I'm considering the i3 as a replacement for my 2013 LEAF when its lease expires in June of 2015. By that time, we'll be about a year on from the US release of the i3 and we'll know a lot more about the car's driving dynamics, range and quality of construction. I got lucky as an early adopter of the Gen 1 LEAF, but I'm not as optimistic about the i3's initial quality, given its radical new design, so I'm taking no chances. If the i3 turns out to be "less than stellar", so to speak, there are certainly other choices, especially in California. I could even decide to pick up a two year lease on a new 2015 LEAF.
My motivation for being interested in the i3 stems back to my first drive in an EV, the MiniE. Ever since that drive, I've wanted a small, sporty EV with good acceleration that builds rather than drops off after 30 mph. I'm not interested in a car as big or expensive as a Model S, and I need something with a reasonable back seat and four doors. The Chevy Spark is too small and too cheaply equipped for me.
The i3 will have the drive train from the ActiveE, which moves that much heavier car with satisfying alacrity, so the i3 should be fairly quick (about 7 seconds to 60 mph) and it'll feel quicker. The handling, though, remains to be seen with those very skinny eco tires.
As far as looks, I have no problem with the i3 and I expect that it will look quite a bit better in the flesh, or I should say, in the plastic, than it does in photos.
I probably won't get the REx version to avoid the extra expense and complexity, weight and reduction in EV range that it brings with it. As far as QC capability, I'll probably pay the extra fee to get the Frankenplug, expecting that I'll see one or two of them by the end of a three year lease in 2018. If I don't see any by then, then I'll have guessed wrong. At least the i3 will have a 7 kW on board charger, so L2 will be as quick as possible with public charging. I don't intend to drive this car on distance drives because we'll have some nice PHEV for long drives by then, so QC isn't a big deal to me.
My eventual goal is a Gen III Tesla, so the i3 would probably be a gap filler between the 2013 LEAF and the Tesla Gen III. One other qualification for the BMW is that while Tesla won't lease you a car to save their lives, BMW absolutely loves to do leases, so it makes the perfect gap filler.