BMW i8 Roadster FINALLY arrives – and there’s a new i8 Coupe too

The open-top BMW i8 Roadster has finally arrived at Los Angeles, joined by an updated i8 Coupe with an updated 369bhp plug-in petrol electric hybrid.

When the concept of the BMW i8 first arrived, it was a Roadster with see-through doors. But when it arrived in production guise it had lost the see-through doors, gained a roof and turned in to a Coupe.

Now, five years on, the open roof is back with the debut of the i8 Roadster at the Los Angeles Motor Show (although not the see-through doors), with a new tweaked and mildly titivated i8 Coupe alongside.

The Roadster’s trick is a new roof structure which stows  automatically under a panel between the buttresses, all in around 15 seconds at up to 30mph.

BMW has also had a fiddle with the glasshouse, beefing up the windscreen and quarter window and turning the rear window in to a deflector which can be raised or lowered wherever you have the roof.

Not that they were much use, but the rear side windows are ditched in the Roadster (it’s a two-seater), as is the liftback which turns in to a rather long engine cover, and the interior gets a bit of a makeover (as does that in the 2018 Coupe).

Despite hopes that BMW would do something properly interesting with the i8’s plug-in hybrid powertrain, it gets a very light makeover.

The petrol engine churns out the same 228bhp it did to drive the back wheels, but the electric motor for the front wheels gets an extra 12bhp (that’ll transform it) for a total of 141bhp. Torque for both is unchanged.

But what BMW has thankfully done is give the i8 enough battery power so it doesn’t discharge completely in the first couple of miles, with 11.6kWh giving you a fighting chance of extracting maximum performance for at least a mile more – or even two.

The BMW 360° EV Charging system for the i8 is also trumpeted, offering an 80 per cent charge in ‘just’ three hours from a 7.2kW charger. 

Spec for the i8 includes Nav Pro, Driving Assistant with Surround View and BMW Display Key, with Connected Drive Services all as standard. Option include HUD, Laserlight and Selective Beam as well as a ‘noise’ to warn pedestrians when you’re floating around in EV mode.

The new BMW i8 Roadster and titivated i8 Coupe will go on sale in the UK early in 2018.