M Who? Have Your Bavarian Cream Pie and Eat It, Too
Original Article posted Apr 30, 2014
We recently spent some time on track with the new BMW M235i. Motor Trend’s captive racer Randy Pobst commented, “This is the best BMW I’ve driven in ten years.” That’s one hell of a statement. I mention this because after spending a day inside the new i8 it could be the best BMW I’ve ever driven. If not, then it’s the best since the E39 M5. Sticking with the superlatives, I feel the Roundel brand’s new $136,625 3-cylinder, carbon-fiber, plug-in hybrid sports car is the most important BMW of all time.. How’s that for overselling it?
As far as internal combustion goes, there are only three cylinders with a displacement of 1.5 liters. They’re force-fed by a wee turbocharger to help provide the wing-door sports car’s forward propulsion to the tune of 228 horsepower. There’s 8 hp of assist from a little helper motor/generator/starter hanging off the side of the engine to make up for the times when the turbo isn’t producing full boost. There’s also a big electric motor up front good for 129 hp to drive the front wheels. The front and rear wheels are not mechanically connected, so it’s up to clever programming to combine the front end’s two-speed transmission to the rear’s six-speed automatic.
Combined, the two ends churn out 357 peak hp. As for torque, that’s always tricky to calculate in hybrids. BMW says peak is 420 lb-ft. Which is wrong, as the gas engine, the same engine in the new MINI Cooper, creates 236 pound-feet at 3700 rpm. The traction motor creates 184 lb-ft at 0 rpm. BMW offered up some sort of Porsche 918 Spyder-like torque multiplier explanation (“in sixth gear it makes all the torque in the known universe”) but I think it’s best to just nod and pretend you understand. If you’re interested in an engineer’s explanation of what makes an i8, please check out Mike Febbo’s deep dive.
Read the full article here:
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2014-bmw-i8-first-drive/
