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Post by Big Blue on May 5, 2017 11:56:06 GMT
I attended a consistency trial at the RAC yesterday and one of the runners was in an i8, so I took the chance to take a sit.
It's like sitting in a BMW, but lower: everything is very familiar. That's not a bad thing as BMWs are pretty well appointed. I was OK getting in the thing and a bit less OK getting out. I was also interested in the rear seats: they do actually look useable for my 5 and 2 y-o daughters: less so for the three 15 y-o boys if they sit behind me. The door opening thing was cool but no soft-close would piss me off with this style of door.
As a sports car I think it looks great and the treatment of the rear buttresses looks cool. Overall it is a pretty nice piece of design: supercar-isa with no doubt it's a BMW. One of the owner's daughters (he is a year older than I and has had all manner of fancy cars) is mega-embarrassed by the attention it gets; the other loves it. He said unreservedly it's the best car he's ever had; it feels like a very lightweight car and goes like a sports car should. He's done 8k miles in it and averaged 51.6mpg, which is nigh on three times more than I get. That said, mine makes a nicer noise but of course I can't hear mine sitting in it so I am relying on the feedback offered by the onlookers of the day. He also said his girls (oldest is 15) have no issues sitting in the rear seats.
I've put the i8 on a list of cars I wouldn't mind having and yesterday hasn't changed my view. Nice bit of kit.
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Post by racingteatray on May 5, 2017 15:05:36 GMT
Yes I like the i8 and so does Mrs RT. It appeals to her sense of green-ness and love of modernity.
Women are odd though. I dragged my wife around the BMW museum in Munich on Monday and in the process we came face-to-face with an immaculate blue 8-series that they have on display. Bear in mind this is a car that when previously shown pictures of, my wife immediately said "oh no, far too old". In the metal with me rhapsodizing about it, she said "I can see why you like it - it looks like a Z1". Followed by "how much does a good one cost?". "£15k...half as much as a good Z1" was my reply. The conversation went no further but interesting nonetheless...
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Post by Tim on May 5, 2017 15:40:06 GMT
I'm not a fan of the i8 the looks are too technical somehow and if I was going to spend over £100k on any 'supercar' I'd certainly want it to have more than 3 cylinders and to be honest I don't think I'd give a shit if it did 51 or 15 mpg.
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Post by racingteatray on May 5, 2017 16:10:54 GMT
Fair enough. Have you heard an i8? One accelerated past me the other day and it sounded most unexpectedly throaty. Certainly didn't sound under-endowed in the trouser department.
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Post by LandieMark on May 5, 2017 16:42:03 GMT
I had a sit in one at the Newcastle Motor Show a couple of years ago and liked it too.
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Post by Martin on May 6, 2017 7:34:44 GMT
I'm think they sound pretty good as well. I sat in one in the Park Lane showroom a couple of years ago and agree with pretty much everything BB says, including it being a bit awkward to get out, but there wasn't room for anyone behind my seat position. Thanks to lots of people finding it difficult, the seat bolster was knackered and the sill all scuffed, so you'd have to be very careful.
Not sure I'd buy one new, but they're down to £60-65k.
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Post by Roadrunner on May 6, 2017 7:40:04 GMT
Somewhere in the old place is my i8 passenger ride report. When stabbed it sounded epic and the technical modernity appeals to me, too. Definitely on my 'want one' list.
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Post by Roadrunner on May 6, 2017 11:00:12 GMT
Somewhere in the old place is my i8 passenger ride report. When stabbed it sounded epic and the technical modernity appeals to me, too. Definitely on my 'want one' list.
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Post by johnc on May 8, 2017 7:53:40 GMT
It's very high on my want list too. I think it looks so modern.
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Post by Big Blue on May 8, 2017 8:46:53 GMT
Well I took the boys (well, two of them: one has snapped his arm in two, on his birthday poor bugger!) to Vines and had a test rear-seat-sit with lanky 15 year olds. No1 was fine with it, but it looked pretty tight to me: he wouldn't want to go on a day out in it! It's not a leg room issue, more a headroom thing: they could sit one behind another but not sure one would last sitting behind me. That said, the girls would have no issues for a few years.
Like Martin I'd not have the stomach to pay list but they are coming down to sub-class supercar levels. Very colour sensitive to my eye: grey is just dull as mud whereas white and that electric blue are pretty funky. Let's face it: this shouldn't be a car that you tone down!
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Post by PetrolEd on May 8, 2017 12:02:49 GMT
Great value at 60k but no way I'd take one over an R8 or even a 991 at new money. They look cool and the interiors great as long as you don't look in the back however the ingress/egress would get on your tits as a daily and its not going to be exciting enough to drive to have as a weekend/track toy.
I also fail to see whats so clever about getting a true 30-35MPG
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Post by Tim on May 8, 2017 12:25:19 GMT
The tech would put me off and I don't like the looks. Also a sporty sounding 3 cylinder reminds me of the Daihatsu Charade GTti  |
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Post by garry on May 13, 2017 11:54:39 GMT
I'm a fan. Not sure I could live with one though. The 991 is easy to live with and therefore gets some use - you can treat it like a normal car and it blends in enough with the world so as not to make you a target. Not sure about the i8 - getting out of it on a wet day onto a high kerb might be less than elegant! Plus, I can take the 991 to a business meeting by without eyebrows being raised, not sure about the i8. The risk is that it would just sit in the garage because it's a bit too 'special'. I still could be tempted though.
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