WDB
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Post by WDB on Nov 23, 2017 13:26:07 GMT
...or, to be strictly accurate, on Saturday afternoon. Our i3 has arrived from whatever filing cabinet it was locked in, and is being prepared as I write. I have a little more paperwork to complete, the insurance to swap over (£34 back to us for the remaining six months of our Aviva policy) and five years' worth of assorted sunglasses, parking change, ratchet straps, spare light bulbs (what are those, Grandpa?) and the like to remove from the old E.
I also ought to get on with the business of ordering the BMW iWallbox we need to reduce the charge time from 12 hours to 3. Another £500, please, from you lovely taxpayers. Thank you. Oh, and thank you too for the VED refund. It all helps. 🤓
I think this is going to be fun - not least to have a BMW on the drive again, albeit a rather different one from its predecessor.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2017 15:30:54 GMT
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do the Leaf. Once you twig how much dosh it saves you in fuel, you'll only ever grudgingly get in the other car.
How come whenever I change cars the insurance company wants more? Bah.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2017 16:01:17 GMT
>>How come whenever I change cars the insurance company wants more?
Because they have become wary of the particular lemons fine examples you choose?
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Nov 23, 2017 17:28:36 GMT
Enjoy the new car. As Al says, the cost of driving will be substantially lower. If I had a drive I could use I'd have a Passat GTE now. But without the ability to charge at home (Without trailing cables across pavements) the benefit was much less... I'd just be cheating the BIK system in my opinion. And getting worse mpg if not used as a proper PHEV.
I bet the motorbike engine in WDB's i3 is rarely needed. Nice to have I suppose just in case.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Nov 23, 2017 17:47:28 GMT
Yes, I'd happily have gone without it, saved some money and had a purer, simpler and (slightly) faster car too - not that the Rex version is slow. (In fact, it's funny to imagine it in a drag race with my 1989 Escort 1.3, which also topped out at 93mph.)
But MrsB1 has so far refused to drive the CLS, and wants a small car in which she can cross the country, however infrequently, so I conceded that point.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2017 18:22:26 GMT
Enjoy the new car. As Al says, the cost of driving will be substantially lower. If I had a drive I could use I'd have a Passat GTE now. But without the ability to charge at home (Without trailing cables across pavements) the benefit was much less... I'd just be cheating the BIK system in my opinion. And getting worse mpg if not used as a proper PHEV. I bet the motorbike engine in WDB's i3 is rarely needed. Nice to have I suppose just in case. If it is a BMW 1 litre motorbike engine in the i3 it would be such a waste of a 200bhp unit. He wouldn't be needing the batteries. |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Nov 23, 2017 20:43:21 GMT
0.65 litres, apparently. Derived from some BMW two-wheeler, though, for what that's worth.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Nov 26, 2017 17:06:51 GMT
We picked the machine up in the twilight yesterday. We were given the full BMW handover treatment, with the car under a black drape in a corner of the showroom - the effect only slightly diminished by it not being in position in time, so our first sight of it was as it returned from the Shell station across the road. Since the dealer had worked hard to get it there in time to save us waiting another ten days, we can forgive them a little lost theatre.
I have to say, the car looks and feels great. Even the darkened rear windows are almost as good as normal ones, and certainly worth putting up with for the rest of the car. MrsB1 drove it home but I found a semi-necessary errand in the evening for an excuse to take it out - and bring it the long way home. I was still lifting off too suddenly - which works well in the CLS but makes me look a bit silly as the i3 nosedives and flares its brake lights - but one-pedal driving is satisfying when I occasionally get it right. More practice required.
It charges easily enough with the 13A cable run under the garage door. (BMW iWallbox to follow in a week or two.) Neatly, there's a mechanism that secures the connector to the car until the power is off and the doors unlocked.
Much still left to try. Having almost mastered Comand Online, I now have an opportunity to find out whether iDrive really is much easier to use - or to drive up a tree in the attempt. We've not yet fired up the Harman-Kardon audio. And, since the battery has yet to drop below 75 percent, we don't even know what the Range Extender sounds like.
Exciting, though. Pity I'm going to be away all week; I'd like to play some more.
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Post by Humph on Nov 26, 2017 17:47:23 GMT
 Well, you could probably get this on as hold luggage if you folded it up and it would be enough of a reminder of the experience... 😋 |
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Post by Hofmeister on Nov 26, 2017 17:48:41 GMT
Glad you wont be home, cant take any more range anxiety posts.  |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Nov 26, 2017 18:26:42 GMT
You may be confusing me with someone else. I've heard that tends to happen in retirement - without the intellectual stimulation that used to keep the mind sharp.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2017 10:38:51 GMT
Glad you wont be home, cant take any more range anxiety posts. That's odd, I don't think anyone has made one in this forum. |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Nov 27, 2017 11:33:28 GMT
I think he's spending too much time with his dog. Can do things to the brain, that can. I mean, free run of the BMW colour catalogue and he chose ... that?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2017 11:45:41 GMT
Any downsides yet, Al?
[to the car, I mean, I understand the embarrassment of living in Caversham].
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2017 11:50:21 GMT
Nope.
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