BMW i EfficientDynamics - i3 confirmed to be a RWD, Mid-Engine car.

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MatskiMonk
I like the comment...


Shame about the car, but as a test vehicle it was probably due for the scrapheap soon anyway.

In other news public i3 test drives have begun... want a go.. sign up here http://testdrive.bmw-i.com/ . I may just give it a go myself :D
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Not available for USA... :(

Edit: Nevermind, I found it under Canada selection then choose US as country.
 
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Wait, so that's with interior sound-generating stuff disabled? I can live with that...

Also, rather brisk. i8 is definitely the car I'm looking forward to most at the moment.
 
That does sound good. Consumption of 96.3kWh/100km under max acceleration, I wonder how many times you could do that start before you were on 3 cylinder power alone?
 
MatskiMonk
Consumption of 96.3kWh/100km under max acceleration, I wonder how many times you could do that start before you were on 3 cylinder power alone?
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We can probably work it out.

The i8 has a 7.1 kWh battery pack. If it uses 96.3 kWh over 100km, it uses 0.963 kWh every kilometer under full acceleration. Divide the battery pack size by how much energy it uses every kilometer, and you get about 7.4 - which unless my maths is really crap (and it almost certainly is) is about how many kilometers you'd get before draining the pack from driving like a loon.

That sounded high to me at first but I suppose most of the work is still being done by the engine, the battery is just assisting. There's also the chance that the car would stop using electric assistance before it drained the pack entirely - my Honda does something similar as it's better for battery life. In which case the usable distance would be shorter.

Still, 7.4 kilometers is quite a few standing starts before the pack runs out. And realistically it'd be regenerating every time you slow down, which would put at least a little back into the pack :D

I suspect if you kept it in electric-only mode and drove like a loon you may even get a little fewer kilometers with no engine helping out, unless the car deliberately limits power in EV mode. Whatever it does, it's a fair way off the official 37 km electric range...
 
Figured it would be a simple calculation, but I'm really keen to see how that translates to real world usability.

Needless to say I am envious of your potential test drive :D
 
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I can definitely live with that sound and that level of acceleration. Can't wait for the reviews to start trickling out, as this is one of the most interesting cars for me in 2014.
 
I don't understand why BMW is advertising the i8 on TV. Seriously it's made out to be like its a high mid range company car, people think boy I'd like one of those, get on Google and find out its ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND pounds!

Above a certain price point manufacturers usually stop advertising on television because those cars sell themselves. You don't see Ferrari adverts, Rolls Royce adverts etc. I felt the same about the R8 advert, is anyone going to need a TV advert to know to buy one?

As for the car it is amazing looking, so many concepts end up looking bland in production but this is straight off an auto show podium. It has a modern take on a Delorean look about it.
 
Robin.
I don't understand why BMW is advertising the i8 on TV.
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Two words: Halo car.

Whether the majority of people can afford it or not isn't really BMW's plan. But it is an absolutely stunning-looking sports car with high levels of technology that by association makes the rest of BMW's range look good, and may convince a few people to go to a dealership and put some money on a poverty-spec 116i rather than going to their local Audi or Merc or VW dealer instead.

And of course, it may make a few people think twice about buying a 911, which can't hurt either.
 
I thought the Toyobaru had established why wider, grippy tires are overrated? The 911's front tires were only 10mm wider as recently as the 996, anyway.
 
alonsof1fan91
I wonder how many potential 911 customers are interested in a "sports" car coming 195/50 R20 front, 215/45 R20 rear tyres.
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Frankly I'd be surprised if many 911 owners are interested in much more than the badge on the trunk lid anyway, so I'm not sure that's really relevant.

The point is though that the i8 is quick, and gives drivers a unique driving experience. Those are qualities the 911 has traded on its entire life.
 
I like the Autobild quote.. when testing the i8 against the 9114S on track

"Ever since I can remember, I'm 911 fan. To me it was always the best sports car. This will remain so. Nevertheless, what has changed after this comparison is for the first time, the Porsche feels somehow like yesterday's car. The i8 points to the future. It has plenty of sports car fascination. Even if it is slower."
 
I really like 911s and would own a classic one in a flash, if I had the dosh*. But with £100k in my pocket to spend on something fast and fun to drive, a 911 wouldn't get a look-in now with the i8 on the market. I'm hoping BMW sees fit to bring one along to a driving event I'm going to in September. Definitely a car I need to try.




* And if there wasn't an NSX sitting next to it on the forecourt, but that's a different story.
 
It's just a shame that the powertrain can't be paired with a manual transmission. But based on published comments/interviews it seems the Germans are tired of us whining about that.
 
From the Autocar website...
http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/new-cars/ten-reasons-why-bmw-i8-such-significant-car

The BMW i8 combines sports car dynamics with plug-in hybrid frugality

by Steve Sutcliffe
17 July 2014


So why do I think the BMW i8 is well on its way to a place in the sports car hall of fame?

One: Because in its way it is a cut-price Porsche 918 Spyder. It’s not as quick outright as the 918, obviously, but compared with most other cars on the road it is more than quick enough. And in just about every other way it’s at least as clever as the 918 technically and ecologically. And yet it costs eight times less.

Two: It’ll do at least 60mpg on a give-and-take motorway journey. The very worst it will return is low-to-mid 30mpg, and that’s only if you thrash it like a maniac everywhere. Realistically you are looking at between 55-75mpg assuming you use a bit of e-propulsion every now and again in towns and so on. For me, and despite the fact that the theoretical claim is 134.5mpg on the combined cycle, that’s still a phenomenal achievement.

Three: In the flesh, in amongst everyday traffic, it looks as arresting and interesting and just plain good as any car I’ve driven in a very long time indeed.

Four: In sport mode its 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo engine makes a noise that sounds, if not full-blown lovely then very appealing on the ear. And it’s a real sound, not a digitised one. Fair enough, the sound it makes is then amplified via the speakers to make it feel and sound more dramatic, but all BMW has done is turn the volume up on the actual sound being made by the engine. And the sound made by the engine – and its turbocharger – is great.

Five: It might just be the first six-figure sports car to set a trend towards skinnier tyres, front and rear.

Six: It has such an enormous range of personality, all under just one roof. You want a sports car that goes like the clappers and which sounds good, handles well and has super-accurate steering? Put it Sport mode. You want a smooth-riding limousine that feels like it is gliding along on the wind, and which makes you feel quite peculiarly calm when behind the wheel due to the complete lack of engine noise? Put it in e-drive and off you go. And in Comfort and Eco-Pro modes it’ll do a whole load of different things in between.

Seven: For a hybrid that regenerates its e-power via the brakes and at any time when you’re not on full throttle in sport mode, its brakes feel unusually natural. This is mainly because it regenerates via both axles and not just the front axle like the BMW i3, which tends to lurch under brakes or off throttle where the i8 feels, well, pretty much like a normal car really.

Eight: Its multi-changeable digital dashboard looks exceedingly cool, and it works beautifully in practice, too.

Nine: Its 2+2 rear seats are actually usable by full-ish sized human beings. Mind you, this is just as well because the rear-mounted boot is a little bit on the pokey side compared with most rivals.

Ten: Because it exists, and because in the most part BMW has executed it brilliantly, and because it sets the tone for what’s to come for the rest of us. Which in turn means the future of the sports car looks very bright indeed from where I’m standing. So yes, you could say I am a fan.
 
MatskiMonk
I like the Autobild quote.. when testing the i8 against the 9114S on track

"Ever since I can remember, I'm 911 fan. To me it was always the best sports car. This will remain so. Nevertheless, what has changed after this comparison is for the first time, the Porsche feels somehow like yesterday's car. The i8 points to the future. It has plenty of sports car fascination. Even if it is slower."
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Autobild is just writing what car companies tells them to do. Chris Harris review gives you a much more accurate picture of this car.

I highly doubt a 1500kg car on skinny tyres on those huge ass rims will give you the amazing feeling you get by cars as the M4
 
alonsof1fan91
I highly doubt a 1500kg car on skinny tyres on those huge ass rims will give you the amazing feeling you get by cars as the M4
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Why?

Firstly, the tyres aren't even that skinny - they just seem so by modern standards as everything else in the class has steamrollers for tyres these days.

Secondly, "feeling" is completely subjective and has no correlation with tyre width. Depending on setup, skinnier tyres can be beneficial for the way a car feels as the reduction in grip means you come closer to the tyres' limits more often. Personally, that's a feeling I quite like - I'd rather be able to use say, 90% of a car's capabilities on a regular basis than have so much grip that I'm only using 50% of what the car can do. That's the thinking Toyota used before putting the GT86 on Prius tyres, and unless you're a hardcore track bro most seem to think it handles pretty well.

Thirdly, intangibles. I can use my own car as an example of this. If you looked at it on paper and ignored some of the more unique technical aspects of it, I just drive around in a 1-litre supermini that does 60 in about 12 seconds. That could be a VW Up, or a Toyota Aygo, or a Hyundai i10, or a dozen other cars these days.

Yawn.

And yet it has a bunch of features that give it an intangible appeal way beyond its constituent parts. Crazy digital gauges. Weird styling. It's a two-seat coupe rather than a four-seat hatchback. You sit low, rather than high. The whole thing is made from aluminium rather than stamped out of steel. I get a kick out of just being in it and doing regular boring motorway journeys, because it's out of the ordinary.

The same, I'd say, applies for a car like the i8. Ultimately, it's just a sports coupe that gets to 60 in the mid-4s and costs a hundred grand. So does a 911, so does a well-equipped 6-Series, so does an F-Type, so does a Maserati GranTurismo, etc etc.

But factor in various aspects that aren't necessarily about how the car drives - the styling, the drivetrain, the construction etc - can make the car a much more fulfilling experience even in mundane driving. It's an entirely different sort of "feeling" but personally one I tend to prefer to the "feeling" of sitting in a posh 3-Series with a big engine under the bonnet (the M4).

I know it's supposedly "uncool" to say so, but judging by the Autocar article above, the i8 will do 60mpg just cruising down the motorway. That's frigging incredible, frankly, given its performance - you'd be spending twice on fuel in a 911 on the average motorway journey. As a grand tourer, that's quite an impressive ability. The thing gets within 10mpg of my Insight, fer chrissakes...
 
alonsof1fan91
Autobild is just writing what car companies tells them to do. Chris Harris review gives you a much more accurate picture of this car.

I highly doubt a 1500kg car on skinny tyres on those huge ass rims will give you the amazing feeling you get by cars as the M4
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Harrismonkey sentiments so far seem to ring true with most reviewers so far.

And it depends what you mean by 'feeling', but the i8's 1485kg very low centre of gravity probably doesn't harm it as much as you'd think against the the M4's 1572kg. It's fair to say that most reviewers so far have indicated that pushed hard enough, it will understeer, probably due to the 195's or 215's at the front, but at the same time, the fact that they're 20's helps boost the contact patch a little over the M4's 18's. Ultimately though... the i8 isn't a BMW M product. It's holding it's own against stiff competition, and it's not even from BMW's performance division, so really I don't think the M4 buyer and the i8 buyer are necessarily the same person.

If BMW did (and they've said they won't) fit a new B series 4 cylinder engine, instead of a the triple, and match the front's to the 245's at the back, I think it would virtually be a perfect set-up (given the brief)
 
Wide tires suck for feel.

195/215 is plenty wide, especially if they're low profile tires. I've no doubt the staggered set-up causes some understeer... I wonder why they didn't just go 205/205?

I will probably never see this car here, but I would move heaven and earth to be the guy who "does" this car for the mag. :D
 

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