Specifications
About This Car
A plug-in hybrid supercar silhouette with butterfly doors and a three-cylinder engine that punches well above its size.
The i8 looks like it should be impractical and slightly unhinged, all low-slung carbon and butterfly doors that lift skyward at the valet stand. What's underneath surprised everyone when it launched and still does now: a plug-in hybrid powertrain built around efficiency first, performance as the byproduct, and exactly what makes a BMW i8 rental such a distinctive way to arrive.
A turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder drives the rear wheels while an electric motor drives the front, the combination producing a combined 374 hp and genuine all-wheel-drive grip without either system ever feeling like it's compensating for the other. Zero to 100 km/h arrives in 4.4 seconds, electronically capped at 250 km/h, and the car can run on electric power alone for city stretches before the three-cylinder wakes up with a note that's more purposeful hum than roar.
Inside, two proper seats sit ahead of a pair of occasional rear perches, the cabin built around a driver-focused cockpit with a floating centre console and a light, glass-heavy roof that makes the whole thing feel more spacious than the exterior suggests. This is the car for someone who wants the theatre of a supercar entrance without the fuel bill or the compromise of a car that's only good for one thing.