BMW i8 Rental
The BMW i8 is a carbon-tubbed plug-in hybrid with butterfly doors and a silent electric-only pull-away.
Overview
The BMW i8 is a carbon tubbed plug in hybrid with butterfly doors, pairing a turbocharged three cylinder with a front electric motor for 369 horsepower combined. Renters book it to be looked at, for a content shoot, a wedding arrival or a birthday, since strangers read it as a concept car or something out of a film rather than a BMW.
How It Drives
The i8 pulls away in complete silence on its front electric motor and stays quiet to about 75 mph until Sport wakes the three-cylinder behind your head. It is lighter and softer than any M car, built for the doors going up in front of a crowd rather than a canyon.
Who Rents It
The BMW i8 is booked for the moment rather than the drive, a content shoot, a wedding arrival, or a birthday where the recipient wants to be noticed without carrying the weight a Lamborghini badge brings. It seats two adults comfortably with two small rear seats better suited to children, and luggage space is limited to a soft bag or two. It is not the car for a canyon drive or a road trip with bags, it is the car for the doors going up in front of a crowd. Renters who considered an M car but wanted a shape no one else in the parking lot would recognize choose the i8 instead.
Trim Breakdown
BMW sold the i8 as a coupe and a roadster on one plug-in hybrid drivetrain, then layered a short list of named editions over both. We run the coupe.
i8 Coupe
The BMW i8 Coupe pairs a 1.5 liter turbocharged 3-cylinder driving the rear wheels with an electric motor on the front axle, for 369 hp combined and no mechanical link between the two ends. It is the version we run. An earlier coupe made 357 hp on a smaller battery with less electric-only range. Two rear seats exist but suit children more than adults, and luggage is limited to a soft bag or a laptop case.
i8 Roadster
The BMW i8 Roadster deletes the rear seats, adds a fabric top that folds away in about 15 seconds at up to 31 mph, and carries the same 369 hp combined output. Extra bracing in the floor makes it slightly heavier than the coupe. It is the open version of the same car, built in far smaller numbers, and we do not run it. The scissor doors work the same way on both bodies and are what most people photograph first.
Protonic Editions
BMW built a run of named i8 Protonic cars, among them Protonic Red, Protonic Frozen Yellow and Protonic Frozen Black. Each used the standard drivetrain and changed paint, wheel finish and interior trim only, so nothing about the driving changes. A renter would feel no difference from behind the wheel, though the paint reads clearly in photographs. We do not run one.
Ultimate Sophisto Edition
The BMW i8 Ultimate Sophisto Edition was the send-off, offered in both coupe and roadster form with dark grey metallic paint, copper accent detailing and a numbered plaque inside. Like the Protonic cars it is a cosmetic package laid over the standard hybrid drivetrain, and it was built in very small numbers before production ended. We do not run it, and neither this car nor any other i8 edition drives differently from the coupe in our fleet.
Frequently Asked Questions
