[Nealric]

BMW has completely lost their way. That brand is dead to me. Not a single one of their cars interest me anymore. /rant

I like the new manual-equipped BMW Supra

 

[The_Real_Stack]

This is one of those hills that I will absolutely die on. I L O V E the intense regen on the i3 and believe it should be the default for all EVs. Sure it takes a bit, and I mean a tiny bit, of getting used to but it's one of the many things I think improves the operating experience wholesale. The only downside of their implementation is they simulate lift-off regen with the friction brakes when your pack isn't ready for all that juice and the transition isn't seamless.

Same. Regen on my 4xe is great and I miss it in my other cars. I like I let off the gas and it immediately slows down. Maybe a full BEV is more aggressive but I love it in mine.

 

[Burnette]

This picture is a snapshot of the SUV/CUV world we're living in:

Thanks for the write up. BMW missed a great opportunity to nix that ugly grill. And from the side doors back it looks like an older Altima, which isn't a bad thing. But it is for a car demanding such coin. It's not distinctive or special, it's bland and ugly. Does any BMW fan really like the new design language and that grill?

And damn that i4 sticker
I get wanting to give it visibility, but c'mon!

It looks like it came from the Russia/Ukraine war as an observation vehicle.

You're ice4life = i4l. You should have got a piece of tape and made an "L" and put that i4l on the side for kicks.

 

[The_Real_Stack]

H

View attachment 184225

Why are you parked in Hawc’s “garage”?

 

[KKatso5]

And damn that i4 sticker
I get wanting to give it visibility, but c'mon!

There's a white i4 in front of the local BMW dealer and the "i4" is in black.... it looks exactly like it was made with electrical tape

 

[Burnette]

👊

 

[improvius]

3) Regen is very heavy on this car. So one pedal driving is kind of a must which takes a lot of getting used to. The car will almost fully stop without ever hitting the brake. But you do need to brake at the end of a stop.

Weird, I thought most EVs would let you toggle the regen mode on or off, so they will either be one-pedal or coasting like a traditional ICE auto transmission. (My XC40 does this, anyway.) But I checked the I4 owner's manual, and I guess it has accelerator-pedal regen on pretty much the whole time.

 

[Chris_V]

Regen is easy to modulate for either none, minor, or strong with just a slight tip of the foot. It's easy to get used to in very short time. I only use L (strong regen) in the Bolt (and Volt before it) as it's so easy to modulate and either coast or slow as though you had let off/shifted down in a manual trans car (which is what aggressive regen feels like).

This car is way to bland for what it needs to be, and the nose is way to ugly, like almost all modern BMWs. But, people wanted EVs that looked "normal." Here it is. Really needed to be a bit more special.

 

[Chris_V]

Can't they make the brake pedal activate the regen (first, before activating the wheel brakes)?

They do. In most EVs that's exactly how it works. So you can either use one pedal driving, or set it in minimal regen mode and use the brake pedal. But they've found it's more efficient to simply have regen all the time when off the throttle and modulate its amount with the throttle like a rheostat.

Of course, one pedal driving would be simpler if/when you get used to it. I didn't have enough time to see if I could actually like it.

It is super simple and easy to modulate after you get used to it, much like modulating the throttle in a manual transmission car where it slows every time you let off the gas.

 

[improvius]

They do. In most EVs that's exactly how it works. So you can either use one pedal driving, or set it in minimal regen mode and use the brake pedal. But they've found it's more efficient to simply have regen all the time when off the throttle and modulate its amount with the throttle like a rheostat.



It is super simple and easy to modulate after you get used to it, much like modulating the throttle in a manual transmission car where it slows every time you let off the gas.

I can see how this would be a turn-off to some buyers, who might "just want it to drive like a normal car."

 

[Canaletto]

This car is way to bland for what it needs to be, and the nose is way to ugly, like almost all modern BMWs. But, people wanted EVs that looked "normal." Here it is. Really needed to be a bit more special.

You say that, but when BMW tries to make an EV look "special" we get the IX.

 

[rloewy]

Thanks for the writeup. I hated the regen of the i3 so much - it was way too aggressive.

We had an early e-Golf which had 2 levels of regen + no regen (my favorite for most use cases), neither as aggressive as that car and easily accessed via the "shifter", same with a Kia Soul EV (2 levels, neither as aggressive, don't remember how you switch between them as this car left very little impression on me) and my wife's current Kona Electric that has 3 levels of regen + no regen (what a blessing) - and it is easy to switch between them using the behind the steering wheel pedals.

I find that in the Kona I am mostly switching between 0 (no regen) or 1 (very slight) - but almost never use levels 2 (still lesser than BMW's idea of dropping anchor) and 3 (which iirc is still lesser than how aggressive BMW's version is).

 

[zackiedawg]

I have yet to drive an electric car long enough to really get to know regen settings on brakes, but I don't think it would be hard to adapt to as I've driven golf carts for decades...most electric golf carts can be driven one-pedal, and I think I'd actually enjoy that aspect in a car. It's fun predicting exactly when to lift the gas pedal in the golf cart before coming to a stop sign so you can stop the cart exactly on the line without touching the brakes. The regen is pretty strong on carts too...if I had an electric car with variable regen, I'd probably set it to the strongest setting at least driving around town.

 

[Avus]

BMW has completely lost their way. That brand is dead to me. Not a single one of their cars interest me anymore. /rant

Agree, even the new 2 series coupe look ugly now....

 

[Toaster29]

Regen was the one part of driving the plaid that took a little getting used to. However, once I did it found it extremely strange that my ICE cars wouldn't do the same. Also the engineer in me always loved regenerating down the highway offramp to a stop and watching the watt-hour/mile drop like a rock as all that kinetic energy is put back into the pack. It is a lot more satisfying than just generating heat with the friction brakes.

 

[Hostile]

I will say it gets a ton of attention. Having the stupid sticker on the one side probably doesn't help.

Why? It doesn't look any different from any other BMW? It has to be the big i4 plastered on the side.

 

[ice4life]

Regen is adjustable. I put it down to light and it is barely noticable now! The idrive is just very confusing as everything is an app now for settings rather than having individual setting sections.

 

[ice4life]

 

[Silly_me]

Some more real life pics. No bagels in the frunk though..

I was about to thank you for not posting a pic of the front. Now......

 

[phil123]

Why the hell does it have giant "i4" written in masking tape on the door?

One pedal driving is overrated, IMO. I love the ability to adjust the levels of regen, down to zero, in my e-Golf.

Agreed, even though I leave it in "B" most of the time.

I don't feel that much different between D3 and B, but I like the max regen!