The Sell: Toyota, meet BMW. Electric cars get fun.
The Test: Even though we were running late for a trailhead meet-up, we didn鈥檛 think twice about bombing down a Catskill mountain road. Simply put, ($42,300; 137 city/111 hwy MPGe) doesn鈥檛 exist this side of Tesla. We credit the rear-wheel drive, which helps give it the handling of a traditional BMW sports sedan. Muscle it around a corner and it鈥檒l keep you on line with zero drama. More important: it feels capable, safe, and agile. That鈥檚 party because it鈥檚 even lighter (by 650 pounds) than the four-door Mini.
BMW pulled this off by starting with a carbon-fiber chassis, co-engineered with the same supplier used by Boeing for the 787. That fat-cutting led to lighter suspension and batteries, too.
The i3鈥檚 footprint and cargo capacity are nearly identical to the Mini鈥檚, but it feels far roomier, in part because there鈥檚 no transmission tunnel, so the cabin floor is totally flat, and because the rear doors open backward Lambo-style, so getting into the second row is much easier.
And the car is crazy eco, with a cabin constructed from recycled and sustainable materials. The i3 comes with its own app that finds charging stations and offers slick navigation from where you parked to your destination via public transit or walking. It lets you use your phone to auto-adjust off-peak charging and you can even pre-heat or pre-cool the car from your phone while the i3 is still plugged in. It鈥檚 not just for show: the upholstery maintains a neutral temperature, so you鈥檙e less apt to run the AC.
Add it all up and you have a car with 81 miles of range that corners like a BMW.
What鈥檚 Missing? A look that blends. The i3 is uber-cool, but it鈥檚 also polarizing. As many people told us it was 鈥渉ideous鈥 as said it was 鈥渟weet!鈥 And the latter were exclusively geeky dudes.
The Verdict: Who knew that being carbon conscious could be this much fun?