If only those numbers were imperial!
I saw a YouTube video which said that my wifeās i3 could self park. We had had it for over a year at this point and I didnāt know. Anyway I tried it out and I found that it did indeed self-park but it needed a supreme act of self control not to touch anything while it was doing it. In particular touching the foot brake cancelled the operation which wasnāt easy to restart without starting again from scratch.
I have never felt any desire to use it for real though.
One of the main advantages of the self-parking function is that you can teach it do a certain manoeuvre (like parking in your garage or driving in a narrow driveway entrance) and it will remember it for the next time.
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Looks like a lovely car, great colour. Another photo a few paces closer to the car would show much more.
I am surprised your range is that good (I know itās all kilometres!), especially at the cruising speeds you mention. I wonder if the i5 has a larger battery than my i4 (81 kWh)?
The kilometers is based on normal driving around. Obviously with a speed of 160-180 I donāt get to 460. However at this speed the range is still quite good and not a reason for me to slow down.
The battery is the same than the I4 - a missed opportunity as with this car it could also have been 100kwā¦
Stopped by the BMW dealer today for Q&A re iPhone key setups. Very nice.
Sat in the X5, X3, i4, and i5. All great. But the iX (which I hated on sight, more than once) feels like just-right porridge on owning it, at a painful price, admittedly.
Interesting to note that Mercedes have recently launched their CLA model which, for a very run of the mill model, is knocking on the door of a 500 mile range. Iām sure that may not be achievable other than under exceptional circumstances, but it does show the technical leaps and bounds being made on mainstream electric car efficiencies. Will also present a challenge to other relative competitors whose models may be offering more like 300 mile range!
Peter
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Recent early reviews suggest 400 miles is realistic. Note until Spring 2026, most CLAs will not be able ro charge on 400v DC chargers. See What Car review.
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Even at 400 miles that means 100 to 110 unit battery?
Any idea why they cant charge at 400V? Thought all DC were 400v apart from the 800V ones.
85kwh battery. CD 0.21.
No 400v inverter added to save cost.
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IIUC it has 2 gears, which it shifts through seamlessly, and the higher gear gives greater efficiency at faster speeds.
Without having the requisite knowledge to comment / but comment I will anyway/ this technology could perhaps to be open to being used with gears at a lower ratio in order to make towing less energy consuming.
Very interesting times for EVs.
.sjb
85 unit battery and 400 miles. Sounds a bit ambitious or perhaps everywhere at 30mph.
Appears an odd thing to not fit 400v charging capability.
Iām not sure how much these high ranges are really necessary. Most journeys are short and a large battery means lugging around a lot of weight you donāt need most of the time. Most people seem to stop every 150 miles or so, and itās really easy to charge up for 15 minutes while to get a coffee and use the loo. Our car theoretically does 270 miles but itās more like 240 in summer, and less in winter. On our recent trip from Beauvais we charged it to 90% before leaving, then topped up at the Tunnel and got home with 35% in the battery. Iām sure that for some people a really long range is important, but for the majority itās not.
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Yeah Starbucks and Costa quids in though Nigel!
But I do agree you should really take a break at 150 miles or thereabouts.
Surely flask and sandwiches.
Motorway services take the piss so thatās all they get from me.
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And motorway prices for EVs are as scandalous as they are for ICE. The real issue for EVs (as it is for ICE) is the availability of reasonably priced charging. Whilst mainland Europe is good, the UK still lags behind. Yes, it is better than even two years ago, butā¦ Once out of Kent (where I live), any longer journey is still one EV charger point to the next. It can be fun if you have time to āplanā. But there are times when I donāt want to, then the diesel mini, with its near 800-mile range, comes into its own. A recent trip to Northumberland saw just one top-up of diesel. Thatās what I want when we come to change that car for an EV.
Blimey! My HGV lessons taken long ago were 4 hours long. Slightly more involved than a typical car - manual, no syncromesh, two speed axle, crawler gear, 40 ft long, articulated and an āLā plate on the back.
āHā pattern shift - set off in low 3rd (empty semi trailer) then dip the clutch, change into neutral and switch the axle speed to high, clutch out, clutch back in, change to high 1st, clutch out.
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85kWh (usable capacity) battery but the official range is 484 miles for the 250 model and 478 miles for the 4wd 350 model. Probably unachievable in the real world, but those are the official MB figures.
When I lived in London I would sometimes drive to Glasgow to visit friends or Cairnryan to catch ferry back to NI. Both drives were just north of 400 miles and the great uncertainty of me getting away from home/ Londonās traffic inevitably meant I was up against the clock. Whilst there would have been at least one comfort/ coffee stop on my journeys, they were very brief. To factor in a search for a charger plus the time for charging would not have been a welcome challenge. Nor indeed would the crazy fuel charges have been acceptable. We are approaching the tech point where EVs will be able to take these challenges in their stride, without a need for charging. Those journeys were quite rare, but still formed part of my criteria when selecting a replacement car.
Peter
Peter
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Saw this on another groupā¦ brilliant! 
Iām considering replacing my electric car with a fossil-fuel car and have a few questions.
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Iāve heard that you canāt refuel gasoline cars at home while you sleep? How often do you need to refuel elsewhere? Will there be a solution for refueling at home?
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Which parts need to be serviced and how often? The car salesman mentioned the oil in the engine and the timing belt that need to be replaced, as well as a box with gears inside. What is that? How much will this oil change cost and how oftenāand what happens to the old oil? Also, these gasoline cars usually only stop using the brakesāso the brakes wear out much faster. How long will they last compared to my current car, which lasts over 100,000 km?
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With a gasoline or diesel car, do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill?
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The car I test-drove seemed to have a delay when I pressed the accelerator until it started accelerating. Is this normal for gasoline vehicles?
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I currently pay about ā¬4 per 100 kilometers for driving our electric car. Iāve heard that gasoline can cost up to eight times as much. Is this true?
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Is it true that gasoline is flammable?
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Iāve heard that the main component of gasoline is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems, as well as conflicts and major wars that have claimed millions of lives over the past 100 years? Is there a solution?
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Iāve also heard that oil has to be transported all over the world to be converted into gasoline or diesel, and that these ships have damaged the environment in the past by leaking oil. Is this true?
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Iāve heard that cars with internal combustion engines are being banned in more and more cities around the world because they supposedly harm the environment and peopleās health? Is that true?
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Iāve been told that these internal combustion engines make noise when you start them. So, if you leave early, you can wake people up, and if there are a lot of cars with internal combustion engines in the cities, the cities will become noisy.
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Is it true that you can steal fuel from the tank?
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How much range is lost in cold weather? Iāve been told that a car that normally consumes around 5 liters per 100 km can increase to 6 liters per 100 km in winterāIām just curious.
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Iāve also been told that the exhaust fumes are bad for you and that youāll die if you leave the car running in an enclosed spaceālike a garageāthatās not true, is it?
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A neighbor told me that these gasoline cars contain about 40 to 60 liters of a highly flammable liquid thatās pumped into a steel cylinder and then exploded to create expanding gas that moves a piston, converting linear motion into rotary motion. Why would anyone want thousands of explosions happening within a few meters of your seat?
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A colleague at work told me that his car leaks oil. When he parks it, it leaves dirty stains on the ground, directly polluting the environment. How long does it take for something like that to happen?
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My father told meāwhen you buy a diesel carāthat you have to wear special gloves when refueling so your hands donāt smell, and if you spill it on your clothes, itās horrible.
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Is it true that gasoline and diesel are so dangerous that they can only be purchased at special gas stations and not everywhere (hotels/parking lots/home/work)?
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Despite technological advances, will I ever be able to refuel my combustion-engine car for free using only the sun?
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Would I be better off if I switched directly to horse and carriage?
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