...and who's getting an i8?

[andywaterfall]

I've seen & sat in a couple of these, static, at Brands and at Goodwood, and they look amazing! I also had a sit in the back of the one at Brands, although I had to leave a foot hanging out of the door. I'll be at the dealer launch on Friday - anyone else going? And then I have a demo next week, which should be interesting.

Some RHD UK video reviews coming out now, which seem positive:
Autocar
Car Throttle

I'm tempted, but it would mean selling up everything else - M3, i3, Elise. Can I justify it...?

Anyone here actually ordered one?

[andywaterfall]

Took one out for a spin today, and it's fantastic. So, I've put my order in, deposit paid, delivery in April/May.

[andywaterfall]

I don't think anyone's taken delivery yet - it'll probably be your local dealer's demo.

[AndyDubbya]

So, from PH and from Bimmerpost I've only found 5 prospective owners:

purpleperil
erics
Trikster
JasH from Bimmerpost: http://bmwi.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t...
Me

Any more?

I don't want to give away any secrets, but if I said Fat Duck at Bray, would that mean anything to anyone?

[AndyDubbya]

erics said:

So Blumie is getting one too?

AndyDubbya said:

So, from PH and from Bimmerpost I've only found 5 prospective owners:

purpleperil
erics
Trikster
JasH from Bimmerpost: http://bmwi.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t...
Me

Any more?

I don't want to give away any secrets, but if I said Fat Duck at Bray, would that mean anything to anyone?

Aha, not what I meant, and no, not as far as I know...

I guess you're ericsi from Bimmerpost, yes?

[AndyDubbya]

Ordered in July, was going to be arriving July next year but that was brought forward a couple of months ago, to April 2015.

[AndyDubbya]

CRA1G said:

Same here... Out of all the new cars i'v bought over the years BMW are the worst with pre sales promotion's and communication... Very poor...!

BMW took me to the Fat Duck at Bray a couple of weeks ago - about 25 future owners & O/Hs, maybe 10 big cheeses from BMW UK, inc the MD, we had Sales Director & Marketing Director on our table of 6, very interesting to quiz them both. The idea was to keep us sweet while we wait for delivery.

I got an email from my sales guy about 3 weeks ago with a screenshot of an update on my order status, confirmed for April.

No complaints here, sorry!

Edited by AndyDubbya on Monday 17th November 16:05

[AndyDubbya]

So, anyone here taken delivery recently?

[AndyDubbya]

CRA1G said:

Mines sat in the dealership now.. But I'm not picking it up until the 1st of march,if the weather is good I'll go and pick it up in my 840 Sport and get some photos of two chalk and cheese 8's together..

Your willpower's better than mine would be! Mine's due in March now anyway, so I haven't got that dilemma. What's the spec of yours?

[AndyDubbya]

erics said:

Jon1967x said:

Hardly surprising when you have a petrol tank

How often do you charge from the mains and on a spirited drive does the electric side ever run out/low?

When the car is parked at home, it is always being chargwed. So all small trips around London are basically electric only.

On the open road, put the car in sport and batteries are fully charged with 20 mins (from completely flat). You literally cannot run out of batteries on the road whilst driving in sport. I mean in real life. It would be like running any car in any gear at maximum rpm for unlimited time.

You may get to that stage (flat batteries) on a track driving several laps of a long track at 10/10th. Drive 2-3 laps at 7/10th and your batteries would be fully recharged.

That's really good to know, thanks. I'm planning a trip to the Alps in June & another in Sept, and I'll be thrashing up mountain passes. Do you think it'll cope with that?

[AndyDubbya]

erics said:

That's the only scenario when you can really flatten the batteries.
Very unrealistic in real life.
The i8 is not a track car.

It's just a very, very nice road car. I would not have anything else at any price point (modern car) today.

For me, the package, the size, the 4 seats (small at the back), the ride, handling, comfort, design, useability are all pure joy.

Yeah, but do you like it?

Thanks, looking forward to it all the more now.

[AndyDubbya]

erics said:

so far, if you order your car now, you won't get it before dec 2015. So price dump there may be, but not just yet.

Worryingly, not according to this bloke: http://bmwi.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t...

[AndyDubbya]

Jon1967x said:

AndyDubbya said:

erics said:

so far, if you order your car now, you won't get it before dec 2015. So price dump there may be, but not just yet.

Worryingly, not according to this bloke: http://bmwi.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t...

There was an article that said the order book was circa 400 cars which was over a years allocation. They've been out for what - 6 months - so less that 200 cars in the UK? There are 30 for sale with minimal miles including cars for circa 105k which is base list price - 1 in 7 for sale. I'm therefore not surprised that orders are being cancelled as you're unlikely to make a profit which was the sole reason some rushed to buy. There are also plenty that were buying them because of the tax situation but from the posts I've read they misunderstood the rules (you still effectively only get tax relief on the depreciation even of you can write off more in Year 1 and not half price as some thought - duh) and so might be having second thoughts.

If you've got one, enjoy it and its not like you're going to be parking next to another one at Waitrose. If you're looking to make a quick buck, its probably too late. If you want to spend 90-110k on a car that will get attention AND hold it value over the next 3 years, I suspect a Manual V12 Aston Martin Vantage will be a better bet.

Good points, well made - I'd just hoped to not take a bath on it if I get out after a year or so. The 7.2 GT3 I'm selling has held its value even though I've stuck 5000 miles on it in 8 months, which I realise is unusual. Never mind, still looking forward to it!

[AndyDubbya]

CRA1G said:

I'v gone for Ionic Silver with Blue accents and a few options but not the "pure impulse package" I didn't think that was good value at £12,200...! Had I gone for it I could have had my car in November because all early production cars have it...! What spec is yours?

Sophisto (dark) Grey, blue accents, Carpo Dark (black) leather, 625 (thin 10-spoke) wheels, driving assistant/surround view/high beam assist, universal remote, blue seat belts (yeah, I know).

[AndyDubbya]

CRA1G said:

Shilvers said:

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but Top Gear this Sunday will hopefully be a good watch if they take it seriously:

Jeremy Clarkson tests the new BMW M4 at the track before switching to another BMW, the space-age, hybrid-powered i8, for a revealing trip up the A1 to Whitby. When he gets there, and fuelled by a portion of fish and chips, Clarkson must decide which of the two he would rather take for the drive home.

That should be interesting..... I hope it is the i8..... I haven't even sat in one never mind driven one yet and I'm picking mine up in three weeks time.....

Trailer for Sunday's TG, in case anyone's not seen it yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x7gbfEfIi8&fe...

[AndyDubbya]

2 are private ads for 5000 mile cars, the other says £99950 + VAT. It's not a limited edition, it's bound to depreciate - can't see the problem meself.

[AndyDubbya]

Went to see mine last night, looks great! Not sure I can wait till the 1st.

The increase includes c£1600 of surround view IIRC.

[AndyDubbya]

CRA1G said:

Got it.... all I can say is WOW....!

Phew - glad you like it now you've finally sat in one!

It is quite an amazing car, isn't it? It carries off the whole Jekyll & Hyde thing superbly well, a refined & comfy cruiser one minute, a rapid hooning machine the next.

[AndyDubbya]

Here's mine with its two garage mates:

[AndyDubbya]

CRA1G said:

erics said:

TheBMWDriver said:

Maybe I am missing something but am I the only one that did not feel the car to be that fast? also putting your foot down from 70 to 100+ MPH it just has no power I may as well be in a Fiesta!

I did want to love the car but just feel its a backwards step from a the 991 C2S PDK I drive.

I had two remapped 996 turbo. One was an S. I8 feels similar from 70 to 100. Did you drive the car in sport mode?

Must admit I'm confused with the comment....? Of all my Ferrari's,Porsche's,Aston's Etc this thing in sport mode (red dash) feels quicker than any of them........?

Really? I reckon (seat of pants-ometer only) that it's about on a par with my E92 M3, no more. Nice low-down urge though, and decent traction from both ends when pulling out of junctions etc, rather than having to feather to avoid a slide, but overall only about the same. The skinny tyres/my heavy right foot cause the DSC/DTC light to come on fairly frequently too.