowns so far, despite some abuse on italian country roads.…
Your costs for a ICE car wouldn't be much more. There were be a few oil changes in there, but they are not expensive.
For comparison - also a small city car, VW Polo 2016, 1.2L TSI - so far(3 years in), we only paid for a single service(two initial ones were free) - £159, plus £20/year in tax. So a total cost of ownership(except for petrol of course) in those three years is barely over £200. We didn't even buy winter tyres for it, which I normally do for my other cars.
Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3
#44Too bad, AFAIK, the i3 REX (with range extender gasoline engine) is hobbled by a tiny gasoline tank. The total range is something like 200 km: 100 electric and 100 gasoline. With my current car I can drive to the summer cottage and back with one tank. It's just carefree and convenient. With an i3, even when starting with full charge, one would have to tank about halfway each way. It is hard for me to understand such…
I mean, you can get a Tesla Model 3 long range for $47k that goes 310 miles on a charge and gains 200 miles on a half hour recharge at a supercharger. That seems... like more driving than I'd really ever do. (half hour is super easy to blow when you go pee, grab a coffee, check your email and social media... and keep in mind that's after like 4 hours of driving)
Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3
#45Their i3 isn't even an electric car, it's a hybrid with a petrol engine (range extender). The title claims the content is somehow about electric cars in general, but it's just one datapoint about one model and one owner. FWIW, my maintenance costs for almost 3 years with a Tesla S90D were so far: €290 for changing and storing winter tires. No repairs, no breakdowns so far, despite some abuse on italian country roads.…
Your costs for a ICE car wouldn't be much more. There were be a few oil changes in there, but they are not expensive.
After 20 years, I'd expect it to be different. We have a '99 Honda CRV, and a significant chunk of the money we've paid for maintenance in the 12 yrs we've had it has been for the exhaust system. Over time, on any car, brakes will eventually need replacing, electrical bits will fail and need replacing, bits of your suspension will need replacing, and so on.
Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thank you for posting that. If they are in the US, 10k is considered low mileage per year. For working age adults, 18k is considered average. Source: Bc I'll be asked ;) https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm
Wow. 18k is nuts. 50 miles a day? We lowered our last lease to 10k and wont even be close at end of the year.
I'm guessing daily commute from the suburbs on the freeway is common in the US. In Europe, population is more densely packed in cities, so commutes are shorter and can often be done via public transit. For example, I've been averaging 5k miles per year in Poland, and most of it is vacations and other long range trips.
Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
400 of that was for the brake replacement, and the remaining 2600 sound pretty normal these days (if you're going to a manufacturer contracted garage instead of some 3rd party garage). Remember there is still an ICE for range extension, and the inspection checklists probably doesn't care whether you used the ICE virtually never or all the time. As for tires, my hybrid seems better and also takes pretty much any manuf…
Sadly km or ~900 miles per month. Engine inside is small one from motorcycle, so it shouldn’t be hard to service. I was considering buying i3, but went for 328i.
Small engines generally need more service than larger ones. This is mostly because large engines are not pushed as hard relative to the size because the buyers want a reliable engine.
A tractor with a 600 horsepower engine would have around 19 liters. GM can get the same 600 horsepower out of 6 liters. I know motorcycle mechanics who can get that power from 1.5 liters. Of course the motorcycle mechanic will tell you upfront that you will have to completely rebuild the engine every 40 hours. GM knows that even though the engine can deliver 600 horsepower it will only do that for a few seconds and then have plenty of rest time at much lower power output to cool off as a result they can get several thousand miles. Tractor manufactures know that their customers will use 600 horsepower continuously all day, everyday with no breaks to cool down so they build for that spec.
Point is I expect the engine in this car is designed to not be as reliable because of the weight/size vs reliability trade offs they can make. It you mostly use the car in electric mode with a few long trips it won't matter overall. If you typically take long trips (without stopping to recharge) get a car with a larger engine.
Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
He mentioned the tires are a very specific size only really available from one source, and that they are narrower than a typical tire. I’m guessing that means reduced tread life, and not having options means it’s probably harder to find the perfect tire for your climate and region to optimize longevity. I agree, though; I can usually get the same range out of one set of tires.
You don't have to stick to the OEM tire. You can get a different, cheaper size, as long as it doesn't rub the wheel well or bottom out. And the exact tire and manufacturer you get, along with the conditions it was kept in, will determine the wear life of the tire. And when people complain about their tires wearing fast, it's often just badly aligned tires that could be fixed by going to a better mechanic. And buying…
>>You can get a different, cheaper size, as long as it doesn't rub the wheel well or bottom out.
In the UK you have to tell your insurer if you do that and it can impact your insurance significantly in some cases. The best one I could find was with Aviva they allow 10mm variation in width of the tyre from the manufacturer spec, so if the original size was 225/45 you could buy 235/45 or 215/45, but anything beyond that would require you telling them and have an impact on your premium. Chaging the rims to a different size always requires telling the insurer, even if they are the manufacturer's original rims(which is incredibly dumb, I bought my car with factory 20" wheels, I bought an original set of wheels directly from the dealership in 19" size but I still have to tell my insurer because it's a "modification" to the factory spec of the vehicle).
Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
He mentioned the tires are a very specific size only really available from one source, and that they are narrower than a typical tire. I’m guessing that means reduced tread life, and not having options means it’s probably harder to find the perfect tire for your climate and region to optimize longevity. I agree, though; I can usually get the same range out of one set of tires.
You don't have to stick to the OEM tire. You can get a different, cheaper size, as long as it doesn't rub the wheel well or bottom out. And the exact tire and manufacturer you get, along with the conditions it was kept in, will determine the wear life of the tire. And when people complain about their tires wearing fast, it's often just badly aligned tires that could be fixed by going to a better mechanic. And buying…
BMW is known to specify weird size tires where nothing else will fit in the space allowed. I don't know about this car, but in general I would expect that you have a limited choice in tires.
Re: Cost of owning a BMW i3
#50Very detailed writing, thank you! But this “Costs for maintenance totalled £3056.0” is shocking! It’s a golden car! Ok, it has internal combustion engine too, but 100€ maintenance monthly is shocking. 8 tires for 45000 km is also shocking. I am driving almost double that with one set (except nasty flats). Are other electric cars cheaper to drive?
Also keep in mind that BMWs are notoriously expensive on maintenance compared to many other cars.[0] Around where I live, it's easy to find some relatively inexpensive used BMWs when people want to unload them due to high maintenance costs. [0] https://www.consumerreports.org/car-maintenance/the-cost-of-...
The article we're discussing is talking about BMW in the UK. Your link is to US-based consumer reports.
I wouldn't trust anything about BMW or other premium German brands from a US source as an EU customer, because:
1) US (and Canadian, Australian, Malaysian) fuel is of much lower quality, and BMW engines are notoriously sensitive to this. As an example, the BMW I own wasn't ever sold in North America or these other markets because of the high sulfur content in the fuel.
2) US consumers who buy BMW are going to have a selection bias towards people buying muscle cars. You're not just looking at reliability numbers, but numbers skewed by Americans who'd buy a foreign luxury vehicle with a powerful engine.
3) BMW is fickle about its maintenance requirements, and generally the further you get away from Germany the worse your quality of maintenance and ability to source genuine parts easily is going to be.
BMW is still pretty bad when it comes to total cost of ownership, but this German study of vehicles on EU roads shows it isn't quite that bad: https://europe.jdpower.com/de/press-releases/2019-germany-ve...