View Single Post
      11-24-2013, 07:29 PM   #18
ddk632
Chief Senior Executive Managing VP of Orange Sales
ddk632's Avatar
United_States
583
Rep
2,581
Posts

Drives: 17 BMW F87 M2 6MT MG HBDGR !
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Aventura, FL

iTrader: (2)

It's difficult to argue against the performance aspects of a GTR.

Here's my take on the i8.

My current dream car (unattainable but when I make the money I want one) is the Pagani Huayra. It embodies a collaboration of pure design, incredible performance, exotic materials, beautiful craftsmanship, all in one package. It is sexy, beautiful, and a work of art. It is a reality created from a vision.

There are other cars which may be cheaper and perform better or have better specs in some place or other (not many), but the overall package and emotion that a Huayra represents to me is worth more than some better spec in some part of another car.

I feel the same way about the i8.

It is absolutely "paying for development costs" as someone mentioned in another thread.
It's a hybrid, not a pure electric, and doesn't have the electric range of a Tesla.
It isn't as fast as a 918 or a P1 (and also not nearly as expensive).
It doesn't hold 7 people or have 2 trunks.

But it has on paper (since that's all we know) the best performance (a word that itself needs to be redefined as for hybrids this includes mpg and range in addition to 0-60 times) of a hybrid car in its price range or below. Forget the P1 or the 918, these are the Pagani Huayras of the hybrid world. They are unattainable dream cars to most people. Exclude those cars, and focus on hybrid (not Tesla) and who comes close? The Panamera plug-in hybrid may be closest but it is still slower and has nothing in the looks department on the i8 (and I like Panameras).

The i8 is an affordable car to some people (surely not all, I get that, but it's reasonably priced given what it is) and represents a vision made into reality. It's the first iteration and we all know that future generations will have better batteries, more performance, more range, and all of that. This is known as progress and surely it will only get better from here. But today, there is no other car like the i8. And that is part of its allure.

It is built from the design of a concept that many (most) automakers would never put into production. It lives true to its concept form in many ways, not all, but many. Enough to not be a disappointment (see recent WRX).

In other words, I look at the i8 as an attainable Huayra. If I had the funds / income to purchase a Huayra today, I would still want an i8 alongside her in my garage. Because no matter the price or the specs, the i8 speaks an emotional language that resonates with certain people. I am one of them, and as such find any comparison of the car to other cars simply futile as the benchmarks are old but the car is new. When the i8 has a true competitor, surely it will welcome the competition.

Until then the GTR has it's place, as does the Stingray, the GT500, the SLS, the Huayra, the 918, the P1, and so forth. These cars fill a vast spectrum in which it is not possible to choose one best over the other. Only the one that makes the most sense to you. And that, my friends, is a decision of the heart. For if we didn't have some emotional connection to cars as enthusiasts, everybody would be driving the most logical best performing/cheapest car that exists. Obviously, this is not the case.

Maybe some day I'll get a GTR, too, but for now the only car I want in my garage next to the X6M is an i8.

Cliff notes: GTR is fast, the Tesla looks like a Hyundai, and the i8 rocks!
Appreciate 0