When I bought my 2014 BMW i3 — then the cheapest one in America, in part because it had a dead high-voltage battery, which I got BMW to replace for free — it quickly became one of my favorite cars ever. It had such an effect on me that I spent far too much money on the Holy Grail of BMW i3s, at which point it became difficult to justify keeping my 2014. So I sold it, and now it has a better life than I could ever have given it. And that’s thanks to a new owner with great taste.
My BMW i3 had it good here in Southern California. I barely had to use the heater and only sometimes the AC (since I live in Santa Monica, where it doesn’t get too hot), there’s no salt and very little moisture, and the roads here are fairly decent. Now my beloved old i3 is in the northeast dealing with deep snow.
But you know what? I think it likes it. The i3 is rust-proof, with very, very little ferrous metal making up the chassis (which is almost entirely of aluminum, aside from maybe a few driveline components, exhaust bits, and fasteners) and the body being made of carbon fiber. So the winters aren’t a big deal, and I bet the battery likes not having to be in 105 degree heat sometimes like it did in LA. Plus, more importantly, my former i3 got a badass new sibling. Look at this thing, a Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer:
This thing is one of the greatest off-road vehicles of all-time, a body-on-strange-central-tube-frame, 6×6 monster with low range and lockers for the portal swing axles:
The Pinzgaur was developed in the 1960s, and built by Steyr-Daimler-Puch in Graz, a town that has built some of the best off-roaders of all time, including the G-Wagon, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Haflinger (which is kind of a smaller Pinzgauer). The Pinzgauer, named after an Austrian breed of cattle, was built over a period of more than 30 years, becoming an iconic military machine. Watch our friends at TFL Truck take this thing offroad:
The buyer of my old i3 — an engineer who clearly has great taste — now has an absolute winter-destroying monster in this Austria-engineered/built Pinzgaur, and he has a great summer daily driver in the i3. Here’s how he describes his newly-imported vehicle:
[It’s] pretty much the opposite of the i3, in a lot of ways. And just dumb as hell. Which is sort of the point.
The selling firm told me that they “demilitarized” it before shipping, so the lights and sirens don’t work…but they just pulled the fuses, which are all nicely labeled in the panel, so I just need to swap the blue lenses for something less-illegal.
…since it was on the ship 2 days before the “reciprocal” tariffs took effect, we got it cleared at the standard 2.5% that was in effect previously.
The import process was otherwise smooth, with the help of an import broker. Lots of paperwork, fees, tight deadlines, and entities all in play.
A few days after the ship arrived (but before I was cleared to pick it up), I got an email from the import broker firm, saying that all cars over 25 yrs old are exempt from the new tariffs, and they’ve successfully cleared multiple imports through customs without additional tariffs (but they have to use very specific customs codes in the paper work to do so). So there’s hope for old imports yet!
As for how he likes my old i3? Well:
It’s great – I got used to the regen and handling quickly, and it’s now my default choice for everyday use. The blizzaks grip well in snow/slush, so the regen and rwd aren’t an issue at all in the winter. My daughter (age 7) also thinks it’s neat, which is a plus – she particularly likes the interior colors/materials.
My only quibbles are really minor: the suspension is a bit harsh, considering the frost-heaved / potholed quality of local roads after a cold winter. And the little fold on the seatbelt strap, that keeps the latch from sliding down too far when unbuckled, is located too far down – it’s basically at my hip, instead of closer to my shoulder, which makes grabbing it as I buckle in a 2-motion thing, instead of a single, smooth grab-and-slide.
[…]
I’ll eventually add a clip / something for the seatbelt – but I figure if that’s the worst of my experience, it’s a pretty good car.Far better, in fact, than my first car, for which I kept spare thermostats/gaskets/RTV in the glovebox. But: I could also swap a thermostat while pumping gas, with only 1 wrench and 2 bolts. Which was handy, since it absolutely ate them every 6 months or so. Rust in hell, Plymouth Neon. To be fair, nothing else ever broke. Just $6 thermostats.
[…]
I’ve put all of 1.5 gal of gas into [the i3], and it’s currently sitting on a full tank – my commute, and errands, just don’t rack up the miles (just like 95% of all Americans’ trips…)
That i3 looks cold! But hey, it’s got new winter tires on it, and more importantly, it has an awesome older sibling now:
Now THAT’S a great two-car garage right there — one great commuter and one that is the very opposite!
Images from reader
That’s the most insane 2 car garage I think I’ve ever seen, I love it.
Wow 1st DT article I didn’t finish
That’s only useful feedback if you say why.
Back in the 70s, I had a college professor who drove a Pinzgauer (4-wheeler) over logging roads, farm fields and backroads to get to campus in the winter. He also bred Dobermans. When one of his females got pregnant from a fence hopper of unknown breed, he called the resulting pups Doberman Pinzgauers.
That truck looks like it was setup for something like a makeshift motocross hauler/work zone
When I saw the headline/pic I went wow David bought a…. then it was the other way around lol
nice that you sold it to a really cool dude!
Those Ambulances were built for the Royal Air Force and the later Pinzgauers like that one were actually built in Guildford, UK by Automotive Technic under contract to the Ministry of Defence. And yes, would be an amazing overlander!
Ahh. So that explains why it’s RHD.
There is one other very important all-terrain vehicle that Steyr-Puch built – the Fiat Panda 4×4.
The perfect one-car solution if you don’t have space for a Pinzgauer and an i3.
Don’t forget the VW Vanagon Syncro!
In fairness, the i3 is probably also okay as a commuter.
That must be a newer model Pinzgauer. I’ve never seen one with that kind of nose piece, and that one looks like it has electronic AWD and diff locks. The ones I’ve seen and ridden in had mechanical AWD and diff locking levers where the automatic shifter on this one is.
Extremely cool rigs. I rode one in Hawaii on some fairly gnarly steep muddy paths, and with the 6×6 engaged, that thing clawed up the slippery slope with all 15 or so of us on board. There’s YouTube videos of them scrambling over some truly astonishing obstacles.
Was that to the top of zipline course on Maui? I know I’ve been in one of those somewhere, but I can’t remember if it was Hawaii or Alaska. The ride wasn’t exactly smooth, but it was very sure-footed.
Kawaii.
The real question is how many i3s can you fit in that thing? If it’s at least two, now you have an excuse to buy another.
I just sold my XJ for practical reasons. Please don’t give me impulsive ideas like this.
Condolences. But I’m with you.
Eh it was time. Best to sell it when everything was still working fine. Buyer was super excited. He brought his mechanic along who was impressed at how good a shape it was in. I got $6500 which I think is pretty fair.
Realistically my WL Trailhawk can do everything I need to do off-road these days.
Hey, Brandon: David’s handing out Member’s Rides pieces to anybody who buys a car from him!
Holy Pinzgauer!! This will be the overlander rig to rule them all. I don’t need one of these in my life, but I kinda need one of these in my life.
Six or seven years ago I ran into a Norwegian couple in western Colorado trying to traverse the entire world in their Pinzgauer. They had already been across Europe, Asia, Africa, and were working their way down North America to Central and South America. They were a funny bunch, and said they didn’t buy the Pinzgauer because they wanted to do the trip, but were doing the trip because they had the Pinzgauer!
You know the old saying, “When all you have is a Pinzgauer, all you see are continents to be traversed.” 🙂
Although I do slightly find Europeans’ proclivities for traversing the entire world to be interesting. It’s like “Fun Imperialism!” — Norway gets an exception, unless they’re going through certain parts of Minnesota where the Swedes run things. Then you’d better watch out!
So Cool. I have the privilege of wheeling with one of the 4×4 versions at an off road event about 20 years ago. wow it when over everything.
No way! That’s legendary.
it was at the https://www.memorial4x4.org/off-road-rally some time in the late 1990s.
I’ll note that you often see Pinzes and Volvos at Mogfests up and down the west coast all summer.
I’ve ridden in one in Kauai. This was years ago, but this zipline tour company used one as the shuttle bus, since the path out to the ziplines was quite primitive: Kaua’i Zipline Tour | Kaua’i Backcountry Adventures
Not sure if they still use it, but if so, it’s a great way to experience some of what they can do.
There’s a version of a Pinzi parked on the streets of Alameda, I should check it out again.