So far, after driving the i for 2 weeks i've found it to be a fine car, it drives pretty well, but buffeting from the wind in 40mph winds is quite noticeable. The feeling in the steering wheel is muted, but light, although somewhat sticky at higher speeds, similar to the Suzuki Swift, could be the power steering. The front tires are a bit light on grip though, on wet slick road it's easy to trigger the ABS brakes.
I'll have to go make the rounds and see if I can get some wider front tires. If I can get another set of steel rims it would be possible use winter tires. If that's a no-go I'll rather go for all-season tires. I don't think I want the LRR tires, I tend to equate those with skid plates. Having driven cars with winter tires for over 10 years now I've grown fond of them. Even if it's just for the few days a year you need them.
The general acceleration is pretty good, well, it is from around 10 kph and up. The initial launch is very lethargic if you floor it in my model before it goes, not sure why. Still, it's very easy to drive compared to other small cars, of which we have quite a few in NL. The loaner car I had from Mitsubisi, the Spacestar, had a 1.0 3 cylinder engine. If you missed the clutch on launching from a stand still and you dropped out of the torque band it became a snail, which made for some very uncomfortable moments. The i drives quite easy in this respect.
The knobs on the dashboard I like, in so far that they are discrete knobs, but they don't have a endpoint or midpoint that you can use for reference (the heater knob for example). In my previous Peugeot 206 I had climate control, where you had to look at the screen to see temperature, fan settings, etc. So that was worse.
The dash isn't very detailed, but it's a cheap car (with a expensive battery), the plastic is the same as the Peugeot 206, it's all hard. I use a after market stereo, a 1 DIN pioneer with bluetooth hands-free that I've been towing along for the past 10 years (P65BT). The relative distance from the driving position to the dash where the radio sits is too far away for my liking, it makes changes to the channel or volume annoying. I really miss the behind steering will radio remote, a lot.
I insulated the rear doors last week, going to attempt the front doors next week. I've used 10mm thick weather proof foam for RV use, it adheres well to the inside door, keeping the plastic for the cold barrier. I've also managed to find a "High Voltage" warning sheet on the inside of the drivers rear door, probably a left over from the battery maintenance. I've taken the liberty to install some 6,5 inch rear speakers and made a 3D printed ring for mounting it (on thingiverse).
The initial week was a bit of pain, the car would keep aborting charge, which turned out to be a bad drive battery. Replacing that took 2 months, but was taken care of inside the warranty, which is really good for a 5 year old car. Since that replacement I've been positively impressed by the range, not as bad as I hoped, not as good as I hoped. Still, it does 90km with the heater on reliably which is still more then enough for the 70km i drive daily. I get to charge at work too, so it's easier to run errands after work.
Most of my family lives close by, I can make the round trip to either of them, which is nice. I have not had any freezing cold, so far it's been well above 0. The lowest was a 5C morning afaik, and with the heater on it's fine travelling. Speaking of the heater, it hasn't been to bad an experience so far.
With regards to general living with the car, it's the first with a working AC unit, which is a plus, and I get power windows front and rear too. I always missed rear power window control in the other cars. It also came with a cruise control, which I think is after market, but works well enough. I've found the cruise control to make a nice addition for keeping speed. In general, the lack of sound makes it harder for me to judge speed, as such I've been driving either too fast or too slow, but rarely close to the speed limit.
The dash reading is somewhat annoying, I don't like the speedo as a number in the middle, just give me a normal dial. The energy thing is purely for entertainment purposes, I'd rather have a trip average reading in kWh/km, remaining range in one view instead of something where you press a button. The RR is pretty reliable, but again, too many things on a single display.
Why does the car not have a clock, it bugs me enormously. :/ A light for the charge port to indicate charging or full would be nice, or one behind the wind screen I can see without having to open the door. A charge port on the front instead of the rear would be easier for me too. But that depends on where your access and parking space is, it goes either way.
So, how much does it cost? Well, I purchased it 2nd hand for 10k euro with 57k km on the clock, not quite the lowest mileage bargain, but still 2k cheaper then the others. In the end I might have actually struck the jackpot with the battery being replaced under warranty. If you compare this car to the previous Peugeot 206 SW Diesel I had before with the same mileage it's 850 euros for the i and 2800 for the 206. That's quite a hefty difference, all else being equal.
If you compare this car to the cheapest alternative, like the Mitsubishi Spacestar or Toyota Aygo, which I think is a fair comparison considering the class of vehicle it is still 850 vs 1800 euros a year. It still comes out cheaper to run. The big difference here is mainly the lack of road tax for full electric vehicles in NL, which would otherwise be 80 euros a month for the diesel, or 32 for the petrol car. A hybrid wouldn't have worked, as it still gets taxed for half the weight, so a Chevy Volt is still 550 a year in taxes alone.
I've not taken the purchase price into consideration or maintenance, neither is cheap. I could afford the 2nd hand i, but a decent petrol car wouldn't be the cheap either. Buying a 2nd hand Aygo for 5k euro with 178k km on the clock wouldn't be a sane choice either. The primary goal was to get to work dry and for the cheapest price possible without resorting to public transportation. We can not afford to keep driving 2 cars next year, so this was the cheapest way to still get to work reasonably. (35 minutes vs 1 and a half hours)
Other things I've purchased, a Mennekes type 2 to J1772 2nd hand for 130 euros for the public charging stations. A EVSE 2nd hand for 200 euros with a J1772 fixed cord on the driveway. A OVMS for reading charge state remotely.
I've probably forgotten other things, but it's a decent car for what it is.
