It’s hard not to have a bit of a soft spot for the original BMW i3. Its quirky hatchback design, cutting-edge carbon fiber monocoque, and way-ahead-of-its-time range-extender EV powertrain were so appealing to our own David Tracy that he bought one. And he loved that car so much that he bought another one, which he still owns.
BMW killed off the lovable i3 hatch in 2022, and ever since, we’ve been hoping BMW would offer some kind of replacement. Sadly, nothing from the brand emerged … until now … kinda.
Today, the German luxury carmaker has finally announced the i3’s return. But it’s not a hatchback with funky looks and a space-age chassis construction. And, more importantly, it doesn’t have any kind of available range-extender tech. Instead, it’s a sedan that’ll be sold purely as an EV, adopting the company’s “Neue Klasse” design scheme first seen on the iX3 launched back in September. It uses that car’s underpinnings too, and because of that, it has a whole lot of range.
Going The Distance
BMW’s New Class architecture isn’t just a new design approach—it’s new underneath, too. The underfloor battery powertrain uses an 800-volt architecture, which unlocks more efficient, faster charging. BMW estimates it can DC fast-charge at up to 400 kW, while the company’s “Gen6” cylindrical cells can squeeze out 30 percent more range than before.
Spec-wise, the i3 50 xDrive, the launch trim, is mechanically identical to its iX3 sibling. There are two electric motors, one at the front and another at the rear. Combined, they make the same 463 horsepower and 476 pound-feet of torque. BMW doesn’t list a battery size, but considering output is unchanged, it’s likely that the i3 is getting the same 112.2-kWh battery pack.
Because the i3 is a smaller, lighter car, BMW says it can get an estimated 440 miles of range out of its battery pack, going by EPA cycle testing. That’s 10% more range than the iX3. Should the i3 score that well in official EPA estimates, that range would make it the 5th-highest-range EV on sale in America right now. If you exclude all the heavy electric SUVs and their gigantic battery packs, the i3 would be second only to the Lucid Air Grand Touring, which still leads the segment at 512 miles of range.
A lot of that has to do with the big pack. As far as efficiency goes, the i3 works out to around 3.9 miles per kWh, or a tiny bit less efficient than the new Chevy Bolt. The Lucid Air Pure, the cheapest version of the Air you can buy, still has the industry beat by a long shot, with its 5.0 miles per kWh (it’s able to get 420 miles out of just 84 kWh). Still, 440 miles is damn impressive, and could end up as a big selling point for customers who can’t get rid of their range anxiety.
BMW’s New Face, On A Sedan
When the iX3 dropped in September, Autopian commenters had mixed opinions. Some of you liked it, and some of you didn’t like it. However you felt about that car, you’ll likely feel the same way about this one. The fascias aren’t exactly the same; the i3 is missing the two small vertically shaped grilles found on the iX3, with a more streamlined set that incorporates the headlights on either end. The grille has its own illuminated outline, while the black portions of the panels hide front-facing sensors.
Proportionally, the i3 is classic 3-box sedan-shaped (BMW calls it “a 2.5-box design” on account of its short rear overhang). In the rear, you’ll find a set of thin, long, horizontally positioned taillights that stretch to the center of the trunklid, and flare out as they reach the rear bumper area. Unsurprisingly, the car looks a lot like the Vision Neue Klasse concept shown over two years ago, down to the general greenhouse shape.
I always try to reserve judgment until I see cars in person, but personally, first impressions are good. BMW’s done a good job incorporating the black portions of the side sills to hide the extra height added by the batteries, and the flared fenders do a good job of making the i3 feel at least a little bit sporty. The front end, with its furled eyebrow-like upper bumper and hood section, isn’t exactly beautiful, but it’s certainly interesting. And in a world where designers are constantly restricted by crash safety and aerodynamics, “interesting” is often the most you can hope for.
The Weirdest Parts Are Inside
As jarring as the exterior design can be for some, the interior is an even larger evolution. Gone is the instrument cluster, replaced by a gigantic head-up display that spans the entire lower portion of the windshield. Called “Panoramic Vision,” it’s a full-color screen that shows the things you’d normally see in a gauge cluster, like speed, turn signals, transmission position, and speed limit.
For everything else, there’s the rhombus-shaped infotainment screen in the center of the dash. It measures 17.9 inches and contains most of the controls you care about, including all of the controls for the HVAC system, which are permanent fixtures at the bottom portion of the screen. Thankfully, stuff like the volume scroll knob, parking brake, hazard lights, and defrost buttons are still physical and located forward of the center console.
There are also buttons on the steering wheel, which borrows its fascinating vertical two-spoke design from the iX3. There are some generous moldings for where to put your thumbs, too, and a handful of glossy metal accents embedded throughout. If you like a clean, simple, circular three-spoke design, this is the opposite of that.
If there’s one thing that connects the new i3 to the original, it’s the size of the front trunk. The original i3, infamously, has an absolutely tiny trunk that wasn’t even sealed from the elements. While the new i3’s frunk looks like it does have a weather seal, it doesn’t look like it’s measurably increased in size, despite the car’s length growing by nearly 30 inches.
BMW has yet to release pricing for the iX3 and the i3 sedan, though the crossover is expected to start at around $60,000, so I have to imagine the i3 will be priced similarly because, again, they’re mostly the same car underneath.
Am I totally off-base here? The internet hated how the current M3 and M4 look, yet those cars still fly off the lots as soon as they arrive. Something tells me it might be the same with these cars, especially considering these range numbers. Let me know in the comments.
Top graphic image: BMW
It’s… OK. Details are fine, but I hate the proportions. Specifically, the way the rear end is so tall looking. Gives me Scion tC/Evo vibes, but in a bad way.
Maybe another way of saying it is, this strikes me as the polar opposite of a “low-slung” sedan. It looks tall and narrow; very un-BMW like.
Roofline made me think of a Corolla, but I guess if BMW wants volume, copying the worlds best selling car isn’t a bad idea.
I think that’s partly trends (everything must be SUVish), but partly just the downside to having a floor made of batteries. Hopefully it’s like the i4 in terms of looking lower and sleeker in person compared to photos.
I weirdly see a lot of alfa 156 in the proportions
As always, I must say this touchscreen-heavy choice is a huge miss. The volume knob can go, assuming there are volume controls on the wheel, as there virtually always are (and there do appear to be such on this wheel). Give me physical HVAC controls and this is pretty much ideal.
The steering wheel is a little weird, but it’s not a yoke, so it’s probably fine.
I really like that elevated front 3/4 view. The rest of the looks I just may have to get used to, or wait till I see one in person.
“BMW Is About To Start Selling One Of The Longest-Range EVs In America”
All together, now: Well it’s certainly not wasting any electricity on turn signals!
Ok. Hopefully we got that out of our systems.
Sorry, but the whole package is just… Ugly.
I actually kind of like the interior design, I could see myself getting used to that before long.
The steering wheel though, yikes. Give me that interior with a reasonably normal wheel and I’d like it.
One thing not mentioned in this article is that the steering wheel which comes with the M-Sport package is a normal three-spoke.
A normal looking M-Sport wheel is optional.
And this is how you do EVs… Mercedes and Audi are so lost.
Yes! Their EVs were outdated compared to the Model S when they launched!
I have an A6 e-Tron Sportback on lease, it’s software needs help, a lot of help.
as does the ride quality. It does have decent EPA range though of 370 miles.
And it looks cool in my opinion, and the headlights are really cool and bright too.
That steering wheel haunts my dreams.
I can’t stop laughing at the frunk lid. I guess BMW couldn’t figure out how to get the hood to seal the frunk tub.
I’m not sure who the intended market is, but I’m assuming it’s upper class parents buying their kid a first car. Not sure who else would look at this thing and get excited.
Having a second lid on the frunk is surprisingly useful when cleaning underneath the hood. I can just power wash away like I would in a petrol car.
The wheels . . . One glance at a pothole or railroad crossing and it’s over. These should come with a mandatory unlimited coverage wheel & tire package.
There is no sidewall on the tire
Someone make the Hofmeister-kink great again.. and not just a superficial plastic panel.
Huh. I’m so conditioned to hating BMWs designs of the last 20 years that I’m having trouble processing what I’m seeing here.
It looks… sort of good? I like the profile, it comes off as athletic yet appears to have a roofline that will make the backseat usable? The rear looks fine? The front end is… probably going to take me a bit to get used to, but it’s better than the “oh God why did you throw acid in my eyes” aesthetic that BMW has claimed if I can’t handle I must be a boomer. If hating the prior generation of BMWs makes me a boomer, then so be it.
The interior is a bit disappointing though. I don’t mind the Gen 2 Prius faux heads-up display, but that giant screen is just way too aggressively close to the driver. I don’t need my car to emulate my PC workstation. And also, pretty obvious that everything is controlled through that screen, which fellates.
Agree, the most—and to me, only—interesting thing about it is that I didn’t scream “My eyes!” when I saw it.
The front is okay, but it’s like they forgot to design the rest of it. Also the fact that the little crease in the front fender does not line up exactly with the bottom of the window line drives me absolutely insane.
You want to be driven further insane? Check where the shoulder line hits the taillights.
Ha, I see it and… I understand, lol.
Also honestly I’m surprised that the efficiency is not better. Around 15.7kwh/100km? The CLA EQ seems to be doing around 12kwh/100km in real world conditions, courtesy of their architecture and 2 speed transmission.
I know it has a giant battery, but I still firmly believe that weight and efficiency is everything around EVs.
Imagine the new i3 would have a consumption of arond 10kwh/100km, you could make the battery a third smaller, suddenly the car weighs 200kg less.
While I lament that they couldn’t make this one out if composites like the old i3, weight itself doesn’t affect cruise consumpion. Only momentary stuff like acceleration. Only drag, so cross section, Cd and speed. And of course base efficiency of the power train. That said, the CLA is very slippery customer.
I’ll know automakers are serious when sedans with aerodynamic efficiency approaching that of the 1996 Solectria Sunrise become available. 7.5 kWh/100 km @ ~115 km/h cruising speeds, using a motor slightly less efficient than those used in modern EVs. It had a 0.17 Cd and the frontal area of a Geo Metro sedan.
This is how we get sub-$25k long-range EVs people can actually afford. Get rid of the nightclub-on-wheels tech bloat to make them repairable in their old age too.
Rolling friction is increased by weight and friction within bearings. Also weight will effect “city” driving with acceleration from a stop. The regen brakes will recapture some of that lost energy but it is not 100% efficient.
Still rather marginal. I would claim that most effect of weight comes from tyres, but still it’s marginal.
Depends on your definition of marginal 5%-10%?
, the rolling resistance for a 2000kg car (estimation:the ix3 is 2400kg and is an SUV) is = 0.02 (2000kg / 4) (9.81 m/s2) 98.1N
The fluid friction assuming a CD of. 23 @60km/h and a frontal area of 2m can be expressed as 0.23 1/2 (1.2 kg/m3) ((60 km/h) (1000 m/km) / (3600 s/h))2 (2 m2)
115N
At that speed we can see rolling resistance and air resistance are similar. Dropping 200kg would drop our rolling resistance by 10% saving us about 5% energy overall.
And we excluded drivetrain losses and acceleration losses in the city. Which could easily double that.
Where as drag is v(as in velocity) to second degree vs rolling resistance is just v. So in 100km/h it’s 4x the drag where as rolling resistance has increased only 40%. So it’s different story, and higher the speed bigger it gets. So in highway speeds the 200kg is suddenly in less than 1% of the consumption.
But in urban stop&go the the mass is big deal. Not to mention cost of consumables and how nice it’s to drive.
Regen is more like 40% efficient from my experience with PMDC systems. The AC systems used in modern EVs should fare slightly better in this regard, but in real-world driving, I don’t see them ever getting above 80%.
City driving doesn’t really matter though, at least as far as range goes. For driving around town, even 200 miles is probably plenty for 99.9% of drivers. It’s longer trips at 75mph where range can start to be a hassle even with modern EVs.
I actually think the EPA range should be separated out into city/highway, where highway is entirely 75mph cruising. I’d almost say they should only rate highway cruising, but then you’d get weird side-effects like not bothering with regen because it doesn’t help the range rating.
The exterior is well thought out and the result shows that. I respect it if not exactly loving it.
For the interior, hear me out – and I offer this idea for FREE – how about a touch screen steering wheel? You could totally customize the looks too – Apple Watch is proving that people absolutely love that.
How awesome would be for this to become widely adopted. With FSD and similar tech proliferation, we don’t really need a steering wheel that much anyway. You would drive it with your thumb and index (kinda like milking cats) and you could turn it off on the interstate and watch porn right in front of you, not to the side which creates eye strain. I mean, it would be just fantastic, let’s run this by Jason.
Cue mad rush to file patent for “Display device for automotive steering control and pornography display.”
Add a connection for a device that would let you do more than drive hands-free.
I wouldn’t say the instrument cluster is “gone”, it’s just moved to a better position. Lincoln did something similar and the staff here quite liked it. Heck even the 8th gen Civic had a similar setup.
I think it’s just funky enough without going overboard. It looks more like a BMW than any BMW currently on sale. The only room for improvement I see is a straight six and a six speed.
I think it looks really nice and I’m on the record as loving the iX3 as well. I think the neue klasse design language is quite pleasant and pays homage to BMW’s lineage without leaning too hard into nostalgia. It’s also restrained, which is a breath of fresh air compared to gaudy nonsense like the XM, M3/4, 7 series, etc.
Range is more than competitive as well and I assume this will undercut the iX3 price wise. Really the only thing I’m struggling with is the interior. It’s way too tech laden and I’m almost certain it’s probably loaded with assorted environment ruining AI slop and Orwellian tracking shit that’ll send BMW every single data point imaginable.
I’d be interested if they sold a lower spec with a more traditional interior, but who am I kidding…they’ll never do that. I’d still take the new R2 over this or an iX3.
I agree although I think the iX3 wears the Neue Klasse design better than this does. The taillights and the “high and tight” rear end on this thing aren’t doing it any favors.
Agreed
I agree that it will probably undercut the iX3 but a little bit, but probably not more than a grand or two unless they have different base specs. But if depreciation tracks with the current state of sedans across the board, these could be a lot less as they come off of lease.
So I’ll be very interested to see how the reliability of this platform shakes out. I imagine these will be pretty cheap in 5 years for something with this large of a battery.
Waiting on the R3x here before I could embrace an electric vehicle as my daily… Whatever I’m driving every day just has to be “fun” in some way regardless of propulsion means. This i3 would have been fine except for the interior (and the comment somewhere above about a straight 6 and stick could do a lot too if it came with a cleaner, less-faux-futurist interior).
put down the reservation on the R2 last weekend. But I really think this thing looks good too.
What a gross looking early 2000’s carolla. Who the hell wants an interior like that, even if they get over the outside. Oh, and electric ? I expect record sales.
Didn’t Toyota and BMW end their partnership after the Supra? I’m not joking, this is a Carolla.
Good looks, great range… I was onboard until I got to the interior image. Too much of a culture shock for me; it’ll take me some time to warm up to.
I really like the way this looks inside and out, with the exception of the steering wheel buttons; I’d much rather have physical buttons instead of the capacitive ones this seems to have.
440 miles of range is awesome! I just hope the charging port on US models is on the rear left side instead of the right as shown in these pics, so I wouldn’t have to park kitty-corner to charge at most Tesla Superchargers.
Kinda like it, minus the ridiculous wheels. I prefer this minimalism to the gigantic flaring beaver-tooth pig-snout or whatever look they went for on the M3.
The interior? Well, welcome to 2026, I guess.
Those rims… ufff
Shame it didn’t get a liftback, and tighter rear.
A wagon version does exist, but it’s definitely not coming to America
This seems a better reason to threaten tariffs than what I’ve seen thus far.
It pains me to admit it, but I really like the exterior of this car. It looks like a smaller car, but it might be the proportions that are throwing me off but it has that old school 1970s era BMW 2002 look to it which I love. The rear tailights are about the only exterior styling details I’m not a fan of. They look like they’re mounted 2″ too high.
That interior, though. Oof. That’s awful. It’s trying way too hard to look cool and futuristic to where it looks cheap and something that won’t age well.
Its a Carolla friend, go back 20 years and buy one for cheap and it will last a lot longer than this ugly thing.
I get that same Corolla impression from the side and back views. Except those will work outside of their warranty period.
This is fine. Much better than the bucktooth monstrosities currently on sale. With 440 miles of range and probably decent performance figures, this could be a compelling CPO purchase. Depreciation will be nuts, being both a BMW and electric. The early adopters can lease them and figure out the bugs. It is a German car, after all.
Oh no. I like the iX3. However this one, how did they mess up so much from the concept phase? What’s with the painted kidney grills inside the large headlight+grills area? Somehow it seems to follow BMW’s design principles of “great baseline concept, but then we add a few final touches which break up the overall coherence.”
Anyway, looking forward to the estate version, I bet that’ll be a hit.
Would be great if you could configure a different lighting graphic or go without the light-up kidneys.
I honestly quite like it. It could do with a bit more sculpting. I disliked the rear and the steering wheel initially when I saw the leaks a few days ago… but they’re kind of growing on me