RE: BMW i8 vs The Real World

RE: BMW i8 vs The Real World

Author
Discussion

Norma Smellons

8 posts

113 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
It does not really matter how it drives because the tax advantages make it a no brainer to buy.

Zero London congestion charge and virtually no benefit in kind tax to the user.

The government are forcing higher rate tax payers to buy these instead of Porsche 911's etc

civicduty

1,857 posts

202 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
hondafanatic said:
hornetrider said:
These are a bit Kim Kardashian for me.

Not bad looking from the front, but a hideous rear end.
Someone mentioned that it looks like it's pooping out a 911. And once seen, cannot be unseen.
Took me about 10 seconds but oh my god yes, I will never be able to look at the arse end of that car in the same way.

Axionknight

8,505 posts

134 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
£310 for blue seatbelts?

fk off.

Gio G

2,945 posts

208 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
civicduty said:
Took me about 10 seconds but oh my god yes, I will never be able to look at the arse end of that car in the same way.
+ 1 heard it on that Chris Harris Podcast..

VonSenger

2,465 posts

188 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
Schnellmann said:
Personally I would like to slap the person on here the first wrote that the i8 'look like it is giving birth to a 911". I couldn't immediately see what they were saying...but now that I have I can't "unsee" it and the i8 looks really odd at the rear because of that!
LMAO, oh yes, so it does!!

samoht

5,631 posts

145 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
~50mpg out of town is really unimpressive to me, considering an E-class diesel gets the same and is much more capacious. I get that it's great for short urban journeys, but I'd expect more overall somehow.

If it's not that economical, and it's not that sporty, it seems like it has only the cool factor to fall back on.

erics

2,659 posts

210 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
The Crack Fox said:
Links to these other reviews, please?

Sorry to ask such a daft question here, but how does the thing perform on a flat battery? Ie; I want to drive 500 miles non-stop. I guess I get all the electric car shove plus petrol power for the first X miles, then after that it's the 231BHP petrol engine only as the battery recharges itself en-route? Does it re-charge to full when running for a long time at high speeds on petrol? I'm wondering how it would perform as a long-distance tourer.
It is a daft question.

Just use google: EVO, Chris Harris, Top Gear, Car magazine. Sorry but won't google it for you. And then go on google videos too whilst you are there.

Drive it in sport 20 minutes and the batteries are fully recharged. They regenerate permanently unless you drive in pure electric mode around London.

Edited by erics on Monday 19th January 13:05

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
Axionknight said:
£310 for blue seatbelts?

fk off.
you must be new to the world of the german car options list, try 6 grand for a radio upgrade on the RS6 smile


erics

2,659 posts

210 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
samoht said:
~50mpg out of town is really unimpressive to me, considering an E-class diesel gets the same and is much more capacious. I get that it's great for short urban journeys, but I'd expect more overall somehow.

If it's not that economical, and it's not that sporty, it seems like it has only the cool factor to fall back on.
Get a test drive and see for yourself. I am coming out of an aston v12 vantage, and found the i8 acceleration both from standstill and in-gear mind blowing. Only way more accessible than the British car.

People should really go out and drive it before they write ill informed comments.

whythem

773 posts

176 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
erics said:
there will always be nay sayers. I drove one on a few occasions. Once for a weekend. I could not disagree more with Dan Trent.

The only thing I would agree is that it is not a track car.

Otherwise, it is an exilarating car to own. Not necessarily for the performance, but as a whole package.

The review is extremely short sighted and a contrast to the dozens of other reviews from more experienced / respected journalists.
Yeah but are the other journo's as highly trained, highly skilled, highly paid, highly voiced and as highly dangerous as Dan Trentsmile

hondafanatic

4,969 posts

200 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
civicduty said:
hondafanatic said:
hornetrider said:
These are a bit Kim Kardashian for me.

Not bad looking from the front, but a hideous rear end.
Someone mentioned that it looks like it's pooping out a 911. And once seen, cannot be unseen.
Took me about 10 seconds but oh my god yes, I will never be able to look at the arse end of that car in the same way.
I know I know I know... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned.

civicduty

1,857 posts

202 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
hondafanatic said:
civicduty said:
hondafanatic said:
hornetrider said:
These are a bit Kim Kardashian for me.

Not bad looking from the front, but a hideous rear end.
Someone mentioned that it looks like it's pooping out a 911. And once seen, cannot be unseen.
Took me about 10 seconds but oh my god yes, I will never be able to look at the arse end of that car in the same way.
I know I know I know... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned.
What you should do to really wind everyone up is highlight the area on the picture we are all talking about and post it up, I would, but unfortunately cannot do so at work.

Go on I dare you!

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
erics said:
samoht said:
~50mpg out of town is really unimpressive to me, considering an E-class diesel gets the same and is much more capacious. I get that it's great for short urban journeys, but I'd expect more overall somehow.

If it's not that economical, and it's not that sporty, it seems like it has only the cool factor to fall back on.
Get a test drive and see for yourself. I am coming out of an aston v12 vantage, and found the i8 acceleration both from standstill and in-gear mind blowing. Only way more accessible than the British car.

People should really go out and drive it before they write ill informed comments.
people go and drive cars and form there own opinions ????


bwahahahhahaha it will never catch on wink


Dan Trent

1,866 posts

167 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
The Crack Fox said:
erics said:
there will always be nay sayers. I drove one on a few occasions. Once for a weekend. I could not disagree more with Dan Trent.

The review is extremely short sighted and a contrast to the dozens of other reviews from more experienced / respected journalists.
Links to these other reviews, please?

Sorry to ask such a daft question here, but how does the thing perform on a flat battery? Ie; I want to drive 500 miles non-stop. I guess I get all the electric car shove plus petrol power for the first X miles, then after that it's the 231BHP petrol engine only as the battery recharges itself en-route? Does it re-charge to full when running for a long time at high speeds on petrol? I'm wondering how it would perform as a long-distance tourer.
Clearly I'm not experienced or respected enough to comment but I'll do my best... rolleyes

If there's no juice in the battery the petrol engine powers a generator that will either charge the battery and/or power the electric motors. So in Sport mode you'll always have the full beans available. Sport mode also uses the re-gen more aggressively so whenever you're off throttle you're charging so in my (obviously limited and ill-informed) experience you very quickly build battery charge. As per the story, this is actually the quickest way to recharge the battery whilst on the move if you've started your journey at zero electric 'juice' as I did on one commute.

More from press material:

BMW said:
And to keep the battery topped up, SPORT mode also activates maximum energy recuperation during overrun and braking, ensuring that the BMW i8 is able to perform to the very best of its sporting abilities at all times. If the battery is being recharged using the car’s kinetic energy, the electric motor’s generator function switches to a more powerful setting.
While I'm here this is also BMW's explanation of the 'real' mpg as opposed to the headline NEDC figure. Strangely enough this is buried in the body copy of the press pack...

BMW said:
The typical driving requirements of commuter traffic can be met with average fuel consumption of less than five litres per 100 kilometres (over 56.5 mpg imp) when utilising the two drive units. If the daily commute is combined with longer sections of motorway and country driving – on weekend trips for instance – the intelligent powertrain management in the BMW i8 is capable of keeping consumption below the seven litres per 100 kilometres mark (40.4 mpg imp). And even when it’s just being used for long-distance holiday driving, fuel consumption still averages below eight litres per 100 kilometres (35.3 mpg imp).
This does indeed tally pretty much exactly with the mpg I recorded on the driving I did with the car. Suffice to say I never saw 135mpg...

Cheers,

Dan

mwstewart

7,553 posts

187 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
I don't buy the saving money argument for this: it's basically £100k.

I don't buy the environmental aspect either:


Until that dark blue turns to orange I can't see that EVs in the UK are making any improvement on a petrol powered car - am I wrong?

Qussz

113 posts

119 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
Schnellmann said:
Personally I would like to slap the person on here the first wrote that the i8 'look like it is giving birth to a 911". I couldn't immediately see what they were saying...but now that I have I can't "unsee" it and the i8 looks really odd at the rear because of that!
Yes that's all I can think about when I see or think about i8's.

hondafanatic

4,969 posts

200 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
civicduty said:
hondafanatic said:
civicduty said:
hondafanatic said:
hornetrider said:
These are a bit Kim Kardashian for me.

Not bad looking from the front, but a hideous rear end.
Someone mentioned that it looks like it's pooping out a 911. And once seen, cannot be unseen.
Took me about 10 seconds but oh my god yes, I will never be able to look at the arse end of that car in the same way.
I know I know I know... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned.
What you should do to really wind everyone up is highlight the area on the picture we are all talking about and post it up, I would, but unfortunately cannot do so at work.

Go on I dare you!
I'm not very good with uploading my own pictures...

However, other people clearly are...



slippery

14,093 posts

238 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
I took the plunge a few months ago, but will be waiting a few months yet, before I can give you my account of it. Due to arrive in May I'm told. I too was told that the battery wouldn't run out in Sport mode, but this video appears to contradict that theory, as the battery apparently ran out in Sport mode during track use. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3p8Ao26t1A

kambites

67,460 posts

220 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
mwstewart said:
Until that dark blue turns to orange I can't see that EVs in the UK are making any improvement on a petrol powered car - am I wrong?
EVs average a fair bit more efficient than petrol powered cars. Especially powerful ones.

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
Qussz said:
Schnellmann said:
Personally I would like to slap the person on here the first wrote that the i8 'look like it is giving birth to a 911". I couldn't immediately see what they were saying...but now that I have I can't "unsee" it and the i8 looks really odd at the rear because of that!
Yes that's all I can think about when I see or think about i8's.
get a black one, its less noticeable