Here's Why the BMW i8 Is Worth $150,000

this is the BMW i8 you probably already know that because the i8 has been out for a couple of years now and you probably already know all of the particulars hybrid electric powertrain 0 to 60 in just over 4 seconds can travel up to 20 miles on electric power alone all-wheel drive but I bet you didn't know all of the i8 s crazy details so today I've borrowed this I ate from a reader in Connecticut and I'm going to show them to you and then I'm going to take it for a drive and determine whether I think it's worth BMWs one hundred and fifty thousand dollar asking price on the outside by now most people know that there's this hole the air can just travel right through but did you know that there's the same thing underneath in back some of the coolest features are the brake lights and the turn signal lights not quite as cool is the trunk space even though the entire hatch opens up the trunk is confined to this tiny little area in the far back one of the most interesting features inside the car if you move the transmission lever over to sport mode and then you decide now you want to be an eco mode or you press eco the transmission lever pops back into drive like some sort of unseen ghost is moving it here's another weird quirk the window doesn't go all the way down this is as far as it goes about two inches of Windows still remaining so you can't really put your elbow up here because it's really uncomfortable another cool thing like most modern BMWs the i8 has the touch controller pad in the center console so you want to scroll around and click on stuff instead you can just write it and it appears on the screen one of the quarks is simply getting in the i8 the owner tells me that you're supposed to sit down first then slide your legs and then pose the door however the owner also tells me there is no easy way to get in the back seats [Music] No how do you get out of a BMW i8 well there's no door handle instead you press a button and the door just opens up and then the gauge cluster shows you a cool little picture to let you know that your door is it there's also a second door opener in the rear half of the front door maybe for the rear of passengers or in an emergency I don't know ok another thing you might be wondering I know I am can you drive around with the doors up I don't know let's find out another cool thing there's a little channel between the USB port and the center console where you can store your phone and here's the really cool part it even works when the lids are closed the gauge cluster is super cool it's a full LCD screen now when you're in sport it's red and it gives you your rpms or but then you move it over to comfort and it gives you the percentage power that you're using put it in Eco Pro and limits your percentage power to just 50% so you get the best possible mileage something else I love about the i8 because it has an electric mode it can drive around and make absolutely no noise at all like so you have to admit it's kind of hilarious to see a vehicle that looks like this driving around with absolutely no noise coming out of any of its orifices so the i8 has some very unique features some cool and some weird but how does it drive now it's time to get on the road and find out and as always click the link below to check out my column on autotrader.com slash oversteer for more of my thoughts on the driving experience all right we're driving the i8 here the first thing you hear your enzyme in sport mode the first thing here is all this engine noise it sounds like a v8 course it isn't and all that is fake and it's piped in through the speakers man listen to that so all that it's fake oh that's that yeah I guess that's not really how about three cylinder engine sounds god that's it sounds great though [Music] ooh it's quick a little quicker than most of the three cylinders have driven in the past the ride is reasonably compliant it's not so bad it's not so rough so I'm in sport mode here and sport mode is mostly gas engine but also electric but the real key is sport mode charges the battery the owner told me he's only plugged it in a few times because he drives it in sport mode so I mean just charge it right up from that we kind of stand out I feel like I'm in the future do you feel like you're in the future new drone this thing the handling it's it's nice and precise it feels it feels good so let's do comfort briefly it feels more than happy just to cruise into in the at a normal speed yeah it's like yeah whatever it's totally fine a lot of exotic cars especially ones that look this crazy when you're going slow if you can tell it wants to go faster the vipre is like come on why are we doing this all right let's give this a shot whoa that's more like it that is quick damn Wow that's impressive oh my god why the handling is great it really feels incredibly planted there's of course no body roll at all the transmission is insanely fast and like you said you don't feel up shifts or down shifts they just sort of occur wow that is crazily fast it's amazing the car we were driving around the parking lot ten minutes ago with no noise at all suddenly is like this monster when we're on the road here it's crazy I love how the sound is god I hate to admit it because I know it's fake but I love it it sounds like a nice v8 BMW has won me over with their face down you know this car gets a lot of press about its technology and its powertrain plug-in it's 20 miles of electric range whatever and not a lot of people have talked about much about just how well it drives I think that kind of gets lost in the shuffle with this car but kudos to BMW for making this thing actually drives so well in addition to being all these other futuristic technology things despite the fact that it has back seats on this futuristic hybrid stuff it actually is a pretty impressive sports car it drives it drives great in a world where when you think electric vehicle and you think Nissan Leaf right this is like no you can have fun actually so is the i8 worth a hundred and fifty thousand dollars absolutely it's fun it's cool it's futuristic it's well-equipped but most importantly before the i8 car enthusiasts had come to fear the rising tide of incoming electric vehicles but the i8 and other cool electric cars like the Tesla Model S are proof that the future doesn't have to be boring and it doesn't have to be ugly and most importantly there is a place for exotic awesome sports cars and car enthusiasts in a world without big loud gasoline engines [Music]

Channel: Doug DeMuro

Views: 12,725,997

Rating: 4.7001214 out of 5

Keywords: bmw i8, i8, bmw, ev, exotic cars, sports cars, performance cars, bmw i8 range, bmw i8 quirks

Id: EoojNzIL2cQ

Length: 7min 39sec (459 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 15 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/ThatOfficeMaxGuy]

I knew i'd come in here to a shit show. I swear the i8 causes GT-R level chaos in the car world.

As an owner, it's not worth $150k. Which is why I didn't pay anywhere near $150k...

Edit: I should note, I love my car. But for $150k you could get a better performing car, or a more luxurious car. The i8 is sort of a tech/engineering toy that fills the middle ground.

[u/AlphaBlackWolf96]

Well shit now I want one.

[u/Bebealex]

Those fake exhaust notes... Just..

[u/[deleted]]

No, its worth $150000 because its an exotic with bleeding edge tech, and BMW has to make the development costs back, as well as fund future car development.

[u/menasan]

just a little note - the regular BMWs shifters also pop out of sport mode if you click eco. or park. its weird.

Also the writing pad... I end up getting frustrated and just use the knob.

also holy shit that window not going all the way down - thats... thats terrible

[u/MDA123]

I don't think the exhaust note is as fake as /u/Doug-DeMuro seems to think. Yes, it's "enhanced" (aka, cleaned up) and pumped through the speakers, but it's not a totally synthetic noise. You can hear it in the exterior shots of this video, in fact, that the interior noise bears strong resemblance to the exterior noise.

3 cylinders really do sound like that. They have a similar off-kilter noise to a 5 cylinder, IMO.

[u/Jimmaayy]

I can't unsee the 911 in the back of the i8. http://imgur.com/vR73rDo

[u/asdfderp2]

For 150k i can have an M6, RS6, Model S, AMG GT or a well optioned 911. The i8 does nothing for me, it feels like you pay a ton of money for the fact that it is "electric" while also getting all the downsides that go along with owning a prototype vehicle. It's a neat car and proof of concept, but nothing more.

[u/Skullripper675]

I was driving around Philly 2 weeks ago and saw one. I knew it looked good, but I was actually blown away by the looks.

This price range is heavily populated with other options though that I personally find to be better. It does accomplish the purpose however of being a more eco friendly sports car.