It’s just been crowned the inaugural 2017 World Urban Car Award winner at the New York International Show, but does the BMW i3 94 Ah (yes, that’s the model’s proper name, thank you very much) deserve recognition? Without doubt, the answer is a resounding yes. The attention is well-deserved.

Some car companies have taken charge (pun intended) and faced the future head on with the acceptance that either we like it or not, electric mobility is here to stay, while other car manufacturers are still in denial. BMW is among the leading manufacturers of this movement towards e-mobility.

The 2017 BMW i3 is amazing to drive, clean, elegant, subcompact (allowing you to park and maneuver easily), and widely available.

Compared with the original i3 (which has a battery capacity of 60 Ah), the 2017 BMW i3 has a larger battery in terms of capacity (94 Ah/33kwh), meaning increased driving range, but its physical size stays the same.

Another thing car enthusiasts are buzzing about the 2017 BMW i3 is the immediate response you get from the electric engine. It offers 150kW and 250Nm of torque, with both available anytime you want to use it.

One of the model’s biggest advantages lies in the way it is constructed. Underneath the 2017 BMW i3 is a carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) passenger cell. This feature helps the car maintain its high torsional rigidity but at the same time without putting too much weight.

The 2017 BMW i3 offers satellite navigation, automatic lights and wipers, and a rear-view camera among its standard features. Other features include a multimedia system that boasts of four speakers plus a digital radio, as well as an interior trim mostly made of recycled material, sticking to its eco-friendly routes.

The 2017 BMW i3 BMW i3 comes with the standard complement of safety features. These include six airbags specifically designed for a model that has slim as well as lightweight seat frames.

Read More: Electric Car Test Drives

Twenty years ago, if you had asked me what cars would be like in 2017, I’d probably tell you they’d be able capable of flight.

I always had this image in my head, as a child, that cars be able to just hover and fly around by the time I was old enough to drive. Maybe I watched too many sci-fi movies as a kid but that was always my vision. Fast forward to today and the automobile is a lot less sci-fi than I had previously imagined. Eight-year old me would be crushed. However, if there was ever a car that could get close to my childhood dreams, it’s the BMW i3 and I just spent a week indulging my inner child’s imagination.

Before we talk about that, let’s take a quick look at what’s new about the i3. BMW launched the i3 2013, as a 2014 model, and back then it was absolutely state-of-the-art. It had almost 100 miles of range, which was about standard for the time, but it was made almost entirely of carbon fiber and had looks like something from Minority Report, both inside and out. So it shocked the world and put BMW on the EV map.

Since then, though, the i3’s charms have wained in the EV community. Other cars had surpassed the i3 in terms of electric range, such as the Chevy Bolt and updated Nissan Leaf. So BMW was forced to give its i3 an update of its own, bumping up its range to over the 100-mile mark, which seems to be the point where customers’ range anxiety becomes less of an issue. So BMW swapped the standard i3’s battery out for a larger, 94 Ah battery that packs a very solid 114 miles of total range. The Bavarians also added some new colors and “Worlds”, as well as some new options, such as a moonroof in North America (finally). And now, the BMW i3 is more competitive in its current market. Though, it still gets some flak for its range. But I’m here to tell you that none of that matters. At least not to eight-year old me.

Stepping into the i3 is an experience unlike anything else in the automotive world. Firstly, just look at it. Nothing else on the road looks even remotely as funky, futuristic or interesting as the i3. It looks like it’s from another world and my eight-year old self would go insane over it, especially in the new Protonic Blue paint color. I know this because kids love the i3. They point and jump around, trying to get their friends to notice what seems like a spaceship to them driving down the street. When it’s parked, people take pictures of it at all angles, regardless of if anyone’s inside of it. It’s a head-turner, like it or not.

Read more: BMW Blog