For a company whose tag line famously reads The Ultimate Driving Machine, BMW hasn’t made an out-and-out sports car in over a decade. Sure, there is the Z4 Roadster, and the range of high-performance “M” sedans and SUVs, but unlike its competitors Mercedes and Audi, there has been no stand-alone flagship performance model in its range. There is one now—it’s called the i8, and it’s different from the rest. That’s because it’s a hybrid, sacrificing a large-capacity motor for a much smaller one, which is aided by electric propulsion. It’s also because this car looks like nothing else on the planet right now. Yes, it’s low and wide like many other sports cars, but its body is made up of a blend of complex lines, angles, vents, blades and scoops, for a shape that is straight out of the future.
Swing open the large “butterfly” door, crouch beneath the low roof line, clamber over the wide-door sill and down into the seat, and you’ll find a cabin that’s also very high on drama, enough in fact to rival a Ferrari or Lamborghini. The dashboard is curved around the driver’s seat and though you sit low down, it’s surprisingly easy to see out of the front and sides. There’s a big tunnel running through the centre of the car, inside which sits the battery pack. A digital screen replaces the speedometer and tachometer; the controls are very conventional.
On the practicality front, there are few storage spaces in the cabin, and you do get a pair of rear seats, but there’s so little space here—you might as well use it for luggage, more so since the boot is also tiny.
The other reason this car is big news is what’s under the skin. It uses a chassis made of aluminium and carbon fibre-reinforced plastic. Using this expensive material makes it light and strong, which is great for both performance and efficiency.
Because it’s a hybrid, the i8 can be driven in a number of modes. In eDrive mode, the electric motor at the front provides power to the front wheels, for a range of 37km. In Comfort and Eco Pro modes, the car alternates between electric motor and the petrol engine, which sits behind the passenger compartment. The electric motor, incidentally, produces 129 bhp and 25.5 kgm of torque on its own, while the petrol motor—a 1.5-litre turbocharged unit—makes 228 bhp and 32.6 kgm. All the modes prioritize efficiency, but put the i8 into Sport mode and performance becomes paramount. Here, the petrol engine is always on, driving the rear wheels, with the electric motor only serving to boost the performance. The total combined output in this scenario is 357 bhp and 58.1 kgm.
The overall performance is strong, but not ferocious. You get an instantaneous response thanks to the electric motor, and then combined with the petrol engine, there’s enough power to make overtaking a breeze. However, it doesn’t give you the same sort of performance at high revolutions per minute that you get from a conventional sports car with a big engine. It’s also important to know that driving the i8 flat out will drain both the battery and the 42-litre petrol tank quite quickly—if you want to achieve the company’s claimed 47.45 kilometres per litre economy figure, you have to drive very sedately. The good news is that the batteries get recharged as you drive, each time you lift your foot off the accelerator or use the brakes, and the petrol engine even acts as a generator. You can also just plug your i8 into a conventional wall socket to charge it up.
The i8’s suspension is quite firm, and because it’s so low to the ground, you have to be very careful when driving over speed breakers. The upshot is that it remains composed when going around corners. There is a lot of grip, despite the car using narrow tyres for better fuel economy. It’s only if you really push it to its limits that the front wheels might start to lose a bit of grip. The steering, though, is light and easy to use, and very precise, but as with the engine, you might find a more thrilling experience in other sports cars.
The car’s price—Rs.2.29 crore (ex-showroom, New Delhi)—is rather steep, especially when you consider that you could get a lot more horsepower for the same money from more conventional sports cars.
