Accelerating to awesome
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The BMW i8 is that rare thing: a car that offers a genuinely unique look and driving experience. On sale between 2014 and 2020, it had the looks of a supercar and the doors to match, but rather than an engine of eight, ten, or twelve cylinders, you got just three cylinders, a turbocharger, and a hybrid system.
That makes it something of a niche choice among sports cars, and some of the i8’s rivals offer more performance and a more focused driving experience. But the i8 was never intended to appeal to everyone, and for a select few buyers - who now also get to buy the i8 for far less money than when it was new - it could be just about the perfect car. Find out more about the BMW i8 in our guide below.
While buying a BMW is virtually the default choice when it comes to buying an executive car or a premium SUV, the BMW i8 could almost be considered the left-field, deliberately different option among its sports car rivals like the Porsche 911, Audi R8, or Mercedes-AMG GT. To buy an i8 means trading higher performance and more familiar, less polarising styling for something far more unique.
It’s certainly not as wild as the styling makes it seem, and that’s a good thing. Other than an inelegant clamber through the butterfly doors and over a high carbon sill, living with an i8 is remarkably easy, with a comfortable driving position, impressive refinement, and real-world economy between 40-50mpg thanks to an EV range of around 30 miles in later models.
There are compromises, of course. The fuel tank is relatively small and there’s not much luggage space (though you can use the nearly useless rear seats for stashing extra stuff - in the coupe at least), which limits its appeal as a grand tourer. And while the hybrid system is clever, the 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo engine at its heart doesn’t sound or feel as exotic as the six and eight-cylinder engines that are the norm in this class. But it feels involving and entertaining to drive, and a genuinely unique experience you won’t find in any of its rivals.
Those rivals include the 911, R8, and AMG GT already mentioned, all of which are more serious, more practical sports cars than the i8 - though none turn quite as many heads. You might also consider a Porsche Cayman for i8 money, or a Lotus Evora (or the newer Emira), while front-engined sports GTs like the Aston Martin V8 Vantage and Jaguar F-Type offer a different kind of performance and prestige.
There’s only one engine available in the i8, a 1.5-litre three-cylinder with hybrid assistance, though as you can read below, it’s certainly not short of performance. Your only real option therefore is whether or not you want a fixed roof - all early i8s are coupes, but from 2018 BMW also offered the i8 Roadster, with a retractable fabric roof. At the same time it got changes to the hybrid system, including a larger battery which boosted EV range from 20 to 33 miles. There’s little to choose between coupes and Roadsters in how they drive (though again, later models did get a few tweaks), so instead just focus on getting the best car you can, with the roof arrangement you prefer, and in your preferred colour.
The BMW i8’s exterior dimensions are:
The BMW i8 coupe’s boot capacity is:
Buy an i8 registered before April 1, 2017 and you won’t have to pay a penny in VED, thanks to a CO2 figure well under 100g/km. For cars sold after this date you unfortunately don’t get that benefit - not only do you have to pay a flat rate, but also a surcharge since the i8’s list price is over £40,000. That means £590 per year if the car is between two and six years old, dropping to £180 per year thereafter, the standard rate for a hybrid.
All i8s sit in the maximum insurance group, group 50. This isn’t just down to the car’s expense and performance, but also likely the potential repair costs, given its exotic carbonfibre reinforced plastic construction, and complex hybrid powertrain.
