A quick traffic check on Google Maps greeted us with the usual dreaded dark red lines, but while we were geared up to face the traffic jams, nothing could prepare us for the eyeballs that we were about to garner once we hit the road. The half an hour that we were stuck in in bumper to bumper gave us an idea of what celebrities feel when they are hounded with fans. While we got a bit jittery with all the attention, the i8 trod along happily, unfazed by the chaos around it. On the flip side, the non movement of traffic gave me some time to check out the cabin again. While the interiors aren’t as dramatic as the exteriors, fit and finish is of high quality. BMW could have given the i8 a different interior design that would stand out. Instead everything is familiar BMW territory. The dashboard is angled to the driver and gets silver accents all across. The three spoke gets blue accents on the border. Everything else including the iDrive controller, gear knob, headlamp switch etc are like what you see in any other standard BMW car. There is a single AC vent in the centre of the dash with two vents on the passenger side. The sports seats are very comfortable and get blue contrast stitching. The blue seats belts look super cool as well. The i8 gets two rear seats which are best suited for kids or to keep luggage (yes we tried that too but more on that later). Overall it was a wonderful evening with some good food and quality driving time with the ‘i’.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this write up, I always look forward to early Sunday morning drives. The usual drill is driving to South Mumbai and catching up with fellow car enthusiasts over coffee conversation and even breakfast and driving back home. This Sunday was extra special because I had the i8 for company. Drove along the highway in COMFORT mode with the two electric motors and the 1.5 litre three cylinder petrol engine working in tandem to give out a combined power output of 357 horsepower. While the electric motors power the front wheels and are mated to a 2 speed Steptronic gearbox, the petrol engine moves the rear wheels via a 6 speed automatic transmission.  With full juice in the batteries, the i8 can go a distance of 35 kms in electric mode and a top speed of 120 kph. After driving in a relaxed manner for a while, I decided to step up things a bit and changed to SPORT mode by shifting the gear lever to the left. Acceleration is insane and the batteries also give you a power boost. The engine also starts sounding sweet but the engine note is created artificially to come from a speaker that’s mounted between the rear seats. Still, the sound is enough to give you a kick making you believe you are driving a V8 monster. I must also admit that the sound is wonderfully calibrated too. The motor sounds pretty nice on the outside too as told by my friends who heard it in motion.

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