A great fit for just about any combination of driving demands. - 2016 BMW I8 Review
1From its concept-car styling to its laser headlights, the hybrid-electric BMW i8 is a sight to behold.
The BMW i8 is comfortable in its own amazing skin. It needs to be. It looks like a buttressed spaceship trimmed with extraterrestrial blue and black. If the wheels were spat-covered, it’d be easy to convince people it’s actually levitating on the pride of Munich. Every person who catches a glimpse locks eyes on it, and you needn’t be clairvoyant to read pedestrians’ thoughts, which mostly boil down to,
Bending in and under the dihedral doors is an event, every time. Before you fall into the car, you must first hoist yourself over the tall, wide side sills. Graceful entries and exits are not an option, and after a weekend of running routine errands, we found this raises questions about daily drivability. But then, like a hat worn to the Kentucky Derby, this car is about making statements. For some, announcing one’s arrival is a priority that overshadows any thought of inconvenience. And this plug-in hybrid makes a greener statement than any Audi R8, McLaren 570S, or Porsche 911. Tesla owners nod in approval and Prius owners . . . ah, who are we kidding? Prius owners don’t see other cars.
Aside from drawing all the stares, this car can see well, too. Or rather, its driver can because this is the first car in the U.S. equipped with laser headlights—yes, laser beams, but not quite literally, Dr. Evil. Lasers are used internally, but the pure-white light generated by laser-excited phosphorous is safe for oncoming motorists. BMW finally got federal (NHTSA and FDA) approval to offer these lights, a $6300 option for the high-beams that are 1000 times more intense than LEDs. These new lights are even more energy-efficient than LEDs, but they are only for use as a supplemental high-beam that activates above 43 mph; the regular low-beams and the high-beams below 43 mph are LEDs. Although the U.S.-approved laser high-beams are less blue and less powerful than those offered in Europe (where they’re also dynamic, dimming out an area when the car detects oncoming traffic), they’re still turn-night-into-day, we-have-a-prison-break bright. We see why they operate exclusively at higher speeds.
Making America i8
This is the first time we’ve driven and tested a U.S.-spec i8. (The car BMW loaned us was a 2016 model, but nothing significant changes for 2017 except the addition of a Protonic Red Edition; it swaps the cool blue/black color scheme on our test car to an even more visible, Columbus, Ohio–friendly red/gray combo.) Our previous stories, including an instrumented test and a feature, have been based on drives in European cars. This was our first opportunity to meter the electricity going into the car so that we can report an observed fuel-economy figure, which we’ve only been able to estimate in the past. Including all the charges, we averaged 33 MPGe. While this may seem low for a three-cylinder hybrid, know that the EPA attaches 28- and 29-mpg numbers to the i8’s conventional city and highway ratings, which are achieved when the car is operating as a regular hybrid. Only when using the relatively small 7.1-kWh lithium-ion battery pack alone, what the EPA calls “charge-depleting” mode, will the i8 approach its EPA electricity-plus-gasoline combined rating of 76 MPGe, and even then just for short stints. The i8 averaged 38 MPGe on our 200-mile, 75-mph highway economy test, the first 16 miles of which were completed using only electric drive.
HIGHS: Out-of-this-world looks, competent cruiser, laser headlights—frickin' LASERS, people!
The i8’s three sources of power—a mid-mounted 228-hp turbo inline-three and AC motor and a stronger 129-hp AC motor up front—are the same as in the European car, but this federalized i8 weighed 3484 pounds, about 100 more than either of the other previously tested cars. Thus, it wasn’t quite as quick, with launch control enabling a zero-to-60-mph time of 4.0 seconds (compared with 3.6 and 3.8 for the European examples) and the car dusting off a quarter-mile in 12.5 seconds (down from 12.1 and 12.4). Regardless, the thing accelerates like a solid-fuel rocket when eBoost mode is engaged by pressing the accelerator pedal through the kickdown switch. It delivers the kind of sustained acceleration we’ve experienced in Porsche 911 Turbos.
Calm Star Cruiser
Driven without aggression, the i8 can feel appliancelike, which we mean with no disrespect—few cars that perform this well are so amenable to gentle cruising. The i8 is capable of meandering through traffic like an ordinary family sedan, at least to the extent that those gaping at it allow. There’s great visibility outward, considering how low the car is, so maneuvering around the gawkers is easy. The narrow Bridgestone Potenza S001 tires, 215/45R-20 in front and 245/40R-20 in back, don’t hum on the freeway the way the wide meats do on, say, a Chevy Corvette. The i8 generates 72 decibels of noise at 70 mph—not luxury-sedan