[johnofcross]

I get all the hate this car is getting. The typical attributes that car enthusiast are looking for are missing with this car: power, looks (objective), practicality, perceived value for money. And I get that. This car tries very hard to redefine what a super car should be like. Personally, I think supercars should be wall poster material first, then driveability, then practicality, in that order. But I kind of get what BMW is doing with the i8. And for that, I respect it, and actually want this car.

The i8 is a light, electric sports car that still has the important BMW DNA of strong RWD bias with 50/50 weight distribution. I see this as a souped-up electric go kart. Is that wrong? For the price, many say yes, it's just highway robbery. Me, I see it as a departure from how every other exotic car maker is developing economical super cars.

From what I've seen around, many of these 'hybrid supercars' have giant engines mated to some electric generator powered by heavy batteries. How do you compensate for the loss of performance for the weight of the batteries? More power, which is why giant engines exist in the first place. These cars will go fast from a standstill and in a straight line, and with clever chassis dynamics, can go fast in a corner. They try to find as many clever ways of removing weight, including uses of exotic materials like carbon fiber and titanium. But is this the only formula for performance? BMW doesn't think so.

Think of the Lotus Elise and Arial Atom. These are very much lightweight sports cars that have very dynamic performance. These machines reward the driver with the pure enjoyment of owning the road. These cars flatter the drivers by giving them driving abilities that mainly come from the cars' awesome performance. And I think this is where the i8 is going. Granted, what BMW has done to get these results are a bit expensive, but they've done so much innovative research to do this that the cost needs to be recuperated somehow. Who would've thought a hybrid electric sports car can weight less than 1500kg? All I know is that I can get as much, if not better, economy than an Prius and still enjoy driving it. Sign me up.