At last night's press conference, the X5L was the absolute protagonist. As the first domestic and extended medium-sized SUV in the BBA, BMW only has two things to complete next, the first Dadong factory to step up production, and the second to find a comfortable place to sit and count money.
As a supporting role, i3, although 80% of the people who are ready to pay for orders are not as much as X5L, this car may receive the attention of the global market.
The name i3 is of great significance to BMW, "i" represents the future of BMW, symbolizing the i brand of new energy. The "3" is BMW's most successful car series in 47 years, representing BMW's past and present glory.
Although in the past nine years, BMW has put the i3 on a small car, opening UP BMW's history in the field of new energy. But the positioning that is far from the 3 Series always feels a little strange, coupled with the emergence of iX3, i4, i7 and other models, the i3 that should have represented the pure electric version of the 3 Series is becoming more and more unusual.
So after the official release of the i3, BMW also put this very meaningful name on a correct car.
Although this release is short, but the amount of information contained in the release of i3 is still quite large, and even we can split it into "i" and "3" to say separately.
The 3 series after the mid-term revamp was released for the first time
This generation of the G series bmw 3 series was released in 2019, pinch your fingers, and by 2022 it is also the mid-term change. But many people should not have guessed that the debut of the 3 series after the mid-term redesign will appear on the pure electric version.
Taking the i3 as a reference, the biggest change in the BMW 3 Series after the mid-term redesign should come from the headlights and center console.
When this generation of 3 series was first listed, the most complained about in addition to the control, which may be the design of the headlights. Although there is still a legacy of angel eyes, laser headlights cannot be selected in China, so the "broken" daytime lamp group does look a little strange.
On the 3 series after the mid-term redesign, the headlights were redesigned. Not only is the shape more regular, but the daytime light group seems to have become a complete body, which seems to be more pleasing to the eye.
The change of the center console is the design of two screens, BMW will be the original split design of the full LCD instrument and the central control screen to a one-piece, the size of the central control screen from the original 10.25 inches to 14.9 inches, followed by of course, the latest iDrive8 car machine system.
In addition, the physical buttons for the air conditioning and multimedia areas have been greatly simplified, and the corresponding functions are integrated into the central control screen. As for the saddle area, the overall layout has not changed, but the ancestral chicken leg stall handle is really gone, leaving only a small lever smaller than the public's "mahjong card".
But the impact is actually not large, after all, the original M file has also been changed to a B file representing the energy recovery.
Of course, regarding the changes in the interior, on the i4 that was launched some time ago, we have seen the changes in BMW's new generation interior design in the G series models.
As for the beauty and ugliness, I am actually more accepting of the interior style of the current model, especially the curved design of the transition from the instrument to the central control screen part. Although it wastes a little space, it is also more designed. In contrast, the screen is really too ordinary.
However, the more beautiful interface of iDrive8 is still very attractive to me, but unfortunately, like 6 can not be upgraded to 7, 7 can not be upgraded to 8.
Is the pure electric 3 series still the benchmark?
Having said the "3" part, let's talk about the "i" aspect of it.
As a 3 series born on the CLAR platform, i3 will naturally be driven later. Of course, like the i4 on the same platform, it certainly supports the four-wheel drive version of the front and rear dual motors. However, the current domestic version only has a choice of rear single motor, and the model is also based on the long wheelbase version of the G28, named eDrive35L.
This is also easy to understand, after all, the G28 with more space in the back row sells higher. Most of the people who buy the G20 are for the pursuit of driving pleasure, and rarely consider pure electric vehicles.
In terms of data, the 35 version equipped with the fifth generation of eDrive has a maximum power of 210 kW and a peak torque of 400 N·m, which is basically the same as the iX3. The performance is comparable to that of the high-power version of the B48, and the official acceleration time of 100 kilometers is 6.2 seconds, which is also the same as the 330i.
In addition, in the sport-related configuration, the i3 comes standard with rear anti-roll bar, front compartment lever and adaptive air suspension located on the rear axle, and from the official picture I seem to see the same four-piston front caliper as the iX3. Therefore, from the perspective of hardware configuration, the i3 is obviously more sincere than the 3 series, and the pricing of 349,900 yuan is similar to the 325Li version of the medium-matched version.
However, if you really put it on the track, I feel that the sporty performance of the i3 and the long axis version of the 3 series should not be much different.
After all, the curb weight is nearly 400kg more than the fuel version of the model, so whether it is a caliper, anti-roll bar or shock absorber upgrade, it should be to offset the impact of the increase in weight on the handling. I guess the driving experience of the i3 is still more comfortable,000, and catching up with the Model 3 is basically no play.
Of course, since it is a pure electric vehicle, it must be said that the battery life, and this may be the biggest weakness of the i3.
In terms of battery capacity, the i3's battery pack is only 70.3kWh. But on the smaller i4, that figure is 83.9kWh. So in terms of cruising range, the i3's CLTC has a range of only 526 kilometers, while the i4 eDrive40 can reach 625 kilometers.
Although the pricing difference is 100,000, but the i4 is after all an imported four-door coupe, the power is still stronger, I think BMW really does not need to "shrink" in battery capacity and endurance.
For comparison, the CLTC of the standard model 3, which is also equipped with a single motor but a battery pack of only 60kWh, has a range of 556 kilometers. The NIO ET5, 75kWh version of the CLTC with dual motors in front and rear is 550 kilometers.
In addition, BMW has neither a very powerful fast charging network nor a convenient power exchange technology. Then in the endurance of this piece, the disadvantage of i3 is still quite obvious.
Write at the end
In the Chinese market, the iX3 should be the only pure electric vehicle in the BBA that has been recognized by everyone. Compared with the high-priced EQC and e-tron, the iX3 really opens the market for pure electric vehicles with low prices.
And i3, I think the pricing this time is actually quite sincere. After all, counting the late-stage preferential treatment, purchase tax exemption and licensing benefits in some areas, the landing price of i3 may be almost the same as the 3 series entry-level version, which is still quite attractive.
Of course, on the i3, we also saw the appearance of the mid-term redesign of the 3 Series, with a new style of headlights and the iDrive8 car engine system. So for people who are planning to buy the fuel version of the 3 series, they may also have to fall into a choice, should they wait for the new 3 series?