BMW i8 review

[smudge 1020]

As some of you know, the Mrs occasionally brings home a nice car from work as they don't want to leave them in the work car park unattended. 

Previously, we've had BMW 7 series, Golf GTI's, Audi S5's and even a brand new CLS AMG. Whilst all of these are pretty special and fairly rare cars, I think last night was the one I was most excited about. The BMW i8

Now it's probably no surprise that the hybrid element of the car is of NO interest to me whatsoever other than coupling up with the 1.5litre, 3 cylinder engine to make it go faster  but just the whole industry hype about this car made me more excited to see and drive it than any other car she's brought home. So I thought I'd give a mini review of the car based on just 6 hours and 150miles of it being in my hands  

 

Exterior

Every picture I've seen of the i8 has made it look sleek and cutting edge. A real look into the future of BMW's design for the more "everyday" cars that they produce and we buy.

As it rolled into the car park, I was instantly hit with it's low-slung, aerodynamic, typical coupe shape and couldn't wait to get a closer look. However, once it had stopped and I got the chance to really look at it close up...it's a big of an ugly fucker! 

I like the front, but I don't love it. It's not "mean" enough and just doesn't feel right. I think a more aggressive front end would suit the car better. But maybe that's just me being used to looking at the front end of a GT86 which I think looks particularly mean.

Side profile is actually fairly similar to the 86. A low angle windscreen joins the long swooping bonnet and the low roofline together, with huge front windows and tiny rear quarters. The massive brakes generating that extra electricity when using them is always a good looker of course.

The rear is where I was really disappointed. It looks like a big Hyundai of some sort and just not typical BMW or anything that resembles a £120,000 supercar. 

The gullwing doors aren't something I'm usually a fan of. I remember seeing a Lambourghini with them when I was about 5 and thinking how cool they were, but as time went on and they began to be used on Corsas and Saxos, they sort of lost their appeal. But I think they sort of work on the i8, if anything from a practical point for the high sills from the carbon tub which you simply wouldn't be able to get over if it was a conventional door.

Overall, a good looking car from a distance, but up close is a bit of a monster...

 

Interior

With the i8 having a carbon tub, getting into the car is a bit of a challenge as you have to climb over the raised sills to then plonk yourself into the seat. Getting out is even less dignified, I can't imagine how picking up a hot date in a skirt would work out when you get to your destination.

For some reason this i8 came with cream leather which I've always hated. But what annoyed me most is that a cream interior means a cream headlining, when the dashboard, carpets and door trims are all black. Never ever understood why you'd have a contrasting headlining colour.

I expected the £120k supercar to come with custom, titanium-carbide instruments and buttons to make it feel like an exotic, special place to be. But no...just generic BMW 5 and 7 series buttons, controls, navigation and climate control. Not even heated seats! The interior was a MAJOR disappointment as it just felt like any other BMW I've seen.

The driving position was almost perfect, very similar to the 86 with the seat being down low and the ability to have the steering wheel pulled out towards you so that it's nice and close for some proper driving. I felt like I needed the seat to go back another inch or 2 though as my resting foot wasn't quite rested, I found it was more of a case that the short footwell was causing me to bend my left leg the entire time. 

The rear seats are there but basically useless unless you're a double amputee and the boot space is laughable, just about big enough to hold the mains charger and a bag of shopping perhaps.

Worst of all, along with the cheap buttons and instruments, was the quality of the material. The leather and plastics felt like they weren't really finished, almost like I was sitting in a prototype car rather than a final production. Again, not impressive for the price tag at all

One aspect I really did like was the crystal clear head-up display which projects itself on the windscreen just above the speedo cluster. It's a bit of a gimmick but I really liked having it there in my peripheral vision whilst driving along, particularly on the motorway when cruising along.

 

Driving performance

The i8 was designed to be a supercar of the future. Coupling old school internal combustion with cutting edge electronic assistance for driving around town economically and then an added power source for when speed is demanded. 

Around town at low speeds, it's essentially a Toyota Prius. Humming along almost silently using nothing but the battery and electric motors. There is an "eco-pro" mode which is PURELY electric mode and only gives you half the motors capable power, I tried this for about 4 seconds before switching back to automatic mode as it was nearly impossible to tolerate, even at low speeds in town.

So we found an open stretch of road and planted the go pedal. 0-60 is surprisingly quick, with both the engine and the motors working in harmony to smoothly produce 60mph in around 4 seconds. No loss of traction at all in damp conditions so I must assume that the motors and engine are controlled by some clever TC system where it cuts power if necessary.

Pleased with the standard 0-60 test, we went for 0-100. Up to around 70mph it's a fantastic sensation of endless torque and for a 3 cylinder engine, actually quite a nice noise too! The only comparison it like some sort of tiny V6 with a faint whine behind it and it gets quite addictive, particularly through tunnels.

However, after 70mph, the torque seems to just....stop? The noise continues but you really feel like the car is struggling to keep pushing forward. 0-100 was reached in about 9 seconds which is still fairly rapid, but the last 30mph just seemed to take forever! It seems that instant acceleration is this car's party trick but anything over 70mph is just a bit...meh

The ride is sublime. Very comfortable yet very firm in the bends. It gives you a lot of confidence to stick this big, heavy beast into corners at good speed and the steering gives plenty of feedback to keep that confidence too.

 

Overall verdict

For £120,000 I expected a lot, lot more. There are so many elements of the car that just feel a bit cheap and like a last minute thought. The interior is just like being in any other BMW and for the money I'd want some thing a bit more special.

It's a crowd pleaser. Everywhere we went it turned heads and even had people in Porsche's, M5's, and an F430 stopping to have a good look. We were initially at quite a posh golf club near me just parked up taking pictures with the door open and I lost count of the number of people that were taking pictures and asking us all about it. But, I fear it's more of a posers car than a true "supercar of the future" as BMW made it out to be. The gold club was probably quite a fitting scene for it as I can honestly see someone using it to cruise to the club and back once a week.

So the question I always ask myself is "would I buy one?"

Simple answer is obviously no as I don't have £120,000. Even if I did and I was in the market for a quick coupe, it's just far too much money for what you get, and if I had bought one I'd more than likely be taking it back to BMW after a few days if that. It was so utterly underwhelming and when we opened the boot to find that the waterproof trim round the glass was already broken, quality issues just finished it off.

A more realistic price would be something around £60,000-£70,000 in my opinion, but then again this is BMW and it's a fantastic piece of engineering so they have to cover their costs.

Great bit of fun for a few hours, but I wouldn't enjoy owning one.

 

[nerdstrike 186]

I guess it fills the role of technology demonstrator well. The 3-cylinder mini engine in there is always going to come up shy on power at high speeds, so it would seem that the electric motors stop delivering full torque beyond a certain point. As for the price, it's playing in the company of very mature platforms aimed at discerning customers. I wouldn't be surprised if BMW had to skimp on the trim to pay for the fancy drivetrain development and carbon bits.

I'm glad it exists, but not for the likes of us.

[S18 RSG 429]

I got to drive one briefly, when a buddy had one out on long term test. He eventually bought one when he got back to the US, and at the time I remember thinking that, for the price he paid in the US (under $140,000 or £90,000ish), it was about right. However, the one we had on test here had pretty much everything ticked, carbon fibre wherever it was available, lovely white accented interior, it looked and felt really up market.

I agree, I wouldn't spend the money myself, to me it felt like a lower, slightly more techy M3, both in terms of performance and feel, but then an M3 isn't exactly a bad car, and given that he lives in California, where he has to deal with 4 figure gas guzzler tax on almost every other car in the same performance bracket (exclusing Tesla's etc.), it was probably worth it for him.

I see what you mean by the performance tough, dying up top, but I honestly wasn't too surprised. Electric power has always been renowned for it's immediacy and torque, as can be seen by looking at performance figures of full electric cars, most of them top out around 125mph. As soon as the electric power dies, it only has a 1.5L turbo, and as I owned a 1.4L turbo with 250hp at the time which did the same thing, I was expectant going in.