Just popping over from the F-Type forum where I usually hang out to ask advice on a local one owner 2019 i-PACE with 52K on the clock. First, I guess I'm impressed at someone clocking that sort of mileage per year for a personal vehicle (based on the carfax 40K in the first year).

But is that a red flag? In addition to the standard US Jag warranty, it looks like the EV bit (battery only?) is also 100K/8yr - guessing that excludes the motors ? The servicing schedule seems to be mostly brakes and filters.

Topix used to have an option to pull the build sheet based on the VIN to see what options were there but they seem to have disabled that for mere mortals now. The last internet VIN checker I ran it through claimed it had a V8 so I'm not sure I trust that.

It's this listing, so if anybody has knowledge or comments, please share

https://www.bmwofaustin.com/inventor...b2s17k1f69673/

 

Electric motors have extremely long service lives, the issue would be the battery, and that much mileage over the first year likely means heavy use of Level 3 chargers which would age the battery prematurely. Fast charging cooks the battery, and the more you use the technology, the faster the battery will degrade. I'd certainly ask for a battery check (BMW sells electrics and should be able to do one) and call Jaguar if there was significant degradation to see if the warranty covered it before purchasing. Still, I'd avoid an electric car with this much mileage over that short a time (that first year was brutal). Most of us use electrics as a second car charging them on Level 2 or Level 1 (I've switched to using the Level 1 charger more because we drive my wife's hybrid more often than my car) to preserve the battery longer as I may keep this car for a decade. I rarely drive very far, as most places I go are under 10 miles away. I also think that is too much for a car that was pounded that hard initially, I did a quick market value report and the value was closer to $36K but that value doesn't consider the heavy first-year usage. You likely could bargain the car down to that or below given it is a Jaguar at a BMW shop. If you love the configuration and weren't going to drive the car a lot it'd be a deal below $34K, I wouldn't pay more than that though given the battery risk.

 

Divide mileage by age of the car gets 17k miles per annum. So are you saying 17k miles a year damages the battery ?

 

Thanks Rob for the excellent perspective. We have an LR3 as the workhorse and I’m ashamed to say that the F only got 300 miles on the clock in the past year. I need to get out more but low slung sports cars may not be in my future. Given that I could probably live with the granny charger as some call it and save up for a L2 as a longer term option.

I test drove an I-Pace not long after getting the F so it was my next logical step..

Appreciate the battery health comments and will pop into my usual Jag dealer for further advice.

im not in a hurry so if a deal is to be had, end of the year sales figures and all that…

 

Fraser:

The record (carfax, which also indicated it was a V8 for some reason) indicated the car was driven 40K miles in the first year. Otherwise, you'd be correct, and under 20K a year typically wouldn't be an issue. That first year concerns me (it might also indicate it was a demo car, and I avoid demo cars like the plague as they tend to be abused). 40K on a car in a year, even for an ICE car, is problematic because that is unusually high and would move in a lot of the expensive repairs by years; electric cars can avoid some of these, but pounding on the battery like this (I was once the battery analyst for North America) is problematic.

 

Actually I looked back over the CARFAX and the 40K miles was over a two year period but don’t know how that was spread. I think an additional 8K was more recent over six months. I’ve asked the dealer if their BMW tech can pull a battery report. I’m guessing unlike an iPhone there is no onboard screen which reports the health status?

 

$40K over 2 years isn't as bad and would reduce my concern a lot, Given there were relatively few level 3 chargers in 2019 outside of dealerships it would reduce my concern on this car being a demo car as well and take me back up to a sub $37K value for a deal (the high-interest rates are making car deals someone more common now). Sadly the dealership has to run the battery test; there isn't a screen in the car that would provide that information (it would be a nice to have feature, but I don't know of any electric that has it yet). Let me know if they can do this, as it might be that you'd need a diagnostics tool tuned for the I-Pace specifically. But I know there are generic tools in the market and they are likely cheaper and better for a shop than any vehicle-specific tool so there is a good chance BMW can do this, but let me know as that is something I haven't checked. Here is an example of one: Electric Vehicle Battery Testing | Arbin Instruments

 

Does anybody have access to dealer auction prices for the I-Pace at this spec ? I know dealers tend to push cars to auction after 60 days so that might help figure out a reasonable offer…

 

In the end I did a Forrest Gump and am in the final stages of purchasing a 2019 HSE spec with half the miles and the bonus of being a CPO car with an extra year and unlimited miles. My dealer says campaings are up to date but I will get them to verify the wiring loom and health of the 12v aux batteries (if there's a way to self test that using conventional tools let me know). Now hearing about windshield leaks so one to research.
Down the rabbit hole we go :-)

 

You can use a battery load tester on the 12v batteries, but if they are original, I'd just have them replaced, given how many have failed after 3 years. But it is a piece of mind thing for me, as lead-acid batteries store reasonably well.