I recently sold my beautiful gold 2021 BMW i3S for $34,000 and then purchased a gray 2014 BMW i3 Electronaut Edition for $5,000. This, one might think, is a huge downgrade; Let’s take a look at the condition of my cheap BMW i3 from the first model year.
Replacing a car with one that costs $29,000 less ($30,000 after rebates) will involve a sacrifice. In my case I gave up great color, new condition, full PPF, 7 more years warranty, 90,000 miles of wear and the “S” body/suspension kit. And yet, I remain delighted with my 2014 BMW i3 Electronaut Edition (among the very first BMW i3s sold in the United States over 12 years ago).
I’m happy because, although this i3 has some significant flaws, it is in very good condition considering its price. I’ll let you decide; check out these issues:
The body is in good condition, but there is a major problem with the roof
One of the BMW i3’s biggest flaws is its carbon fiber roof, made from scraps pressed together and then coated with a resin with poor UV resistance.
Over time, the resin bubbles up, flakes off, and exposes the bare fibers underneath. These fibers are neither waterproof (meaning they seep into the cabin) nor do they like to get wet. If the situation becomes severe enough, the roof under the resin may begin to peel. This becomes very difficult to resolve once you reach this point.
The resin on my i3 started bubbling in two places. I need to figure out how to fix this. As for the rest of the body: it’s fine. The mirrors have definitely come into contact with objects:
The rear bumper was scratched during loading/unloading:
The front end took a few hits during daily driving:
And there are a few scuffs here and there on the side panels:
But overall the car looks decent.
My i3 only has one key
It may not seem like having just one key is a big deal, and as long as you keep track of it, it is. But if you lose that key, the cost of a replacement is shocking.
According to BMW Forums, replacement keys cost between $500 and $800. Is this absurd, and should there be a consumer advocacy group to prevent this kind of scam? Absolutely. But that’s how it is, which is why my car not having its second key deserves to be included in this list of faults.
Headlining is drooping, other interior imperfections
The interior of my BMW i3, while still beautiful, has a few issues. As you can see in the pictures, there are some small white spots on the seats; It appears to be paint. I’ll see if I can remove them.
The biggest problem, however, is the headliner, which is droopy:
Other issues include some imperfect door panels. The driver’s side seems to have a strange shape (it’s very subtle):
And the passenger side door panel almost appears to have been compromised by the heat:
At the back, one of the speakers seems rusty:
And at the front, on the floor at the base of the central console, the net is stretched:
The steering column rubber boot is cracked:
The driver’s seat leather also has some imperfections:
And I have a few questions regarding these dimples on the dashboard:
This dashboard is made of leather. Is it just a grainy piece of leather (much grainier than the dash on my 2021), or did the heat/sun cause these dimples? Maybe it’s just the natural grain of this leather, or maybe it’s been damaged, in which case I might be tempted to replace this dashboard.
It has no color
The condition of the interior brings me to another problem: this i3 has no tint. This is a significant problem in Southern California, where it is too bright and too hot. I find myself having to turn on the air conditioning on this car to stay cool, which affects my range. In order to maximize interior comfort and overall vehicle efficiency, and reduce interior wear and tear from the sun, I’m going to have to spend about $700 on tint.
He has the wrong wheels
Speaking of pocket money, another of the BMW i3’s biggest flaws is that its tires are incredibly expensive. There is a workaround which is to install slightly larger diameter 20″ tires from a company called Momo, but if you don’t have 20″ wheels, you’re getting hosed. My 2014 BMW i3 Electronaut has 19s and the price of a new set of tires is astronomical, as you can see from the Tire Rack invoice below. After discount, I would have to pay more than $1,100; Meanwhile, the Momo tires I bought cost a total of $300 for the set.
Needless to say, I’m on the lookout for 20″ wheels, even though they aren’t cheap.
No Apple Carplay, no app for preconditioning
The 2014 BMW i3 didn’t offer Apple Carplay, which is unfortunate, because I loved using it on my 2021. Another thing I loved about my 2021 was the app, which allowed me to turn on the air conditioning while I paid at the restaurant or finished my work for the day – that way I could get into a cool car instead of a very hot one. My wife particularly appreciated this feature for our little boy.
There is a workaround for both of these deficiencies; an Apple Carplay unit will cost me $420 and I may be able to code my key fob to precondition the cabin. We’ll see.
Mice chewed the wires and pipes of my i3
I noticed my front windshield washer wasn’t working, so I filled the reservoir, flipped the switch, and listened to the fluid splash onto the ground below. It seems that a rodent has chewed my windshield washer fluid hose:
To fix this I will probably need to remove my front passenger wheel and wheel trim. I’m not looking forward to seeing that, or having to repair the wires that the rodent has chewed through.
I’m not entirely sure what the wires do in this part of the car; they’re near my fuel filler door, so maybe they take care of the door actuation? In any case, I have to connect new wires where the copper was bitten; As for the wires where only the insulation has been consumed, I will simply wrap them with electrical tape.
So far, only my windshield washer fluid hose has caused any functional issues with the vehicle, and I don’t see any other obvious chewed wires.
The rubber cracks
This BMW i3 has been in Southern California since 2014 and as a result the rubber pieces are falling apart. This piece of door trim rubber disconnects from the panel:
This rubber between the passenger side mirror and the window is cracked:
Here you can see how the rubber seal between the top of the windshield and the bodywork is broken into a million pieces; this creates a tiny bit of wind noise in the cabin:
The roof rubber strip is cracked:
The driver’s side door seal needs to be replaced:
The side rubber of the windshield is also in poor condition:
The Wood Dash is cracking
It is truly remarkable how much tint/ceramic coating can help preserve a vehicle’s interior. The absence of either of these items on this car resulted in damaged door panels, cracked rubber, possibly a damaged leather dashboard, and a eucalyptus dashboard that looks like a dry lake bed.
I’ll see what I can do to resolve this issue.
The battery is in very good condition, but it is not big enough
The battery in this i3 is in surprisingly good shape considering the car has 120,000 miles (its modules may have been replaced, but I doubt it). Yes, the pack is about half the size of the battery in my Gold i3 – and I miss that car’s range – but the 2014 i3 was designed to go 72 miles in mixed driving conditions, according to the EPA. And my i3 does pretty much exactly that.
In fact, there is a “kapa max” option in the i3’s menu that gives you a rough idea of the battery status. When leaving the factory, the max kapa of the 2014 BMW i3 was around 19. My BMW i3? 17.6.
This suggests that my battery health is around 93%. This is good, but again, I would like to someday upgrade this pack to have a range closer to 150 miles. This is not a priority, as 70 seems to work well for my commute.
I plan to “upgrade” many of these issues
When I first drove this i3, I called my colleague Jason Torchinsky and raved about it. “Man, this thing drives amazing! Honestly, it drives even better than my gold car!” It’s clear the car’s strut boots/boots have been replaced at some point, the brakes work great, the steering is tight; The gas stove extender sounds great – this i3 has no obvious mechanical faults. It’s seven years older and has 90,000 more miles of wear than my old Goldilocks, and yet it’s not evident behind the driving experience.
But it’s clear from the eye test, and it’s evident when looking at the technical features. Over the next few months my plan is to try to resolve all of these issues. The BMW i3 is a credible and user-friendly car, so there are plenty of opportunities to bring this 2014 back into the modern era. My goal is to replace the wheels with 20s, install Apple Carplay, replace damaged rubber, install tint, repair damaged/worn interior items (including headliner), repair delaminated roof, and more.
The good thing about the 2021 car is that it would have allowed me to delay these problems or, if I had been careful, prevent many of them. Luckily, I think I can get this $4,250 (after rebate) i3 back into good condition with just a few thousand dollars. Next I will start looking into a battery replacement option.
Gn tech
