Traffic in Mumbai has become a pain and the ongoing Metro construction across the city has just added to the woes. Driving has become a nightmare and an absolute no no in the current scenario. And don’t even get me started on the dark red lines splashing across your screen on Google Maps. To cut a long story short, I stick to driving on weekends, mostly Sunday mornings to give my car a good traffic free run. This particular weekend however, the nice guys at BMW India sent the funky and futuristic looking i8 over for me to drive. We have already reviewed the i8 in detail when it launched three years ago in India. You can read the review here. This time around I thought it would be a nice idea to experience the i8 as a daily driver in the urban city environment. So here’s what the weekend was all about with the ‘i’.
It all started with the i8 being dropped off at my place on a hot Friday afternoon. The look on the security guards faces as the car drove in said it all. ‘Humne aise gaadi kabhi nahi dekhi pehle’ (we have never seen a car like this before). And you cant doubt that statement. Would you just look at it? The i8 looks like it has just driven out from a sci-fi Hollywood flick, but retaining BMW styling elements that we are familiar with. I love the Crystal White paint finish with blue accents and its my favourite combo on the i8. The wide trademark kidney grille is devoid of slats. The steeply raked A pillar flows along the roof line to the floating C pillar which looks like a wing. The LED tail lamps are unlike anything seen on a BMW before. The i8 features dual tone 20 inch alloys with a staggered tyre set up. The i8 is easily the widest car I have parked in my garage, and while I initially had doubts it would fit, it happily made itself at home. My garage would into a photo booth over the next three days.
Being a weekend I decided to head out for dinner with the brother who suggested we try a new Brazilian restaurant that recently opened in the city. As we approached our garage to leave, we could see that the i8 had already gathered a few fans around it. If the looks of the car aren’t enough, the butterfly doors surely add to the drama levels. The doors are extremely light thanks to the use of carbon fibre. Even the passenger tub has been constructed from Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic and you can see the exposed carbon fibre on the doors and the frames of the passenger compartment. Getting in and out of the i8 is tricky affair. The door sills are high because of the butterfly doors and you literally have to sit sideways first and then get your legs in. Also use the same technique while getting out but the other way around.
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