The BMW i8 has been out for a while now and, even though a few years have passed since it was launched, it’s still looking like a car that came from a distant future. The looks are one thing but how is it to live with this hybrid beauty on a daily basis? Well, owning one will bring forward a couple of interesting tidbits about it and will reveal stuff you didn’t know about. The guys from Roads Untraveled talked to an owner to get his pulse on the i8 and what makes him love or hate the car.
Among the things he loves he mentions the car’s great GT character, the i8 truly being a car in which you can easily cover long distances without feeling tired. The seats, as thin as they may seem, are comfortable and they offer great support all around. Sitting in the back isn’t recommended as those seats are there mainly to allow you to store some stuff. However, I did manage to get two girls in the back when I had an i8 all to myself but I wouldn’t recommend doing that if you’re planning on a longer trip, outside the city limits.
Other things the owner points out as pros include the fact that the car is easy to drive daily, the good looks, the technology it brings to the table and its versatility. Of course, he goes into detail in the video posted below but then there’s another video showcasing the five things he hates about the car and they are a bit more surprising.
The first one he mentions is the steering which definitely lacks feedback. And while I might be tempted to disagree at first, he has a point as the i8 has an electric power steering system that isn’t all that communicative in the first place. Then there’s the jerky hybrid system that sometimes seemingly gets ‘confused’. The thing is, I took the i8 out for test drives a number of times and never seen the hybrid system act up but then again, he does have a point when he says reviewers can’t see this flaw because you need to spend a lot more time with the car to notice it. Since we usually have only a couple of days with test vehicles, it does seem plausible that we can’t pick up on it. For the remaining downsides you’ll just have to watch the second video below, no spoilers here.
