The BMW i8 has always been a bit of an oddity, no doubt due to the fact that there is simply no other sports car on the market quite like it.
Powering the i8 is a turbocharged 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine that works alongside two electric motors to produce a combined 357 hp and 420 lb-ft (570 Nm) of torque at 3,700 rpm in 2014-2018 form; models built for 2018-2020 had a touch more grunt with 369 hp. While the i8 offers up respectable performance, all examples to leave the factory came outfitted with a fake sound generator to make it sound like a proper sports car despite the somewhat lackluster powertrain.
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Eager to discover what the i8 sounds like without noises being pumped through the speakers or the external speaker under the rear bumper, this owner disabled the system. To do so, he coded out the sound generation from the internal speakers and completely removed the external speaker. He then put it to the test to see if the i8 actually needs a fake sound generator.
The result? Well, it turns out the i8 doesn’t sound that bad after all, especially when you consider that its internal combustion engine is a small three-cylinder.
Admittedly, the guy who made this video has mixed together recordings from the interior and a microphone attached to the rear bumper. As such, if you were to disable the fake sound generator of another i8, it wouldn’t actually sound exactly like this from behind the steering wheel.