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Assuming I wanted or needed a car for running around the city or short trips around home, I would not want a Volt. The Volt is a reasonable choice if you can only support one vehicle, as it can be used on extended trips. But, my gripe as a city car is that the engine still can come on, and cold starts are not the greatest thing for an ICE. The i3, without the REx, does not have any of those issues, but is limited to its intended purpose.
My issue with GM goes beyond what I mentioned, but it was not relevant to the discussion. Things are better than they were, but the vehicles are just not engineered as well IMHO...the fact that I don't fit into the Volt is just an aside...for those that do, and it performs for your desires, great. That's why there are hundreds of different makes and models out there...hopefully, something that meets your requirements. On the i3, you can't get much simpler than a single speed transmission with no sharing of power with the ICE like is possible with the Volt. While the Volt's design in that manner is a neat engineering reason to make it more efficient, the i3's design doesn't ever use the ICE for any part of propulsion, only to power the generator. On the Volt, the engine normally only drives the generator, but in some circumstances can supply some of the propulsion and charge the batteries, thus the comment on that it is complicated managing the electric motor, the ICE, and the generator, all linked into the same mechanical box. There's no direct mechanical connection between the i3's ICE and the electric propulsion system, it is entirely electrical, feeding juice to the batteries.
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