How robust, fun and easy to live with has this innovative plug-in hybrid coupé been over 15,000 hard-worked miles?
Originally posted on September 21, 2017
Some were simple: did having a hybrid drive actually result in better fuel consumption than you might expect in rival products? After 11 months at a true average of more than 40mpg where I expect the class average is below 30mpg, there is no question. The best and worst the i8 achieved both came while others on the Autocar team were using it – one driver coming within a whisker of 50mpg, another achieving 18.3mpg.
Another question was conceptual: could the i8 manage what the original M1 and Z8 had failed to achieve and be a BMW that sat comfortably and credibly in what is today the marketplace above £100,000? Here, the answer is more mixed. If you look at the depreciation the car has suffered, it’s clear the market remains unconvinced by the idea of a six-figure hybrid BMW, especially one powered by a three-cylinder Mini engine, however clever its tech and however attractive its carbon fibre and aluminum construction may be.
But if you ask me if it felt like a £100k car, I’d say that with the sole exception of an interior with too few special touches and too much scavenged from the generic parts bin, it did, with space to spare. Not once did I feel short-changed by that engine: I loved its noise and don’t understand those who wail about its sound being synthesized. The sound of every mainstream car today has been artificially modified in some form or another and is, therefore, synthesized. The i8 sounds great. Its performance is also good enough, just, to live in the £100k world. On paper, it looks only moderately quick, but bare figures conceal the immediacy of the response brought by the hybrid drive and the complete lack of turbo lag. The way it delivers its torque means that even a gearbox with just six gears seems no more or less than what is required.
Read the full article at:
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/bmw-i8-long-term-test-review-final-report
