BMW i8 Coupe In-Depth Review 2020

Forget everything you know about what a top sportscar should be - and start again. This is, after all, exactly what BMW did with this i8, which sold between 2014 and 2020. It's a plug-in petrol/electric hybrid supercar that runs silently on its battery in the morning commute, yet transforms itself into something like a Porsche 911 when you're in the mood. It also looks sensational, feels special and will slash your running costs to the bone.

History
In its period, BMW's revolutionary i8 was arguably the most interesting car of any on sale, possibly the cleverest and probably one of the most significant, not least in the way it democratised exclusive technology in its segment. Until the i8 arrived in mid-2014, plug-in petrol/electric hybrid sportscar motoring required the billionaires' budget needed for ownership of hypercars like the Porsche 918 Spyder, the La Ferrari and the mighty Mclaren P1. At a stroke, this BMW changed all of that, delivering an equally sophisticated taste of the future, but doing so for realistic Porsche 911 money.

The i8 set out to do nothing less than deliver the speed of a supercar with the running costs of a supermini thanks to a technological CV that even embarrassed the exotic models we've just mentioned. Under the skin lie two gearboxes, three electric motors and a sophisticated three cylinder turbo petrol engine, this boosted by a 200kg bank of hi-tech lithium-ion batteries and transmitting torque to the tarmac via a four wheel drive system. It's all clothed in a lightweight body fashioned from aluminium and the kind of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic you'd find in a Formula One racer. Here, in other words, is a machine that makes existing top petrol-powered sportscars look about as cutting edge as a video cassette recorder.

This was the second of the Bavarian maker's new-generation i-branded models and at launch, seemed at first glance more of a motorshow concept than a production reality. Indeed, for several years, that's exactly what it was, this design originally introduced badged as a 'Vision EfficientDynamics' prototype in 2009, before evolving into road-ready form and being displayed to the crowds at Frankfurt in 2011 just as a purpose-built Leipzig production line was being readied for an exclusive manufacturing run. The development care was crucial given the boundaries being broken here. This, after all, was the first car BMW had ever developed with Plug-in hybrid technology. The i8's mid-engined configuration was almost unique for the brand too, the company's M1 supercar from the late Seventies being the only other model the marque had ever made with such a layout. This then, was Munich's miracle, the Coupe model we're going to look at here joined by an open-topped Roadster body style in 2018. The i8 sold until 2020 - and wasn't replaced.

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