[drlonline]

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Picked up the car on Saturday evening, and couldn't wait to take its first official photos on Sunday morning, Earth Day . No better and more appropriate backdrop than the famous Griffith Observatory here in Southern California, followed by fun driving through the canyons of SoCal and along Pacific Coast Highway.

What an amazing car! I'll share more impressions later, but wanted to get these photos posted so you could all enjoy along with me. This has been a very long time coming for me, but it was definitely worth the wait.

Finally got around to adjusting my photos for posting (had to re-size them). Most of these were taken a week ago, the day after I picked the car up, when I went touring along Pacific Coast Highway and in the canyon roads near Malibu. Great backdrops for the shots. Had a model friend of mine join me and she wore an appropriate i-electric blue dress. I'm the goofy guy in black with the big grin on his face.

The last two shots in the mountains were taken later last week in Angeles National Forest above my home in La Canada after I had the tinting done (3M Color Stable 20 on all windows, nothing on windshield). First time I've ever done tinting and I love the look, particularly with the color scheme of the car. Also impressed with how much cooler it keeps the car.

Threw in a couple interior shots, showing the Tera World color scheme and the new carbon fiber accents. Also included one shot of the HUD while in Sport Mode, Manual shift. Very useful display now, with clear indication of the gear selected. If Nav is engaged, Nav directions are moved off the HUD to the instrument display. Since I was parked when I took this photo, what you don't see is the other color band that is displayed above the mostly grey band that you do see which will show the optimal shift point for the current gear selected.

Final image is a screenshot from the BMW Connected app, showing my projected e-range of 30 miles. I've gotten a little over that when in Eco-Pro mode. Great improvement and perfect for me, given that my typical daily mileage will be ~ 25 miles.

Only one week old and I already have 800 miles on the car (there's lot of great scenery to explore in SoCal). I'll eventually settle down with the mileage, but I'm like the proverbial kid in the candy store at this point. Next big journey will be to Las Vegas in a couple weeks for a Tiger Woods charity golf tournament. Thank goodness for that rear seat area for the clubs.

[363ny]

Congratulations! May the i8 provide you many miles of driving pleasure! I would certainly be interested in your thoughts after some miles. I have had my i8 for about 18 months now and it still puts a big grin on my face.

[Maanpur]

Congratulation man. Enjoy your new i8.

[JasH]

Congratulations

And great backdrop for the i8

[MichaelJohn]

Congratulations and enjoy! Once you get a feel for it please let us know what kind of electric range you out of the new higher capacity battery. I would think that 30 miles would be within reach. Of course that means eco pro and and a very gentle right foot but that adds a special Zen charm to driving this dual personality car.

[fishpond]

Congratuations! Enjoy...

[jcpca356]

nice color

[Coastali8]

I agree... beautiful car, great color choice. Congratulations. You will enjoy it!

[rarlyl8]

Lookin good!

[Need4Speed_Motorsports]

Beautiful car! Congrats!

[ghaffari46]

Finally a decent set of wheels for i8.
Looks great.

[Maxxsirrah]

Nice snaps! Does sound like they might have genuinely doubled the real world mileage of e-drive which will bring most peoples daily commutes within e-only range (if they want to do that of course!)

[JasH]

Nice pics

Something is smudging the left of the images though.

btw, it looks like you have the interior carbon fibre upgrade, but the gearknob is not carbon? Is it ceramic perhaps?

[MichaelJohn]

Now I have range envy! Nice pics but I would have been nervous about anyone leaning on the hood.

[drlonline]

Originally Posted by JasH

Nice pics

Something is smudging the left of the images though.

btw, it looks like you have the interior carbon fibre upgrade, but the gearknob is not carbon? Is it ceramic perhaps?

Yes, you're right about the photo smudge. At some point during the day, I dropped the camera and in picking it up, happened to put a fingerprint on the lens, which I didn't notice until I looked at the pictures later. It is gone from the photos I took later in the week.

Regarding the CF accents, they came standard with the Tera World package. Gearknob is ceramic, also standard with Tera World.

[raysspl]

Fantastic write-up on the new i8, Doug! By any chance did you test drive 2018 & older i8s & if you did, do you notice any changes on power & range?

That color combo is

[psuibmw]

Congrats, looks great I did this drive last year when I visited LA and it was amazing

[ORIGIN M.]

Nice pick-up Doug !

Congratulations ! !

[Germanauto]

Wow gorgeous.

Not talking about the car, although it's pretty too.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by MichaelJohn

Now I have range envy! Nice pics but I would have been nervous about anyone leaning on the hood.

lol at range envy..

Originally Posted by Germanauto

Wow gorgeous.

Not talking about the car, although it's pretty too.

and apparently other envy..

[ORIGIN M.]

Originally Posted by MichaelJohn

Now I have range envy! Nice pics but I would have been nervous about anyone leaning on the hood.

When they look like that it's easy to not to care.

Needs touch up at the rear of the car.

The rest of the shot is perfect.

[drlonline]

Originally Posted by raysspl

Fantastic write-up on the new i8, Doug! By any chance did you test drive 2018 & older i8s & if you did, do you notice any changes on power & range?

That color combo is

There is no 2018 MY for US cars. BMWNA decided to skip that designation and go straight to a 2019 MY. I did drive the 2017 car, and the most noticeable improvements are the extended E-range (30+ miles in Eco Pro vs. ~ 20 previously), and somewhat quicker acceleration. I also love the improved tech, most notably the incorporation of iDrive 6.0 vs. 3.0 in the previous MY's. Much better, faster, and useful user interface.