[ddk632]

+1 to everything @Carac said.

I don't have an i8 on order (yet) but I want one for the same reasons. The i8 is futuristic with real world usable performance.

@Carac is adding the i8 to an SLS - wow, nice combo man!
Mine would be added to my X6M.

To address your points though, @x5love,

Originally Posted by x5love

Teslas can go 300 miles on a charge. i3 comes in a single flavor that's all electric and that caps around 100 miles. i8 doesn't even come in an all electric form, theorhetically drops its mpg down to 45 when driven hard.

Agreed, as an EV the Tesla is the benchmark in terms of range as well as luxury and performance. The i3 is not a competitor so not worth noting; the i8 being a hybrid isn't exactly apples-to-apples either. As to the mpg going down when going hard, I am sure it's equivalent that the Tesla range is not 300 miles when driven hard. This would be logical in either case.

Originally Posted by x5love

Tesla doesn't factor gas into the equation, and manages to push it's car 0-60 in under 4 seconds. For a seven seater luxury full size car, that's pretty damn impressive. 4.5 seconds for a $140 grand super car, and the reaction is meh.

Tesla Model S according to their own website has max 0-60 of 4.2; BMW i8 states 0-100 km/h in 4.4; that's 0-62.5mph, not 0-60; it's possible it may be 4.3 when converted to 0-60mph rather than 0-100km/h. Bottom line is, they aren't exactly worlds apart.

The R8 V8 is also in the same ballpark, by the way, 4.3 I think. I am not sure I'd call Tesla a 7-seater - it's a 5+2 and the +2 is not even comparable to the i8 +2 - it's smaller... surely it is nevertheless impressive, but again, not mind-blowing.

Originally Posted by x5love

These are the things that buyers at this price level are going to care about. If Tesla could do it without compromise, why couldn't BMW?

You have two people in this thread who do not care about those things enough to not buy the car. I don't think the price level has anything to do with it; in fact, it's quite the opposite.

At this price level, one's choices are fairly open, and one can take much into consideration beyond pure performance numbers. A GT-R will smoke almost anything on the road for less money than an i8, R8, SLS, any Maserati, etc. People still will buy a Maserati for the engine sound, looks, Italian character, etc.

Hell my X6M can smoke a Maserati but that doesn't make the Maserati a piece of crap. It's a beautiful car, but performs worse than many others in the price range. People still buy them in droves, especially here in South Florida.

Therefore I believe the uniqueness of the car, the styling, the overall package, and performance being in the relative ballpark, will all contribute to a buy decision on something like the i8. It's a purely emotional purchase. The fact that there's literally nothing on the road remotely resembling the i8 is currently a huge selling point. I believe the design is slightly ahead of its time, yet also perfectly timed nonetheless.

Originally Posted by x5love

We'll agree to disagree on the blue. I find it to be a very surface level addition that only speaks to marketing, not function by any means, and that's what bothers me. The i8 is already so unique in its styling that blue accents aside, it still wouldn't look like a normal car.

Fair enough

Originally Posted by x5love

I just see the debut of these cars as being 2 steps in the wrong direction, and that's what bothers me. I've been waiting to see a BMW super car since I was a teenager. An answer to the R8, the SLR, SLS, something. Anything. And then bring us a hybrid that performs reasonably well, that has bright blue all over it in the hopes that everyone realizes the car is about efficiency and forgives the lack of performance.

I hear you man. This has not been in the BMW cards for quite some time. Once in a while BMW comes out with something truly spectacular. The 8-series, the Z8, and the i8 all come to mind.

Benz has always had a higher caliber of cars with the S/SL/CL600, the more recent iterations of those cars in AMG 65 versions with V12's that are hitting and exceeding the $200k mark, plus the SLS (not so outrageously priced when looking at the AMG range), and the SLR (one of the most beautiful, awesome cars to be made).

If BMW came out with an M7 with a twin-turbo V12 to top the 760Li for $200k, many posters on here would cry blasphemy. Benz has been doing it for years. That hasn't been the BMW way.

Same thing with a Supercar, sure there is pressure, but it hasn't been a core aspect of what BMW is about - BMW was (not sure if still is) The Sports Sedan - driving any mid-90's and early 2000's 3, 5, or 7 series was where it's at. And the M3 and M5. They were normal daily-driver cars that were the best handling of the bunch and extremely sporty. To a lesser extent they still are, although I wasn't impressed with the F30's handling.

So BMW has chosen to instead venture in a new direction rather than following down that path. I'm cool with that. Would love to see a BMW Supercar as well. However, for now, the i8 is a perfect example of a BMW "real-world" future sports car that will surely have competition in the future in this new sort of green sports car segment.

And if the emphasis is on lower weight, excellent handling, usable power, and gorgeous styling, I am all in on the i8.

To be honest with you, when the i8 concept was introduced, I thought it'll probably be in the $300k range, just from its looks. And as I've posted elsewhere, therein I think lies some of the problem. The look of the car screams exotic supercar, so people were expecting it to be everything to everyone, which it isn't.