A near £100,000 / $150,000 supercar tuned for fuel efficiency and sporting a mere three-cylinder engine? The all new BMW i8 is surely proof that the modern obsession with emission has finally driven the car industry round the twist.
As it turns out, the BMW i8 is one of the most brilliantly resolved cars driven all year – maybe even years when you consider just how complex it is.
This article is taken from TechBaap
Tech specs
Firstly, the BMW i8 is… complicated. The basics, if you can call them that, start with a hybrid aluminium, thermoplastic and carbon fibre structure. Carbon makes up the core passenger ‘life cell’ and roof, plastics most of the body panels and aluminium the front and rear subframes plus the door skins.
Then there’s the power train. First up is a three cylinder turbocharged petrol engine mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox giving out 231hp. An electric motor that adds a further 131hp courtesy of a 5kW lithium battery position through the spine of the car.
Factor in the modest 1,560kg kerb weight (well, it’s modest for a such a complex car) and the result is performance roughly on a par with BMWs outgoing M3 super sports saloon / sedan. So the zero to 62mph sprint is despatched in 4.4 seconds, top speed is limited to 155mph.
Chassis-wise, the i8 boasts electronic, multi-mode adaptive dampers.
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Hybrid hotness
The i8 is good for a staggering 49g/km and 134.5mpg. These are incredible numbers for any combustion car. But for a slinky supercar they’re borderline baffling.
For the record, BMW claims the i8 has a pure electric range of up to 23 miles and will do 75mpg maximum on batteries alone.
There’s brake energy regeneration at both axles and the combustion engine can also charge the batteries.
Three basic driving modes are available ranging from pure-electric mode through standard and Sport which an additional EcoPro mode that can be applied for added efficiency.
If that’s not enough to get your head round, selecting the modes is pretty complicated. Start the car up and you’re in standard mode. Knock the gear selector left and you’re in Sport. But you need to press separate buttons on the centre console to enable pure-electric mode or EcoPro.
This article is taken from TechBaap
Cabin gear
Two things hit you right away when you sit inside the i8. First is the light, airy futuristic overall feel of the cabin. It’s a very pleasant place to spend time, even if the super-wide sill (complete with exposed carbon weave) will be bit of a hurdle for some potential customers.
Then there’s the broader in-car gadgetry. BMW’s iDrive with ConnectedDrive multimedia is, in our opinion, as good as it gets.
It’s not much changed for the i8 bar some addition features in the nav to help locate charging stations. But that’s fine by us.
The on-screen menus are gorgeous thanks to the high-res 8.8-inch display and the mix of usability and functionality is bang on. There’s good smartphone integration, nav with real-time traffic data, streaming media and handy extras like Google-Send-Car. Nice.
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Driving the BMW i8
Flow. If there’s a single word that captures the i8′s driving experience, that’s it.
The i8 isn’t the most visceral, mechanical or conventionally involving car in traditional sports car style. Instead, it has a delightful balance, a deft gait and fabulous way of flowing down a great road.
It’s a beautifully tuned and resolved car, full stop, and it’s even more impressive when you consider how much stuff is going on in the background with brake regen and multiple power sources.
As for how it sounds, insinuations that the i8 sounds like a flat-six Porsche engine at full chat are a bit of an exaggeration. The off-beat thrum (digitally enhanced through the car’s cabin speakers) certainly has character. But it’s not ultimately as sophisticated and exciting as a true six-cylinder engine.
The six-speed automatic gearbox with paddle shifts also works well enough. But it’s not as sharp, not as electrifying as the best dual-clutch boxes now available.
Finally, you’d be surprised just how well the i8 goes on pure electric power. 75mph might not sound that quick, but you can cover ground surprisingly quickly without dipping into combustion power.
Efficiency and emissions
First, some bad news. Drive the i8 very hard and the result will be mpg down in the mid 20s. In hands the average was a little over 24mpg, starting with a full battery charge and tank.
But that is an absolute worst case scenario. A brief stint of of more miserly driving towards the end of our run suggests that a real-world rate nearer 60mpg will be possible.
Driven hard, it will beat a car like the R8 handily but still dip into figures that don’t look great on paper.
But you get to decide. You have both options – drive carefully and get genuinely good mpg or tear it up and pay the price at the pumps.
If there’s a caveat to all this, it’s that the numbers are achieved at least in part courtesy of that grid-charged lithium battery pack and so don’t take into account any emissions created via charging.
This article is taken from TechBaap
BMW i8: Verdict
But that’s to judge it by irrelevant, outdated metrics. The BMW i8 feels like a car for another age. Suddenly other performance cars seem uncompromising, dated and anachronistic.
In the i8, you feel like part of the solution, not part of the problem. It’s the thinking man’s supercar and a staggering all-round achievement.
The BMW i8 is available today from £95,845 in the UK including the government grant for electric vehicles and$135,700 in the USA.
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