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      07-24-2014, 11:43 PM   #1
ddk632
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i8 videos from UK launch including i8 phone app demo

Found a couple of interesting videos on, of all places, the DuPont Registry blog. These are from the UK launch event this past weekend. That Protonic Blue i8 is the launch car, likely the one @Tilum drove during the event (just a guess, could be wrong here, but this car has been making the rounds in the UK review videos), and has the same plates as the one in the official UK i8 Launch press release photos.

I enjoyed the second video which gives a glimpse into the BMWi app that connects to the car, can locate the car, lock/unlock doors, view vehicle status, and more. Cool techy stuff that I love. Looks a lot more advanced and well done than the current BMW Connected app which I admittedly rarely use.

http://blog.dupontregistry.com/bmw/w...-bmw-i8-video/



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      07-25-2014, 07:27 AM   #2
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These are 2 different cars than the ones I posted pics of in the thread UK Test Drive. All the UK demo cars have the Y prefix due to them all being registered in the same part of the UK and then transported to the various dealers around the UK.

I met Phil (the BMW i Product Manager) in the videos at BMW's HQ back in March, but TBH I seemed to know more about the i8 than he did! Having said that, he certainly seemed to know more about the car than some of the other i staff there!

As for 'Shmee', I know him (Tim) as we often end up at the same car events. From the looks of the video, it was a very brief test drive, and was all in the built-up area of central London. I was in central London last week for the Need for Speed DVD/Blu-Ray promo event, and it's a terrible place to drive. You really can't properly test a car's abilities on those roads TBH.
As for his comments regarding the brakes, I disagree with them. Maybe he's not used to the brakes on a BMW. (I'll have to ask him when I see him in a fortnight at Wilton Classic.) As to me, although they took some getting used to, that's only because BMW's braking (clamping) point is very high up on the brake pedal's travel and braking hard is also very high up (about half-way). So it is all too easy (if not familiar with BMW's brakes) to end up braking a bit too hard and/or too fast, even when the vehicle is at low speeds, resulting in a jerky drive. But after a brief while of driving the car, you soon get used to it, and you just learn to be a lot softer on the brakes than in some other cars. Then they feel very natural TBH.

I'm not convinced by the cabin noise either TBH - the road noise from the tyres was pretty poor, no-doubt due to the skinny tyres. Although the dealer did assure me it was due to Sheffield's terrible road surfaces. And I have to admit, when we hit a freshly laid piece of tarmac, which was nice and smooth, the noise from the tyres was all but eradicated. This is another reason why I'll have a better idea of how the car performs when I manage to have it for a weekend and drive it on roads than I am very familiar with.

Regarding the phone app, yes it's a great idea. I just wish they'd let you precondition the cabin even if the car isn't plugged in, as it would be nice to have the cabin precooled or prewarmed if the car is parked up but not connected to a charger (e.g. in a public car park, or at home but not plugged in). Although obviously I can see the merits of preconditioning the cabin when it's plugged in, as you are using the electricity from the charger to condition the cabin rather than reducing the car's electric range.

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