BMW i8 Roadster

BMW i8 Roadster – Exterior

The BMW i8 Roadster retains the futuristic swooping, low-slung design of the Coupé – including the eye-catching dihedral doors – but with the addition of a fabric roof that folds away electrically in just 15 seconds at speeds of up to 50 km/h. The C-pillars of the i8 Roadster have the “Roadster” inscription. A similar logo can be found on the tail of the two-seater. The coupe gets its own “Coupe” badging at the same places.

Other styling cues are shared. Highlights include gullwing doors, the low bonnet, almost fully blanked off kidney grille, air flap control system, Air Curtains in the front apron, sealed underbody, contoured side skirts, “stream flow” lines on the flanks, and air ducts between the rear lights and roof frame. 

It can tell the model apart from the hardtop through silver panels on the C-pillar, equipped with Roadster badging. Only one colour is offered here, and it’s the hero colour E-Copper, with matte grey accents. The wheels are 20-inch W-spoke style 470 alloys in an exclusive double-spoke design. Thanks to newly-designed frameless gullwing doors made from CFRP with an aluminium outer shell, and a windscreen frame made entirely from CFRP, among other measures. 

Dimensions
Length	4,689 mm
Width	1,942 mm
Height	1,298 mm
Wheelbase	2,799 mm

 

BMW i8 Roadster – Interior

The BMW i8 Roadster match with Accaro interior colour scheme, plus dry carbon interior trim. rear seats of the Coupé, instead gaining 92 litres in storage space behind the front seats. That’s quite a lot, considering the two seats (i8 Coupe is 2+2) that the boot behind the mid-mounted engine measures just 88 litres. 

Features such as LED headlights with high beam assist, keyless entry, push-button start, power-adjustable seats with driver’s side memory, a head-up display, dual-zone auto climate control and a 360-degree camera. Opening the roof raises the rear window automatically by around 30 mm into a “comfort position”. 

This allows it to mimic the effect of a conventional draught stop in reducing air turbulence inside the cabin. The driver can adjust the height of the rear window at the touch of a button and thus control the impact of the inflowing air as desired.

BMW i8 Roadster – Features

The BMW i8 Roadster is equipped with a Driving Assistant system with Collision and Pedestrian Warning and City Braking (autonomous emergency braking) is standard. Driving Assistant including Surround View. non-dazzling BMW Laserlight with BMW Selective Beam, and acoustic pedestrian warning. 

Moreover, ConnectedDrive Services come as standard. The BMW i8 Roadster gets a Professional navigation system with an 8.8-inch touchscreen and a 600-watt Harman Kardon surround sound system. 

BMW i8 Roadster – Powertrain  

The BMW i8 Roadster 1.5 liter turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine boosted to 231 hp and 320 Nm of torque. The BMW i8 Roadster benefits from a new, more powerful electric motor at the front, which produces 12 hp more at 143 hp and continues to be paired to a two-speed gearbox. 

Total system output now stands at 374 hp. The battery is also more energy-dense with an increased cell capacity (34 Ah, up from 20 Ah) and higher gross energy capacity (11.6 kWh, up from 7.1 kWh). As a result, the all-electric range has seen a 50% jump over the previous i8, from 35 km to 53 km. 

The BMW i8 Roadster is equipped with a 3.6 kW onboard charger, so charging the car to full takes under three hours through a 16-ampere/230-volt outlet. With a 10-ampere/230-volt domestic power socket, this increases to under four and a half hours. 

The BMW i8 Roadster is supplied with a mode 2 charging cable as standard, enabling the battery to be replenished from a standard domestic socket in under four-and-a-half hours. The new mode 3 cable can also be used to hook up the car to a public charging point for high-power charging. 

The BMW i8 Roadster power is sent to the rear wheels through an Aisin six-speed automatic transmission. The BMW i8 Roadster features a carbon fibre monocoque over an aluminium frame, which means that despite the fitment of a folding roof mechanism and additional strengthening struts and panels around the axles, the soft-top model is only 60 kg heavier than the hardtop, bringing the total kerb weight to 1,595 kg. 

The topless i8 has model-specific tuning for the springs, damping and Dynamic Stability Control. The BMW i8 Roadster power is sent to the rear wheels.

BMW i8 Roadster – Driving Performance

The BMW i8 Roadster masters every assignment with consistent stability, maximum precision and unique handling top speed of 250 km/h and acceleration 0–100 km/h in 4.6 seconds.

BMW i8 Roadster – Ride Comfort

The BMW i8 Roadster finely engineered variable sport steering with agile response and Sport mode in the transmission, which do match with the M-sport suspension setup which makes the handling of the car quite precise. Though, this makes the ride quality quite stiff.

There is also more room inside than you might expect, even for those taller than six feet. When the top is up, the interior is impressively quiet, with so little wind or road noise. A wind blocker is standard to keep wind buffeting to a minimum with the top down, even at high speeds for thrilling driving experiences in the open air.

BMW i8 Roadster – Conclusion 

The BMW i8 Roadster look visually striking and bigger than ever before. The inclusion of modern amenities, the BMW i8 roadster looks and feels futuristic with BMW’s traditional virtues of a fine ride and handling balance make it a driver’s delight of driving enjoyment and top-down fun-in-the-sun but is also comfortable enough to drive every day.