[exclusivedetails]

http://jalopnik.com/the-bmw-i8-story...y-w-1640585850

I think it's pretty accurate. What are your thoughts?

[Twitch Massacre]

Originally Posted by exclusivedetails

http://jalopnik.com/the-bmw-i8-story...y-w-1640585850

I think it's pretty accurate. What are your thoughts?

Excellent piece. Very accurate. Publications tend to get this car right. It's usually the onlooking fanboys who've never been in one that misinterpret it.

[skinrock]

"Launching this car feels like you’re in a goddamn centrifuge. All of your more important and/or interesting organs want to come out of the back of the seat."

As much as I love mine, that feels like a bit of an overstatement. That or something isn't right.

[Longboarder]

Yeah maybe something was wrong with the two I test drove and the one I bought. Acceleration was about what I expected for 3,400 pound AWD car with 362 HP with a 6 speed auto trans. Quick from a dig but slow once in higher gears.

I went out of town a few hours after buying mine and I should be home tomorrow so I was planning on driving it a bit and doing some vBox runs this weekend.

[skinrock]

Originally Posted by Longboarder

Yeah maybe something was wrong with the two I test drove and the one I bought. Acceleration was about what I expected for 3,400 pound AWD car with 362 HP with a 6 speed auto trans. Quick from a dig but slow once in higher gears.

I went out of town a few hours after buying mine and I should be home tomorrow so I was planning on driving it a bit and doing some vBox runs this weekend.

It's so weird...I feel the opposite. Tonight was pretty good for me, I felt some nice launches from a dig, but I feel like it's very unpredictable.

On the flip side, launching from a 40-50 roll is always certain fun.

[Longboarder]

Originally Posted by skinrock

It's so weird...I feel the opposite. Tonight was pretty good for me, I felt some nice launches from a dig, but I feel like it's very unpredictable.

On the flip side, launching from a 40-50 roll is always certain fun.

I definitely need more seat time. But I'm also kinda desensitized to acceleration lol.

[Twitch Massacre]

I don't know if I would have described it as colorfully as the gentleman that wrote the article. But the 360+hp 3-cyl hybrid feels a lots stronger from a dig than my 570+hp ttv8 did. Like it was mentioned above, pulls from 20mph and 40mph are great too. It's from 4th gear on that I find the car maybe a bit lacking. Launches can sometimes be inconsistent and I still haven't figured if it's due to the level of charge or just the vehicle's electronic nannies but I did a pull from 20 that nearly broke my neck but then the one immediately after it felt like the car cut power almost on purpose mid-pull.

[Aye-eight]

Originally Posted by Longboarder

Acceleration was about what I expected for 3,400 pound AWD car with 362 HP with a 6 speed auto trans.

I'm tempted to say "duh!" It's hard to get more acceleration than expected from any configuration if you know cars a little bit. It's a lot easier to get less, though.

And let's be real, people, 4 sec or thereabouts 0-60 is by no means slow.

[Longboarder]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

I'm tempted to say "duh!" It's hard to get more acceleration than expected from any configuration if you know cars a little bit. It's a lot easier to get less, though.

And let's be real, people, 4 sec or thereabouts 0-60 is by no means slow.

This review made the car out to be a lot faster than the stats seemed to indicate. Had I read this and then test drove the car, I would have been thoroughly disappointed. I went into the test drive with no expectations just knowing the stats and pretty much held true to expectations. I did have a disappointment, which is the delay is the trans up shift. Having two PDK cars and my outgoing DCT M3, this delay is expected...however the 8speed auto on my 2013 X5 shifts faster which caused me to be like...meh could be a lot better.

My first post here was before even test driving hoping to get around 500 HP through tuning and perhaps some parts upgrades and that is still my goal. I would like to get some baseline stats this weekend with the vBox and then after each future mod, evaluate the results.

I was able to get really nice improvements with my other cars, experimenting with lots of combinations of things, but I know this one being a new platform will be an even larger challenge. But I'm looking forward to it.

[skinrock]

Do you guys keep yours charged up all the time? I almost never plug it in...since it always keeps about 10-14 mile range charged up.

[Aye-eight]

Originally Posted by skinrock

Do you guys keep yours charged up all the time? I almost never plug it in...since it always keeps about 10-14 mile range charged up.

Okay, I don't want to be rude, but I also want to be clear: if you have a plug-in hybrid and yu don't plug it in, that's just plain silly.

Now, you can argue whether or not it makes sense to invest in charging infrastructure at home (like a wall box) ot to pay for charging elsewhere. That's down to i dividual economics and pricing of the options. But in principle, plug it in when you can because it's a hell of a lot more efficient tham charging the battery through Sport mode.

But at the very least, you can drain your battery towards the end of the day and plug it in overnight at home with that standard charger. That will give you 20ish miles every day for a lot less than it would be to drive the same distance on gas.

That's why it's a plug-in hybrid. Plug it in!

[ericsi]

As much as i like my i8, i find the review to be a little ott.

I think that by over emphasising the performance, it gives the wrong idea.

What it should have conveyed better is that the performance is not necessarily the main thing.

The main thing is how homogenous the car is. How it works as a package.

How it uses a 911 type package (4 seats) and reinvents it from scratch.

How it gives a similar performance to a c2s for a similar price but delivers it in such a different way. How it is the complete opposite of a one trick pony.

How it costs nothing at all to run when compared to comparable exotic motor.

How it opens up an entirely new dimension to be able to drive in the utter silence.

In short and in my view, whilst enthusiastic and upbeat, it missed a fair few essential points.

[Nivarox]

I plug it in two days a week . As for the review , only thing I disagree is that they tend to bash the quality of the interior . It's not as premium as BMW G11/12 and it's not BMW 7 Coupe either . This car has it's own class .
We can have LED A/C , LED even Lazer Lights , leather dashboard . What would you expect in terms of luxury , a wood veneer trim surrounding the cockpit ?
My only nit pick for sake of nitpicking is lack of USB slots and may be DVD slot . Only 1 USB slot is very anachronistic in a high tech car
Aside from the that , I can underwrite almost everything what Jalopnik says
Thanks for sharing

[skinrock]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

Okay, I don't want to be rude, but I also want to be clear: if you have a plug-in hybrid and yu don't plug it in, that's just plain silly.

Now, you can argue whether or not it makes sense to invest in charging infrastructure at home (like a wall box) ot to pay for charging elsewhere. That's down to i dividual economics and pricing of the options. But in principle, plug it in when you can because it's a hell of a lot more efficient tham charging the battery through Sport mode.

But at the very least, you can drain your battery towards the end of the day and plug it in overnight at home with that standard charger. That will give you 20ish miles every day for a lot less than it would be to drive the same distance on gas.

That's why it's a plug-in hybrid. Plug it in!

Well, I live in an apartment, so I can't just put in a wall box. The charging station that we do have is used by a guy that has a fully electric vehicle, and out of respect I haven't confronted him about sharing it (we actually chatted and he said he'd always be willing to swap if I want to charge, but it's not worth the hassle).

I specifically went with this because of the fact that it can basically be used as a gas car. Less efficient? Sure...but I still get over 27 mpg. And to me that's insane for this kind of power and looks.

BTW, it's been performing nicely the past few days...most launches are very good, and did about a 60-90 pull on the highway and it felt great.

[Aye-eight]

Originally Posted by skinrock

Well, I live in an apartment, so I can't just put in a wall box. The charging station that we do have is used by a guy that has a fully electric vehicle, and out of respect I haven't confronted him about sharing it (we actually chatted and he said he'd always be willing to swap if I want to charge, but it's not worth the hassle).

I specifically went with this because of the fact that it can basically be used as a gas car. Less efficient? Sure...but I still get over 27 mpg. And to me that's insane for this kind of power and looks.

BTW, it's been performing nicely the past few days...most launches are very good, and did about a 60-90 pull on the highway and it felt great.

I get that. And in my view, the wall box doesn't make sense, anyway, for such a small battery. But if you could just plug in the little travel charger that came with the car overnight, you'd boost your mpg by quite a bit with no hassle at all.

Sorry about all the typos in the previous post, btw. I was typing on my phone. Fat fingers, I guess.

[exclusivedetails]

The other day, I did a 60 - 120 MPH pull with a M235i and a 335i. Both beat me by half a car length lol They did not appear to be that modified.

[skinrock]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

I get that. And in my view, the wall box doesn't make sense, anyway, for such a small battery. But if you could just plug in the little travel charger that came with the car overnight, you'd boost your mpg by quite a bit with no hassle at all.

Sorry about all the typos in the previous post, btw. I was typing on my phone. Fat fingers, I guess.

There is no wall outlet either, unfortunately. The only one is at the handicap spot.

[Aye-eight]

Originally Posted by exclusivedetails

The other day, I did a 60 - 120 MPH pull with a M235i and a 335i. Both beat me by half a car length lol They did not appear to be that modified.

Don't worry. You'll make up lost time when they have to pull into the gas station ...

[Bones Justice]

Originally Posted by Longboarder

This review made the car out to be a lot faster than the stats seemed to indicate. Had I read this and then test drove the car, I would have been thoroughly disappointed.

After reading reviews like this, I definitely felt a little disappointment when I finally got to drive one. There's no question that the car is objectively fast. It just didn't feel very fast. It seemed to lack even the oomph that my 335i/6MT had.

I imagine if I'd had the opportunity to take the car on the freeway and rip it from 60 to 120 instead of just 0 to 60, I'd have been more impressed.

[IS350]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

Okay, I don't want to be rude, but I also want to be clear: if you have a plug-in hybrid and yu don't plug it in, that's just plain silly.

Now, you can argue whether or not it makes sense to invest in charging infrastructure at home (like a wall box) ot to pay for charging elsewhere. That's down to i dividual economics and pricing of the options. But in principle, plug it in when you can because it's a hell of a lot more efficient tham charging the battery through Sport mode.

But at the very least, you can drain your battery towards the end of the day and plug it in overnight at home with that standard charger. That will give you 20ish miles every day for a lot less than it would be to drive the same distance on gas.

That's why it's a plug-in hybrid. Plug it in!

I like to plug in overnight, too. But seldom get more than 16 miles in Eco-pro mode.

[Aye-eight]

Originally Posted by IS350

I like to plug in overnight, too. But seldom get more than 16 miles in Eco-pro mode.

It all depends on how you drive it. IMHO, the art of driving an i8 is to exploit the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dual personalities. Floor it where you can, but be frugal and quiet at all other times. Delivers an entirely new driving experiene to me ...