Strange BMW

If it wasn't for the badge I'd have said it was a disguised prototype doing road testing. But I didn't think they normally left identifiers as obvious as the badge. Also bare metal panels sounds a bit odd. Maybe a road legal racing car doing endurance testing?

Almost vertainly a BMW I8 coupe. I saw one for the first time last w/e

No chance BMW would test in the UK.

Maybe a BMW i8 or i8 Roadster?

That is certainly the nearest to it I could imagine. There was something odd about the body panels, though, but I can't explain, other than to say that it almost looked as though it had been crashed!

Thanks, that has to be it.

I thought much the same, almost like a badly assembled model car.

The picture makes it look far more professional. I wonder what went wrong?

First few seconds of this, 'Rich Rebuilds' is after this particular I8.

Barn Yard find: Ruined Supercar

Certainly at one time they disguised prototypes by adding on cardboard or whatever. While doing testing where wind noise etc wouldn't matter.

Really?!

I've driven a few. Never thought there was a build quality issue. I really, really want one. They're fantastic bits of kit.

I bet they are interesting to drive, but their appearance in the flesh while driving past one, is not great, interesting, but not 100,000 pounds worth.

Yes, hence my first description. It really looked bad, which is why I thought it might be a test mule. It certainly was not tempting.

It looks like a 'Transformer'. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

It's hard to value one, really. You'd pay that kind of money for a Porsche 911, which I guess is the target market.

Honda have done the hybrid supercar better (only passengered in one, though!) - the new NSX really is a do it all car.

But the i8 is cheaper and nearly as good, IMHO. Must point out that I've not driven an i8 on the road - only on the track! But they do potter very well on the cool down laps - very quiet and refined, whilst also being utterly mental on the hot laps. Purists will complaint about the electronically enhanced engine note, though.

Worst thing is getting out of them. It's not elegant. Especially for a creaky 45 year old!

I noticed on an 18 Reg BMW 3 series a small hatch on the nearside front wing. What is that for? Surely it doesn't have the fuel tank on the front? Or could it be an electric version?

BMW 330e plug-in hybrid.

I'm just amazed that they can claim supercar status for a 1.5L 3Cyl car. ok so it also has electric motor, but only 7.1 kW battery with an optimistic range of 23 miles.

Combined power output of 349bhp when they're working together - 0-60 in

4.4 seconds and a top speed limited to 155mph in software.

Move with the times - it's no longer about chucking fuel at a large capacity engine until it floods then backing it off a tad. This is about efficient use of energy.

They're a very quick and very capable car.

Well yes, but not for long. You only hve 7.1 kWh to do that. After that it's back to a hard pumped 3 Cyl not much different from the lesser BMW.

It's still for the smug classes, benefiting from being a small minority so not overloading the grid.

But not 100 gran quick.

Depends on how you drive it. If you use 100% throttle everywhere, you'll drain the battery quickly. However, it harvests energy under braking low throttle load to top up the battery.

7.1kwh hybrids won't overload the grid, even if most of us drive them. You don't even *have* to plug it in. It 'self charges' from the ICE.

Well, it's about as quick as any comparable sports car at the same money, give or take half a second to 60mph. But it also returns half decent economy and doesn't chuck out 200g/km of CO2.

As a car, it's a cut above most others in the price range in that it's a composite tub, rather than a traditional steel monocoque.

All very well sneering, but until you've actually driven one in anger, you won't even begin to understand.