BMW i8 Rental in San Diego
The white BMW i8 with the black interior is based in San Diego. It is the carbon-tubbed plug-in hybrid with butterfly doors and a body that still looks like a concept car, and it is the car for the arrival, the doors going up at the curb and the silent pull-away that follows. Book it for the date night in the Gaslamp Quarter, the content shoot or the wedding exit. It covers San Diego, Orange County and the Inland Empire at $395 a day.
How It Drives
Press the button and nothing happens, which is the first trick. In Comfort the i8 leaves on the front electric motor alone, no sound, no vibration, and it will stay electric to about 75 mph for around 18 miles. Push the gear lever to the left for Sport and the 1.5 liter turbo 3-cylinder behind the seats wakes, the cluster turns from blue to orange, and the cabin fills with an engine note BMW enhances through the speakers. 369 hp combined, the motor driving the front wheels and the engine the rear, 0 to 60 in 4.2 seconds, in a car that weighs about 3,450 lb because the passenger cell is carbon. Leave a hotel on Prospect Street in La Jolla in silence, wake the engine a block later, and run Torrey Pines Road with the windows down.
How It Photographs
White is the i8's colour, because the layered body only reads when the pale panels and the black channels can be told apart. In direct sun the white flattens and the shapes blur, so shoot it in open shade, where the black roof, the black wheels and the air channels draw every line. After dark is the frame. Doors up, cabin lit, the white body holding whatever light is around it. Take the front three-quarter with both doors open. Shoot the air channel behind the door close, with the carbon sill below it. This car was photographed in a lot. In San Diego, shoot it at night in the Gaslamp Quarter with the doors up on a side street.
Why This One
We run 2 i8s, both white over black. The other is based in Los Angeles at $595 a day. This one is based in San Diego at $395, the same car, the same colour, the same doors, at the lower rate. If you are anywhere from Oceanside to Coronado, or in Orange County or the Inland Empire, this is the one to book. The doors are the reason people rent an i8, and this is the cheaper of our 2 ways to get them.
What's On This One
The i8 Coupe, the later version with the larger battery, 369 hp combined and about 18 miles of electric range. Standard on the trim is the carbon fiber passenger cell, the butterfly doors, the 1.5 liter turbo 3-cylinder driving the rear wheels through a 6-speed automatic, the electric motor driving the fronts, the digital cluster that changes colour with the mode, the eDrive button and a charge port that works from a household outlet. On this car the paint is white with the black roof and the black channels behind the doors, and the wheels are black. Inside it is black leather and black trim, the cleanest i8 spec. 2 full seats, 2 small rear seats, all-wheel drive.
Frequently Asked Questions
