Here are some great reviews for the all new BMW i3.
Credit: Bimmerpost: http://bmwi.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=862887
TOP GEAR FIRST DRIVE
TG grabs a ride in BMW's rear-wheel-drive i3 electric car. Is this the future of cars?
http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/b...ive-2013-09-10
One day, the idea of cars driven by electric motors will become routine. After all, diesels were once a novelty, and so were turbos. We've just had a drive in a BMW i3 – visually disguised, but the real thing in the way it behaves – and it feels so incredibly natural that you rapidly fall for the idea that electric drive should be an idea that nobody questions.
After all, if you were on the ground floor and wanted to get to the 21st, would you want a lift powered by petrol? One that changed up a gear as it passed the 14th floor, and changed down again on the 19th? Nope, for smooth and silent movement, electricity is the way to go.
The i3 proves that for a car that ducks and dives around a city or cruises at dual-carriageway speeds, electricity can feel like a beautifully appropriate power source.
AUTOCAR FIRST DRIVE REVIEW
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/...t-drive-review
What is it?
BMW i brand’s first model, the keenly anticipated electric powered BMW i3. First previewed in concept car form back in 2011, the four-seat hatchback i3 has now progressed to pre-production stage, with UK sales set to begin before the end of the year.
The pre-production i3 differs little from the most recent concept, which took the form of a two-door coupé seen at last year's Los Angeles motor show. The car boasts proportions not unlike those of the Mercedes-Benz B-class, but with a much more contemporary appearance and more modern detailing, while the lack of B-pillars has allowed the use of coach doors at the rear to provide excellent access.
The i3 is the first road-going BMW to be based around a carbonfibre body structure. BMW says the extensive use of the material in the i3 has helped achieve an impressively low (by electric car standards) 1195kg kerb weight. Special crash paths, including patented honeycomb structures within the side sills, are also claimed to provide the i3 with class-leading levels of crash protection.
WHATCAR FIRST DRIVE REVIEW
http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/2013...-driven/266194
The BMW i3 is the company's first all-electric car - and it promises to bring fresh technology to that fast-developing area of the market when it goes on sale later this summer.
Unlike the EVs that we've seen so far, including the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe, the i3 makes extensive use of high-tech, lightweight carbonfibre in its construction. BMW hopes that this focus on light weight will allow it to improve range without adding extra battery capacity (and the resulting increase in recharge times). The car weighs less than 1200kg - or, BMW claims, around 200kg less than comparable rivals.
The figures sound impressive enough. The supermini-sized i3 is powered by a 168bhp electric motor, mated to a single-speed gearbox and driving the rear wheels. Its top speed is a modest 93mph, but it has a range of between 80 and 100 miles, does 0-62mph in 7.2 seconds (0-37mph takes just 3.7 seconds) and can reach a full charge in eight hours (or more quickly if you have a charging box installed on your house wall).
