Meet the 21st century supercar: the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid. It’s insanely fast despite having three cylinders, not eight or twelve. On country roads you cruise in supreme comfort and quiet. The first 20 miles of your trip come from electric power.
The i8 employs electric motors front and back, the gas engine in back, two transmissions, and lithium-ion batteries running through the middle of the cockpit. The body is all-carbon fiber, the fibers coming from BMW’s own hydro-powered factory. The BMW i8 is a Chevrolet Volt on steroids. It is a sports cars with an environmental conscience. The i8 wins our Editors’ Choice award as the best of the new breed of supercars.
Driving the BMW i8: Yowza!
The toughest part about
driving the BMW i8 is getting in: You have to climb over a door sill
virtually even with the top of the seat cushion, while ducking under the
low-slung scissor doors. To paraphrase mama, “Always wear good
underwear. You never know when you’re going to the hospital, or getting
out of an i8.” Once aboard, the cockpit is surprisingly roomy for a
sports car other than the front-to-back tunnel that houses 217 pounds of
lithium-ion batteries. It’s also very BMW-like: pushbutton start, a
freestanding 8.8-inch LCD display atop the center stack, the eight
programmable buttons that tune your favorite stations or call home, the
beer tap-looking shifter, the Eco-Normal-Sport rocker switch, and of
course iDrive.
Press the button and … nothing much happens once
the instrument panel lights up. No V12 engine roaring to life a foot
from your ears. That’s because the i8 starts each day as an electric
car. But it moves off swiftly. After 20 miles on the 7.1 kWh battery,
sooner if you tromp the throttle, you are in gasoline-and-electric mode
and aboard a rocket ship. Zero to 60 mph happens in a shade over 4
seconds. Yes, there are old-fashion supercars with 0-60 times under 4.0
seconds, but they aren’t getting 75 MPGe and they’re paying a congestion
surcharge to enter megacities. In London, there’s a weekday congestion charge of £11.50 ($18.75); EVs, PHEVs, and ultra-ultra-low emission vehicles are exempt.
Choose economy, performance, some of each
The i8 offers multiple driving
modes, set by the shift lever and the Driver Experience Control, which
is BMW-speak for a switch next to the shifter with “Comfort” and
“EcoPro” rockers. If you do nothing other than pull the shifter straight
back into Drive, the i8 is a front-drive EV with a range of 12-20 miles
and a top speed of 75 mph. Push the shifter to the left and you toggle
sportier driving modes.
Some plug-in hybrids such as the
Chevrolet Volt won’t charge the battery while under way because it’s
inefficient compared to recharging using electricity. BMW gives you that
choice because in sport modes you need the electric motors to act as
turbochargers. Even BMW can’t make a three-cylinder gasoline engine
alone shove 3,300 pounds to highway speeds in 4-5 seconds. In
performance modes, brake regeneration is turned way up and the car slows
dramatically the moment you lift off the throttle, the same as when
you’re karting, or aboard a riding lawn mower for that matter. If you
hammer the throttle — tsk, tsk — and you’re in electric mode, the gas
engine kicks in, but there’s a lag that feels like a second before all
power sources are present and accounted for.
Electric front-drive, gasoline rear-drive, combined all-wheel-drive
The power sources are a 131
hp (96 kW) electric motor with a two-speed transmission driving the
front, and a twin-turbo 1.5-liter gasoline engine 231 hp (170 kW) and
six-speed automatic in back. There’s also a small electric motor in back
that doubles as the starter motor. In full-on, pedal-floored driving,
you get 362 hp or 266 kW. It’s possible to use only the front
(electric), only the back (combustion plus electric), or front-and-rear
powerplants combined. This is described as a through the road hybrid. With the 11 gallon tank of gas and full batteries, BMW estimates a range of 300 miles. That’s plenty far enough.
This
is a car you could drive Seattle to LA, but there are better cars for
going cross-country. Hardly any long-distance cars are the traditional
supercar variety. For example, the $230,000 McLaren MP4-12C
can be deafeningly loud unless you’re gentle on the throttle. The
Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR from the recent past was a blast to drive but
the driver and passenger footwells became claustrophobic after an hour.
The BMW i8 is refined yet retains enough performance to satisfy
virtually all drivers.
The car itself, like the i3,
is built around BMW’s “lifedrive” architecture: a super-strong body made
of carbon fiber with replaceable plastic panels. The lithium-ion
battery pack is in a tunnel in the middle of the car, safe from impact,
helping provide a low center of gravity.
The i8 uses a recent form
of carbon fiber without the characteristic hounds-tooth cross-weave.
Except when you open the door of the i8, you don’t see much carbon
fiber. You do in the i3 cockpit — and because it’s matte gray/black, you
could equally call the look bland or industrial chic. Cooler perhaps is
the rear window separating cockpit from engine compartment: It’s made
of Gorilla Glass, same as on so many smartphones.
Choose economy, performance, some of each
The i8 offers multiple driving modes, set by the shift lever and the Driver Experience Control, which is BMW-speak for a switch next to the shifter with “Comfort” and “EcoPro” rockers. If you do nothing other than pull the shifter straight back into Drive, the i8 is a front-drive EV with a range of 12-20 miles and a top speed of 75 mph. Push the shifter to the left and you toggle sportier driving modes.
Some plug-in hybrids such as the Chevrolet Volt won’t charge the battery while under way because it’s inefficient compared to recharging using electricity. BMW gives you that choice because in sport modes you need the electric motors to act as turbochargers. Even BMW can’t make a three-cylinder gasoline engine alone shove 3,300 pounds to highway speeds in 4-5 seconds. In performance modes, brake regeneration is turned way up and the car slows dramatically the moment you lift off the throttle, the same as when you’re karting, or aboard a riding lawn mower for that matter. If you hammer the throttle — tsk, tsk — and you’re in electric mode, the gas engine kicks in, but there’s a lag that feels like a second before all power sources are present and accounted for.
Electric front-drive, gasoline rear-drive, combined all-wheel-drive
The power sources are a 131
hp (96 kW) electric motor with a two-speed transmission driving the
front, and a twin-turbo 1.5-liter gasoline engine 231 hp (170 kW) and
six-speed automatic in back. There’s also a small electric motor in back
that doubles as the starter motor. In full-on, pedal-floored driving,
you get 362 hp or 266 kW. It’s possible to use only the front
(electric), only the back (combustion plus electric), or front-and-rear
powerplants combined. This is described as a through the road hybrid. With the 11 gallon tank of gas and full batteries, BMW estimates a range of 300 miles. That’s plenty far enough.
This
is a car you could drive Seattle to LA, but there are better cars for
going cross-country. Hardly any long-distance cars are the traditional
supercar variety. For example, the $230,000 McLaren MP4-12C
can be deafeningly loud unless you’re gentle on the throttle. The
Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR from the recent past was a blast to drive but
the driver and passenger footwells became claustrophobic after an hour.
The BMW i8 is refined yet retains enough performance to satisfy
virtually all drivers.
The car itself, like the i3,
is built around BMW’s “lifedrive” architecture: a super-strong body made
of carbon fiber with replaceable plastic panels. The lithium-ion
battery pack is in a tunnel in the middle of the car, safe from impact,
helping provide a low center of gravity.
The i8 uses a recent form
of carbon fiber without the characteristic hounds-tooth cross-weave.
Except when you open the door of the i8, you don’t see much carbon
fiber. You do in the i3 cockpit — and because it’s matte gray/black, you
could equally call the look bland or industrial chic. Cooler perhaps is
the rear window separating cockpit from engine compartment: It’s made
of Gorilla Glass, same as on so many smartphones.
This is a car you could drive Seattle to LA, but there are better cars for going cross-country. Hardly any long-distance cars are the traditional supercar variety. For example, the $230,000 McLaren MP4-12C can be deafeningly loud unless you’re gentle on the throttle. The Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR from the recent past was a blast to drive but the driver and passenger footwells became claustrophobic after an hour. The BMW i8 is refined yet retains enough performance to satisfy virtually all drivers.
The i8 uses a recent form of carbon fiber without the characteristic hounds-tooth cross-weave. Except when you open the door of the i8, you don’t see much carbon fiber. You do in the i3 cockpit — and because it’s matte gray/black, you could equally call the look bland or industrial chic. Cooler perhaps is the rear window separating cockpit from engine compartment: It’s made of Gorilla Glass, same as on so many smartphones.
2015 BMW i8 review: The first eco-friendly supercar