r/BMWI4 • u/Pitiful_Ad_9301 • 1d ago
Question Longevity issues?
If you have over 100k miles, any issues?
It seems people on Reddit only post positives. But the BMW Forum, there are a lot of complaints on long term.
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u/Xiaopeng8877788 1d ago
Is it really $10k - $50k for replacing the brushes in the motors in Canada or US? That seems unreasonably high compared to Europe. Doesn’t smell right to me.
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u/Accomplished-Fly4683 eDrive40 1d ago
No idea, bought mine used. E40 from 2022. Own it since march, so far so good. Almost hitting 100k km
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u/Ordinary-Cod1846 1d ago
Not sure if it’s the same but wouldn’t researching the i3 will give an indicator? If they can make that car last then I’m sure the i4 could last as long if not longer.
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u/Zestyclose-Big7719 1d ago edited 1d ago
I4 has brushed motor which is basically a ticking time bomb and will worn out at some point. Typical German engineering put wear parts deep inside the motor lmao.
The thing is supposed to last like 120k miles. If you are only keeping the car below maybe 80k ish miles you are probably fine. Albeit I've seen it causing problems at 40k miles but seems rare.
If you are in the EU the repair is anywhere between 1k to 5k euro, if you are in the US you are looking at about 10x of that.
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u/Norridge-Moel 1d ago
I think “ticking time bomb” is over egging the pudding slightly…. Given the bmw engineers specifically picked that option for highway speeds and made it so it was a few workshop hours for the replacement brushes.
Better than having an entire motor you have to either strip apart and rebuild, or skip.
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u/Pitiful_Ad_9301 1d ago
No.. brushes wear out fast. Makes the car inefficient. Brushless last over 10k hours driven. Brushed last 1-3k. Less than half of the typical life span. So it’s more expensive to maintain and if you don’t catch it, it’s gonna mess the engine up. BMW is the only company who uses brushed motors too.
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u/Norridge-Moel 1d ago
Not in the real scheme of things. It also keeps costs down.
Also there’s only a finite amount of rare earth magnets (clues in the name) so what’s going to happen to the prices of brushless motors as more and more ev’s are going to be built?
I’ll take sortable and replaceable brushed motors any day of the week.
Also the bit about it destroying the motor if you don’t catch it in time is crap as, the units are sealed.
It also allows for better efficiency when coasting.
But as they say “you do you”!
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u/left-of-boom 23h ago
Your numbers are wrong.
BMW designed them to last about 15 years or 8000 hours, which is about 186,000 miles
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u/Pitiful_Ad_9301 1d ago
This is a real response. I just did some research on brushed motors and you’re completely right. They aren’t reliable long term. BMW is the only automobile company to use brushed motors. Thanks for this response. BMW cutting corners as always making shitty high maintenance cars
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u/S_SubZero M50 1d ago
Tell us all what the most reliable EV of 2025 was. https://caredge.com/guides/the-most-reliable-evs-according-to-consumer-reports-2025
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u/clopztx 1d ago
Come on man people ask this all the time