BMW i3 questions

My wife is getting a used 2017 BMW i3 Rex with 35000 miles through Vroom. Is it worth paying $1700 for their service protection plan? Seems these are fairly reliable. Anyone with any experience? 

If it actually covers anything at that price, it might be.

It seemed like I went through a charge cable lock actuator due to freezing or something about every winter.   That would likely cover about 1/3 of the service plan cost.

If a review of the fine print on the service agreement shows it doesn't really work out, save your money for tires-- if the car comes with 20 inch wheels, those were only available in summers, and they don't last that long.

Great little cars if they meet your mission needs!

In reply to Karacticus :

She's coming from her second Smart fortwo. Car as appliance to her. Should meet her needs well.

In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :

If you somehow end up with 2 extra i3 rims, don't forget who hooked you up with C4 parts on the cheap! ;-)

We suffered an engine mount failure with our 2015 i3 REX. My go-to indie mechanic was uncomfortable tackling it so we had to face the dealer. The car was slightly out of warranty and the quote from the dealer was $4200!

Luckily I was able to convince them to cover it as a warranty issue given how many times BMW has seen that issue with that model.

Overall, we loved the car though. 

dyintorace said:

We suffered an engine mount failure with our 2015 i3 REX. My go-to indie mechanic was uncomfortable tackling it so we had to face the dealer. The car was slightly out of warranty and the quote from the dealer was $4200!

Luckily I was able to convince them to cover it as a warranty issue given how many times BMW has seen that issue with that model.

Overall, we loved the car though. 

$4200! I'm guessing the engine mount failure was more catastrophic than it sounds? I'd hope so for that price

I've had mine, a BEV (no Rex) model, since spring this year. I personally sprung for the extended warranty, knowing Carmax's warranty is actually half decent and covers everything. I've used it once so far - some loose trim and a broken seat heater, that would have set me back $1100 without the warranty. I have to take it to the BMW dealer - nobody else locally will touch it. 

The Rex unit has some known issues that are extremely expensive. It's not clear how rare those issues are but on internet forums those posts do pop up from time to time. They seem to stem from extremely infrequent use of the unit.

Karacticus is right about tires - they aren't super cheap, and they only usually last 10-20k miles for a set. Check the 12V battery age, if it's original replace it now. Once the 12v goes south the car can become bricked overnight and requires a flatbed tow to the dealership. 

I love driving mine around town!

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :

If you somehow end up with 2 extra i3 rims, don't forget who hooked you up with C4 parts on the cheap! ;-)

Front drag rims for something?

mslevin said:

dyintorace said:

We suffered an engine mount failure with our 2015 i3 REX. My go-to indie mechanic was uncomfortable tackling it so we had to face the dealer. The car was slightly out of warranty and the quote from the dealer was $4200!

Luckily I was able to convince them to cover it as a warranty issue given how many times BMW has seen that issue with that model.

Overall, we loved the car though. 

$4200! I'm guessing the engine mount failure was more catastrophic than it sounds? I'd hope so for that price

Nope. But book is something like 30(!) hours of labor. The entire back 1/3 of the car basically has to come off. 

preach (fs) said:

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :

If you somehow end up with 2 extra i3 rims, don't forget who hooked you up with C4 parts on the cheap! ;-)

Front drag rims for something?

yeah, base model are 19x5 and upscale model are 20x5.  i think that would be killer on front of MonZora

I've read up that if the REX engine doesn't get used it can build up moisture. With the 2017 I believe they increased it's run time when they increased the fuel tank. I'll keep an eye on it though. We decided to keep the plan. Would have paid for snow tires though. Guess that's what credit is for. Now I need to look into a home level 2 charger install. Considering the Flo brand as our local electric coop gives $250 back and an additional $50 is you use it to not charge during peak (5-9pm) or when they have peak demand issues during the summer. Need to find me an electrician.

I hadn't seen that Flo EVSE before, it looks solidly built.

We ended up going with the Juicebox 40, which has a pigtail so you can use it on the road if need be - could take it with you and plug into a 220v outlet anywhere. Most of these have WiFi capability, which we have found very helpful since we charge two vehicles - the EVSE notifies when it's time to switch. 40 amps is about the max our 220v circuit can provide, so units that go up to 50 amps don't really add any speed.