Photo: Autogespot
I recently visited the Netherlands as part of my Gumball 3000 experience and I remember that it was just like the last time I visited: as eco-friendly as it gets. At least that’s true for Amsterdam where driving a car definitely won’t really help out.
The thing is, the whole town is overrun with bikes and trams and there simply isn’t any room left for cars on the roads. If there is, it’s on narrow streets that make driving a chore instead of a pleasure.
That being said, it’s only natural to spot the i8 in the Netherlands. It’s the one car that makes sense because it blends high performance with an eco-friendly approach. The guys from Manhart Racing recently took their bespoke model out there and it was caught on camera.
Dressed in orange and black thanks to a carefully applied wrap, the plug-in hybrid was impossible not to stand out. Even though the tuner claims that this car was enhanced by their own ‘special treatment’ the add-ons were limited to small exterior tweaks.
For example, they replaced the stock wheels with some of their own, dressed in black too, and lowered the ride height by using H&R springs. Other than that, there’s little you can do for the i8.
The 1.5-liter 3-cylinder turbocharged plant under the bonnet is already pushed really hard by the engineers in Munich, making 231 HP and 320 Nm (236 lb-ft) of torque. The electric motor can’t get tuned to produce more power so far so things are looking rather shady on the performance side of tuning.
Therefore, all tuners can do right now is just tweak the exterior a little. They can’t even tweak the aerodynamics as they were done nearly to perfection by BMW, causing the i8 to look like it does in the first place. Even so, this orange and black combo will attract attention wherever it goes and it caught us like a spider web catches flies.
That being said, it’s only natural to spot the i8 in the Netherlands. It’s the one car that makes sense because it blends high performance with an eco-friendly approach. The guys from Manhart Racing recently took their bespoke model out there and it was caught on camera.
Dressed in orange and black thanks to a carefully applied wrap, the plug-in hybrid was impossible not to stand out. Even though the tuner claims that this car was enhanced by their own ‘special treatment’ the add-ons were limited to small exterior tweaks.
For example, they replaced the stock wheels with some of their own, dressed in black too, and lowered the ride height by using H&R springs. Other than that, there’s little you can do for the i8.
The 1.5-liter 3-cylinder turbocharged plant under the bonnet is already pushed really hard by the engineers in Munich, making 231 HP and 320 Nm (236 lb-ft) of torque. The electric motor can’t get tuned to produce more power so far so things are looking rather shady on the performance side of tuning.
Therefore, all tuners can do right now is just tweak the exterior a little. They can’t even tweak the aerodynamics as they were done nearly to perfection by BMW, causing the i8 to look like it does in the first place. Even so, this orange and black combo will attract attention wherever it goes and it caught us like a spider web catches flies.
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