BMW i3: Wrapped and Ready

Is it me or does the i3 look especially good in custom designer wraps? Now that the i3 has been available in select European markets for about five months now, pictures are surfacing of i3s with colorful full-body wraps. The i3 will likely be a popular car for businesses to use because of tax incentives and low operating costs. Plus with its funky-unconventional styling it is sure to grab attention, especially with bright, colorful body wraps.

The stock colors available on the i3 aren't very bold, with Solar Orange the only color that really stands out. The rest of the colors are basically grey-scale with a white, two silvers and two greys. I've been thinking of doing something custom to my i3 when I get it, and seeing all these custom wrapped i3s has pushed me to decide to go for it. I've already identified where I'll be getting it done but I'm still on the fence about what color. I'll likely be wrapping my i3 soon after getting it provided I can get the timely appointment.

What color do you think will look best on the i3? Please leave your choice in the comment section below.

BMW i3: I See Your True Colors

Back in July I did a post on the i3's colors before they were initially announced. I found various pictures of i3's with partially covered with the blue and white swirly camouflage and pieced together what I believed would be the range of colors. I was close but not perfect,  and one of the things I got wrong was I had been calling the darker grey metallic paint Arravani Grey, when it actually turned out to be Laurel Grey. The problem is many other websites like bmwblog and Autoevolution picked up my posts and ran with them. That actually led to a lot of confusion as to which Grey is which, and months later it's still a point of confusion.

Some of the colors look different in different lighting so even these aren't perfect, but at least you can see all the colors next to each other in real photos, not illustrations like you get on the i3 online configurer. On the site, it's impossible to really distinguish between Arravani and Laurel Grey for instance. The Andesite Silver is interesting because in person I find that it can sometimes look like a beige-ish sliver, but other times not beige at all. One of the pictures below even captures what I mean. The Laurel Grey (which is my favorite) doesn't look as black in person as it does in pictures. In person you can clearly see the black hood is darker while some of the pictures make it look like the hood and the body panels are basically the same.

Capparis White w/BMW i Frozen Blue accent:

Andesite Silver Metallic w/ BMW i Frozen Blue accent:

Ionic Silver Metallic w/ BMW i Frozen Blue accent:

Solar Orange Metallic w/Frozen Grey accent:

Arravani Grey w/BMW i Frozen Blue accent:

Laurel Grey Metallic w/ BMW i Frozen Blue accent:

Note all of the colors come with BMW i Frozen Blue Accent trim except for the Solar Orange which has Frozen Grey. That's a good move because while it works for the other colors, I don't think the light blue trim would do well on an orange colored car!

Special thanks to BMWBLOG for providing many of the pictures to me for this post.

Edit:
Peter Bark from the i3 Facebook group just posted a short video there with about twenty i3's lined up at a dealership in Amsterdam. All the colors seem to be represented but it's difficult to tell the difference in Arravani and Laurel Grey since the pictures are head on and only the colored bumper and a little of the side can be seen clearly: Here's a link to the video:  photo.php

The BMW i3's "Black Hand"

The i3 in Laurel Gray with BMW i Blue accent. Even though it's not quite as black in person as it looks in this picture, I like how it minimizes the two tone color scheme. I plan to order my i3 in this color scheme, with the 20" sport wheels as pictured and apply a dark tint to the rear windows. 

I get emails from readers here almost on a daily basis, and now that we are approaching the US launch the amount of correspondence I receive has been dramatically increasing. Quite often my blog posts are a reaction to something someone asked me. I figure if someone out there was curious enough about the topic to email me, then others probably are as well. I've had people ask me about this in the past, however yesterday and today I have had three people ask me if there was any way to special order a monochrome i3, with the hood, roof and accents all painted the color that the rest of the body panels are, instead of black.

The "Black Hand" extends to the side mirrors

Sorry, but the answer is no. If you want your i3 to be all the same color, you'll have to paint it or get it wrapped after you've bought it. The only other way around it is to consider getting it in Laurel Gray (Laurus Gray in Europe). Laurel Gray is a dark metallic gray, and while it isn't black, it's close enough to give your i3 the monochrome look you desire. I like this color a lot and will likely order my i3 with it.

Everything is black besides the bumper

The back of the car is particularly interesting because everything is black except the rear bumper which kind of gives the appearance that there is another car inside the i3 that is trying to get out! The New York Times Wheels Blog recently did a story on why BMW chose to use the black hood, roof and accents on all i3's regardless of the main color of the car. Evidently it was to "lighten" the appearance of an otherwise "chunky" small car.  Here is an excerpt from the NY Times story:


"In designing the i3 electric car, BMW engineers were tasked with reducing weight to compensate for heavy batteries. They used a combination of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic and aluminum, and the company mounted the passenger compartment atop the batteries. That approach made for a shorter vehicle with a lower center of gravity, but it also gave it a chunky profile. So designers set out to lighten the tall, bulky “monoform,” said Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW Group’s design director.

“We wanted to remove visual weight from the car,” he said. That meant using all sorts of techniques and tricks to break up the apparent mass of he car, he explained in an interview last week.

Mr. Van Hooydonk, Richard Kim and Benoit Jacob worked on designing the i3 for five years. The name they chose to describe the technique used to lighten the bulk of the car’s outline was the black hand, said Mr. van Hooydonk.

“The hood, as you see, is black, and the same material runs over the roof and to the back,” he explained. “This helps us divide up the volume.”

The i3 in white. We call this the "Panda Version" over on the i3 Facebook group

Solar Orange has been well received

The i3 Andesite Silver

What are your thoughts on the "black hand?"  Do you think it does what BMW had hoped it would, or would you rather your i3 painted all one color? Does anybody out there plan to paint their hood the same color of the car? How about a wrap? Lets discuss in the comments:

i3 REx in US Spec Spotted at Pebble Beach

You can tell this is a US spec i3 by the red and orange reflectors on the edge of the wheel wells. Look at the previous pictures on this blog and you won't see the reflectors there because they were all European spec pre-production i3's

I've had people ask me if I had any high resolution pictures on an i3 in Laural Grey already but till now I didn't. there were a couple pictures out there of i3's with the partial camouflage in Laurus Grey but none since all the wraps have come off. So when I came across these pictures posted on Bimmerpost taken a couple days ago at the Pebble Beach Auto Show in California I grabbed them and figured I'd put them up here for those that want to see this color on a real car and not just on the online Visualizer.

The only thing I'm thinking about with this color is the details get hidden because everything looks nearly black. Another reason I need to see it on a car in person.

I happen to like this color a lot. In fact it may have escalated up to the top of my want list now but I still need to see all the colors on cars in person. Another thing people have asked me about is the blue stripe below the side doors. Can it be ordered in different colors? The answer is no it can't. All of the cars will have the "BMW i Blue" accent there, as well as on the inside of the double kidney faux grill in the front of the car with the exception of i3's ordered in Solar Metallic Orange. The accent color on Solar Orange is called "Frozen Grey Metallic". Unfortunately you cannot mix and match. I suppose the only option you'd have is to customize it yourself and have the pieces painted after you purchase the car if it really bothers you.

You can see the blue trim piece here below the carbon fiber door sill. It's much more visible when you open the door

The BMW i Blue grill really stands out when it's on a Laural Grey i3.

So if you really don't like the standard accent color on your i3 your only options are to repaint it or possibly apply a vinyl wrap - at your expense. I happen to think the trim colors look good, but that is obviously subjective. Actually, if I were to complain at all about the exterior colors, I'd wonder why BMW stuck so much grey scale. Other than the Solar Orange all the other colors are a shade of white to black with slivers and greys in between. The Solar Orange is the only real bold color and I think they could have been a little more creative there. How about borrowing a cool color from the M division?

The Frozen Grey Metallic accent on the Solar Orange i3's will look less prominent than the BMW i Blue will on the other cars in my opinion since it's not as bright of an accent

The i3 World Premier: What was Learned?

Photo by Hugo Becker of BMWBLOG

The much anticipated World Premier of the i3 has come and gone, so now it's time to look at what was learned. There was a lot of information released and I'll try to touch on as much as I can here, but I also recommend reading the full press release I posted on my post yesterday.

With the range extender - pretty tight!

I had a chance to talk at length with Oliver Walter, Head of Product Management for the i3. We discussed many things, but what stuck out in my mind the most was our discussion about the performance of the range extender. During the day it seemed to me that when reporters asked some of the speakers about the performance of the range extender, they never got a clear answer. So while I had Oliver all to myself I asked him directly if the i3's performance will be drastically reduced as many speculated. When I mentioned the term limp-mode, he looked at me like he was surprised I would even ask that and quickly said "No this is absolutely not a limp mode". He further went on to say the car will actually behave pretty

Without the range extender

normal and that the drive can continue to drive along - even at highway speeds, just as they were before. It will have slightly less power, but still be capable of driving normally in most conditions. Evidently BMW has designed it to come on while the car still has a reasonable amount of battery charge left, so there is enough of a buffer to allow the car to reach back and get the extra energy needed for bursts of speed and to climb long hills. So this also means the car will have a shorter all electric range with the range extender because you'll only have access to the first 80% or so of your battery power before the REx turns on. However I did find out that the driver can turn the REx off so it never comes on if they know they'll make their destination without needing the range extender. Therefore, you can have access to 100% of the fully charged battery as long as you can make it to the next plug without needing the REx to help out. I really like this feature and think users will also. However you cannot turn the REx on manually, before it turns on itself, like you can with a Chevy Volt's "Mountain Mode" This mode allows you to use the generator early in your travels so you save the battery charge for later when you may need the extra energy to drive up very steep hills or mountains. The i3 will have difficulty in these rare situations. If you drive it until the Rex comes on and you then need to drive up very steep inclines for a long time - like 10 miles or so, the REx may not be able to keep up with the energy output the electric motor needs after a while and will likely slow down at that point. This is a complex topic and I suspect the only way to really determine exactly what conditions will be too much for the REx will be once people start driving it. However in most normal driving circumstances, it appears the REx will be able to allow the driver to continue along without any issues for as long as they need to. The range extender option costs $3,850 and which brings the cost up to $45,200 without any other options.We also learned the US i3's will come standard with all LED exterior lighting but the European versions will have halogen lights standard and LED's optional.

There are three trim levels that can be ordered. They are named Mega World (the standard trim level) with Giga World and Tera World available as options and here is what each consists of: (US pricing for options has not been announced)

 Mega World ($41,350; $45,200 w/REx)

• BMW Navigation
• BMW ConnectedDrive with eCall
• BMW i Remote
• Alarm
• Bright, lightweight Sensatec and sustainable cloth made from recycled materials
• Leather trimmed steering wheel
• Grained dash trim

Giga World

• All Mega World features, plus:
• Interior wrapped in leather and wool cloth
• Universal garage door opener
• Comfort Access
• Sunroof
• Satellite radio
• Leather-trimmed steering with contrasting stitching

Tera World

• All Giga World features, plus:
• Luxurious full leather
• Olive leaf-tanned interior, with textile accents and contrasting stitching
• Anthracite floors mats.

An i3 in Solar Orange with the optional 20 inch "Double Spoke" wheels

The 19 inch "Turbine" wheels

However the BMW i3 online Visualizer offers four different interior design styles called Antelier, Lodge, Loft & Suite. I am not entirely clear yet how these fit into the different "World" trim levels, but I'll get that cleared up soon. If you want to go to the i3 Visualizer you can from this link. Each World trim level comes with a different 19" wheel and all are visual upgrades from the standard wheel in my opinion. However to me the best wheel is the optional 20" one that also has wider and lower profile tires then the 19" wheels. These will undoubtedly provide better performance but will likely shave a couple miles off the range of the car because of higher rolling resistance and greater weight.

Ionic Silver with the 20" wheels

My previous post over two weeks ago was 100% correct about the color options. The only thing I didn't have was the official color names. They are "Ionic Silver" which is silver blue, "Andesite Silver" which I called basic silver, "Arravani Gray" which I called dark gray, "Laurel Gray" which I called basic gray, "Capparis White" which I simply called white and I did have the Solar Metallic Orange correct. I expect the Solar Metallic Orange to be a very popular color choice as most people I ask seem to like that the best. It's really the only bold color that "pops". I haven't decided which color I'll choose and I'll wait till I see them all in person. That being said I think the only colors that are out of the running for me are the Capparis White and Andesite Silver, they just aren't for me.

BMW also released the performance figures. It's important to note that the i3 with the range extender will be slightly slower because it weighs 260 more pounds. Here are the performance figures for the i3 without the REx option:

0-35 mph     3.5 Sec.
0-60 mph     7.0 Sec.
50-75 mph   5.4 Sec.
Top Speed   93 mph (electronically governed)

Without the need for engine cooling, the i3's "double kidney" grill is solid to improve aerodynamics. The small grill under the license plate provides all the air flow needed for the thermal management system.

BMW i3 Color Choices

Unfortunately the blue and white swirly camouflage cover will not be a factory option but owners are welcome to custom paint their i3 like this if they've grown fond of looking at it on the car for two years now! I'll pass.

There has been no official confirmation on what color options will be available on the i3 but rumors have been swirling lately as journalists have been given access to pre-production i3's to test drive on closed courses.

We've seen what I've identified as six different colors so far; two slivers, two grays, a white and a new color specifically made for the i3 identified by BMW as Solar Metallic Orange. That's not much of a wide variety but it's not to say BMW is holding back some for the launch.

Update 8/1/13: I was correct and these are the six color offerings for the i3. I updated the names to the reflect the correct names BMW has designated.

Laurel Gray

Andesite Silver

Ionic Silver

Solar Metallic Orange - Made specifically for the i3

Capparis White

I don't know the official names of the colors for any of these except for Solar Metallic Orange that BMW announced recently. What's your favorite color here and do you expect BMW is holding back on different color options?