UpSideDown

The little i3 is pretty fast off the line.

SteVTEC

It'll definitely be a spunky little car, but you can tell that the guy in the i3 reacted a bit faster which was probably most of the difference. Cool video though, and at the Nurburgring no less.

Infra

iTrader: (1)

I don't think he did, that's just the delay of waiting for (DCT) clutch to engage and the engine to rev vs the instantaneous thrust of a motor with a fixed gear transmission that never needs to be disengaged.

If you've ever driven the DCT or Audi's S-tronic, there is a noticeable delay if one is not "launching" the car, either by using a launch mode OR by rev'ing the engine prior to launch.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

isn't the i3 a 7sec-ish 0-60? What'd they run these two too roughly?

rai

Not sure what was up, but the M3 was not accelerating from a stop nearly (Nearly) as hard as it can. More like a half throttle start.

This is so silly. And the i3 driver was saying Brilliant, Incredible


Last I checked the M3 was ~4.1 sec to 60.

i3 should be dragging i4 Accords (ish)

I'd like to see a Tesla vs M3 drag.

I drove my friends Tesla S, what go me was how immediate the power was from tip in. It was like one of those wind-up cars where the power is there just waiting to be unleashed instantly while the M3 has to go about making the power first. Probably Tesla S would win the early part but the M3 would be catching up the later part of a 1/4 mile.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Not a M3 but they tested a M5 vs a Tesla S

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/car...drag-race.html

rai

These so called tests are completely rigged, go look at C&D actual instrument tests and you will see a Tesla S is slower than a M3 or M5

So called side by side tests are driver dependent, if you want to test which is faster got to take the best time not any random run.

A random run a V6 accord could get the jump on a M5 but that doesn't mean it's faster.


Just looking on a site called dragtimes:

stock M5 1/4 mile 11.9 sec @118 mph

Fastest Tesla S 12.4sec @ 111 mph

So take that video of a Tesla 'beating ' the M5 with a huge grain of salt, the Tesla driver beat the M6 driver had nothing to do with the cars potential, same with the M3 video except that was just pathetic, should not even be close in any way.

LexFather

I thought the i3 was an electric car but it actually has an engine in it.

rai

It's a full electric car like the Leaf except you can buy an optional engine.

Optional range extender engine, if you have range anxiety you can buy an optional engine which charges the battery but does not provide propulsion (from what I read about it).

STIG

I wouldn't get a i3 even if that thing is faster than a rocket. just look at that thing.

Infra

iTrader: (1)

#1 - no one is talking about the 1/4 mile here

#2 - all quarter mile times are only started when the front tire unblocks the light. Meaning, the mechatronics has engaged the clutch and the engine is already starting to make some power. This can take up to 0.3 seconds, which is just about how long it takes that M3 to really start moving. Again, the i3 does not have this handicap! So, who will win in a drag race changes dramatically when we're talking about electric vs ICE.

RXSF

I wonder how much range the i3 lost

yowps3

This is why I dislike dual clutch transmission.

They're so slow off the line, they're terrible at stop/start traffic and they literally cannot crawl. Using a DSG in city driving will wear it out extremely quick and is asking for trouble.

Not to mention their jerky nature. You cannot drive smoothly, after all there are 2 clutches in the trannybox

Marzabella

That i3 was indeed the pure battery version, being driven by a tech journalist at Brands Hatch, they were supposedly going from a standing start to 50mph. He said the M3 lost time due to a gear change so it may well have been a manual.

SteVTEC

#1 I do think the M3 was a manual and not a DSG/DCT.
#2 I do think the i3 started/reacted a bit faster, whether we're talking about electric or gas or whatever.
#3 M3 was struggling for traction on launch.
#4 in a full 1/4 mile race, the M3 would have been many train-lengths ahead.

Trying to say the M3 is "only a little faster" to 60 mph based on this video is silly. I thought BMW was quoting the i3's 0-60 time as about 7 seconds. That's plenty fast for most people, but still a mile away from M3 territory. Our X5d will do just a hair under 7 seconds to 60, and I bet if I stood on the converter from a dead stop and with AWD I could hole shot an M3 on launch too. But does that mean an M3 is only a "little" faster than an X5 to 60? LOL.... Come on.

BTW time to distance and time to speed are also two very different things.

It's clear from the video that due to the "zero lag" nature of an electric powertrain that it's very quick to get to a certain distance, but it's also clear from the video that the M3 was FAR faster at achieving time to speed. It started out behind but very quickly ate up the distance it was behind and passed the i3 very quickly, as it was achieving far faster speeds vs time. As far as street performance, yes "time to distance" is more of what people want than short "time to speed" so I have no doubt that people will be very satisfied with the i3's performance, regardless of what its 0-60 times end up being.