12.05.2024
At some point in time someone somewhere. thought it'd be a good idea to build a. hybrid supercar and then the boys have. stood guard decided to take that idea. and build this the BMW ie arguably one. of the most revolutionary cars made in. the past decade especially at this price. point it mimics the technology from. milliondollar hyper cars such as the. ferrari laferrari the mclaren p1 in the. porsche 918. it broke the internet back in 2012 when. they revealed the concepts and then it. broke it again when they didn't change a. thing on the production color the world. was electrified at the idea of this. engineering marvel but I would hardly. call it a supercar yes they do start at. about $150,000 but let's be real here. these things depreciate like rocks and. you go out today buy used one for less. than half of that price and then there's.
The performance on paper these things. just aren't super fast. I mean come on 357 horsepower and a curb. weight of 3,500 pounds that's nothing to. write home about but most people aren't. aware of that now when you ever you go. anywhere you'll be treated like a. celebrity. frankly because it's got the looks that. midengine layout the low-slung hood the. vents and of course the doors that do. this so yeah they can talk to talk it's. a stunning piece of machinery but can it. walk the walk let's find out. it's important that I get the details. out of the way this is a 2015 model with. 357 brake horsepower and 420 poundfeet. of torque now I know for 2019 they. bumped it up to 369 brake horsepower. with the same torque rating but I think. most of the gains were in the electric. motor so there's not gonna be a lot of.
Effect on roller acceleration at a. higher speed at least that's what my. research from Car and Driver tells me. their tests showed very little. performance gains after 60 miles per. hour anyway that power is generated. through a marriage between a. turbocharged inline 3 pound in the rear. wheels in an electric motor pound in the. front so technically this thing's. allwheel-drive it's funny because 10. years ago people would consider putting. turbos on a car the evolutionary step in. automotive engineering nowadays cars are. turbocharged electrified drive. themselves and sometimes throw fake. exhaust noise of the speakers in theory. it all sounds like a pretty terrible. combination for a car enthusiasts I. don't know in practice it kind of works. that's because even though it is less. than 400 horsepower. it can edge out of c7 Corvette in the.
Quarter mile and the artificial sound. track almost sounds like a Porsche is. flat 6 so you can still have some fun. here but let's give it a go in our. acceleration tests and see how she. stacks up. so we'll put it into sport mode let's. activate this angry looking cluster it. also engages both the gas engine and the. electric motor for maximum performance. and that lets you use the paddles to. shift through the six gears manually the. Cardoso has electronic dampening. controls so putting into sport mode also. stiffens everything up I find it not too. harsh either anyway. this first run will be in full manual. all right Craig here I come. okay now let's see how well this auto. mode works. so we know the BMW i8 is capable of a. low 12 second time in the quartermile. with a trap speed of around 112 to 115. miles per hour but how did it do in our.
Rolling test so the BMW i8 did 40 to 100. in 6.9 2 seconds its ATS loaded an m2. competition which ran it in 6.63 now we. weren't able to get a 60 to 130 time but. the Internet does show me that it should. be running in around 13 seconds this. isn't exactly uh you know an inhouse. number but I did get it from Road and. track and car and drivers acceleration. data so I think it's a pretty credible. time anyways the BMW i8 has a pretty. decent punch down low but it does start. losing steam after about 100 or 110 an. m2 competition would apply put some car. lengths on this thing which is a bit. unfortunate but hey sometimes your. little brother's a better athlete than. you another thing to think about is that. there's a small amount of lag between. wide open throttle and full power. it takes a split second for the electric.
Motor to kick in after you apply full. throttle it's not what you want in a. role race this car really doesn't have. enough power to negate that downside but. hey let's go see how it drives so how. does it handle well given that the car. is a completely carbon tub like many. modern supercars there's practically no. flex in the body going through corners. leaves you plant it with minimal roll. the one downside is the tires 215 in the. front and 245 in the rear so size down. from even a 3series BMW it makes sense. if they want to reduce rolling. resistance and make the most out of a. car with limited power it leaves me with. no confidence when pushing it to the. limit they battle this by having the car. low and wide but still I'd be concerned. with the lack of a mechanical grip for. track use let's talk about mods for a.
Moment unlike a full electric car such. as Tesla where you're currently limited. by the company's software than us you. can tune the gas engine in the i8. because it's basically the same turbo 3. from a Mini Cooper there's a company. that claims a high 10second 60 to 130. time with just their ECU to an alone. which is a big step in 13 seconds that. would be enough to make this car is fun. to drive as it is goodlooking. but put it into comfort mode and it is. comfortable the seats are not sporty. though they don't hug you in the turns. but they do feel alright and have plenty. of adjustment especially for taller. folks but that does come at a price the. back seats they're a complete joke if. you have any intention of using them. rethink that it's a better place for. duffle bags than human beings and the. more I Drive it the more annoyed I get.
At the exhaust note if you're chugging. along by yourself it doesn't sound too. bad. sort of throaty here and there but pull. up to even a 340i. and that'll put you to shame. and once in a while you can catch when. the noise doesn't match up and you're. reminded that you're being fooled by a. speaker. so I think I've decided this car for a. lack of a better word it's best used for. flexing now if you're unfamiliar with. that term. what flexing is is basically the art of. showing off let me explain. yes it's relatively quick gets great gas. mileage and it's a technological leap. forward but from a performance. standpoint which is what we care about. on this channel its classic form over. function I mean look at it. it looks like a literal rocket ship but. it has a hard time keeping up with entry. level and brothers I'd be pretty upset.
If I bought this 150 thousand dollar. quoteunquote supercar and girl walks by. a two series from a roll and while we're. talking price let's talk about its. competitors at this price point you have. the Aston Martin Vantage which is. gorgeous the AMG GT the Audi r8 v10 and. the NSX which is also a hybrid and if. you want doors that go up you can get a. used 570 s4 on the same price all of. those cars are better supercars in this. thing but if you're shopping this car. used at about 70 grand that's a bargain. that I'd have a hard time passing up. on that closing note this car is like. the lovechild between a Tesla and an m6. it has traits from both of its parents. but it does nothing particularly well. the full electric range is short it's. performance is mediocre the handling is. not gamechanging and the ride quality.
is just slightly above average all it. has going for it is a pretty looking. face but for some reason I don't even. mind I've always wanted one of these. things it can't be my only sports car. though. I would need something that can actually. go fast and even though it's almost half. a decade old it still looks like it came. from the future
