BMW i8 long-term test review: from supercar to zero-emissions

I’d been waiting a while for this moment, carefully running in the BMW i8’s tiny three-cylinder engine until it was ready for some proper work.

I recalled the car’s press launch and being rather impressed by its ability to maintain considerable point-to-point pace with little apparent effort. But there was nothing in my first month with the i8 that suggested a repeat performance was likely. It just hasn’t felt like a sports car - and I mean that largely as a compliment.

It has an extremely relaxed gait, even when you’re not cruising around powered by electrons alone. Its ultra-long wheelbase, 2+2 configuration and skinny tyres appeared not to lend themselves to a road warrior’s disposition at all.

As it happens, you’d need a McLaren P1 before you’d find a car that changed character more at the flick of a switch. Knock the BMW's gear selector to the left, watch the dials turn from soothing blue to angry orange and a tacho replace the power reserve gauge and listen to a sharp, angry bark emanate from the engine bay. And then it’s off.

Because it’s so laid back most of the time, it’s easy to forget it’s quicker to 62mph than a new Porsche 911, or that it all comes with a yowling soundtrack many have dismissed as synthetic but which I find genuinely exhilarating.

If there is a key to the way the car delivers its power, it’s that it is fitted with the world’s first two-speed electric axle. Single-speed electric motors have to be disengaged at high speeds to prevent over-spinning, but a two-speed motor can assist from rest to top speed. A handy side-effect is that it also extends the all-electric range, and you are entirely unaware of the electric motor changing gear. And for those of you thinking those BMW engineers really are very clever, I’m sure they are. But this was the work of GKN, a British component supplier.

And on that patriotic note, I shall sign off. More on what happens when it reaches a corner next time.

BMW i8

Price £104,540 Price as tested £108,615 Economy 42.1mpg Faults None Expenses None Last seen 6.7.16

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First report

Voyage of discovery