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      03-23-2018, 12:01 AM   #1
MichaelJohn
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Goodbye M5, hello i8

This post is quite long so bear with me as I am still under the new car spell. I haven’t posted here in a long time which, now that I think about it, is telling. The M5 is a wonderful car that I thoroughly enjoyed but I had lost my passion for it. It is undeniably very fast and refined but it’s just a little too big and heavy and not sporty enough (or sporty-looking enough) for me. I bought the car off the showroom floor in 2013 when my 2 kids were still in high school but now one is away in college and the other in grad school so I don’t really need a big family sedan anymore. I think this really hit home when I realized that I liked driving my wife’s VW GTI (really a fun car) and even our X3 as much or more than the M5. I also have an electric motorcycle, a Zero SR, so I know very well the incredible rush of instant electric torque and I wanted it in a car. No Teslas thank you. I test drove one and didn't like it. The interior was just too spartan and I didn’t want an all electric car. I have always had my eye on the i8 but when it first came out dealers around here were tacking on 50-100k to MSRP (and getting it) so I lost interest and forgot about it. Well, it’s 4 years later and how things have changed. Some dealers are now discounting new ‘17’s between 20 and 30k. I got a great deal on a pristine CPO Crystal White ‘15 with 5,000 miles on it with the exact color and wheel combo I was looking for. I had nearly bought a 6,000 mile ‘14 but I decided that I didn’t want dark gray plus the ‘14’s don’t have comfort access and I’m spoiled. The test drive was a real eye opener. The car is often criticized for having supercar looks but non-supercar performance and I think that has helped to bring the prices down but the instant electric torque makes up for the relatively low horsepower number (more on how the power is underrated later). And, unlike the M5, it gets all of its power to the ground without traction issues. Car & Driver got 0 to 60 in 3.6 and a few others have gotten 3.8 and that’s enough acceleration for me. It feels properly quick and unlike the M5 the throttle response is immediate. Even at 2,000 rpm in top gear on the freeway you just touch the pedal and it goes. The electric torque certainly makes a difference. It is also way more fun to drive than I thought it would be. The steering is light, accurate and feels just right. Being roughly 1/2 ton lighter than the M5 doesn’t hurt either even though the i8 not really a whole lot smaller. It’s not quite 911 sharp but the ride is more compliant and I don't mind sacrificing a little performance for comfort. Apparently the M division has helped with the suspension and it shows. It also has multiple and very distinct driving personalities - it’s a smooth and quiet stealth cruiser in all-electric mode, an everyday driver in comfort mode and a sports car in sport mode which gives you full-time all-wheel hybrid power, tightens up the suspension and charges the main battery. You never have to plug it in if you don’t want to but I do anyway because I get a kick out of seeing the interior light up in blue if you check it while it’s charging. Plug-in charging also gives you more electric range, which is admittedly not huge at 15-20 miles but it doesn’t really matter because popping it into sport mode quickly recharges the battery at the rate of 1 mile of range gained per 1 mile driven. That allows me to switch between gas and electric all the time which is strangely satisfying. Even in electric-only mode it has a little kick. Stuck in traffic? Go e mode or comfort and waste zero gas while idling. When the road opens up, flip the shifter into sport and take off. Sport mode also enhances the exhaust note and I have seen different explanations for that. Some say that the sound is totally synthesized and fake. Others, including a BMW engineer that I spoke with, say that it is real engine sound that is only acoustically enhanced. Frankly, I don’t care. It sounds really good, especially on the rev-matching downshifts (the auto box is first-rate). I’m tickled by the fact that BMW can get this kind of sound and performance out of a 1.5 liter three cylinder engine. Flat 6's, V6’s, V8’s and V10’s all have their own special charm and benefits but I am getting 35+ MPG right now with lots of sport mode blasts thrown in - what a treat that is. While some may wish for a bigger engine or more power I think that misses the point of the car. There are plenty of other high performance cars available for that but BMW was shooting for something different and I think they nailed it. When I take it out to run errands sometimes I don’t even use the gasoline engine at all - there’s something really cool about gliding around town. Then there's the doors. Though I have seen many reviewers praise the wow factor but criticize the functionality, entry and exit turns out to be a non-issue. If you’re halfway coordinated and not too large, getting in and out is no big deal - in fact, I rather enjoy it. The butterfly doors have actually worked out better for me as the passenger side door no longer has the possibility of hitting the side wall of my garage which I had padded to protect the M5’s door. Now the door just pops up and clears easily. At 6’ I can even squeeze into the back seat in a pinch though a long drive is out of the question unless you're tiny. At least there is usable space and I am always throwing stuff in the back. The front seats are very comfortable and the cabin is well appointed, spacious and luxurious - leather everywhere. Everything is simple, logical, and easy to get to. At night the color selectable interior LED ribbon accent lights really add to the futuristic look of the car. It has HUD too. The carbon fiber impregnated plastic tub is rigid as can be and the car is completely buttoned down, rattle-free and quiet at speed. And the looks...I am not an attention seeker but it's fun to drive something with such bold styling that is so different from other cars. Sometimes I go into the garage and just stare at it. No, it is not supercar fast and the M5 would probably walk it from a roll but it is quick enough for me - and it feels quicker than the M5 due to the throttle response. I don’t frequent drag strips or do 150 mph pulls anyway. In the real world it is plenty fast. Maybe I am getting old but blinding acceleration is no longer the be-all and end-all - the total package counts more for me. If all I cared about was acceleration I would go buy a Hellcat… Well, maybe not. Besides, whatever power this car has it gives it all to you right now. Another little known detail is that the high voltage belt-drive motor that functions as a starter motor for the gas engine and a generator/charger for the big battery is also used for extra boost in sport mode. It’s good for 11 more horsepower (so it’s 368 hp, not 357) and 37 more pound-feet of torque added to the already healthy 420 in a 3,400 pound car. So it actually has two electric motors helping the gas engine when they are called on. This little secret weapon shows up in the i8 technical manual which reveals the higher total output. For the price I don’t think there is anything else quite like it. I find it to be a special automobile and I appreciate it more all the time. It is a technological tour de force and to my eyes a wind tunnel-sculpted work of art. Just in case you can’t tell, I really like this car - I have never driven anything else like it. I thought I was going to regret giving up the M5 and I very nearly backed out of the deal in mid-negotiation thinking that I was being foolish to trade in a beautiful ‘13 M5 with 18,000 miles on it that was trouble-free and basically perfect. I’m sure glad I didn’t back out.

If you made it through all of this, thanks for taking the time and I hope a little of my appreciation for the i8 has rubbed off.
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      03-23-2018, 08:55 AM   #2
daddymalu
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Congrats on your choice.... nice summary....
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      03-23-2018, 01:34 PM   #3
PRKELLY
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Not to be rude, but paragraphs help, this is a classic wall of text and difficult to read.
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      03-23-2018, 07:30 PM   #4
DenverF10M5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PRKELLY View Post
Not to be rude, but paragraphs help, this is a classic wall of text and difficult to read.
I didn't have difficulty reading it. Maybe English isn't for you.
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      03-24-2018, 09:19 AM   #5
Used2be
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PRKELLY View Post
Not to be rude, but paragraphs help, this is a classic wall of text and difficult to read.
This was a well written, informative critique of the i8, BUT, just like the punctuation which helps so much with the construction of sentences, paragraphs help group separate topics within the overall topic of the i8. It would have been more readable and more easily informative to have the various aspects of the OP's experience with the i8 broken up into separate thoughts. Allows the reader to return to a portion of the posting to make a more thorough evaluation, if he's truly interested in what was written.

The OP is well spoken, I'm surprised he didn't make paragraphs. Perhaps just a flow of consciousness laboriously tapped into a smartphone and paragraphs didn't enter his mind?
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      03-24-2018, 09:58 PM   #6
TrevorM3
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my head hurts just from glancing at that bible


also, m5/m6 > i8
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      03-24-2018, 10:30 PM   #7
URBAN LEGEND
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Ok. Congrats!
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      03-24-2018, 11:35 PM   #8
josec70
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TrevorM3 View Post
my head hurts just from glancing at that bible


also, m5/m6 > i8
LOL
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CURRENT: 22' INDIVIDUAL M5| CHALK | TARTUFO | CCB | MPE | H&R | IND
GONE: 19' M5C| SINGAPORE GREY| ARAGON|VELOS VLS-06|H&R|iPE|IND|XPEL|CF|RADENSO
GONE: 15' F10 M5|BSM|BLACK|VELOS VSS-S2|KW|AKRA|IND|CF |ESCORT 360|VELOS PIGGY
GONE: 13' F10 M5|SG|BLACK|AKRA|KW|IND
LONG GONE: 09' E60 M5|02' E39 M5
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      03-25-2018, 12:31 AM   #9
3thirty5
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Congrats man! She's beautiful!
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      03-25-2018, 04:26 AM   #10
M5 TT
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good review. New car looks awesome
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      03-27-2018, 07:57 PM   #11
MichaelJohn
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TrevorM3 View Post
my head hurts just from glancing at that bible


also, m5/m6 > i8
Have you driven them all?

Just curious.
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