With the first ever deliveries being made last week, BMW wrote history with the i8, becoming the world’s first manufacturer to offer laser headlights on a production car.
That came after the world debut of the same type of headlights on a Z3 GT3 but not on normal roads but on the race track, in the VLN Endurance championship. However, that’s just a small part of what the i8 means for BMW and the world.
The car is more than just revolutionary. It’s a big step forward, towards combining an eco-friendly approach with the fun of driving and the usual BMW driving experience that is supposed to be unique.
Well, the first reviews claim that it’s not all that exciting to drive. Sure it will stick your back against the seat’s backrest and it will pull hard in the corners but it’s not like a Porsche. What they seemed to miss was that BMW didn’t try to make it like one.
They wanted a completely new car. In this regard they gave it an aluminum chassis and a CFRP body that would add up to as little weight as possible. Furthermore, they gave it a hybrid powertrain to make sure there’s no turbo lag whatsoever, a system similar to the one found on the hypercars of today, the McLaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 918 but on a much smaller scale.
On the i8, the total power sums up 362 HP and 570 Nm (420 lb-ft) of torque coming from a 1.5-liter 3-cylinder turbocharged engine making 231 HP and 320 Nm (236 lb-ft) of torque and an electric motor making 131 HP and 250 Nm (184 lb-ft) of torque.
However, as it has become customary on recent BMWs, most people claim that the car must be pushing more than just that to the wheels. Independent tests have shown that despite the Germans are claiming the new S63 4.4-liter V8 twinturbo engine on the current M5 makes just 560 HP, the real number is closer to 620 HP and that’s just an example.
The thing is, the same applies to almost every BMW out there so why would the i8 be an exception. A dyno run video was posted by the manufacturer online but it only shows the car performing a routing check not an all out run for the numbers. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see how much power the wheels are actually getting but we can safely presume that it’s at least around 350 HP.
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