BMW i8

BMW i8

The BMW i8 is the most significant and forward thinking car on the road today. This is BMW's vision of the future, and, for once, the future is no longer doom and gloom. The future is a positive, thrilling place. A place that we want to be. Don't be scared, gearheads, we're going to be ok.

At first, a lot of people thought that this signaled the end of BMW as they knew it, but it seems now that this was a smart multi-billion dollar gamble to make BMW a leader in technologies like electric and hybrid cars, as well as the mass production of carbon fiber. The carbon fiber part is the big deal here. Lightweight construction using carbon fiber has been around in road cars since the Ferrari F40, but it has never really made its way down the pipeline to cars that everyone is buying.

Sure, Pagani makes works of art out of carbon fiber and all three new hybrid supercars from McLaren, Ferrari, and Porsche use carbon fiber, but the regular consumer has barely had a chance to touch the stuff other than as a trim piece.  

The BMW i3 and i8 both make make extensive use of the material in their construction, and in doing so become the most affordable cars made of CF and the first mass produced models to use it as the main component in its construction.

The i3 and i8 are meant to represent the future of motoring as BMW sees it. And thankfully that doesn't mean soul sucking boredom. In the case of the i8, we have the 1.5 liter three cylinder from the Mini — which has been turboed to hell to make 228 horsepower and 236 pound feet of torque — sitting behind the driver. That charges the battery but also powers the rear wheels. Up front there is an electric motor producing 129 horsepower and 184 pound feet of torque. 

Under normal conditions, the electric motor powers the i8. It can get up to 75 MPH under electricity alone and can go for about 20 miles on a full charge with no interaction from the engine.

But that's not all. The electric and gas can work together to change efficiency to performance. Put the i8 in sport mode or slam the pedal down, and you get pure torque from the electric motor and revvy turbo goodness from the engine. Like the McLaren P1, LaFerrari, and Porsche 918, the i8 uses its electric motor to increase performance.