BMW brings back the i 3 as a funky four-door EV | The Verge
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The styling won’t work for everyone, but 440 miles of range could make this an attractive package.
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The styling won’t work for everyone, but 440 miles of range could make this an attractive package.
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BMW’s new class of EVs begins with the i X3 SUV, but you had to know it wouldn’t end there. The company’s engineers didn’t spend all that time working up a completely redesigned and substantially more efficient EV platform just for one crossover, and now it’s time for the second wave.
Meet the new i 3, which takes the same basic motor, battery, and electronics package that powers the i X3, plus the Neue Klasse’s controversial styling cues, and applies it to a more familiar sedan shape, the sort of silhouette that BMW’s reputation was largely built upon.
It definitely looks a lot like the i X3, but with a slightly different intent. Sebastian Kroes, BMW’s head of interior design for the Neue Klasse cars, told me that the i X3 was designed with an “emphasis on verticality” to make it look taller. The i 3, on the other hand, has an “emphasis on horizontality,” most directly seen in the series of lights that span virtually the sedan’s entire nose.
Now, before we get any further, it’s worth pointing out that this is not a reboot. It’s more of a retcon. Despite this new machine sharing a name with the quirky yet beloved electric i 3 hatchback produced from 2013 to 2022, the new i 3 is a wholly different proposition. The original i 3 deserves a lot of respect for establishing BMW’s EV intentions, but little in terms of its design or architecture lives on in this new machine.
The new i 3 is built on BMW’s Neue Klasse platform, which starts with a new battery design using cylindrical cells arranged in a cell-to-pack configuration that offers higher energy density than BMW’s prior packs. The company hasn’t quoted a formal capacity for the i 3, but I’d expect it to fall somewhere around the 108.7k Wh usable capacity of the i X3 SUV, enough for what BMW says is 440 miles on a charge. And 400k W charging should mean adding over 200 miles of range in about 10 minutes.
In this first i 3 model, the i 3 50 x Drive, that battery powers a pair of electric motors driving all four wheels. But BMW has already said that single-motor rear drive is a possibility on the platform, as is a wild quad-motor configuration.
We’ll see what the future holds, but to start, the dual-motor config will be the only option. Neither motor uses permanent magnets, which has a few advantages. First, you’ll find no rare earths here. Secondly, the i 3 can disable its motors and coast without needing a disconnect system, like the sort found in the electric version of the upcoming Mercedes-Benz CLA.
A more advanced control system that BMW has built for Neue Klasse means the i 3 can come to a complete stop exclusively relying on its regenerative braking system. This not only further reduces wear on the physical brakes, but enables what BMW calls a “soft stop,” where the sedan comes to a halt so smoothly you can’t even tell when its wheels have stopped turning.
Drivers will probably be more interested in how fast it goes, and the i 3’s 469 horsepower is actually closer to the current BMW M3’s 473 horsepower than the base 330i’s 255. The i 3’s 476 pound-feet of torque, meanwhile, is right on par with the top-shelf M3 Competition.
That’s a lot of twist, but it’s important to remember that the new i 3 will be considerably heavier than its internal combustion counterpart. BMW hasn’t quoted a curb weight yet, but given the i X3 has gained more than 500 pounds over the current, gas-powered X3, it seems reasonable to expect a similar delta over the current 330i x Drive’s 3,752 pounds.
The new i 3 is bigger, too, growing 1.8 inches in length over a current gas-powered 330i sedan, but crucially, the wheel base has grown by 1.9 inches, meaning BMW’s trademark short overhangs are retained. This should also lead to a much more spacious interior than BMW’s current sedan. I got a brief moment inside an early model at a prerelease event, and it seemed extremely roomy both front and rear.
That interior will be loaded with all the tech and displays that we’ve seen on the i X3, including the windshield-spanning Panoramic Vision system. There’s also a 3D heads-up display and a 17.9-inch, 3,340 x 1,440 touchscreen suspended from the dashboard. Like on the i X3, it’s a weird sort of parallelogram shape, but that leftward lean does mean a shorter reach from the steering wheel to get to some frequently used controls on the upper left of the display.
That wheel, by the way, relies on capacitive touch surfaces, which have proven problematic in many cars before. I didn’t mind them so much in my time behind the wheel of the i X3. The angular shape of the touch surfaces made it easy to tell where my thumb was when adjusting the cruise control, for example.
The i 3 offers the same sort of driver-assistance system as the i X3, an approach that BMW creepily calls “symbiotic.” No, it won’t give you superhuman strength and a strange craving for brains. It means the car’s active safety systems are designed to work with you, not fight against you.
For example, the car offers hands-off automatic steering on the highway and will even change lanes automatically. However, if you want to change lanes yourself, you can just reach up, check your blind spot, and turn the wheel. The car won’t resist, and it will even automatically apply the turn signal.
All those features are provided by a suite of onboard “superbrains” from brands like Qualcomm and Samsung, powering a software-defined architecture that is ready for OTA updates. BMW promises more and more advanced functionality down the road.
One aspect of the car that will grow is its reliance on large language models to create a much more complex in-car voice experience than in current BMWs. The LLMs will be trained to know all the ins and outs of how to operate your current car, plus all the power of modern AI chatbots. BMW has partnered with Amazon to bring Alexa Plus into the car, opening the door to not only finding restaurant recommendations and reviews by voice, but even making reservations through Open Table hands-free from the driver’s seat.
We still have a few big questions to answer on the i 3, including how far it goes on a charge and exactly how much it costs. BMW says the i X3 will be rated for about 400 miles, so assuming the pack size stays the same, expect slightly more from the smaller sedan.
As far as cost goes, the i X3 starts at around
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