{"id":5248,"date":"2013-07-09T20:22:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-10T02:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=5248"},"modified":"2013-07-09T20:22:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-10T02:22:38","slug":"bmw-i3-drive-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=5248","title":{"rendered":"BMW i3 drive review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autoweek.com\/article\/20130709\/CARREVIEWS\/130709845\">Greg Kable:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The new i3 is also the first road-going BMW model to be based around an all-carbon-fiber body. For development, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmw.de\">BMW<\/a> forged a working relationship with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sglgroup.com\">SGL Carbon<\/a> and established a state-of-the-art carbon-fiber weaving and curing facility at its Landshut factory in Germany, where the new car&#8217;s structure is made.<\/p>\n<p>BMW says using carbon fiber has helped achieve a low (for an electric car) 2,635-pound curb weight. This helps the car&#8217;s performance potential because BMW could use a smaller-capacity battery than would have been possible with a more conventional steel monocoque construction.<\/p>\n<p>Stylistically, the production <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmw.de\/de\/suche\/result.html#eyJxIjoiaTMifQ==\">i3<\/a> differs little from the most-recent concept. It is a modern-looking car boasting proportions like those of the Mercedes-Benz B-class but with a more contemporary look. With no B-pillars, the car uses front-hinged suicide doors, allowing excellent access to the rear seat.<\/p>\n<p>Power comes from an electric motor mounted low in the rear axle &#8212; a position allowing BMW to devote the space under the hood to improved crashworthiness. The synchronous motor is produced in-house at BMW&#8217;s Munich engine plant; the company says it weighs just 287 pounds and produces 168 hp. As with all electric cars, the torque is what counts, and the motor&#8217;s 184 lb-ft is 5 lb-ft more than what the Mini Cooper S&#8217; 1.6-liter four-cylinder turbo produces. The i3 is rear-wheel drive with a single-ratio gearbox offering three driving modes: comfort, ECO-PRO and ECO-PRO+.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greg Kable: The new i3 is also the first road-going BMW model to be based around an all-carbon-fiber body. For development, BMW forged a working relationship with SGL Carbon and established a state-of-the-art carbon-fiber weaving and curing facility at its Landshut factory in Germany, where the new car&#8217;s structure is made. BMW says using carbon [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}