Yeah, I thought the I2 was generally very quiet except when revving the nuts off it during the test drive to see how it would handle 40-60 overtakes. All the fixtures and fittings were quiet too (no annoying squeaks or rattles from anywhere). But other cars might be quieter (I haven't driven any other modern cars) and my 13 year old Accord isn't a model citizen, being as it had a modified intake and exhaust and if I bip the throttle in a multi-storey car park I can set off a few car alarms
Perhaps the noise of a throaty 2.2 engine on song is one of the things I'm gonna miss with my new green-machine. I hardly used the radio in my Accord as I loved listening to the engine
A car show in the UK (Top Gear) tested a Prius against a BMW M3 and they both posted about 20 mpg on the race track, only the Prius was going flat out and the M3 was just cruising behind it. Difference is that the Prius does 50+ mpg on the congested streets of London and the M3 still does 20 mpg.
An I2 may well fare worse on a track as it's only recovering 50% of the accelerating power in regeneration and spending the straights recharging the batteries too. If I ever go back to the Nurburgring, I'll let you know what mileage I get
If the I2 can really get as much as 38 mpg in a race with a M3, the I2 would win an endurance race on pit stops!
I thought the handling of my I2 test car was pretty good. It didn't roll in the bends and didn't nose-dive under heavy braking (unlike my Accord before I upgraded it's original boat suspension). It also was pretty good on rough badly maintained country roads, not being too soft or too hard and jiggly. I couldn't really test its grip levels on bends much as the salesman came with me and was already giving me odd looks at times and I wasn't even trying that hard to find its limits.
I played with the Eco controls the other half of the test and still managed to average 60 mpg in the test (better than any of the previous test drivers, so my training on squeezing up to 40mpg out of my Accord must really pay dividends on an I2).
