Protonic Red i8 - The do it all car

[rjmcdermott81]

I'm partial...but I think the i8 is the best of all worlds. I bought the car in May and I've been daily driving it - rain, snow, shine, kids soccer, road trips.

Some things I love about this car:

• eDrive in the neighborhood for peaceful driving so my neighbors don't think I'm an a-hole
• Drop it in sport, downshift, and it wails
• Great gas mileage
• Fits my 9 and 11 y/o kids in the back without any complaints
• AWD for extra traction in the wet
• While the body/monocoque is exotic... the drivetrain is pedestrian - mini cooper engine, common BMW HV batteries found in their other cars
• For now, parts are plentiful and cheap on ebay from crashed cars
• Protonic Red - only 400 total, 100 shipped to the US

Here are the pics from the eBay listing... it was hard for me to resist

[2mAn]

Nice! I loved my i3 and when they were new I never warmed up to the i8 but I feel they are aging well.

Thats a lovely color too! Being that the motor is a Mini variant ( thought they were 3 cyl?) is there any aftermarket? An exhaust would be fun to make it sound exotic

[rjmcdermott81]

Actually... I didn't realize it until I went on the first test drive in New Orleans but it has this insanely expensive (~$3500) catback exhaust from FI. Honestly, it sounds really awesome. WOT when the motor winds out it sounds like an exotic.

https://www.fi-exhaust.com/web/products/product-detail.jsp?pd_no=PD1637285576453&lang=en

3 cylinder B38 turbo. I assume maybe you can put a bigger turbo on it but I haven't explored too many mods yet.

[Dj Buttchug]

I remember working at a BMW dealer as a salesman and I sold an i8 for almost 40k over sticker price haha! Cool car!!

[rjmcdermott81]

I remember working at a BMW dealer as a salesman and I sold an i8 for almost 40k over sticker price haha! Cool car!!

Yikes! At 40k its a super cool car. I have the sticker for this car... $160. Crazy at that price but 40 over and I'd want a Ferrari to show for it.

[Dj Buttchug]

Yikes! At 40k its a super cool car. I have the sticker for this car... $160. Crazy at that price but 40 over and I'd want a Ferrari to show for it.

Yep! The market adjustment was insane when they first came out. I remember the new owner was the CEO at some major commercial solar company.

[MrBurgundy]

Never have I ever seen a red one.... now that I think about it, I don't even think I've seen a pic of a red one, until now.

Looks really good in red. Not particularly a fan of the design, but this color REALLY works for the car.

[Panici]

I've always liked the styling on these. Some bold choices for BMW at the time.

Rear end that looks like it's giving birth to a Porsche is not something I can "un-see" but it no longer bothers me.

[Northern]

Being that the motor is a Mini variant ( thought they were 3 cyl?) is there any aftermarket? An exhaust would be fun to make it sound exotic

It's a B36 or B38 (honestly I don't understand the difference) 3-cyl like the F5x mini cooper ( non S/JCW). I think the S and JCW (with the 4 cyl B46/48) were quite cheap when the F56 started, so it probably made sense to just opt for one of those if you wanted to mod or tune the car. I haven't heard of much about mods for the 3-cyl cars.

I'd love to see one in an E30 to see what it could make. I'm sure everyone's heard of the B58's success making big power, and some B48 variants seem to keep it together under 450~500 whp, so if that scales, I imagine there's at least 300 in a B38.

[varg]

but it has this insanely expensive (~$3500) catback exhaust from FI

Holy crap are you for real? And I was perturbed at the idea of spending almost $900 on a cat back. I see that they say it's a custom designed muffler, the pipe routing looks dead simple though. A good welder with the jig for that probably knocks the pipes out in an hour. Good thing that expense was on the PO not you

[rjmcdermott81]

Holy crap are you for real? And I was perturbed at the idea of spending almost $900 on a cat back. I see that they say it's a custom designed muffler, the pipe routing looks dead simple though. A good welder with the jig for that probably knocks the pipes out in an hour. Good thing that expense was on the PO not you

yeah…. I think this is more of the case of - they charge it because they can. Stupid expensive.