Green Education: Energy

BMW Trots Out Sexxxy New i8 Roadster

Are you there, God? It’s me, Jo. I know we don’t always see eye-to-eye on things, but I’d like to thing that (in the main) we’re good. I still believe that, despite the fact that they don’t run 52 Formula 1 races each year and that whole thing with the French girl (which, really, I didn’t think I had comin’).

Anyway, we’re still good. This, though … this? Today? On April Fools’ Day?

If this dead-sexy “pre-production” BMW i8 Spyder is some kind of sick April Fool’s joke I may have to convert. Possibly to Satanism. Possibly to a Mac. (they’re pretty much the same)

In any event, BMW seems pretty serious about its new i8 Spyder, which complements the company’s existing “i” line of (doomed) electric hybrids by offering some top-down, wind-in-the-hair appeal to well-heeled environmentalists and has-been movie stars who already bricked their Tesla Roadsters and want something with a little more visual appeal than Porsche’s latest GT3 flywheel hybrid. As with the i8 coupe, the i8 Spyder features a plug-in hybrid drivetrain that mates a li-ion battery pack with a 130 hp electric motor up front and a 220+ hp, 3-cylinder gas engine sending power to the rears. In total, the system delivers 350 hp and more than 405 lb-ft of torque to play with, good for 0-60 sprints in less than 5 seconds, with an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph.

Gotta love that.

There’s a huge, 45-image, high-resolution photo gallery over at GTSpirit (which you should check out), but I’ve pulled my favorites out and included them, below.

Enjoy!

Source: BMW, via GTSpirit.

Source: Gas2.0