We like the BMW i8 for its styling, its efficiency, and its fresh approach to what a sports car can be. If there’s one area where it might be perceived as falling short of the competition, it is in overall output. With 357 horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque, it is quick, turning in a 3.8-second 0-to-60 run in our test. But it is hardly the quickest or fastest car you can get for its low-six-figure asking price.
BMW is fully aware of the issue, and it is working on a fix. Sources tell us that by 2016, the regular i8 could be complemented by an upgraded version that will feature an even more powerful three-cylinder gasoline engine and an upgraded electric motor. In the current model, the three-banger makes 228 horsepower, while the electric motor is rated at 129 horsepower. The same electric motor produces 170 horsepower in the i3 city car.
Thus optimized, a sportier i8 would make total system output north of 400 horsepower. And we believe that BMW would fit a torque-vectoring system to make the i8 even happier in corners. The current model is designed to exhibit some understeer, a characteristic that BMW believes the cars’ customers—being gadget-happy early-adopter types—will find easier to cope with when they get carried away on Skyline Boulevard in the Bay Area. Serious sports-car drivers would like to see more agility, and BMW would work that into the uplevel version. The new model would be sold alongside the regular i8.
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Down the road, there could be even further evolutions. Automobile Magazine has published a report that suggests BMW is working on a hybridized supercar loosely based on the i8 and packing a four- or six-cylinder engine. Such a car could make more than 500 horsepower. Bring it on, we say.
from Car and Driver Blog http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/fAXdpZKE4K0/
via Agya
