Skip advert
Advertisement
In-depth reviews

BMW i8 review (2014-2020) - the new age sports car

Can BMW's performance hybrid deliver conventional sports car thrills?

Evo rating
Price
from £106,000
  • Goes as well as it looks - and it's even fun to drive
  • Lacks the outright driving thrills of the best £100k sports cars

The BMW i8 is a new age sports car, but it proves that the basic tenets of involving handling, strong straight-line performance and eye-catching styling will always be central to the sports car proposition.

With its clever hybrid drivetrain, the i8 is very nearly as accelerative as a Porsche 911 Carrera, but it can also cover close to 20 miles in electric only mode, which makes it a unique offering at this price point. The drivetrain is certainly an impressive technological achievement and an object lesson in systems integration, but it lacks the emotional appeal of a soulful, high-revving engine and that will count against it among certain traditional sports car buyers.

Advertisement - Article continues below

Aside from slightly remote steering and a lack of outright grip across the front axle in hard cornering – a result of its narrow tyres – the i8 is genuinely fun to drive. It has superb body control and excellent balance.

The i8 turns heads like few others £100,000 sports cars, perhaps because it is the car of the moment. The cabin architecture is very seductive, but it’s something of a shame that all of the minor controls and the infotainment interface are lifted directly from the rest of the BMW range. 

Skip advert
Advertisement
Advertisement - Article continues below

>Read our Porsche 911 review

Prices, specs and rivals

Unlike many models in the £100,000 price range, the i8 sports gets almost all of the kit you’d ever need as standard. Models such as the Porsche 911 may require you to add thousands onto the base price to get what you desire, but specifying the Bavarian hybrid shouldn’t drive the price too far north of the £106,000 entry point.

Advertisement - Article continues below
Skip advert
Advertisement
Advertisement - Article continues below

Earlier last year at the Frankfurt Motor Show, BMW revealed an open top roadster variant of the i8. The removal of its roof comes with the addition of cost however, with the roadster starting at almost £125,000.

> BMW i8 Roadster review

There isn’t an awful lot of customisation permitted when configuring the i8, with just five two tone finishes available, each hue contrasting with either Frozen Grey or BMW i Blue accents. Sophisto Grey is a no cost addition, while Iconic Silver coming in at £450 and Crystal White with blue/white accents the most expensive, at £1350. Other than the standard five spoke wheels, you can choose from two other 20 inch options at £1500.

Ducking under the scissor doors presents an interior befitting the futuristic exterior.  There are three interior ‘worlds’, each upholstering the cabin with different materials. At £895 the Harman Kardon stereo upgrade would be beneficial to those who’ll be travelling under the sole, serene steam of the electric motor more often than not.

Other than that, the options list is mostly confined to small interior styling tweaks or minor upgrades to the infotainment system - there really is just about everything you could realistically want. The extensive suit of technological functions and amenities includes heated seats, climate control, a heads up display, keyless entry with BMW's smart key, and the iDrive infotainment integrating the navigation system.

Advertisement - Article continues below
Skip advert
Advertisement
Advertisement - Article continues below

Most of the above is controlled via iDrive, one of our favourite infotainment systems and offers all the features you could want, accessed via the BMW’s high resolution screens in the binnacle and atop the dash. The options list does offer extras such as web browsing, which are reasonably priced but largely useless.

Slotting the BMW i8 into a performance car segment is difficult, hence defining its rivals is too. The closest rival we can think of to the i8 is a well lavished Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS. Also just eclipsing six figures and offering 430bhp from a naturally aspirated flat six, it’s a very exciting thing. Dynamically, it may also be better, but no amount of bright Guards Red paint turns heads like an i8.

A fellow hybrid supercar, and  technological tour de force, the all-wheel drive NSX carries a £30k premium and  flaunts the same supercar panache as the i8, although it’s performance perhaps elevates the Honda out of the i8’s territory. Tesla’s P100D, which undercuts the Japanese supercar by a few thousand pounds offers stratospheric straight line performance purely under electric power - oddly addictive, it’s a wholly different proposition but one that shouldn’t be discounted.

Watch an i8 square up to a 911 Carrera GTS here

Alternatively, you have the Tesla Model S P90D. This is a very different car to the i8; larger, heavier and altogether more ‘executive’. In pure acceleration terms it's mighty, but falls short of the BMW when it comes to driver involvement.

Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

The new Mercedes-AMG G63 has arrived, and it still has a V8
Mercedes-AMG G63
News

The new Mercedes-AMG G63 has arrived, and it still has a V8

Some of Affalterbach’s range-toppers are swapping eight cylinders for four, but the AMG G-class retains its V8 for 2024
26 Mar 2024
The new Toyota GR Yaris costs £44,250 – too much for a hot supermini?
Toyota GR Yaris Gen 2 – front
News

The new Toyota GR Yaris costs £44,250 – too much for a hot supermini?

Our early impressions of the Gen 2 GR Yaris suggest that it’s an improvement in every area that counts, but can it be worth £18k more than an i20 N?
27 Mar 2024
Land Rover Defender OCTA: twin-turbo V8 and McLaren-style suspension tech for hot off-roader
Land Rover Defender OCTA – front
News

Land Rover Defender OCTA: twin-turbo V8 and McLaren-style suspension tech for hot off-roader

The OCTA promises to be the fastest, toughest and most capable Defender yet when it launches later this year
26 Mar 2024