Saw a BMW i8 today

The car looks and drive awesome. The dashboard is out of this world. I had a chance to be a passenger in one albeit for only 5 minutes but it was worth it.
 
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Bryn26 said:
I'd take a Tesla P85D over an i8 any day, if both were available, I could afford them and I wanted an electric car.
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2 motors. Mmmm... checked out the "Insane Mode" launch videos of the Tesla the other day. Holy **** that car's quick. Only a bit slower than the GTR.
 
The Voice said:
2 motors. Mmmm... checked out the "Insane Mode" launch videos of the Tesla the other day. Holy **** that car's quick. Only a bit slower than the GTR.
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Except unlike any other car that can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 3.2 sec or less, the P85D can seat 5 people comfortably and has three huge storage areas (boot, under the boot, and under the bonnet). And it's range between charges is huge, and the Supercharger charges the batteries in no time. It's astonishingly practical. And possibly the safest car in the world.
 
Bryn26 said:
I'd take a Tesla P85D over an i8 any day, if both were available, I could afford them and I wanted an electric car.
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This isn't an electric car though. So unlike the Tesla you won't get stranded when the charge dies.
 
SauRoNZA said:
This isn't an electric car though. So unlike the Tesla you won't get stranded when the charge dies.
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It's a hybrid though and the only real competitor in the 'green sports car' segment, notwithstanding insane vehicles like the Porsche 918 Spyder and McLaren P1.

If someone lets their Tesla die on them without parking next to a plug, they've only got themselves to blame. The car would have warned them for a long time before that point. For normal city use, the range of the P85D is irrelevant.
 
It still has a finite range..and needs a city with plugs.

So far from irrelevant then.
 
SauRoNZA said:
It still has a finite range..and needs a city with plugs.

So far from irrelevant then.
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Tesla's are only sold in countries with electric car charge points. Even then, if you're the sort of person who drives out of the city a lot then you're probably not looking to buy an electric car. For most people the range is irrelevant, because it's much more than you'd ever drive in a day and the car gets plugged in when you park in the garage.
 
Which is exactly why plugin hybrids make more sense than pure electrics.
 
buyeye said:
2000km give or take a couple hundred is still 4 times an average car.
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Not really.
An average car will probably do 800 to 1000km on 50L or petrol if you drive it the same way they do for economy runs.
I managed to get 850km out of a 52L tank of petrol in a normally aspirated 2L Kia Cerato and that's with the family and luggage in the vehicle and I wasn't driving at 80km/h either.
 
Arietans said:
50l of petrol will give you 2200km in an i8. Eish...
actually just heard that's theory and not reality :(
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The i8's range is only 530km.
It's range on battery power is only 37 km :(

The fuel consumption is 2.1L/100km when tested in an NEDC testing cycle.
The NEDC test is only 1180 seconds (19.67 minutes) in length and simulates various driving conditions.
Because the i8 can use battery power to assist (or use battery entirely) the figures look awesome for short distances.

For R1.7 million I'd much rather drive a Tesla Model S P85D and kick the i8's ass with a half million Rand to spare.
The Tesla looks much nicer IMO
The Tesla P85D outperforms the i8 (0-60 MPH in 3.2 seconds vs i8's 0-62 MPH in 4.4 seconds)
The Tesla is pure EV (can be a pro or con depending on which way you look at it)
There is also a rumoured firmware upgrade which may see the Tesla do 0-60 MPH in 2.8 seconds.
 
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Paul_S said:
Not really.
An average car will probably do 800 to 1000km on 50L or petrol if you drive it the same way they do for economy runs.
I managed to get 850km out of a 52L tank of petrol in a normally aspirated 2L Kia Cerato and that's with the family and luggage in the vehicle and I wasn't driving at 80km/h either.
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How the fark?
 
I see an i3 drive down west street regularly in Sandton. The wheels are really thin, otherwise it is quite trendy looking
 
I'm not sure what the fuss is all about re: the i8's range. It's not like someone who can actually afford it is concerned with, or even slightly affected by the fuel price, is it?
 
The Voice said:
I'm not sure what the fuss is all about re: the i8's range. It's not like someone who can actually afford it is concerned with, or even slightly affected by the fuel price, is it?
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No, but it's not cool how much the range differs from what BMW claims it to be.
 
*Waiting for the RPM TV insert to idea on their YouTube channel...*

March Car Mag out on Monday also has a full road test of the i8.
 
Bryn26 said:
No, but it's not cool how much the range differs from what BMW claims it to be.
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that applies to many high performance cars these days. drive them "efficiently" and you get within 2l/100km of claimed figures. RPM said they got 3-4l/100km in efficient mode but 7-8l/100km in Sport + mode.
 
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