2016 BMW i8S Performance Specs News Rumors GT Spirit.With swan-wing doors, a shark-nose grille, and a supercar stance, the i8 plug-in hybrid is a truly revolutionary vehicle. The interior seats four in trappings worthy of an Ian Schrager hotel.
A turbocharged three-cylinder engine teams with two electric motors for a combined 357 hp; the i8 hits 60 mph faster than an M3. Top speed is 155 mph, but fuel economy is less than 30 mpg. Handling is agile and steering sharp; braking is great for any car, let alone a hybrid. Overall, it’s quite an effort.To accomplish the task, BMW plans to swap the i8’s 228 horsepower 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine with a more powerful 300 hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder. In the current i8, the hybrid drivetrain makes 357 hp and 420 pound-feet of torque, but the ‘i8S’ and
its stronger gas engine, paired with the same electric motor, will develop about 450 hp. With nearly 100 more horsepower on tap, the i8S will sprint to 60 mph in less than 4.0 seconds compared to the i8’s 4.4 seconds. Top speed will likely remain electronically limited to 155 mph.Styled with butterfly doors and laser headlights, the BMW i8 seems to come straight from a science fiction movie. Except the BMW i8 is reality and in the last year and a bit over 4,000 i8s have been sold. Los Angeles might have the weather of Eden, but instead of being home to two naked people, there are nearly 4 million here, only some of whom are naked. Those 4 million individuals create traffic so dense and soul-crushing, it gets end-of-times nicknames such as Carmageddon. Traffic never sleeps in the City of Angels. Even the countless planes that are lined up to land at LAX are stuck in traffic. Elevated freeways crisscross the city and ensure that there’s literally traffic on top of traffic. If you enjoy driving and are in something resembling a sports car, it’s perdition. At best, it’s a waste of gas.BMW’s i8 already occupies an uncluttered vehicle segment as a relatively low-cost hybrid performance car, but new models like a hybridized Porsche 911 are coming, so building a higher performance version ahead of the curve seems like a heads-up move.Our BMW i8 was waiting for us at a BMW facility in Garching, just North of Munich. Here inside one of the halls in the building a stunning white i8 was parked between about 20 other test cars. But there was something odd, unlike the other diesel and M cars in the hall our car had a cable attached to the front. Although I have driven various plug-in hybrid and electric cars before this was the first time I had to take a plug in the hand. And actually it doesn’t get much easier than that, unplugging and hanging it back in the wall mount takes a second and your hands don’t smell like diesel. But even this road is not immune to commuters, as every weekday morning a stream of cars pours over the mountain and into the city from suburbs in the high desert. But if you’re escaping L.A. in the day’s early hours, nobody will bother you.