RE: BMW i8 vs The Real World
Discussion
I'm bored of hearing about the i8 being a comparison to the 911 now. Just because 2 things cost a similar amount of money its doesn't necessarily mean its a comparison. The I8 isn't a raw car that's made to just blast down lanes on a Sunday morning. Although it can do this and pretty well it would never beat a 911 or an f type at this and was never meant to.
What people forget is that this car is that its a very good overall package. It does 0-60 in 4.4 which is very fast. OK there's cars that can do it quicker but in the real world where the road are damp most of these cars cant get the power down so its mostly just bragging rights in the pub then. The i8 can get its power down in the wet. Its comfortable, its loaded with technology most people can drive the car in full electric to go to work and back meaning its extremely economical yet push the stick to the left for sport mode and you have a quick car that sounds pretty good and please do not forget that when you drive down the road in one of these you have a car that attracts a stink more attention than any 911 or f type which lets face it is one of the reasons we buy cars like these!
What people forget is that this car is that its a very good overall package. It does 0-60 in 4.4 which is very fast. OK there's cars that can do it quicker but in the real world where the road are damp most of these cars cant get the power down so its mostly just bragging rights in the pub then. The i8 can get its power down in the wet. Its comfortable, its loaded with technology most people can drive the car in full electric to go to work and back meaning its extremely economical yet push the stick to the left for sport mode and you have a quick car that sounds pretty good and please do not forget that when you drive down the road in one of these you have a car that attracts a stink more attention than any 911 or f type which lets face it is one of the reasons we buy cars like these!
erics said:
Wills2 said:
So when the battery gives up the ghost on your Sunday morning hoon you're left with a 100k car with 1.5lt 3 pot and 231hp?
it will be left to its 3 pot, if your sunday morning drive involves driving the car at 10th tenth. In which case, you will either kill yourself or go to jail.Otherwise it will just get recharged within 20 minutes of driving.
SS7
09dfearon said:
I'm bored of hearing about the i8 being a comparison to the 911 now. Just because 2 things cost a similar amount of money its doesn't necessarily mean its a comparison. The I8 isn't a raw car that's made to just blast down lanes on a Sunday morning.
Neither is the 911, certainly not since the 991 model came out. It's a touring car.09dfearon said:
I'm bored of hearing about the i8 being a comparison to the 911 now. Just because 2 things cost a similar amount of money its doesn't necessarily mean its a comparison. The I8 isn't a raw car that's made to just blast down lanes on a Sunday morning. Although it can do this and pretty well it would never beat a 911 or an f type at this and was never meant to.
What people forget is that this car is that its a very good overall package. It does 0-60 in 4.4 which is very fast. OK there's cars that can do it quicker but in the real world where the road are damp most of these cars cant get the power down so its mostly just bragging rights in the pub then. The i8 can get its power down in the wet. Its comfortable, its loaded with technology most people can drive the car in full electric to go to work and back meaning its extremely economical yet push the stick to the left for sport mode and you have a quick car that sounds pretty good and please do not forget that when you drive down the road in one of these you have a car that attracts a stink more attention than any 911 or f type which lets face it is one of the reasons we buy cars like these!
This.What people forget is that this car is that its a very good overall package. It does 0-60 in 4.4 which is very fast. OK there's cars that can do it quicker but in the real world where the road are damp most of these cars cant get the power down so its mostly just bragging rights in the pub then. The i8 can get its power down in the wet. Its comfortable, its loaded with technology most people can drive the car in full electric to go to work and back meaning its extremely economical yet push the stick to the left for sport mode and you have a quick car that sounds pretty good and please do not forget that when you drive down the road in one of these you have a car that attracts a stink more attention than any 911 or f type which lets face it is one of the reasons we buy cars like these!
It is a turgid sports car because it isn't supposed to be a sports car! It's a GT with sports car styling, and there are plenty of those.
09dfearon said:
What people forget is that this car is that its a very good overall package. It does 0-60 in 4.4 which is very fast. OK there's cars that can do it quicker but in the real world where the road are damp most of these cars cant get the power down so its mostly just bragging rights in the pub then. The i8 can get its power down in the wet. Its comfortable, its loaded with technology most people can drive the car in full electric to go to work and back meaning its extremely economical yet push the stick to the left for sport mode and you have a quick car that sounds pretty good and please do not forget that when you drive down the road in one of these you have a car that attracts a stink more attention than any 911 or f type which lets face it is one of the reasons we buy cars like these!
^^^ Exactly, i8 is a statement. And a very competent statement.ORD said:
kambites said:
Including the 911, in fact. 
And there are more or less capable GTs as regards driving well. The i8 looks to be near-ish the middle for a sporty GT - tolerable handling when not pushed but ultimately a disappointment if you want it to behave like a sports car.Lets be honest, the i8 isn't going to be bought mostly on its technical merits; the primary reason for buying one will be rather artificial taxation rules.
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!
Thanks for that as now its the only thing I see as well...mwstewart said:
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?
They do sell this car all over the world you know, the UK power grid isn't their sole source of design philosophy... Shocking eh? Plenty of countries with a lot more renewable energy sources available... 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?
Dave Hedgehog said:
get a black one, its less noticeable
I specced mine in that colour (Sophisto Grey), with Frozen Grey (instead of Blue) accents. It's easy for people to say that if they were spending that kind of money, they'd have bought XY and Z, but faced with the harsh reality of 35% BIK on the alternatives compared to the 5-11% of the i8, it's easy to justify the BMW. Baryonyx said:
The more I read on these it seems that they are better to look at than they are to drive. But no matter, we can't expect this type of car to be perfect from the off. It is good to hear that big steps are being made into making credible hybrid performance cars.
It drives like a very polished GT should. Lop another half a second off the 0-60 time and it would have nothing to apologise for. I suspect the i9 will more than address that, but we'll just have to see at what price, in terms of financial and emissions. slippery said:
Baryonyx said:
The more I read on these it seems that they are better to look at than they are to drive. But no matter, we can't expect this type of car to be perfect from the off. It is good to hear that big steps are being made into making credible hybrid performance cars.
It drives like a very polished GT should. Lop another half a second off the 0-60 time and it would have nothing to apologise for. But you are of course right. To most "buyers", how it handles on the limit is utterly irrelevant because they're going to spend the huge majority of their time either on the motorway or in urban/suburban traffic. It sounds like ti deals with either of those situations well enough. The very best GTs do that and cope with being hurled down a B-road, but it's not a really a prerequisite for the genre.
Edited by kambites on Monday 19th January 15:30
RemarkLima said:
mwstewart said:
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?
They do sell this car all over the world you know, the UK power grid isn't their sole source of design philosophy... Shocking eh? Plenty of countries with a lot more renewable energy sources available... 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?
mwstewart said:
In order to help you I've made the salient point bold in my original post.
That graph isn't really very helpful because the "other" section is too big. I guess it tells us that somewhere between two thirds and three quarters of our electricity comes from fossil fuels but that's quite a big range. Either way, it's looking pretty certain that the proportion of our electricity coming from fossil fuels is going to drop quite dramatically over the next decade or two.
Edited by kambites on Monday 19th January 15:33
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff