BMW i8 Review

The BMW i8 is now 4 years old and later this year there will be a new convertible version of the mid-engine petrol-electric hybrid sports car but is the i8 as relevant now as it was when it was launched… I spent a day with one to find out. My previous experiences with electric and petrol-electric hybrid vehicles have been far from exciting and it hadn't really filled me with confidence and hope for the future of motoring. However, when I was offered the chance to take an i8 out for a 24-hour test drive, I told myself to not base my opinions on previous experiences with other cars. Cars like the Toyota Auris and Lexus CT200h which were both truly awful to drive, or the early Nissan Leaf – a car so impossible to live with if you live anywhere other than a major UK city. The i8 was a completely different kettle of fish, mainly because the model I was testing had an on-the-road price of a whopping £113,000 – that's around the same cost as 6 Toyota Auris'… The benchmark for this was not other cleaner or greener vehicles, it was its closest competitor, the Porsche 911 Carrera S. From the outside, the i8 really is a beauty to behold. It's futuristic and clean styling still stands out amongst the regular BMWs in the dealership car park, it just looks fabulous. I normally veer more towards the classically styled sports cars like Aston Martins and the 911, but there is something about the way the front end is so low and aggressive looking with subtle nods to the classic M1 and let's not forget those doors. You either love or hate silly doors on sports cars, and I can definitely say I am in the former camp. The way the dihedral doors go up and forwards creates such an event, and it makes the i8 that little bit more special to look at. Unfortunately, all sense of style and sophistication goes out the window as soon as you try and actually get in the car. With its high and wide carbon sills and low roofline, you need to be a Russian gymnast to be able to contort your body and post your body through the letterbox sized gap, and don't even get me started on getting back out again… Inside there is a strange mixture of standard BMW fittings and ultra-stylish LED strip lights in the signature "I blue" It feels a bit like a bowling alley on a Friday night when they dim the lights and everything is neon. It's fun and cool but it did become a bit of a distraction when driving in the dark. I must admit I was a bit underwhelmed by the interior to start with, for £113,000, you want it to feel special but in the i8 it all feels a bit too 3-series. Having said that, after a few hours of driving I did start to develop a whole "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" view towards the setup and the more I compared it to the super-flash new dashboards in cars like the R8 I quickly remembered how much I hate the unnecessary touchscreens and gesture controls. Undoubtedly these will all come to the i8 in time, so I'm just going to enjoy the simplicity while it lasts. The i8 is technically a 4-seater, but the rear seats are literally just padded cushions bolted onto the body. A bit like the rear seats in older 911s. Ideal if you have small children, or just want to put your mates through extreme discomfort as you drive them home from the pub. One thing I do like about the interior that I am aware completely contradicts what I have just said about flashy screens is the main dial. It has a simple screen showing a speedometer on one side and either a rev counter or power-gauge depending on what drive mode you are using. The i8 also has all the usual onboard stats and so on, but it's not cluttered with graphics and silly animations. The screen is grey and blue when driving in Comfort or EcoPro, and then it turns red when you switch into Sports mode. All very simple and very clean. It also has a head-up display that I used to hate in previous cars but the more I experience them, the more I see the benefits. Driving the car is, at first, a strange experience. Because you're sat in a low-slung sports car, you have a particular idea in your mind of how it should sound and feel, however, this isn't a regular sports car, so when you engage reverse and move out of your parking space, there is just the quiet sound of tyres on tarmac... Then when you pull off, it's the same. Complete engine silence. It's all a bit weird really. The i8 is powered by a turbocharged 1.5 litre, 3-cylinder engine pulled straight out of a Mini Cooper but tuned to push out around 229 bhp. This is mounted in the middle and powers the rear wheels via a 6-speed automatic gearbox. It is also powered by a 2-speed electric motor at the front feeding another 127 bhp straight to the front wheels giving you a total power output of 356 bhp. This doesn't sound like a huge amount of grunt, given that there are family estate cars that can push out double this figure, but due to the cars lightweight blend of aluminium and carbon fibre, the actual performance is a very pleasant surprise. The acceleration isn't groundbreaking but also not slow at a claimed 4.4 seconds to 62 mph, but it actually feels a lot quicker somehow. I think it's the way you have that instant power to the front wheels pulling the car off the mark while the petrol engine at the back has time to catch up and then keep pushing the car all the way to its limited 155 mph top speed. Surprisingly, the overall feel of the drive is very similar to that of its closest competitor, the Porsche 911 Carrera S with regards to balance and delivery. You have a great driving position, nice a low and everything is exactly where you need it to be and the steering is nice and light when manoeuvring but it also has good feedback when you need it at higher speeds. The i8 is by no means a lap time champion, the all-wheel-drive setup and skinny tyres mean you have a fair bit of understeer when turning but overall the experience is a very pleasing and focused. The added bonus of the car's lightweight build means that braking is as good as you would expect and that little 3 cylinder engine sounds and feels like it's twice the size. One grey area with the car that has left the room quite divided is the amplification of the engine note - when the car is in Sport mode, the engine sound is pumped through the car's speaker system making it sound more impressive than it really is, but to be completely honest I kind of like it. It grew on me the more I drove the car as no one wants to feel like their £100k+ car doesn't sound impressive... All in all, I was really surprised and impressed by the i8. The detail in the design is nothing short of beautiful and the way they have made something look so futuristic without looking silly is a great achievement. The problem with comparing a car as cutting edge and as different as this to a car like the 911 is that if I was in the market for a 911, I'd buy a 911 - the only choice I would have to make would be which model and which spec. The i8 doesn't have a loyal or established audience yet but if you want something that is fast, expensive and full of futuristic technology and also returns a claimed 140+ mpg, there is nothing else out there yet. We are living in a changing world at the moment with more and more manufacturers stepping away from the larger capacity engines in exchange for smaller, more environmentally conscious powerplants and BMW have shown that you can make a great looking, great performing sports car with only 3 cylinders and some electric motors that only emit 49 grams of Co2 per kilometer... We still have a long way to go, but BMW really are ahead of the game and for that reason, I think the i8 is more relevant now than it ever has been and I am very excited about the arrival of the i8 Convertible later on in 2018. All images are supplied by, and the property of, BMW UK. Word by James Ford - Well Driven.