[Ravon]

After six months with an i8 living in the UK there are a few points which have come to light which would improve the car for my purposes, these are ( in order of priority )
1. Decouple Sports suspension setting from "Sport" charge rate. The roads certainly in the South of England are in terrible condition, and the car is more than stiff enough in "Comfort" setting for the UK, in "Sport" mode the ride quality is plain uncomfortable . (I notice that in an M4 that I was loaned whilst the i8 was having some issues rectified, that all of the chassis settings are independently adjustable, including steering effort ).

2. Install active part of the the Cruise Control, it would seem to me that the car already may have radar fitted for the "collision avoidance " ( that silly red car that lights up on the dashboard and terrifies ), and it clearly has Cruise Control, so why not marry the two together and offer proper "Dynamic Cruise Control" ?

3. Install a circuit board and switches, and give the seats a memory function . Electrically adjustable seats without a memory are a real annoyance .

4. Improve the "feel" of the electric power steering, Porsche have managed to do it , so I'm certain BMW can improve theirs .

Other than these points, the car is superb, apart from terrible unreliability, but I suspect I'm a one-off .

[yamanote]

The collision warning in the i8 uses the KAFAS camera mounted in the front windshield behind the rearview mirror, not a radar system.

With that said, the i3 offers active cruise control and lane departure warning via its KAFAS camera so I'm not sure why the i8 doesn't offer the same...

[MalibuBimmer]

In order to save weight BMW has long used a multiplex wiring system, where the wires carry signals for numerous devices and tasks, not simply one per wire. I suspect that multiplex wiring is problematic when run through carbon fiber. Carbon fiber does interfere with AM radio reception. So I think adding on extras is more complicated than just running a wire or two.

Of course, that doesn't mean I would like more extras.

[Carac]

Originally Posted by MalibuBimmer

Carbon fiber does interfere with AM radio reception.

I thought it was due to EM interference from the electric half of the drivetrain.

[ChiTownM]

Originally Posted by Ravon

After six months with an i8 living in the UK there are a few points which have come to light which would improve the car for my purposes, these are ( in order of priority )
1. Decouple Sports suspension setting from "Sport" charge rate. The roads certainly in the South of England are in terrible condition, and the car is more than stiff enough in "Comfort" setting for the UK, in "Sport" mode the ride quality is plain uncomfortable . (I notice that in an M4 that I was loaned whilst the i8 was having some issues rectified, that all of the chassis settings are independently adjustable, including steering effort ).

2. Install active part of the the Cruise Control, it would seem to me that the car already may have radar fitted for the "collision avoidance " ( that silly red car that lights up on the dashboard and terrifies ), and it clearly has Cruise Control, so why not marry the two together and offer proper "Dynamic Cruise Control" ?

3. Install a circuit board and switches, and give the seats a memory function . Electrically adjustable seats without a memory are a real annoyance .

4. Improve the "feel" of the electric power steering, Porsche have managed to do it , so I'm certain BMW can improve theirs .

Other than these points, the car is superb, apart from terrible unreliability, but I suspect I'm a one-off .

To your point 1 you may want to look into different tires or tires and wheels altogether. That changed the driving comfort to a better and more fun setup. The dynamic cruise control is more of a nice to have but it is just stupid that we have no memory seats. I thought I can leverage profiles for that but I was wrong. I agree totally with you on the steering, it is just too light even in Sport. I would have liked 10 more real electric miles but it is ok.

[MalibuBimmer]

Originally Posted by Carac

I thought it was due to EM interference from the electric half of the drivetrain.

I "heard" it was interference from the battery and the carbon fiber. I have coded the AM radio back into my iDrive menu and when I try AM radio in gas mode only it doesn't change the poor reception.

[Aye-eight]

Originally Posted by MalibuBimmer

In order to save weight BMW has long used a multiplex wiring system, where the wires carry signals for numerous devices and tasks, not simply one per wire. I suspect that multiplex wiring is problematic when run through carbon fiber. Carbon fiber does interfere with AM radio reception. So I think adding on extras is more complicated than just running a wire or two.

Of course, that doesn't mean I would like more extras.

Multiplex wiring, or bus systems, are used by pretty much all manufacturers these days. I don't see how carbon fiber would cause issues with it - the signals travel through the wires, not by radio waves.

AM, on the other hand, is a rather weak radio wave signal (which is why it still sounds like the 1930s) that gets interference from someone sneezing nearby. It's a bit of a mystery to me why it's still so much in use in the US. Maybe because there's so many jabber stations where audio quality doesn't really matter. In Europe, the last German-speaking AM station went offline in 2015. We sure don't miss it over here ...

[Aye-eight]

Originally Posted by Carac

I thought it was due to EM interference from the electric half of the drivetrain.

Teslas have a fully electric powertrain with a lot more oomph (is that a scientific term?) going through it. They manage to have all kinds of sensors, large screens, etc. without issues. I'd think the potential interference from the electric powertrain should be fairly easy to shield against. Can't be worse than the induction madness coming from the 30'000 V in the ignition system of an ICE car, which go on-off-on-off a few thousand times a minute.

[Arobotbrain]

Originally Posted by ChiTownM

To your point 1 you may want to look into different tires or tires and wheels altogether. That changed the driving comfort to a better and more fun setup....

Any suggestions with respect to tires and wheels to increase comfort?

[ChiTownM]

Car is currently in offsite heated storage....I went with aftermarket Vossen wheels that fill out the entire wheel well quite well....lol. Send me a PM and I will reply once the car is out of hibernation.....

[ChiTownM]

Originally Posted by Arobotbrain

Any suggestions with respect to tires and wheels to increase comfort?

Weather is spectacular this weekend for where I live so I took the i8 for a Spin. I am running Vossen wheels with 275/35R20 in the rear and 245/40R20 in front. Love the ride and aggressive grip now!

[Aye-eight]

Is the charging port still on the left side of the car in the UK? I like having it on the driver's side - has prevented me forgetting to unplug the car a number of times.

[ian_i3S_iX]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

Is the charging port still on the left side of the car in the UK? I like having it on the driver's side - has prevented me forgetting to unplug the car a number of times.

If the i8 is like the i3 you cannot start it plugged in you also get a message if the flap is open

The passenger side i8 and drivers side i3 suits me fine i8 is driven in and backed out of the garage and the i3 backed up the drive, the 2 charging points being on the same side in the garage

[Aye-eight]

Originally Posted by ian_i8_i3

If the i8 is like the i3 you cannot start it plugged in you also get a message if the flap is open

The passenger side i8 and drivers side i3 suits me fine i8 is driven in and backed out of the garage and the i3 backed up the drive, the 2 charging points being on the same side in the garage

I know you can't drive off with the plug in. Still annoying if you have to get out of the car again, walk around in this case, and unplug it.

Not important; was just womdering.