Can't tell you how excited I am to have an order in for the 2019 coupe
. I've been told the target production start date is later this month, so I expect delivery (west coast) in late April/early May. See attachment for the order details (personal info blanked out).
Bear with me for a brief recap of my i8 journey to this point. I first fell in love with the car when I saw the concept vehicle at the 2011 L.A. Auto Show. From the moment I saw it, I knew I just had to have one some day. Move ahead a couple years to when the production car is unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show in September 2013. I immediately starting contacting dealers in SoCal to determine where I might get on a wait list, even though the official price had not yet been announced. Finding a dealer that agreed to sell the car at MSRP (some were indicating $50K-$100K over), I put down a deposit and received that dealer's first allocation. The official order was not able to be placed until July 2014 and at that time, it appeared the car would arrive around September 2014. It was at this time that I started a new thread on the Bimmerpost i8 General Discussion forum, "i8 Ordering Status". It is still a sticky on the top page of the forum.
Like many of the other i8 buyers at that time, I dutifully tracked the progress of the car through production and shipping via web sites and calls to BMW. In September 2014, with the car's arrival in California only a couple of weeks away, I happened to have a business trip to Hong Kong that was supposed to last one week. That's when disaster struck (me, not the car)! A day after I arrived in Hong Kong, I suffered a burst appendix. Due to complications, I ended up spending a month in a Hong Kong hospital. When I got out, I was a physical and emotional wreck, and felt like I was in no condition to take delivery of a new car, no matter how exciting it was. So, sadly I had to cancel my order and eventually ended up going with a more staid and practical choice, the BMW 550i. But I never lost interest in the i8.
My lease on the 550i is up this April, which should match nicely with the arrival timing of the new car. I know people are saying that the LCI improvements on the 2019 coupe are not that compelling, and clearly I can get a much better deal on a used car, but after my long wait and all I've been through, I decided to treat myself to the latest and greatest model. I never considered getting the roadster, as I prefer to have a little more storage space in the rear seat area and am not particularly fond of convertibles.
And so it is, after a wait of nearly 7 years, I will finally be getting my dream car. Throughout that period, I kept abreast of people's experiences with the i8 by regularly checking blog posts on the car. It became an almost daily routine for me to check in to see the latest information. I’ve read probably close to 100 published reviews of the car by the automotive press. I think I can recite by heart every pro and con that has ever been mentioned about it. And I've taken about half a dozen test drives, including having one brought to my house so I could check clearances in my garage (and confirm my golf clubs fit in the rear seat). As everyone here knows, the car isn't perfect, none are, but it fits my interests and needs very nicely. I'll be sure to post photos and impressions of the car when I get it in a few months. Oh, and by the way, no more trips to Hong Kong this time
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