Lately we’ve been seeing a bunch of BMWs put to the test on various tracks around the world, including the M4 and the i8. While the M4 was built for city and track purposes, it felt a bit weird to watch the i8 on the track.
The car is basically half EV and it was designed to look good and be as efficient as possible, therefore making it less than perfect for track use. Even so, the results it’s posting on various circuits around the world are impressive.
Could the same be said about the i3?
Well, unlike the i8, the i3 is a full EV and that was the idea behind it from the get-go. The city-car is also made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer and is part of the i sub-brand but it’s far from its coupe brother.
It uses an electric motor that makes 170 HP and 184 lb-ft (250 Nm) of torque and carries around a battery that’s three times as big as the one inside the plug-in hybrid. And yet, it weighs 300 kg (660 lbs) less than the i8 and will not emit a single gram of CO2 while functioning.
Those advantages make it a better eco-friendly vehicle but they also represent the drawbacks. The 0-100 km/h (62 mph) is rated at 7.2 seconds which is class leading but it’s still lightyears behind what the i8 can do at 4.4 seconds.
This is still a BMW, though
BMW is well aware of all these facts and they created the i3 to be both a uber-city-car and a ‘real BMW’ at the same time. Therefore, the rear-wheel drive layout was kept and they tried to make the EV as agile and fast as possible.
Meeting only halfway, don’t expect the i3 to set new track records (unless if CO2 emissions were the criteria to measure performance, the Bimmer would win hands down) but it will hold its head up nonetheless.
The car you’re about to watch here belongs to the first i3 owner in Spain that decided to take it to the Jarama Race Track to see what it can do with a full battery. Let’s check it out!
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