BMW i8 redefines the idea of an economic sportscar

Created Date: 19/08/2011

We’ve seen lots of concept cars creeping into the market as of recent which stay very faithful to their original design. It used to be a rarity that a concept car would even reach production status, let alone carry over many of its original features. Concepts would quite often just be prototypes – justified by the term ‘concept’ to test new ideas on a smaller scale, or just to show off. With the Range Rover Evoque recently showing that concept cars can work in the real world, it would appear BMW have jumped on the bandwagon in an equally outlandish fashion. The i8, as it’s currently called, aims to bring high performance sports cars into an eco-friendly and economical market, something which has been attempted several times but never really worked to its full potential. The Tesla, for example, was an electric monster of a supercar; but its 6831 lithium ion cells proved impractical and difficult to charge except in specialised stations and service centres. Thankfully, BMW have ditched the full electronic route and instead opted for a hybrid system... and a very good one at that.

On the outside this thing screams ‘concept’, it really is a sight to behold. Looking like a cross between Minority Report and Tron, it’s a high tech blend of glass panels and insane geometry. They’ve managed to integrate the staple BMW grille at the front, but even that manages to look like it’s from the future, with its smooth curved design bearing memories to sci-fi films. Then you have the huge all glass gullwing doors on the side which look absolutely stunning and several pieces of sky blue trim to give it that cool electronic futuristic appeal. If all of this survives to the very final production stages, I’ll be extremely surprised; which is a shame because it looks absolutely fantastic. It’s just quite frankly an insane piece of futuristic inspired madness.

The lunacy continues on the interior, with a distinct absence of buttons in favour of touch panel screens and colour coding for specific areas to show their purposes. The first one, the outer layer, is white and forms the supporting structure for all interior geometries. The inner layer is the function-oriented level and opens up features such as seat surfaces and storage areas, and a black level is being placed in-between the inner and outer layer and incorporates the technical components. There is then that signature sky blue trim placed on the details for that added space age effect. What you get is an interior that blends almost seamlessly with the exterior, almost like you never stepped in the car in the first place. Then as I mentioned earlier, two key screens basically display everything; one behind the wheel and one in the centre console.

The engine is where this thing really shines though, as it manages to combine out and out power with astoundingly economical city driving. This is done though its hybrid technology which combines a petrol engine mounted at the rear to drive the back wheels and an electric motor up front to drive the assumed front ones. The car is able to run on electricity alone for up to 20 miles, with a majority of that power coming free at the hand of regenerative brakes to recharge the battery and other such eco-friendly equipment. Also, when accelerating from standstill at slow speeds the i8 is capable of running exclusively on electric power alone in front-wheel-drive mode, saving your precious fuel for when you get out of the busy city and onto the motorway... And you’ll want to save it as well, because this car is quite a fast one.

The 1.5-litre direct-injection petrol engine may not sound like much but its technology is clearly sought after, as it is earmarked for appearing in the next-gen Mini range and the new front-drive 1-series in 2014. At full power, a 220bhp petrol unit with 221lb ft of torque operates in combination with a 129bhp, 184lb ft electric motor for an overall output of 349bhp and 405lb ft torque. This gives some impressive figures that even put some of its revered M Series to shame. BMW quotes a 0-62mph time of 4.6sec – making it a remarkable 0.3sec faster than the M3 coupe. Top speed is limited to 155mph, but I imagine with the limiter removed this would be capable of going far, far faster.

To sum it up,  this  is really a car of all out concept madness with an exterior that drops jaws and an interior straight out of Minority Reports production set. We rarely see concept cars reach the final production stage with everything intact, but here’s hoping BMW take us by surprise and release it with everything you see here. However, with a release date penned in at sometime in 2014, I wouldn’t hold your hopes up.

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