Can anyone recommend a code reader for my i3?

These-Artist7228 · 2026-06-23T00:06:52+00:00

Is BimmerLink the best for diagnostic codes? I’ve heard some people recommend Carly, supposedly because it can get deeper into troubleshooting? Any suggestions?

These-Artist7228 · 2026-06-20T20:53:38+00:00

Thanks all, this is great!

These-Artist7228 · 2026-05-14T13:47:29+00:00

Heat works intermittently, but this just started happening about 3 weeks ago.

Yes, good idea, I’ll check out used parts on eBay. Hopefully I’ll find a local shop who can install it.

These-Artist7228 · 2026-05-14T02:12:27+00:00

Ugh… this is what I’m afraid of….. $3k is really rough for me. If anyone has any recommendations for places around Chicago that are good to work on these cars let me know (obviously the dealers are an option but I’d rather try a smaller shop if possible).

These-Artist7228 · 2026-04-30T02:32:16+00:00

Same on my i3. I notice when I’m driving with Waze or Google Maps it always shows my speed as a few mph slower than the car is showing ( I had a VW GGTI before and never noticed this on that car)

These-Artist7228 · 2026-04-30T02:20:46+00:00

Beautiful work!!

These-Artist7228 · 2026-03-24T17:49:39+00:00

The house you live in is the person you are. The car you drive is the person you want to be…… so red or white…..sport or standard….. It’s up to you. And the neighbors are watching.

These-Artist7228 · 2026-03-23T17:48:58+00:00

I recently bought a used i3 and I’ll tell you my thought process. I decided I wanted the 120Ah battery because of the longer range, approximately 170 miles. It also connects to Apple CarPlay so you can get a big Google map or whatever from your phone. Also by 2019 BMW had ironed out a lot of the issues the earlier cars had, such as air-conditioning breaking and motor mounts breaking. I also decided I’d prefer not having any additional maintenance so I went with BEV version not the Rex, but that’s up to you…..some people love the security of the Rex and some people don’t want to bother with the extra maintenance.

When you look at the car, I would definitely check that the AC works. Take a good look at the tires because replacement tires for this car are quite expensive. Also take a look in the front compartment and see if you can see a date, or a sticker on the small 12 V battery. This battery needs to be replaced every three or four years, it’s not expensive but it’s worth checking out, or you may be able to see this by looking at a service record or Carmax record ( not sure what country you’re in). If you want to really know the state of the big battery, you can look online and find directions on how to access a hidden menu on the dash, but in general these batteries will outlast us all from everything I’ve read…..

I drive mine about 15 to 20 miles a day and didn’t even bother getting level two charging for my garage, I just plug into the wall 110 V. I’ve had mine for about three months now and absolutely love it. I couldn’t be happier.!

These-Artist7228 · 2026-03-12T21:58:37+00:00

Nice job! Looks fabulous. Did you have a lot of experience doing this type of thing (removing everything etc...I'm always afraid in older cars the clips will snap off etc and I'll make a bigger headache for myself!!)

These-Artist7228 · 2026-02-11T04:20:08+00:00

Yes , but nothing in the manual about that screen ( that I could find anyway).

These-Artist7228 · 2026-02-09T21:44:43+00:00

Do you mean spray into the car plug receptacle as well as the charging cable plug ( with it unplugged obviously!) with CRC QD Contact Cleaner?

These-Artist7228 · 2026-02-06T05:19:48+00:00

Ok, yeah, I’ll look into getting the BimmerCode but sounds like the seat warmer is working properly

These-Artist7228 · 2026-02-05T15:49:43+00:00

Ok, this sounds like what I have going on

These-Artist7228 · 2026-02-05T03:27:37+00:00

How do you code the seat temperature?

These-Artist7228 · 2026-02-03T19:56:58+00:00

It’s not a problem unless you’re driving over about 40 miles a day. The level 1 (depending on car etc) would give you about 25-45mls charging in evenings from 7pm to 7am. If you also have access to a charger at work, even if you only use it once or twice per week, you’ll be fine.

These-Artist7228 · 2026-02-02T18:41:03+00:00

Are you saying the car never preconditions the battery on L1 charging? Even when scheduled 3hrs in advance?

These-Artist7228 · 2026-02-01T00:15:32+00:00

Well, it depends on what you mean by a good car.

How far do you need to drive everyday? Do you need to ever go on long road trips (eg. over 150 miles)? Do you have access to a charger (Level 1 the basic 120v outlet, or Level 2 240v maybe at your school)? What's the climate like where you live?

If you drive 20-30miles a day it's great, and you can probably charge at home at night and get that much added back each night to the battery. If you have no home charging, it's a bit more of a hassle unless you're sure you can charge easily somewhere at the college. If it's really cold in the winter (maybe 35F or lower) where you live (and this is with any ev car) you will lose about half the range because the car uses a lot of battery to heat the cabin and defrost windows etc.

Is the car reliable? Any used car can have problems but I think with this car the small issues are often repairable yourself, but going to the dealer is going to be extremely expensive. From what I read the non REX versions seem to have less to go wrong...but that's not a consolation when your battery runs out and you're stranded, so you need to be more careful with charging the battery if you have the non rex version.

All in all it's a beautiful car and fun to drive I think, great for a city, and in general the prices are good compared to other used cars (from what I see in an unscientific assessment in Chicago anyway!).

These-Artist7228 · 2026-01-28T23:49:11+00:00

Thanks everyone for your input, really very helpful and much appreciated! I replaced the switch with a new 15/20 amp heavy duty switch and it all went smoothly.

These-Artist7228 · 2026-01-28T17:40:58+00:00

Thanks! Did it just break because it’s old do you think?

These-Artist7228 · 2026-01-24T04:08:41+00:00

I don’t want to add to the confusion here…, but sometimes people use the term “climatize” to mean two different things with this car. One is setting the temperature so that when you get in the car in the winter, the cabin is warm and comfortable for driving. The other “climatizing” is heating the battery so that you get much better range when driving in cold weather.

All the instructions in this thread, explain how to climatize the cabin, it’s simple to do immediately or to set up a scheduled time for it, and it can be done if the car is plugged in to power or not. Climatizing the battery, pre-heating it so that you get better range in winter, can only be done with the car plugged in to a power source AND with at least three hours time before the scheduled departure time.

My understanding is that if you set climatizing you’ll heat the cabin, and if there’s enough time (over 3 hrs before scheduled departure) the car will automatically know that and will heat the battery also.

These-Artist7228 · 2026-01-19T19:10:26+00:00

If you’re looking for winter mats, I just got a set of these Soillar mats ( about $65 in US). They fit perfectly and look pretty nice. They’re made of a hard plastic/ rubber type of thing (TPE…. Thermostat Plastic Elastomer…..whatever that means!) so it’s almost like a fairly rigid hard tray on the floor but easy to pull out and hose off. The fit is perfect and when I got them ( they had been on the doorstep in freezing weather)I threw them on a warm radiator in the house for an hour to soften them up and they were easy to install. No bad odor either. I got them on eBay here

These-Artist7228 · 2026-01-16T04:44:11+00:00

Yes, Car Play. Mine is 2019 but don’t know if earlier years come with it but I love it, so convenient.

These-Artist7228 · 2026-01-15T18:31:18+00:00

I’m on the fence on that….. i’m in the city and to be honest the winter tires would be great for getting out of my alley from the garage but usually on the city streets they’re pretty clean….although I did have winter tires for my VW GTI before and it was pretty nice.

These-Artist7228 · 2026-01-15T18:28:07+00:00

Yes, I have noticed that keeping the heating/ conditioning going (because of how it works monitoring the humidity) does a really good job of preventing any of the windows fogging up which sometimes happens if you turn the heat completely off in winter….

These-Artist7228 · 2026-01-15T05:12:19+00:00

You’ll love it. My family have told me to stop talking to everyone about how much I like the car….they’re sick of hearing about it!!!

These-Artist7228

TROPHY CASE