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I share a lot of sentiments from both sides of the field on this one. People are either hating the update or praising it. My take:
1) The car is still under-powered. Regardless of what BMW's ideology was in regards to the i8, it's marketed as a "hybrid sports car." Given what is out now in terms of hybrid sports cars (NSX, LaFerrari, P1, 918) the i8 is at the very bottom when it comes to performance. You can't pit a 150K car against a 1million dollar car, but when comparing it to the NSX, it can't hang. I think Acura realized they missed the mark on their pricing, hence the significant discounts that are out now. With those discounts, the car is priced similar to an i8 and even less than, in some cases.
2) The minimal bump in EV range is even more disappointing than the laughable HP upgrade. I initially read on another website that there was a predicted range of 33 miles, which I thought was amazing when I first read it. Going over the official press release here shows that it's a tiny jump.
3) Badging on the side pillar is disgusting. No elaboration here, just plain, flat out, awful.
4) The roadster is gorgeous. I thought it would be tough to beat the styling on the coupe, but the roadster looks amazing.
Lastly, I was part of recent BMW market research for the i8 and offered my thoughts on the car concisely. Lets hope there were other i8 owners who offered up similar opinions to sway BMW in a different direction in terms of adding an "S" model or change the ICE to a 4cylinder turbo and reach 450-500 combined HP.
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