The BMW I8 was produced between 2014 and 2020 but ultimately didn’t make it even though it’s such a good looking little sports hybrid. Ahead of it’s time maybe definitely, except when a concept car is produced without really testing understanding the consumer and the market it isn’t always plain sailing even with a name like BMW behind the wheel.
It’s competing with cars like the Porsche 911 series, it’s own BMW M series, and include cars around from 2020 to 2024 like Audi R8 and the Aston Martin Vantage, it proved a tough bracket. The i8 with only 369 Horsepower and 420 pound torque from its pretty tiny hybrid system it slipped when it came to performance.
It was introduced to the market at the Frankfurt Motor show for a retail price of $150,000 but then 8 short years later the 2 plus 2 seater was dropped from the BMW line up despite its curb appeal.
The feedback wasn’t that great and sales of the super car wained. Personally I loved the futuristic feel and the De Lorean Ferrari Enzo styling with the pop up fly doors. Except getting in and out just didn’t work. The practicality of using it daily drivers said was too difficult and cumbersome. Reliability was also an issue for driving every day and the build wasn’t conducive to any mechanic working on the I8 which meant back to the BMW dealer every time a little something went wrong which meant very high maintenance and repair bills.
High end sports cars are expensive to fix for sure but the I8 had additional issues which made it different. It was the first plug in hybrid sports cars for BMW which brought with it additional challenges.
So an engine tucked away with limited access and complicated new technology on a car prone to breaking down makes it hard to commit over £100,000 on this beautiful little car.
The pointers that make a car really fun to drive are how it sounds from the inside, how responsive the car is and the drivability. The sound from the 3L engine from the inside comes from speakers, not great and sure it’s quick but compared to other cars in it’s class it’s not that fast so no points there really either. It handles like a front wheel drive high performance car and is pretty easy to drive, but it doesn’t sound great, and being a hybrid it’s not fast enough for the money.
A few people complained about cargo space and back seat space. However no one buys a sports car for the back seats or the boot space so not even worth mentioning here.
People figured out you can tune up an R8 Audi or a Toyota supra to get max performance out of them, which made them super main stream and really popular. You couldn’t do this with the hybrid i8 so unless you could live with the look and the green credentials it wasn’t taking off. People that love sports cars aren’t the most eco conscious let’s face it.
The final factor that finished off the BMW I8 was the price. The starting price was $150K going up to $170K for the Spider. And when it comes to value for money, you aren’t getting performance, you aren’t getting comfort, you aren’t getting that much fun to drive so what’s left on the table is just a beautiful looking car, which for a lady like me it certainly checks all the boxes when it comes to beauty, except not many women spend $150K on a sports car so there was no target market for the BMW I8. Maybe the final nail in the coffin for this gorgeous set of wheels.
It’s not all doom and gloom though because now you can pick up one of these beauties for £50 or £60K which opens it up to whole new market.
At this price it’s a fantastic car to own and drive, good looking, quite rare, highly collectible and a showstopper.
For 100 grand less the value sky rockets on a beauty like this that was truly ahead of its time and yes I think we will see a revival, a relaunch of these fabulous wheels at some point in the future.
I always wanted a 6 series BMW, I like comfort so the in and out would probably be a deal breaker for me but note to younger self, if I could afford the lower price tag I’d pick this car over a quicker Nissan or Toyota any day.
https://youtu.be/r0rGTbUGP6k?si=wubZinRSCVXkWBGb