MOTORING Fast-forward to the future


BMW has raised the bar for high-performance electric hybrids WORDS NEIL LYNDON


I


have driven the car of the future; and I am happy to report that not only does it work superbly, it also makes all existing cars look


like yesterday’s discarded chip bag. BMW’s new i8 high-performance plug-in


electric hybrid is such a jaw-dropping combina- tion of the very latest technology and the most ravishing design aesthetics that, from the moment I fi rst saw it at the launch in Inverness to the last moment when I had to tear my eyes away, a voice in the back of my mind was screaming: ‘Must, must have this car’. That message doesn’t make a nuisance of itself every day, or even every year. Last time I heard it was when Audi introduced its revolutionary R8 supercar. That was almost a decade ago. Like that glorious two-seater, the i8 (which


ostensibly has four seats, although the ones in the rear are so tight for space that placing small children there might be condemned as cruel and unusual punishment) will stop traffi c for its looks and leave traffi c standing with its performance (0-60mph in little more than four seconds, with top speed electronically restricted to 155mph). What it shouldn’t do, however, is attract any aggro from tree-hugging earth-lovers who blame high-performance cars for the shrinking of the ice caps and the destruction of the coral reef. This scorcher emits so few grams of CO2 per kilometre (49) that a mouse probably exhales more noxious gas while asleep. With average fuel consumption claimed to be more than 130mpg, it is the only car with supercar performance that is so inoffensive to


offi cialdom that it’s exempt from road fund tax and London congestion charging. If the i8 is unlike any previous electric


‘When I had to tear my eyes away, a voice in the back of my mind was screaming: Must, must have this car’


hybrid for its performance, it also stands apart for its looks. From its dihedral, gull-wing doors to its anteater nose as low as a racing car’s, the i8 exhibits the highest and most individual design purpose. Up until now, hybrids and electric cars have either been indistinguishable from conventionally powered cars (see Lexus) or they have drawn attention to themselves by looking weirdly geeky or nerdy (see Toyota Prius or the beloved Nissan Leaf, which I have been keeping at home for the past year). The i8, however, is so achingly cool in its own


Below: BMW’s i8 electric hybrid looks like a spacecraft and makes a sound like an F1 engine when you fl oor the throttle.


right that it tells all onlookers that its owner is a person of such elevated taste that mere mortals can barely glimpse such eminence through the clouds. Its carbon-fi bre body (constructed in a process that is closer to knitting and baking plastic than to pressing and welding steel) is so voluptuous in its curves and aerodynamic lines that your hand can’t resist stretching out to stroke its fl anks. As the road rips away at warp- speed, the wing mirrors give you a picture of the sci-fi shapes behind your shoulders that look most like the panelling of a spacecraft. A similar effect is achieved by the combina- tion of noises from the propulsion units in the i8. The 1.5-litre twin turbocharged petrol engine in the back produces an astounding 231bhp and sounds like an F1 engine when you fl oor the throttle pedal. At the same time, the electric motor in the front kicks in with a supersonic whine to add 131bhp of boost. This is not the way to mollify the sheriff nor achieve 130-plus mpg (we got 34.2mpg in our harum-scarum test) but the i8 can be driven in absolute serenity for more than 23 miles on its electric motor alone, which can be recharged from a power point at home or by the petrol engine. Wonderfully


comfortable,


stunning in its modernist interior, peerless in its driving dynamics – the only shortcoming is a luggage space smaller than a fi ling cabinet drawer. But what do you expect for £99,845?


g d WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK 139


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