If someone asked me to pick a sports car under 300,000$, then my first choice would be the BMW i8. I saw this car at a roadshow. As I first observed its engine, the first thing I thought was that this car would not have the same power or performance as a normal sports car of this category, but as I sat in the car for a trial run, it was very powerful. The cars have a 1.5Litre three-cylinder engine with a 357 HP output in total, producing 420 lb-ft torque, while it weighs 3,455 pounds. The car is powerful, despite being a hybrid. Even though the price of the car is close to a supercar, but it cannot be considered as such. When I first looked at the shape of the car, it looked slightly odd to me. I believe that somewhere they sacrificed function for form, for example getting in and out of the car can be tricky because of the doors. The car has decent looking alloy wheels with the BMW badge placed in the center, when driven give the appearance of the spinning backward.
The BMW i8 hybrid sports car has a bit more rolling resistance than some cars of the same category, and as I test drive it, the steering felt quite tight and direct to giving a bit of a road feel. The transmission system of the car made little to no turbo noises on during shifts\. The six-speed automatic transmission powers the engine on the rear while the electric motor works in tandem with a two-speed transmission to drive the front wheels. The brakes seemed especially powerful to me and had a nice short stroke. The car felt very light on the road since it is designed out of carbon fiber, though I prefer bare carbon fiber on cars.
During my testing, I had the opportunity to take the i8 for a weekend run. That allowed me to test it at very high speeds, taking my friends out too for a field test. The seating position of the car feels very comforting and heightens the experience, by giving nice sensations of the directional changes and speed. Though I found the car slightly less capable when driving over uneven surfaces, on which I felt the hybrid system performed a bit unevenly than I was expecting. The brakes also performed slightly inconsistent on the rough, uneven surfaces. The engine sound also feels somewhat different than other car engines of the same category, though I do feel that young car enthusiasts might be overwhelmed by it. It has that strange “whuzz” sound that may excite the fanboys. My driving experience with it suggests to me that the BMW i8 must not be treated as a supercar, but it can be considered as a high-performance, eco-friendly vehicle that can set some good precedents for the future.
The interior of the car is highly reminiscent of a normal BMW. Most of the controls have a rotary dial along with different features such as a rear-view camera, a fairly powerful stereo system along with other features that come standard to a sports vehicle. The car does have some blind spots due to its fairly odd shape, which led me to be a little more over cautious about my surrounding environments, having to lean a bit a few times. But it could be because I was used to my Cadillac that has a completely different design philosophy. Thankfully, one of the functions the car provides is blind-spot warnings that worked fairly well when I began to trust them. The price tag on the car compared to its utility does not seem a good option to me, and for general enthusiasts, I would rather recommend the BMW i3. It is not as fast and neither as better looking but for the average user with an average budget, it could provide a good solution combining both performance and eco-friendly emissions with an aesthetic design. But my personal favorite would remain the BMW i8 because of its incredible performance and features.
Although the car is now over a three years old, it still gives me that highly futuristic look. Its unique features and shape is an absolute head-turner looking like something right out of a sci-fi film. The first time I saw was in fact in the film Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol 2011 where it was featured for the film’s stunts.
