First introduced to at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor show as the “BMW Concept Vision Dynamic”, the concept car stole the hearts of many motoring journalists. When BMW announced that the car was going to be mass produced they changed its name to the much simpler BMW i8.
The BMW i8 is mid-engine sports car just like the E26 BMW M1 that BMW made in the 80’s. But there is nothing old about this beauty. For instance the engine in the middle is more complex than that of the M1, it is a plug-in hybrid. On full on electric, the car has a range of about 32 Kilometres; not that much if you think about it, but let’s face it nobody is going to go all electric in a sports car right.
Back to the “complex” bits of the car, the i8 has two motors an electric motor that sits on the front axle of the car and a 1.5 litre turbo 3 cylinder petrol engine on the rear axle. Most people will not be using the front engine that much, but there is a very special use for it- Drags. It is an electric motor, which has instantaneous torque and moves off the line faster than its petrol counterparts. Each power source drives an axle that it’s placed on, making it a 4WD.
The electric motor produces an awesome 98kW, and that 3 cylinder from the Mini cooper produces 170kW, producing a combined 268kW and thanks to the clever use of materials by the Germans making the car weigh 1490 kg.
Using both engines the electric and petrol engine that is linked to a six speed automatic transmission. The car will pull to the 100 km/h mark in 4.5 seconds, just by switching from normal transmission. S mode activates the sports powertrain, activating sports dampeners and sporty response from the steering. Hybrids are mostly quiet, but not this car. The three cylinders are electronically modified to make the exhaust produce a little bit of bass.
With the car still being a concept there’s not much to be said about the interior but yet again this is a BMW.
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