Does unkel now want a plug in hybrid?

That one never gets old @kanuseeme 😂

I think you are twisting the truth a bit there pal 😉15 years ago I was one of the 2 main moderators of the motors section. Over the years you have been a major time sink for the moderators of boards.ie and you have been banned many times. I had and have a bit of a liking for you and your contributions and I don't recall ever banning you myself, in fact I argued against it on a few occasions. Nothing at all to do with your opinions BTW, be they on electric cars or other things.

So I picked up the keys for the i8 for a test drive of a few hours. Thanks to the guys in Mooney’s who were very accommodating. Very little fuss, zero paperwork. My dream car and I was finally going to drive it. What a beauty the car is up close, still nearly as futuristic looking as when the concept was launched an incredible 13 years ago. I had done my research, watched lots of reviews. Got in the car in the universally recommended way - bum first, let gravity do the work and don't swing legs in until after landing - which was far easier than I thought it would. And I am well into middle age, a bit under 6'2 and not much change from 100kg. Getting out was even easier.

Car is spacious on the inside, first impressions were that it is very easy to drive, just like any other automatic BMW. Suspension is sporty but by no means hard. Seats are excellent, so is the driving position and the car comes with superb sound system and heads up display as standard. This really should be mandatory in all cars from a safety viewpoint alone. The controls were very easy to get used to as many were the same or very similar to my own i3 and so was the car key

In electric only mode (FWD) it is quiet as you'd expect and a bit slow but fine for keeping up with traffic. I did not get the chance to get any good impression of what pure electric range the car has (left). When new this was officially 35km. I did try charging it on my zappi and it was drawing about 3.4kW, meaning the 7.1kWh battery (a good bit less usable) would go from empty to full in about 2 hours. When you demand more power in electric only mode, the combustion engine (RWD) kicks in instantly. The engine and motor work superbly together. I have no idea how the engineers have done that, but it is marvelous. In sport mode the car comes alive and drives great (flappy paddles let you change gear and they are good fun), but if you are a hardcore driver who likes spending time on a track, this car is not for you - get a Porsche Cayman / 911 or a BMW M3/M4 instead. Although in a sprint, this car is quicker to 60 than the lot of them at just 3.7s (0to60times.com). I would imagine you could drive 1000km in this car at speed and come out fresh at your destination.

Of course, not all is good, I've said for years that plug in hybrid cars are the worst of both worlds. I would have preferred if the car was fully electric. Or at least have a bit more electric range. And the (near) zero regen braking is something I really dislike now in combustion cars. No reason why a PHEV shouldn't have this? The i3 of the same generation not only has strong regen, it even has one pedal driving - and had that years before any other manufacturer offered it

Several people were saying in reviews that even 2 adults could fit in the rear for short journeys. Well, not if the driver and front passenger are tall. My seat was nearly all the way back to the back seats. Fine for a child seat behind me, but not for a person. I guess if the driver is well under 6', you have a better chance. So even less practical than my limited expectations of practicality, but something I can live with. Even for my main car.

Spent the 2-3 hours happily driving around, my daughters were well impressed with it, my wife doesn't really like any sports cars, so wasn't even bothered to get in or drive it 😂 For the last few days I had been doing the sums in my head constantly, thinking of the market value of all my possession and how to quickly sell them to raise cash. At a push I could afford to own this car, the running costs are low, insurance (I checked) was low, tax is low and I would buy a reliable car, with no expensive known faults, with significant warranty from a reputable garage. How often does something like this happen? When you realise you could have what you really, really want? I don't know about you, but for me - not often. And please spare me the "why would you spend €40k on a 10 year old car". These cars were €150k new, only 20k of them were ever made and most of them are in China. There might be a few dozen in Ireland. This is an exotic / rare car. But if you don't get any of that, you don't get it.

Still buzzing with excitement when the time was more than up to bring the car back. Dropped the keys off and got back into the Tesla. Further planning to work the finances and convince the family that we (cough cough, I) really want this car. Still in hooligan driving mode, I floored it on every single occasion on the way home.

And then it dawned on me. There was no kick back in the seat in the i8 every time I stamped on the accelerator. It was fast, but not from the off. And that is where I prefer cars to have the most poke, the most torque. Instantly. The same reason that back 25 years ago when I had a bit of money to buy my first decent car, I was about to buy a Rover 620ti (turbo), but I was disappointed with the turbo lag and I bought a BMW 530 (V8) instead. Turbos have come a long way since then, but by design, can never make up for instant torque. A combustion engine will never again do for my main car. I am not buying a BMW i8...

Would have made a nice pair

Yes I have bimmercode and have made several changes to the i3 setup