Just bought a used 2012 imiev - These are great!

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ed5000

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 27, 2015
Messages
258
Location
Castro Valley, CA
I just bought a used 2012 imiev ES in silver and I love it! It's a lot of fun to drive around, especially in the city (easy to park, etc.). It only has 2100 miles on it so it's like new and the price was great too. Usually I like to get all the options I can so I don't have to add things later but, I love the simplicity of this car. Great big knobs for the ventilation and radio (I listen to FM radio anyway) and easy to read dash. I love the hand brake. For a base model there's quite a bit of amenities here (AC, power windows, remote mirrors, AM/FM radio and CD player, usb charge port and even a vanity mirror. It wasn't that long ago this would be considered "fully loaded" for the average car. I find the car quite comfortable and the view nearly SUV like - maybe like a mini SUV?

Interestingly this car has a little rust underneath on the suspension parts - not too bad but that tells me it saw shipped to Northern California from the snow country somewhere. I'm guessing it was easier to sell here? Also, the air bag light is on. I have no idea why a car with only 2100 miles would have that but I'll have to have that looked at (no deployed air bags etc). Hopefully it's something that just needs to be reset.

When I figure out how to post pictures I'll put one up!
 
Howdy ed and welcome to the forum. Yes they are great cars and the best kept secret in electric cars at that. Hopefully you are just seeing some surface rust and not to the bone...
 
Welcome. I think a good portion of i-MiEVs have surface rust underneath. I'd consider it normal.

Your airbag light is most likely due to a faulty impact sensor. Quite a few of them had this issue, including mine. Should be covered under warranty.

Yes, the i-MiEV is packaged very well and beats all on visibility I think. For as small as the i-MiEV seems to be, it is the same height as a RAV4.
 
kiev said:
Howdy ed and welcome to the forum. Yes they are great cars and the best kept secret in electric cars at that. Hopefully you are just seeing some surface rust and not to the bone...

I agree. Not too many people probably know about these. As for the rust, I looked underneath a couple times and it seems fairly light. I think I'll be okay.


PV1 said:
Welcome. I think a good portion of i-MiEVs have surface rust underneath. I'd consider it normal.

Your airbag light is most likely due to a faulty impact sensor. Quite a few of them had this issue, including mine. Should be covered under warranty.

Yes, the i-MiEV is packaged very well and beats all on visibility I think. For as small as the i-MiEV seems to be, it is the same height as a RAV4.

Thanks PV1. That would be great if it's under warranty. And yes, it has good visibility and just plain fun to drive.
 
ed5000 - congratulations! For much better all-round visibility, take off the three passenger headrests and only put them in when you have other bodies in the car. You'll find the i-MiEV gets you around the entire Bay Area quite nicely, and you simply need to pre-plan your recharging points whenever you venture more than about 30 miles from home. We have plenty of charging stations everywhere - just be sure to get familiar with PlugShare.com!
 
Thanks Joe! I just downloaded the Plugshare app last weekend and found a plug nearby for 15 cents per kwh. I just had to go out and try it!
 
Try the chargers at the Southland Mall in Hayward. They are Volta and free! We were just there yesterday on our way to the SF Airport.
 
Phximiev said:
Try the chargers at the Southland Mall in Hayward. They are Volta and free! We were just there yesterday on our way to the SF Airport.

Looks like I'll be shopping at Southland this weekend. :lol:

Do they require a card?
 
wmcbrine said:
PV1 said:
Your airbag light is most likely due to a faulty impact sensor.
Or maybe just a drained 12V battery.
I checked the battery and it's just over 13 volts after sitting a while unplugged. The battery has a tag that says it was replaced in 2013 and the car was in "inventory". I'm guessing that the car was unsold at that point.

Sure is a cute battery. It looks like one from a lawn tractor.
 
ed5000 said:
The battery has a tag that says it was replaced in 2013 and the car was in "inventory". I'm guessing that the car was unsold at that point.
No point in guessing. You can create an account at http://www.mitsubishicars.com and "Add a Vehicle" by putting in your VIN number. It will then show you the status of all your warranties, along with all of the recalls and official service done on the car. The overall 36 month warranty began whenever the car was officially 'placed into service' (which has nothing to do with when it was sold) so if you see that it is expired, you'll know it was put in service more than 36 months ago. A dealer will often put a demo into service so they can allow customers to drive it and it may not be sold for another year - If that happens, the new owner will only have 24 months remaining on the warranty the day he/she drives it off the lot

I have two 2012'a and the original one we bought in May of 2012 is now expired, but the second one we bought wasn't placed into service until January of 2013, so the basic warranty on that one doesn't expire until next January

Don
 
Wow, thanks Don! I was able to log in and find a wealth of information. For instance, I found out this car came from Normal, Illinois which confirmed that this car came from the snow country as I suspected. The options that came with this car was the "cold weather package" with battery heating system and heated mirrors. Does the battery heater come on automatically? I'm not sure how much I'll use it here in California. :mrgreen:

Also all my warranties are good until at least January 2013 (like Don's 2nd car) and some longer. No problem here, I can have them look and the air bag light.
 
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