It seems like BMW is serious about its electric vehicle offensive. After dropping numerous teasers about the upcoming i8 Roadster, the German luxury carmaker has just given its urban runabout, the i3, a bit of a refresh. And the changes are more than skin deep.
Sure, the 2018 BMW i3 may sport a gloss black roof, A-pillars, and front bumper accents. And the bumpers are now wider. Plus, the iDrive system, with its 10-inch touchscreen interface is the latest version with voice recognition and cloud-based speech accessing.
Yet the biggest change to BMW’s electric urban warrior is the addition of the sporty i3s. Of course, the word sporty shouldn’t be taken to mean fire-breathing. Rather, the i3s hacks more electric horses under the metal—184hp and 270Nm in this case. This is compared to the more sedate 170hp and 250Nm of the standard version.
The added juice allows the electric BMW to scoot from rest to 100kph in just 6.8 seconds and reach a top speed of 160kph. The i3s also adds goodies like sport suspension with special springs, anti-roll bars, and dampers, a lower ride height, wider front and rear tracks, and 20-inch alloy rims. In short, it is more aggressive than the regular version.
The 2018 BMW i3 and i3s will come in two new colors: Melbourne Red metallic and Imperial Blue metallic. It will make its grand entrance at this year’s Frankfurt International Motor Show this September. Sales begin in November.
