[Peggsy]

I had the fortune of being able to drive my local dealership's i8 for about half an hour to an hour this last Tuesday. It was blue with the PI pack fitted. I will admit now that before this Tuesday, the only cars I had ever driven were my 2l RCZ HDI, my dad's 318d and an i3 REX(test drive). Given my age (<20) that's not particularly surprising but does leave me with little to compare the i8 to.

The car was 50% charged at the start of the drive so I was able to test out the pure EV mode first. In EV mode, it felt very similar to the i3 and in no way felt particularly under powered for everyday use. The steering struck me as being very light, but it also seemed very precise and well implemented. Braking also felt comparatively normal and there was no clear point when the disks became used in addition to the regen. I found that the regenerative braking seemed to vary in severity depending on what the car was doing. When driving at constant slow speeds (say rolling along with the accelerator down in a 30mph limit), it was very apparent while at higher speeds or when coming off high acceleration it seemed more subdued. I personally liked this variation and found that it often was doing though a few times I was caught out trying to take my foot off the accelerator in a 30 to roll to lights and it broke more severely than required. I think this is something you would get used to relatively quickly though.

I only used Eco-Pro mode briefly but found that it was much like the above just with the pedal needing to be depressed noticeably further for the same level of acceleration.

After a while in EV mode, I switched the car into comfort mode. The petrol engine cut in under rapid acceleration and when cruising at higher speeds but was mostly unnoticeable when it did so. There was no sudden jerk in power or anything like that, it just integrated its self into the power delivery seamlessly. While cruising at approx 50-70mph with the engine on in comfort mode, it was quiet with the engine sounding sort of like a helicopter in the distance. When accelerating more heavily (I'll admit I never maxed it out in comfort mode), the engine tune became much more racy and more like you would expect of a performance car. However, in comfort mode, it was never particularly loud.

Now for sports mode. Flicking the gear lever over to the left caused the dash to reconfigure its self with details such as engine revs and become red tinted. Very cool but something I imagine all prospective purchasers are already aware of. In sports mode, the engine is always there, humming away in the background and sounding much louder and purposeful than in comfort. Under heavy acceleration, the rate of change of speed was phenomenal (though see the above note about my previous driving experience and you will see that I have not driven anything comparable before so my opinion my be biased). I gave it a quick blip to past the kick down point while cruising at approx 60mph and was rapidly (within 1.5/2 seconds) doing approaching 100 - on private land of course. There was a very slight downhill gradient at the time but not much, maybe 5 degrees. It shifted down from 5th/6th to 3rd in a split second (fast enough that I couldn't tell if it stepped through the gears or jumped directly) then threw me back and took off like a rocket. The engine sounded brilliant under flat out acceleration and was not at all noticeable as a 3cyl.

Other people's reactions while driving the i8 are incredible. Most pedestrians don't spot you until you have driven past and you can see people in your mirrors fumbling for camera phones. You have no trouble puling out at busy roundabouts or lane merging as people slow down and on many occasions flash you out to get a better look. Given the usual pushy-in-a-rush attitudes of drivers near where I live, the difference is huge. I never stopped and parked out on the test drive but have been told that when parking and leaving the car you frequently get asked questions by passers by with the most common being "is it a concept or are they for sale".

The top-down parking camera function is incredible to see in action. Unlike the old generations of the software, there are no black bands between the camera feeds and the image is continuous all the way around the vehicle with a range of ~2m. It made parallel parking at the dealership a breeze as I could see the kerb and turning circle lines let me know when I was clear to swing in.

Unfortunately, the cruise control does not include the distance based function and is the same as that of all other modern BMWs. It is simple and easy to activate and the last used speed it shown clearly on the speedo.

The heads up display is also very clear and useful. I had never driven a car with one but was won over in just the first 5 minutes. The position and rotation are adjustable. At most times, it simply shows your current speed and the current speed limit (the speed limit function btw was incredibly quick to update and accurate for the entirety of the drive) but cruise control and directions instructions also show up, along with other details in some circumstances.

I now just can't wait until December when my white i8 with tera (brown) interior and PI should be arriving. I heard yesterday that the official bulletin about laser lights has been released. BMW are apparently releasing only a limited number at a cost of £8000 and I was told that even it I added them (at that price I said no) allocation was not guaranteed and would impact delivery date. BMW UK are apparently still investigating a retrofit option.

[Tilum]

Nice review fella. Did you check mine out? (ref. UK Test Drive)
Interesting to hear your perspective on the i8 too. (Although I confess I am used to driving fast, powerful supercars LOL.)
Glad you also thought the brakes and acceleration felt natural (unlike Shmee's comments in his video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-c...&v=v0oypOuhaYk).

Bet you're looking forward to December! I'm even getting excited for you LOL.

T

[drlonline]

Peggsy, how is it that you are getting the tera interior and the pure impulse? I thought they were mutually exclusive (i.e. different leather in each)?

Update: I answered my own question by going to the BMW UK web site to see that there one can get the PI package with choice of interior, unlike in the US, where PI only comes with the Carum Spice Grey leather.