Fair enough, and agreed.Originally Posted by donauker
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Fair enough, and agreed.
Ok, I'm curious about something. Are you buying the fisker for performance? Luxury? Fuel economy? Quiet ride?
The thing is, while the fisker may have an all-electric range of X miles, if you are buying it for performance, that doesn't matter because the ICE comes on to get any kind of acceleration out of the car. There are far better ICE cars with out of this world performance for far less money which will cost you the same in fuel costs.
If you want luxury, there are also many, hybrid cars on the market which are also less money and offer better space/luxury while meeting the fiskers performance.
While the fisker may look good to some, that's about the only benefit I see. Yes, you could get one and use no gas(like some do with the volt), but why putt around at slow speeds with the fisker when you could do the same with the LEAF?
Yes to all of the above (in combination).
The ICE only comes on if you select Sport Mode or if the battery is depleted. Even though both my girlfriend and I are so spoiled by always driving the Roadster we agreed that the Stealth Mode acceleration was quite satisfactory for our intended use.
They don't have a plug.
Not to offend anyone but the Leaf is a non-starter based mostly on that subjective thing called looks. I have a hard enough time keeping my girlfriend out of her Mini Cooper S convertible when I give her the Roadster! (Hate paying for the gas!)
In my mind the question is, Why will I buy an over-priced Luxury Sedan that burns gas sometimes? The rather short answer is, For the same reason I bought an over-priced rather minimalist 2 seat Roadster(Over-priced is certainly the opinion of many people, not necessarily mine). I want another daily use vehicle powered by the solar panels on my roof! I am also getting a bit tired of getting caught in thunderstorms while riding my Vectrix!
Another part of the problem is that about 6 years ago I start down the road to becoming obsessed (Probably one of the kinder terms). I start researching things like the impact of oil imports on our trade deficit, the coming affects due to peak oil, global warming, etc. Of course WKTEC helped. This all lead me to the point of deciding I will only buy new vehicles with a plug.
There is one problem that the Fisker solves for me that Model S will not solve. I live in PA and our charging infrastructure is nil and some of the trips we take will not be possible without gas for quite a few years. At this time I have a rejected RX400h sitting in my garage unused for about 350 days a year. I refuse to use it as a daily use vehicle since it can't even get out of the garage without burning gas. I resent the space it takes up and the license, registration, insurance fees etc. The Fisker will replace that rarely used vehicle and be a daily use all electric vehicle and can still take those occasional trips using no more gas then the Lexus did. We both feel that the Fisker is far superior to the Lexus in most areas except maybe engine noise under hard acceleration and certainly space. For our needs the space is not a problem, plenty to take our turn driving when we go out to eat with friends and plenty when the two of us travel on those occasional trips.
So does it make financial sense, of course not. Personally I don't think any new vehicle makes financial sense.
But as that commercial goes, somethings are priceless.
Last edited by donauker; 09-15-2011 at 12:55 PM.
I don't like the Karma at all, but that is the best defense for getting one I've ever heard. +1.
I also live in PA, and I feel comfortable a 300mile Model S will get me to and from NYC on the days where I need to commute for business. For me, personally, if I need to go farther, I'm just going to use an ICE.There is one problem that the Fisker solves for me that Model S will not solve. I live in PA and our charging infrastructure is nil and some of the trips we take will not be possible without gas for quite a few years.
With a Volt or Karma, you sacrifice electric range for the times (which for me, are rare) that you may need the range extender. I get it, and my past posts on the volt show that, but if your needs are usually met just fine with a 300 mile EV (not saying that's YOUR case, just speaking in general), then why not just use that, then switch to a pure ICE when you can't? Chances are, your mileage will be better anyway.
Understood.
My thinking is that while you may have a plug with the Karma, the fuel mileage may be much less than that of a luxury hybrid, so the fuel consumption(unless you almost always use the battery) may even be more.
If you do almost always use the battery, than the S with a 300 mile battery makes so much more sense. Then you use NO gasoline.
To reiterate and expand a bit on the reasons.
1. I hate having the primary spot in my garage taken up by a vehicle I refuse to use 350 days out of the year. I need to walk around it every day because of vehicle size and layout of my garage.
2. I hate paying for all of the many things associated with vehicle ownership for a vehicle I don't want to use.
3. We no longer feel we need or even like driving the whole RX400h SUV Soccer mom kind of thing. Not saying it is bad just that we have been there and done that and are now so over it.
4. As I stated before I have no intention of buying another non plugin vehicle, so that leaves us stuck with the three previous problems or give up longer trips.
5. We really, really like the Fisker.
6. I want two daily use, all weather electric vehicles because we are a two daily driver household. By the time we get our Model S the Roadster will have more then earned the right to get cleaned up to pristine condition and not be drug out ever day in all the crap mother nature has thrown our way the prior three years of it's life.
On a full range mode charge my 2 1/2 year old Roadster with 32,000+ miles on the odometer will give me 195 miles about 90% 68 mph turnpike and about 10% variable speed slower travel and 50 % A/C usage. I never have used the lower 20 or so miles of range mode reserve because I don't like the amount of battery heating I see well before that point. So this basically leaves me with with 175 miles of the stated 244 pack in my real world use. If I use the same ratio for the Model S 300 mile pack I am in the 210 - 220 mile range. Our one recurring trip is to our close friends cabin in WV about 450 miles away. We can leave work a bit early on a 3 day weekend and still be able to kick back by the camp fire and enjoy a cold one before bed time. I would need at least a full range mode charge of the 300 mile pack half way there or two properly placed 80% fast charges in the hills of MD and WV.
Last edited by donauker; 09-15-2011 at 04:01 PM.
According to my calculations my average long trip mileage in the Fisker will be equal to or better than my Lexus RX400h.
I won't buy a more efficient hybrid because it has no plug!
My daily use of the Fisker will be all electric. Don't need a 300 mile pack because a 50 mile pack is more than I need.
The 300 mile Model S can't do the trip we do a few times a year.
We will use the Model S (or Roadster if the weather is nice) for any trips that is up to its range limit.
Therefore we will be using no more gas then if we bought 2 Model Ss (sp) and kept the now undesired Lexus.
PS. We really like the Fisker
In the end, that's usually all that matters and tends to be the biggest deciding factor. What's your anticipated delivery date?
In your case it make sense then. This is especially true because you also have a roadster and plan on an S. Good luck.
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