Thursday 16th October 2014

BMW i8: Delivery Miles

Like the look of BMW's intriguing new-age hybrid sports car? You've got a long wait or a premium to endure...

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Well I've now joined Matt in a what's still a pretty exclusive club - I've driven the BMW i8 in right-hand drive form on UK roads. I admit, I've been desperate to get into the i8 - along with most of the rest of Britain, it seems.

Impulse Design Package adds to value/desirability

So does the i8 match the expectations of its big build up? It's certainly got the cool factor: those floating rear buttresses look sensational, and whatever colour I've seen it in, it has amazing presence on the road. The fact that it's a hybrid gives it a sprinkle of that hyper-hybrid magic from the likes of the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918, too.

But I must admit, I do feel a little crestfallen after my drive. The three-cylinder Mini engine - tuned though it is to 231hp, and joined by two electric motors to deliver 362hp in all - just doesn't feel special enough. The sound in the cabin is utterly synthetic, taking the modern artifice of 'acoustic enhancement' to new extremes. The i8 is very quick, though, and a great handler.

The i8 first arrived on UK soil in July, and now quite a few British customers find themselves behind the (right-hand) wheel of their car. In fact, the UK is comfortably the biggest market for the BMW's 'i' sub-brand.

Fashionable status means hefty premiums

And the i8 is certainly in big demand here. Officially, the i8 is sold out until September 2015, but go to a BMW dealer and you'll typically be told it's the end of 2015 before you'll get one. As a result, it's not surprising that I've been told you can't get an i8 for love nor money.

Well, it turns out enough money can indeed buy you an i8, if you're prepared to accept a used example. And how much is 'enough'? In the region of £140K for a car with delivery miles on the odometer.

Since the i8's list price is £99,895, that looks like a straight - and steep - 40 per cent premium. But actually the base UK price is £101,385 on the road, including the obligatory surround view option. And many buyers are going for the Pure Impulse Design package, consisting of upgraded alloy wheels, perforated grey full leather trim and blue seat belts - yours for £12,200 - as well as the Harmon/Kardon sound system at £895. So the actual premium is more like £25K - still hefty - but then this is the 'it' car of the moment.

Would you pay a £25K premium?

The above-mentioned spec is what this delivery-mileage i8 has, and it's priced at £139,911 (that price must be deliberate). Very similarly specced and priced at £139,995 is this one. And with the same Pure Impulse Design pack is this i8 but with a few more miles on the clock - 1,400 - and therefore priced at a slightly more accessible £127,490.

Such premium prices may well be attracting owners to sell, but I also hear that another factor may be that it's so tricky to get into, with very wide sills and awkward doors. And personally speaking, I find the i8's cabin lacking in a sense of occasion - surprisingly, the BMW i3's interior has more drama.

Speaking of the i3, have you tried finding one for sale? I've looked but couldn't locate a single secondhand one for up for grabs in the UK, even through BMW's Approved Used scheme. That's despite more than 1,000 of them having been registered here in the last 12 months. Seems like, in contrast to owners of i8s, i3 owners are hanging on to their cars...

[IMI A]

£140,000

Daft

[jamespink]

I personally would never pay a premium for any new car, I would hate knowing I had paid someone a straight £30k AND they had had the pleasure of driving MY car from new... Interesting market!

[Silverbullet767]

If I had one, it would be up for sale with another new one on order.

Free Money

[SteveSteveson]

I think we have finally hit the tipping point. With this latest generation of electric cars and worth wile hybrids (Ones that do more than just mean your petrol car gets small diesel MPG with small diesel performance, with the only difference being your horrific black smog is traded for horrifically environmentally damaging batteries.) we seem to have reached a point where hybrids and electric cars are on the downhill slope to being truly mainstream.

I see within 5-10 years almost every new car will be hybrid or electric. I don't see it being all plug in electric due to the number of people who can't charge at home and the issues with charging speed. I can see a situation within not to long where the normal 2 car house is one electric and one hybrid or two hybrids (If they don't have parking)./

[PhantomPH]

I'm like (I would imagine) most of the Pistonheads crowd in that if I had £140k to spend on a car, I would be buying something with a V10 before they become extinct.

Mind you, even if the V12/V10/V8 were extinct, I still couldn't bring myself to drop £140,000 on a car pooping a 911.

[Dave Hedgehog]

these are infinity more desirable to me than anything tesla makes and it should work perfectly for me as a daily driver

but with that performance its a 60k car to me i am afraid


maybe in gen 3 i will get one when development costs are covered and economics of scale have kicked in

[rob.e]

I would expect that to have a spare 140k to splurg on a new car you'd have to be pretty savvy, in which case i'd find it hard to justify that extra 40 (or 25) £k based on the newness/ fashion / desirability which is surely not going to be a temporary thing?

.. but i guess they would't be asking that unless theres a market, so what do i know.

[jl34]

Why would you want to spend that ammount of money on a car that looks like it crashed into halfords?

[theholygrail]

I had a nose around one of these at Goodwood and although the exterior is a brave attempt the interior felt low rent (and certainly less special than a 20 year old Cerbera) but mainly it's the drive train I couldn't get my head round if I had that sort of money to spend. Maybe I need to drive one but I expect my reaction would be the same as the author's in that it just wouldn't feel special enough. It's fine in an i3 or Prius but this car shouldn't be concerned with CO2 and mpg IMO, even if the tech does eventually filter down to lesser models (quite apart from the fact that Evo got something like 26mpg in one!!). The sound a sports car makes is a huge part of its desirability for me. I for one will be sticking with V8s etc until it's no longer possible

[andrewrob]

jl34 said:

Why would you want to spend that ammount of money on a car that looks like it crashed into halfords?

I still can't unsee the image of it giving birth to a 911

[alock]

Dave Hedgehog said:

maybe in gen 3 i will get one when development costs are covered and economics of scale have kicked in

Will they still do an i8 at that point?

I imagine the technology will be in a 5 series within 5 years. Badged something like 545e, it will be very popular.

[nicfaz]

Really not sure why you would pay £140k for this. If eco-bobbins is your thing, why not the new Tesla Model S P85D? Considerably quicker and a proper EV, not a hybrid.

[crostonian]

Making some sort of eco fashion statement is the only reason I can see behind anyone buying one of these. The tech is too first generation to be useful and cost effective, the same car will be £30k new in a few years time.

[Agoogy]

andrewrob said:

jl34 said:

Why would you want to spend that ammount of money on a car that looks like it crashed into halfords?

I still can't unsee the image of it giving birth to a 911

+1

[daemon]

Silverbullet767 said:

If I had one, it would be up for sale with another new one on order.

Free Money

IF it sells.

[Tuvra]

I know someone who has one on order. Has been offered £6k for his build slot (June), the main dealer told him that early build slots are changing hands for around £14k.

Oddly, the chap buying it claims hes paying £100k for the car and is getting £25k off the Government in some kind of grant because its a hybrid? Effecticley the car is costing him the same as an M6 (his words)

[Dave Hedgehog]

alock said:

Dave Hedgehog said:

maybe in gen 3 i will get one when development costs are covered and economics of scale have kicked in

Will they still do an i8 at that point?

I imagine the technology will be in a 5 series within 5 years. Badged something like 545e, it will be very popular.

i hope so, i dont want a 4 door barge

[skyrover]

Tesla Model S walks all over this thing it would seem at that price.

[Zumbruk]

nicfaz said:

Really not sure why you would pay £140k for this. If eco-bobbins is your thing, why not the new Tesla Model S P85D? Considerably quicker and a proper EV, not a hybrid.

Perhaps i8 purchasers don't want to spend any time on the hard shoulder of the M6 with flat batteries?

[Zumbruk]

Agoogy said:

andrewrob said:

jl34 said:

Why would you want to spend that ammount of money on a car that looks like it crashed into halfords?

I still can't unsee the image of it giving birth to a 911

+1

+another one