12 months out

Crikey! What do you tell the people you don’t like? 

Any advice that purports to suit eveyone is simplistic at best. The super-rich aren’t super-rich because they lease things; they lease things because they are sure enough of their cash flow (or cash reserves) to choose the model that allows that cash to work most effectively - time value of money, again. Businesses like to shift expenditure from capital to operations for the same reason. Most ordinary individuals do not operate at that level.

You need to be crystal clear in the distinction between PCP and lease in these decisions. PCP you can buy at the end, if the dealer has been a little economical with the truth and rates and set it up as a lease you can't simply buy it at the end as it has BIK type implications. I know this from experience with the KIA. It's not irredeemable if a lease but you will need help from a VAT registered business to work around it.

Is the car a tool or toy (I know grey areas, probably a bit of both) if mainly a tool which enables you to do 'stuff' buy it. If it is mainly a toy and not having it causes no impact on your life give it back, not consuming any energy is the best solution for the planet.

You can't buy a new i3 so do you want to keep it because it is different and few people will ever experience one. If age bothers you stick a pre-1963 plate on it and keep everyone guessing. If you want shiny give it to a detailing company for two or three days and it will seriously come back looking better than new. How difficult will servicing and parts availability become for a niche product ? The simple things like brake pads and cabin filters ? Are they shared with the MINI for example in which case no issue or are they made only for that model ?

We bought our EV with the intention of keeping it until it becomes a driveway paperweight. I really do want to see how long it remains useful for and if they are genuinely better than ICE or if there are other issues that no one has yet discovered.

I wasn't expecting a blow by blow answer simply logging what my thoughts are. Only you truly know what you want from the car.

Lights and bumpers can be swapped, sometimes with a bit of bodywork fettling if it really is a concern or look at aftermarket LEDs. I swapped the rear lights on my RS for the sequential ones for the time I had it, also swapped the aerial for a shark fin which only came with the later Mk4. I'm a bit of a car nerd and can tell which model is which from exhausts, wheels etc never known anyone do it by roof.

Is there an i3 owners club/forum ? They'll keep you up-to-date with what is generally available and what parts are becoming rare Edit: or unobtanium.

14k doesn't buy much these days in terms of three year old cars, like you say, and you've got the plus of knowing the history from day one. That swayed me with our two cars. There are new models coming along, the R5 looks interesting but do I want to be the Beta tester for all these new products ? Nah! I'll give it a couple of years and let someone else pay for the privilege of ironing out any bugs.

For me the i3 falls into the same category as the Audi A2 did in the 90s/00s. It wasn't a mainstream seller, even if it did come from a big auto company, but the people who had them hung on to them for a long time and were very happy with them. Maybe the i3 will have the same following ?

Genuine question, honestly. Why do some people think it’s important to disguise the age of their cars at all? What are they hoping to achieve?
If it’s to impress themselves, then that seems a bit pathetic, if it’s to impress others then it by and large doesn’t work.
Anyone fooled by a non standard number plate on someone else’s car is also likely to be the sort of person who isn’t interested in cars or that model in the first place.
It’s a bit like the saddos who remove boot badges in the hope of making others think they have a bigger engine.
Both practices take perceived value off in my opinion rather than add it. Law of unintended consequences etc.
Never understood it but perhaps someone can enlighten me?

Ford took the badges off for me, well the F O C U S badges across the bootlid, they didn't take them off as such, they don't put them on the ST model.
I took the ST badge off the boot because it was a different shade of red to the rest of the car and looked shite. I could have bought some ST stickers in the colour of the car or a contrasting colour but the surround is a chrome effect and as there is no chrome anywhere else on the car it didn't work for me.

I've thought about taking the badges off the Volvo boot lid but inertia is wining that battle. The windows/door frames have chrome and there's the big Volvo chrome slash and badge in the front radiator grill so there's enough on the rest of the car to not bother me.

Oh dear ! Is that supposed to offend me ?