Quote:
Originally Posted by ezmaass
I've tried to like it... but just don't.
Yes, it's a major achievement because it was complex... but it's also complex to build a house upside down. Just because something is difficult to accomplish doesn't mean the result is rewarding, meaningful, or valued.
I'd sooner drive an all-electric sports car than a hybrid one. No matter how fantastically smart they get with trying to make the systems work in concert, some of Chris' comments are really telling regarding limitations - and most of them seem to be surrounding trying to make the systems predict what the driver wants and respond in-turn. In a sedan that may be fine. But in a sports car, where we tend to measure responsiveness of systems in fractions of seconds, it's unacceptable to have any amount of hesitation for a secondary system to engage, overcompensate, or fail to spool down in-time... much to what was explained here. It's the result of predicting what the driver will want and literally trying to spool-up/down the gasoline engine in the proper quantity. It's just never going to feel right.
I want a car with a single powerplant that just WORKS. Make it a combustion engine. Make it an electric motor. But don't make it BOTH and expect that they're going to seamlessly play well together in a sports car. Yes, yes... I know other high-end manufacturers are doing it. And I honestly think, like BMW pumping in artificial engine noise, it's an attempt to transition combustion engine folks to electric motors... a grand experiment, perhaps. But I'd sooner go all electric, honestly. You'd lose some wonderful noises... but you'd retain the composure and comprehensive design of a single powerplant.
And honestly, the i8 just fails to live up to the design of the Audi R8 for me. The R8 is a stunning supercar... and the i8 seems to be a quirky pseudo futuristic experiment that will likely age very, very poorly. After 6 years or so of production, the R8 still looks as beautiful, current, and timeless as it did when it was debuted. I don't think we'll be saying the same about the i8 in 6 years.
My 0.02 cents.
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My thoughts exactly!
All electric drive with maybe an optional i/c engine just to recharge the batteries for range is the way to go.
No matter how hard they try as ezmaass put it so well they can't make the mating of two power trains so seemless that you wont notice when driving in a sporting fashion.
A Hybrid system too is just so so overly complex. Why go there? The fiska Karma and Tesla S (if you don't need too much range) are the better solution