Re: Winter 2016 | Page 99

On starting her up I wasn’t greeted with the deafening roar of a ‘normal’ V8 or V12 supercar. The i8 is much more innovative than that. It boasts a tiny turbocharged 1.5 three-cylinder engine that drives the rear wheels with 231hp but more importantly a 131hp electric drive system that powers the front wheels and it was this power source that the car starts in. Ready to pull away, the car was suspiciously silent. The car has three modes: Comfort ensures that every journey starts with pure electric power with zero emissions and the petrol engine kicks in seamlessly around 40mph; ECO PRO mode makes efficiency and recuperation of energy the focus; and then comes every boys dream…. Sport mode. To activate sports mode is like hitting hyperdrive in the Millenium Falcon. You click the six-speed Steptronic gear stick towards you and boom, the engine explodes into life and you are ready to do the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs. The car cleverly combines the electric and petrol systems to give a whopping 362hp that will shoot you like a speeding bullet from 0-60mph in around four seconds (yes 4 secs) and to a top speed of 155mph which is visible in the very clever head up display in the windscreen. As you would expect from BMW this car drives superbly but having arrived at our Lewes office I was a little apprehensive about parking the £105k rocket. My fears were allayed as the cars multiple cameras provided a clear view in front, behind and surprisingly from above thanks to some very clever technology. Exiting the car was far from graceful but before I had time to shut the door, the i8 had already started to attract an admiring crowd of people. As an i8 owner for four days I experienced this on a number of occasions whenever I pulled up. Even a grumpy neighbour who had not spoken to me for a year suddenly wanted to be my friend. After four days I was a sad to hand the keys back and weeks later my son Jasper still asks “Daddy, when are you getting that racing car again?” Soon I hope. By Jason Edge As a man with more children than is advisable, the i8 is not an everyday car but for others I could see it could be. As you would expect in a supercar the ‘boot’ was a relatively small space that can hold have a dozen Waitrose shopping bags at a push but those golf clubs would have to go across the rear bucket seats. It was tremendous fun and easy to drive and despite the needs of a family like mine we found it quite useable too. With BMW’s Efficient Dynamics with eDrive this car has got to be one of the greenest supercars on the planet and I can’t think of many others that are road tax and congestion charge exempt! 97