I crack myself up!! What kind of car was I looking for when I bought my Prime Advanced? I was, and am still looking for a 2-door coupe hatchback with lots of carbon fiber. I want a plug-in hybrid with 50 to 60 miles of electric range, which weighs around 1800 lb. The car should get at least 70 to 100 miles to the gallon on gasoline, it should have a five-speed gearbox (I'll settle for the Prime's eCVT if I must have an automatic), and should have all the toys that my Prime Advanced has. I want seating for 2 people, only!! If somebody wants to come along, they can ride in the trunk, or we'll take their car. The gas tank should be a fuel cell with 15 gallon capacity. Window glass should be manually polarizable for darkness (yes, Martha, they do have the technology!). Instruments should be in front of driver and include tach, oil pressure & temperature, coolant temperature, alternator gauge, CD changer (hey, I'm an old guy, and I'm peddling my CD's), noise cancelling system, area/connection for my Garmin GPS, App to access my S7 Galaxy Google, etc., Recaro fully adjustable cloth racing seats, and solar paint/and or solar panels on hood, roof, and trunk to provide power to keep the car cool when parked in the sun. I will buy that today!! (No you engineer nutjobs out there, it doesn't have to fly!!) .
requirement 2014 BMW-i3 1 2-door coupe hatchback yes suicide secondary doors 2 lots of carbon fiber carbon fiber body on aluminum frame 3 plug-in hybrid yes 31A L2 and CCS high-speed DC charger 4 50 to 60 miles of electric range 72 miles 5 weighs around 1800 lb 2900 lbs 6 70 to 100 miles to the gallon on gasoline 40 MPG @70 mph 7 five-speed gearbox one gear no clutch 8 eCVT motor geared to rear wheels (you like front wheel drive?) 9 toys that my Prime Advanced has dynamic cruise control and collision avoidance 10 seating for 2 people yes very nice front seats 11 they can ride in the trunk fold-up rear seats or let them stretch out on sleeping bag 12 gas tank should be a fuel cell stainless steel 13 15 gallon capacity 2 to 2.4 gallons 14 polarizable for darkness no 15 Instruments should be in front of driver yes 16 tach fixed gear ratio to electric motor 17 oil pressure range extender no instrumentation 18 temperature external and cabin 19 coolant temperature no 20 alternator gauge mi/kWh 21 CD changer has USB port 22 noise cancelling system too quite already 23 area/connection for my Garmin GPS no 24 App to access my S7 Galaxy Google no 25 Recaro fully adjustable comfortable seats 26 cloth racing seats cloth and faux leather trim 27 solar paint/and or solar panels on hood roof and trunk no 28 power to keep the car cool when parked in the sun remotely activated by App Bob Wilson
I saw my first BMW i3 the other day when I stopped by the Chevy dealer to test drive a Bolt. (There was nothing on their window stickers to indicate it was a REx, but it had two filler flaps, passenger side, one rear, the other just behind the front wheel, so I presume it was.) The Bolt turned out to be lovely, but I keep thinking how much nicer a Bolt REx would be. I've read that the size of the i3's gas tank was limited by rules for what qualified as an EV per some government. If the Bolt had the something like the same ratio of gas extender milage to pure EV milage, there would be vastly reduced need for multiple-hour mid-trip breaks at Level 2 chargers. The 191.4 miles from EVgo #553 in North Bend, WA, to EVgo #621 in Ritzville, WA, with its sincere topographic challenges (cf Google Maps elevation for a route), could be done without Level 2 stops, even with nontrivial side trips. Daring to tread into CCS-free Montana would be manageable, with more freedom to be picky about Level 2 charging locations. But that's not going to happen any time soon, so I keep wrestling with trying to choose between what is available. The Prime is a lovely car, if that's what I end up with, I'll be happy, but still ...
Yeah, but Uncle Bob, it's a bloody 4-door bread truck!!! My friend's i3 Rex has also made more visits back to the dealer than either one of our Prii. Prius stellar reliability has thoroughly brainwashed me!! I gotta keep the puppy on da road, man!! He's had to resort to driving "Old Faithful (2008? with some 280,000+ miles) Prius several times when Krautmobile crapped out. .
Sign me up, sucker!! Got just 'nuff space in my garage to add it. By the way, which side is the plug-in on?? .
It sounds more like it took da cake!! It's either astronomically efficient or I'm going to have to stock up on a ton, or maybe a ton and a half of D cells!! Headroom appears to not be a problem, but how's the legroom, and lumbar support??!! .
