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Fisker Surf (Karma wagon)

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About a week before Franfurt, here's a teaser image of the Fisker Surf:

6121166920_54d93e1bb0_o.jpg

Fisker Surf | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I suppose this is the shooting-brake/wagon version of the Karma, which apparently you can mount a surfboard on top.

The shooting break design is sooo much more functional than the 4 seater karma with a trunk the size of the roadster.

just an aside, has anyone been able to get their hands or eyes on the karma manual? I'm interested in seeing how this operates, how often is the engine maintenance mode(the ice will have to turn on even if it's not need every so often to lubricate and to burn off gas before it goes stale), what's the routine maintenance schedule etc...
 
The Fisker Surf was just unveiled in Frankfurt. It's basically a "shooting brake" version of the Karma.
fisker-karma-surf-profile.jpg

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/09/13/fisker-surf-shooting-brake-karma-revealed-frankfurt/
 
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/09/fisker-surf-live-61-opt.jpg

The opening of the rear hatch is weird.. overly skinny, but it adds functionality to a car that had miniscule trunk space. I guess the sunroof will not be available if they expect drivers to put a surf board on it. Edit* the article said that an even larger sunroof (more roof space with this design) will be available.

as an aside, I thought a shooting break design was more trail/slanted/tear drop shaped at rear of the car.... this looks 100% station wagon to me (which Isn't a bad thing)
 

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Just ridiculous. I mean the Karma is fairly absurd-looking to start with, and this is just too far towards the bat-mobile to not be laughed at. Imagine actually seeing one of these on the road, in a queue of traffic stuck between a BMW 3 series and a Fiat Punto. I think I would actually laugh!
 
With that cinderblock wall behind the rear seats it just looses it's own point.

Cargo fail -- again.

I think that's an optical illusion. If you look at a shot from the hatch in, the cargo area is flat with a velvet separator/partition, but the shot from the inside to the back makes it look like there is a box or something behind the rear seats. The surf added about 2 inches of headroom in the back and 2 cubic feet of trunkspace (with the seats up) and 13cu ft of space with the rear seats down that the Karma didn't have. How can 2 people (or even 3 or 4 people) pack for an weekend getaway with the 7 cu ft of trunk space of a karma (everyone shares the same shirt lol) The Surf fixed that problem.
 
I think that's an optical illusion. ...

Nope. Look at all the rear pictures. You will see that not only it there a great wall between the shocks behind the (uselessly folding down (as Outsider points out) rear seats) but there is even a velvety slant that invades into the cargo area even more. The top of the rear part of the girthy partition has a fence grill that swings up to stop things that are higher than the wall from flying forward under braking.
 
Nope. Look at all the rear pictures. You will see that not only it there a great wall between the shocks behind the (uselessly folding down (as Outsider points out) rear seats) but there is even a velvety slant that invades into the cargo area even more. The top of the rear part of the girthy partition has a fence grill that swings up to stop things that are higher than the wall from flying forward under braking.

I see it now!! at first I thought it was a piece of the fabric folded over from that storage area partition. http://www.autoblog.com/photos/fisker-surf-shooting-brake/#photo-4437452/ You can't tell me that, in that photo the lump doesn't looks like loose fabric., But the second pic you can clearly see that there is a lump http://www.autoblog.com/photos/fisker-surf-shooting-brake/#photo-4437473/.

So I'm going to throw out an educated guess and say that lump is the end of the t shaped battery and possibly the electric motor(s). The low height of the Surf/Karma leaves no room for under floor anything, so everything is in the cabin.
 
My dad had a 1978 Trans Am. Really fun car and I bought a used 1979 one when I was in my early 20's. Anyway, to get on topic. He showed me that Pontiac had had a concept for a Trans Am wagon. Same basic build, just as a station wagon. He and I both thought that was a crack up, that the wagon looked silly on this muscle car.

That's exactly what the Fisker Surf looks like to me, this humorous wagon/muscle car hybrid.

transam_typek_back.jpg
 
Looks abysmal to me...far too long in the body and far too much nose in front of the cab...the previous artist's conception of the vehicle looked far nicer than the actual photo...it looked and more "right-sized" as a shorter vehicle.

In the photo, the vehicle looks too long & thin...like a good bump (with a fat guy driving) might split the nose off from the car.

JMO.