Bucket Seat: BMW i Vision Dynamics

The Frankfurt Motorshow is always a buzz, with most of the German manufacturers using this platform to stage their greatest models and concepts, while there was smorgasbord of great cars to chose from at IAA 2017, my pick from the bunch was about the future of motoring. Yes while most manufacturers showed of their great tech in cars for present and future, with the world of motoring's immediate future looking to electricity for power, BMW lifted the covers on it's BMW i Vision Dynamics Concept. A year on from displaying their NEXT 100 vision at last years show, the i Vision gives the consumer a more realistic vision of what they can expect from the company in the coming years. 

The car is Future Mobility in a nutshell, it's an all electric, four-door Gran Coupe with a range of 600km, a top speed of over 200km/h and an acceleration of 0-100km in just four seconds. With BMW already one of the leaders in e-mobility with two models on sale worldwide in the i3 and i8 Hybrid, not forgetting the various plug hybrids offered across their range, the technology they have works and perfecting this technology and only do more good, not only for their cars but the future of motoring. Harald Kruger, Chairman of the Board of Management at BMW AG says that by 2015, BMW will be offering 25 models with an electrified drive system, of which 12 will be pure-electric. "With BMW i Vision Dynamics we are showcasing how we envisage future electric mobility between the i3 and i8: a dynamic and progressive, four-door Gran Coupe. We are therefore electrifying the heart of the BMW brand and, at the same time, elevating BMW i into a totally new dimension" - says Kruger. 

The design of the i Vision Dynamics borrows a lot from the Next 100 Vision, with tweaks to make the car more the standard of car that we have today. It's massive fused twin kidney grille design is a prominent feature of the car with even part of the bonnet lid molded to it's shape. The adaptive LED lighting is minimalistic but still offers that great character that is known to BMW design. The side profile of the car is extremely sleek, with it looking very similar to early concepts of the BMW i8. The frame-less windows also take the shape of the kidney grille. The roof of the car is an all glass panoramic roof which ties into the rear window, falling into the back with it's straight line boot lid and angled tail lights. The tiny lights and details in the design add to the progressive and elegance of the car. This car is basically what we can expect from the upcoming BMW i5, a first family sedan coming from the BMWi brand and one that would be welcomed into the market. 

2015 Frankfurt Motorshow

In it's 66th year running, this years Internationale Autombil-Ausstellung, better known as the Frankfurt Motorshow has again played host to some remarkable reveals in the motoring world. Being Germany's premier motorshow, giants such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and the VW Group compete for the best stand at the show. 

This year with multiple launches taking place it was a difficult one to call, visitors to the show all agreed that the Mercedes-Benz stand was probably the best but interms of showstoppers, it had to be the VW Groups with new models being launched by Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley, Audi and VW themselves. 

We've selected the cars that caught our eye over the past few days, at the show and summarised it in this post. 

We start off with Bentley, who have decided to join the SUV market with their new Bentayga. Odd looking thing but even more odd is that it works. First delivery is said to be going to her magesty the Queen of England, wonder if she'll pimp it up. 

Honda brought their new 2&4 concept, no idea whats the thinking behind this one. Similar to the Ariel Atom and the KTM XBox its a single seat, open cockpit racer. It's nice but doubt it will see the production line

Next up, Alfa Romeo, the darling of the Italian car market. Their new models are as rare as a blue moon which is why many were quite excited by the arrival of the Giulia, this week at IAA they released a much meaner version called the Quadrifoglio. It's not going to scare the likes of the M3 or C63S but it's a nice variant to have in the market. 

Not much more can be said about this car, it's truly a magnificent piece of engineering by the Bavarians, with more gadgets than inspector gadget and a neat disappearing act by parking itself in the garage on its own. It's got a big task to unsettle the Merc S Class but it has the ammunition to do it.

What's a motorshow without a sexy Ferrari? The 488 GTB Spider is just that. I mean look it, its brilliant!

Porsche unviled their latest four door car with a spark, the Mission E is the beetles take on electric cars, could be the next Panemerra? 

After 50 years or so, Bugatti have finally brought a new car to a motorshow thats not a Veyron! Okay maybe not 50 years, say 49 years. The Vision GT is a pure bred racer, not only does it look fast but you can bet your bottom dollar it is fast!

Lamborghini lifted the covers off two new arrivals, the Huracan Spyder and the Aventador Supervolce Roadster. Both epically good looking cars and both accompanied but some fine ass ladies. Well Played Lamborghini, well played. 

Merc brought 3 show stoppers with them, first being the new C Class Coupe with the range topping C63S, that car looks menacing! The much anticipated S Class Cabriolet was also on display, it almost looks like a yacht on the road but the main talking point from Mercedes-Benz was their Concept IAA (Intelligent Active Aerodynamics) car. It's a first by the company as it is their first functional autonomous car. A car that can drive itself. Not sure how I feel about that now, I buy a car because I want to drive it, not for me to be driven in it. 

Bucket Seat: BMW i8

Today was the opening of the Internationale Automboil Ausstellung, or for us regular folk, the Frankfurt Motorshow. Over the years IAA has been the key show for many, if not all the German motor manufacturers, it is after all their home territory and they are expected to impress!

One of the cars to début at the show was the production model of BMW's i8. The car which is the second model of the BMWi brand was one that was eagerly anticipated by many. It is the first plug in hybrid from BMW and continues from the i3 with its futuristic design. The cars ground braking aerodynamic design body is constructed from carbon fibre reinforced plastic, ensuring that while the car is strong but it is light weight as well. Add to that the aluminium chassis along with the drive train and batteries brings the total weight of the vehicle to 1490kg's.

The interior looks like something out of Star Trek and you might consider yourself a Captain Kirk in your Starship Enterprise with the LCD screens and emotion LED changing lights in the cabin, just don't call out for Spock. The  rest of the cabin is pretty standard BMW with the centre console and trimmings. The sports leather seats look rather cool and with its 2+2 configuration BMW say you can get two passengers in the back, hope they don't mean midgets though.

How it works? Simple... sort off, the car uses a combination of BMW TwinTurbo and BMW eDrive technology to power itself. BMW Efficient dynamics for the first time has introduced a 1.5 litre, 3 cylinder petrol engine with an output of 170kW and 231bhp with a maximum torque of 320Nm sent to the rear wheels via a 6 speed gearbox. Combine that with with the electrical engine, the total output will be 266kW, 362bhp and a max torque of 570Nm. Not bad for a hybrid eh?

The technology used here is the latest stage by BMW Efficient Dynamics and works similarly to the their Active Hybrid models where the two power trains are able to work in tandem thus giving the i8 the performance levels of a pure bred sports car. With the i8, its all about carbon emissions and fuel saving, so while a 0-100 sprint would just take you 4.4 seconds, the inner hippy in you would be glad to know that it used the same about of petrol as a small car, approximately 2.5ltr/100km. That is insane statistics and would make any petrol gasp and smile at the possibilities. That being said, if you can afford a car like this, should the price of petrol be a concern to you? 

Well the short answer is yes, whilst you are able to afford this vehicle you would be using less of the commodity, hence lowering its demand...as margin-able as it maybe, it might be able to put a dent in the sales figures and the main thing is you're being a good human and looking after the environment. 

I personally think that this is currently the way forward for cars, whilst we still haven't perfected the full electric car as yet, this type of plug in hybrid technology is welcomed. Offering the driver the option to drive a sports car but with the efficiency of a hybrid. I spoke about pricing earlier and while its still not known, expect this one to be at the million or over mark. There really isn't any competition to it but the closest I can say is the Audi R8 but we still await to see if they release their R8 e-tron.