In this episode of Cars & Gadgets, Nafisa Akabor and Duncan McLeod test-drive the 2019 BMW i8 Coupé — while they record the podcast.
While inching forward in Midrand traffic, they talk about where the R2.1-million car is positioned in the market, how it performs and the practicality of owning one in South Africa. They then head to the Kyalami race track, before testing the i8’s sheer muscle on a quiet back road.
The plug-in sports hybrid is now available in a Roadster for the first time (list price: R2.4-million), alongside a facelifted Coupé version.
The Coupé is a refresh of the original and has increased battery capacity for the electric motor — up dramatically from 20Ah to 34Ah. This takes the pure electric range from a claimed 30km to 55km on the Coupé (it’s 53km on the Roadster).
The output of the Coupé’s electric motor is 105kW, and combined with the 1.5l turbo-petrol engine’s 170kW, delivers a satisfying 275kW of power. This allows you to go from 0-100km/h in a blistering 4.4s on the Coupé, and 4.6s on the Roadster — with a top speed of 250km/h (electronically governed).
Listen to McLeod’s child-like excitement as he tests the acceleration claims.
How to subscribe to TechCentral’s podcasts
There are many ways to enjoy TechCentral’s podcasts, beyond simply streaming them from the website. The best way is by subscribing to them using an app on your phone, allowing you to listen in the car (via Bluetooth), at the gym or wherever you happen to be. Use the links below to subscribe.
iTunes
Pocket Casts
TuneIn Radio
Stitcher
iono.fm
RSS
iTunes
Pocket Casts
TuneIn Radio
Stitcher
iono.fm
RSS
iTunes
Pocket Casts
TuneIn Radio
Stitcher
iono.fm
RSS
iTunes
Pocket Casts
TuneIn Radio
Stitcher
iono.fm
RSS
iTunes
Pocket Casts
TuneIn Radio
Stitcher
iono.fm
RSS
TechCentral podcasts are governed by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. This means you may copy and redistribute the material unmodified, but you must provide the appropriate credit to TechCentral, with a link to this page. We also ask that if you’d like to use this podcast on your website or in an electronic newsletter that you use iono.fm’s embedded player. The HTML for this episode’s embedded player is:
<iframe src=”https://embed.iono.fm/epi/600626″ width=”100%” height=”135″ frameborder=”0″><a href=”https://iono.fm/e/600626″>Content hosted by iono.fm</a></iframe>