Hey!

What do you think about the recently revealed BMW iX1?
Here is my blog post about it. 2022 BMW iX1 - Specs, Features, Interior

Regards,
Learn EV

 

I think it shares too much with the i3 I had.

It is a BMW, so outrageous depreciation is pretty much expected. My $52K i3 with 40K miles and otherwise perfect condition had a book value of $16K after 5 years. Granted, $7.5K was mostly due to the tax credit I got at purchase which really made it a $44.5K vehicle. However, a day after it was worth $16K, the AC self destructed. The over $22K repair quote instantly turned my i3 into salvage, worth $8K. BMW very generously, out of the goodness of their hearts, offered me $2K towards a new BMW. They took no responsibility for the design that failed to include a dryer trap in the AC system which is normally used to prevent such catastrophic damages when a compressor self destructs. Such a trap is even more necessary when the cooling lines run directly through the drive battery.

Thanks for the iX1 review. I can't wait to ignore this BMW, like every other BMW from now on.

 

Well, sorry to hear that. But I think BMW have come a long way from the rather rudimentary i3 that was more of an experiment back in the day. EVs have evolved a fair bit since then.
While I understand your frustration with the i3, I hope that you give these new-age EVs a chance because after all, they are proper BMWs with great driving abilities which the world has appreciated since time immemorial.

 

I loved my i3 up to the end. It is the company that refused to stand behind their own fault and support their customer that I despise. If they knew they were taking a risk of catastrophic failure by leaving out a dryer trap, then they should have been prepared to stand behind the few catastrophic cases that occurred. If they didn’t know breaking convention and putting a particulate trap in the AC line was pathetically stupid, then that is even worse. It would have cost them $8K to 1) make me whole, and 2) sell another i3 immediately to me, 3) probably have kept a future BMW customer, and 4) avoid the well deserved criticism from customers like me that will continue for a long time. Alternatively, they could have done an extended warranty-like action where they picked up the repair costs beyond the compressor parts and labor and made me whole, but that still would have cost them over $15K. Perhaps this AC catastrophe was happening too often (I know of six other cases) that BMW was afraid to assume such huge liability. Oh well.