i8 [Hot!] BMW i8 - test drives & reviews

[EnI]

First press drives ...

News | Top Gear

New BMW i8 2014 review

2015 BMW i8 first drive review

BMW i8 Review (2017) | Autocar

2014 BMW i8 drive review

First Drive: 2015 BMW i8 Review by Henny Hemmes +VIDEO

BMW i8 | Reviews, News, Test Drives | Complete Car

BMW i8 review - the new age sports car

2014 BMW i8 First Drive: It's a Masterpiece - Motor Trend

BMW i8 Test Drive And Review

 

[EnI]

The car corners exceptionally well, with almost no perceptible roll, like a new 911 but from a seemingly lower seating position. Steering at speed on twisty roads is immediate and precise, much more so than you may be used to unless you drive a Ferrari or Porsche every day. You keep expecting some lag or roll somewhere in the system but it's not in the steering or chassis. Several times it felt like there was an odd delay when we power it out of corners, as if the computer is deciding which and how much of the engine and motor to use. The delay is a bit disconcerting, especially since this is such a great car, sportscarwise, in every other regard. Once it chooses, though, you're off. At the handling limit we could detect a small amount of understeer but it wasn't enough to intrude on your canyon-carving fun. We'd also have liked the throttle and brakes to be smoother and more linear in their progression. As it is, they are a little touchy at the top of travel, something we never got fully comfortable with in a long day's drive over great roads.

Do I Want It? Yes you do. While almost no one on Earth can afford a 918/P1/La Ferrari, a much greater number of eco-conscious sports car lovers can afford one of these. Maybe Tesla intenders who want more sport and less practicality. BMW figures global annual production will be fewer than 10,000, though they weren't very specific. EPA mileage figures will be out next month, but BMW expects EPA Combined should come in “in the 70- or 80-mpg range.” That ain't bad for something this supercar-like.

Read more: 2014 BMW i8 drive review

The car’s handling stands up more stoutly to inspection – but not indefinitely. Body control is excellent; steering response equally immediate. Lateral grip levels could be higher, particularly at the front wheels, which begin to scrabble and scream under load if you harry them.

Drive intelligently though, using weight transfer to give the steering authority on turn-in, and the i8 responds for the most part like any good mid-engined machine should: with some balance and alacrity, but exceptional in neither.

The rear axle is always glued to its line, giving dependable stability. It declines any attempt to adjust your arc through a corner with a bit of throttle-steering. That's a typical facet of a car that just doesn’t respond well to being driven hard, and one that approaches its adhesive limits a bit early for our tastes.

The i8 can be enjoyed vividly enough as you approach that point, of course. But not ultimately as vividly as a £100,000 sports car really ought.

Should I buy one?
If you genuinely don’t mind compromising on sporting clarity of purpose for lower emissions, enhanced economy and of-the-moment desirability, sure. But if that’s you, the sports car market would seem to be a strange place to go shopping for your next car anyway.

The BMW i8 doesn’t quite feel as exciting as it does fast; it’s secure and fluent, but not the last word in fun. Accounting for its novelty value, brimming supercar attitude and its low-emissions sense of environmental responsibility, it’ll be more than sporting enough to satisfy people who couldn’t otherwise have justified a sports car.

But it’s not quite convincing enough to hit the heights that true enthusiasts will expect of it. There is all the intriguing complexity in the world to contemplate here, but sadly not quite enough depth.

More: BMW i8 Review (2017) | Autocar

But it's important to understand that the BMW i8 is a touring car, not a track car. It's priced in line with cars like the Audi R8 and Porsche 911, but it's a very different kind of car--one meant for use around town in electric mode, and then stretching its legs with the gasoline engine when performance that begins to approach the racy looks is desired.

While BMW will likely sell every i8 it sends to the U.S.--just 1,000 the first year, and likely no more than 5,000 a year after that--it remains to be seen if its remarkable looks and split personality will win it enough fans to justify the price tag.

But until that question can be answered a few years hence, the BMW i8 is a striking and attention-getting design that likely signals one potential future for sports cars: electric power around town, electric-assisted gasoline engines for performance.

Did we mention how much attention the i8 gets?

More: 2015 BMW i8 first drive review

The i8 feels like a sports car revolution. It delivers everything we’ve come to expect from some of the best performance models out there – but with 135mpg economy and 49g/km CO2 emissions. It’s a definite game-changer, and while the hybrid Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder will each set you back around £1million, the i8 costs ‘only’ £100,000 – or £99,845, to be exact.

At that price it goes up against an established crop of supercars. Yet not only do you get the carbon fibre body, 4WD and hi-tech powertrain, there’s also 8.8-inch sat-nav, parking sensors, head-up display and a design that looks unlike anything else on the road. The BMW i8 changes everything – the future of performance cars has arrived.

Read more: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/bmw/i8/86776/new-bmw-i8-2014-review

So it actually work as a sports car?

For the most part, like a charm. In sports mode, using the paddle shifters, it disguises its hybridness entirely. It'll leap ahead with lag that's barely perceptible. Honestly it does an amazing impression of a 340bhp big six, rather than a 231bhp little triple. In sport mode some of the engine's natural frequencies are amplified through the hi-fi, and it's a strong, gutteral sound. The real pity is it doesn't rev beyond 6500, and for some reason its shifts up by itself on the red-line, even if you're in manual mode.

Even when the battery is pretty much depleted, by the way, you still get all the power of petrol plus electric. Remember, you never drive any car flat-out all the time, and so in the i8 (and any other hybrid), when all the engine's power isn't needed, spare is syphoned off to charge the battery just enough that for the next squirt of acceleration you can have the full petrol-plus-electric beans.

Is it 911 fast? Doesn't feel quite at that level. You don't get the high-rev drama or violence. But it's ruddy quick, be in no doubt. I believe the 4.4sec 0-62mph claim, because traction's so good.

So was this re-invention of the car worthwhile?

Well, it costs £95k after the Government grant, and a 350bhp 911 Carrera 4 PDK is £80k if vastly more tax-heavy. Now, was it worth all this BMW brainpower and new tech to make a car slightly less sporty than the Porsche that uses rather less fuel? That's a very dull question. For a start the 911 is 50 years into its development; the i8 is a first stab. I suspect different tyres and a firmware flash will soon improve it. But more than that, the i8 is exploring the future. It bestows lightweight construction, hybrid expertise, and a quick-thinking highly creative engineering mentality onto the whole BMW group.

It's an enormously satisfying thing to drive, because if you're thinking about it you can use its different characteristics in different ways to suit the moment - in fact it's at its very best either wafting in pure-EV mode, or being thrashed in sport mode.

And it makes everyone point and smile.

More: News | Top Gear

This lack of adjustability is frustrating. I hadn’t expected a car with M3 levels of indulgence, but I had hoped for a really agile, super-accurate front end and a neutral-to-oversteering poise on corner exit. As it is, the i8 is a fascinating, hugely desirable and deeply impressive car, but it lacks the uplifting excitement of the best drivers’ cars.

BMW i8 review - the new age sports car

I for one really appreciate how seamless all the technology is. The i8 is without question one of the most complicated consumer products you can (soon) buy, but it’s no more difficult to operate than a normal car. And it’s easier than many BMWs. As an example and to keep picking on it, putting the M6 in launch mode is a ridiculous, Contra cheat-code like procedure. With the i8 you just put the traction control in Dynamic mode, hold brake, hit gas and go. They obviously and easily could have made the i8 as adjustable as an M car, but smartly did not. Think of the i8 as the thinking (wealthy) man’s Porsche 918 Spyder. Only I’ve driven both, and I like the BMW better. Honestly, it’s a masterpiece.

Back in the day, BMW’s M Division was innovative. This new i brand however, and this product in particular, is something else altogether. It’s brilliant, it’s important and it’s game changing. In fact, lots of technology from the i8 and i3 will be trickling its way down to the M Division. Things like the lightweight material behind the dash for the HVAC system and carbon fiber technology. How ‘bout them apples? More importantly, like the original M cars back in the 1980s, other manufacturers are going to start copying BMW’s new division. They’re going to have to. You can’t stop progress, but for now BMW has found a way to harness it.

Read more: 2014 BMW i8 First Drive: It's a Masterpiece - Motor Trend

Allow me from the beginning to express my feelings about this car: Oh my God this car is insanely good!

It has it all; exotic looks, high tech and performance figures to back it up. It is all priced well in relation to its alleged competitors. I know that BMW wants us to compare the i8 to the Porsche 911 4S, but I would venture to say its competition lies farther up the exotic food chain. The way people reacted when we parallel parked the BMW i8 on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and pitched the doors up for photos, confirms that BMW has nailed the design. I’ve never gotten so many thumbs up while driving (and have been driving some cool cars in the past), people honking at us and non stop questions every time we stopped.

BMW i8 Test Drive And Review

 

[dalab]

BMW i8: Fahrbericht - So fährt der BMW i8

Nice video in the autobild review

AUTOWEEK : It's also a production car that looks just like its concept.

Excelent so far, they really appreciate and understand what the car is and the huge achievement ahead of its time, everyone except Autocar who did not understand anything

 

[Betty Swollocks]

Excelent so far, they really appreciate and understand what the car is and the huge achievement ahead of its time, everyone except Autocar who did not understand anything

Oh for God's sake. Didn't understand "anything"?! Bit of an exaggeration don't you think?

"The i8 turns out to be a car of incredible visual impact, laudably mature execution, and offers a uniquely appealing ownership proposition".
"Early impressions of the i8 are of nothing less than a fully-fledged super car."

"Once you have, the interior’s got no less of a sense of occasion to it, with a generously sculptural, driver-focused dashboard, colourful LCD instruments, low-slung and deep-dished sports seats; there's also an abundance of little features and touches that lift the ambience way above BMW’s usual conservative norm"

"But it’s good, and almost there. Certainly good enough to consider the car an amazing success in its own hyper-specialised niche."


Yeah, what a terrible review from Autocar eh?

Oh, and presumably you've driven the i8 already, so what do YOU think of it? What opinion can YOU impart on us based on your own experience?

 

[dalab]

It may be a bit exaggerated, but there are 9 reviews who understand "a little clearer" that the conceptual idea behind this revolutionary vehicle.
I'm on the waiting list to try the i8 when I do will be glad to let you know my opinion

 

[EnI]

First test data ...

 

[dalab]

0.60mph in 3.8 sec. !

 

[Sayyaaf]

Nice handwriting

seriously, the numbers are pretty awesome. 911ish

Here is a hint of next i Model.

 

[chonkoa]

^Hilarious.

 

[klier]

Here is a hint of next i Model.

Electricity comes from the contact of his six pack *ahem beer belly* and the concrete!

 

[Betty Swollocks]

This is VERY interesting and I think sums up MY feeling towards the i8 perfectly.

The official i8 reviews thread has 547 "views", a "HOT" prefix, and hasn't even gone beyond one page yet and already people are so bored that they're posting videos of Rednecks messing about.

Compare that with the M3 F80 First Drives Anticipation Thread. NO attention-grabbing prefix, 1,266 "views", which is more than twice as many as the i8 thread and it's already onto its third page, and that's without any actual reviews yet.

http://www.germancarforum.com/community/threads/bmw-f80-m3-first-drives-anticipation-thread.50590/

 

[RS2000 4X4]

First test data ...

Those are really great numbers!!! Considering the weight and horsepower, the 0-60 and 0-100 are really great!!!!! Just from 120 to 150 you notice that there isnt enough horsepower for the weight.

 

[Sunny]

Even the skidpad number is impressive considering the skinny wheels.

 

[manuelf]

Even the skidpad number is impressive considering the skinny wheels.

Skinny? Its already the fat wheel option! standard is 195 front, 215 rear afaik

 

[Sunny]

^lol, guess it is all relative.

 

[SCOTT27]

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[Sunny]

^WTF, first rule of animal style, you do not talk about animal style! F***in monkey!

 

[RS2000 4X4]

Still the best reviewer there is

 

[Will]

You have to love Monkey's reviews. The i8 looks great in that video!

 

[EnI]

First Drive:
2014 BMW i8 First Drive: It's a Masterpiece
M Who? Have Your Bavarian Cream Pie and Eat It, Too

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupes/1404_2014_bmw_i8_first_drive/#ixzz30RgIsuX6