Consumer Reports Karma Fisker breaks after 180 miles

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Pariah

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Apr 16, 2000
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MotF Bane

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It's a new car from a new car company. There's going to be problems. I'm sure Ford had problems with the Model T, and that wasn't even 1/1000th as complex as a Fisker Karma.
 
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thedarkwolf

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Oct 13, 1999
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MotF Bane said:
It's a new car from a new car company. There's going to be problems. I'm sure Ford had problems with the Model T, and that wasn't even 1/1000th as complex as a Fisker Karma.
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Even now Ford and everybody else is going to put out a car that dies within the first couple miles. Annoying to the the new owner but shit happens.
 
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Pariah

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Apr 16, 2000
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MotF Bane said:
It's a new car from a new car company. There's going to be problems. I'm sure Ford had problems with the Model T, and that wasn't even 1/1000th as complex as a Fisker Karma.
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Nor was the technology used to build them 1/1000th as advanced and mature as it is today. The Model T was released at an equivalent price of about $20,000, which was a small fraction of the competition. Within 5 years, it was selling for less than $10,000. No where near the market Fisker is occupying.

As the guy from Consumer Reports said, when you buy a car for $100,000, you expect it to at least work. Yes, random things will sometimes go wrong with new designs, but rarely do those strand you within a couple hundred miles. And it doesn't look like Consumer Reports is alone:

http://jalopnik.com/5891708/why-are-fisker-karmas-breaking-down
 
Aharami

Aharami

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Aug 31, 2001
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my friend's brother just bought one. Wonder how his car is holding up
 
AstroManLuca

AstroManLuca

Lifer
Jun 24, 2004
15,628
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thedarkwolf said:
Even now Ford and everybody else is going to put out a car that dies within the first couple miles. Annoying to the the new owner but shit happens.
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Exactly, look at the Ford GT. How many times did Jeremy Clarkson have to get his fixed?
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
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AstroManLuca said:
Exactly, look at the Ford GT. How many times did Jeremy Clarkson have to get his fixed?
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Well, I don't think Ford got a big subsidy to specifically build the GT, and the GT has no subsidy to purchase it, and the GT was not held up to us as a great green machine that would reduce our independence on oil. :p

That is, I didn't help to directly pay for that GT.
 
Aharami

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
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LTC8K6 said:
Well, I don't think Ford got a big subsidy to specifically build the GT, and the GT has no subsidy to purchase it, and the GT was not held up to us as a great green machine that would reduce our independence on oil. :p

That is, I didn't help to directly pay for that GT.
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Unless the money went straight from your hands to Fisker, you didnt directly help to pay for the Karma either.

But I agree with your sentiments. Comparing the Ford GT's initial problems with that of the Karma's isn't just. The Ford GT's a supercar. The Karma is a revolutionary green mobile with a much more pedestrian image.
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
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Aharami said:
Unless the money went straight from your hands to Fisker, you didnt directly help to pay for the Karma either.

But I agree with your sentiments. Comparing the Ford GT's initial problems with that of the Karma's isn't just. The Ford GT's a supercar. The Karma is a revolutionary green mobile with a much more pedestrian image.
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And it uses an old GM 4 cylinder engine. D: :p

I pay taxes. That's what I meant. My tax money was used to help build the Fisker Karma outside my country, and my tax money is used to subsidize the purchase of the vehicle, all so that rich people can feel good, while not really getting good fuel economy for the price. :biggrin:
 
Don Vito Corleone

Don Vito Corleone

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Feb 10, 2000
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This is unfortunate and I would be annoyed if it were my car, but the reality is that in practice, reliability is not normally something that comes with buying an exotic car, particularly the first model ever made by a manufacturer. Things have improved considerably in recent years, but historically you could never expect your Ferrari or Lambo to be as reliable or consistently well-built as even a pedestrian econobox. The Karma is not using much in the way of really exotic technology, but it's still an unproven, bespoke hybrid drive system and I am not surprised there are issues.
 
ElFenix

ElFenix

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Mar 20, 2000
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DETROIT -- Remember when heartthrob Justin Bieber received a Fisker Karma luxury hybrid for his 18th birthday earlier this month on the Ellen DeGeneres Show? Well, he may be driving a lemon.
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am i the only person that got halfway through the first sentence, looked up at the pic, and thought the blonde one in the middle was biebs?


AstroManLuca said:
Exactly, look at the Ford GT. How many times did Jeremy Clarkson have to get his fixed?
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his GT's problems had to do with an aftermarket alarm system.
 
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justfrank

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Feb 18, 2012
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Pariah said:
$100,00 doesn't buy what it used to.

"It is a little disconcerting that you pay that amount of money for a car and it lasts basically 180 miles before going wrong," David Champion, senior director for the magazine's automotive test center, told Reuters, on Thursday.


http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/08/10613658-oops-100000-electric-car-flunks-track-test


This article makes the Chevy Volt look like an old school indestructible Honda in the reliability department.
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Moral of the story:
Never be the first guy on the block to own ANY first year model, especially from a new car company that has no track record of building cars whatsoever.
 
Doppel

Doppel

Lifer
Feb 5, 2011
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MotF Bane said:
It's a new car from a new car company. There's going to be problems. I'm sure Ford had problems with the Model T, and that wasn't even 1/1000th as complex as a Fisker Karma.
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I hope this car is more reliable than a century old Model T.

No doubt about it, this is terrible egg on face for an extremely expensive car that has particularly underwowing statistics about it anyway. I think Tesla is onto something with their upcoming sedan. The Karma, nope.
The fuel economy is apparently poor once the battery is depleted. 20mpg.
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And its range sucks balls. It's like a super expensive GM volt, though it is faster and looks better of course. In fact, I think it's a gorgeous car.
 
skyking

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
22,620
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saw one today in the wild, near Tacoma. Had to come look at the pics here to confirm.
 
PottedMeat

PottedMeat

Lifer
Apr 17, 2002
12,363
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justfrank said:
Tesla has their problems too:

http://jalopnik.com/5887265/tesla-motors-devastating-design-problem
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heh what the hell?

The cells are of the 18650 form-factor commonly found in laptop batteries. The pack is designed to prevent catastrophic cell failures from propagating to adjacent cells, even when the cooling system is off. Coolant is pumped continuously through the ESS both when the car is running and when the car is turned off if the pack retains more than a 90% charge. The coolant pump draws 146 watts.
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how much of a parasitic load will kill a 100% charged battery in 11 weeks? so it goes 100% to 90% with at least a 146w load, then what's the remaining load? couldn't they put in a large circuit disconnect (maybe turned with the key) physically separating the batteries from the computer,etc.?
 
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justfrank

Member
Feb 18, 2012
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PottedMeat said:
heh what the hell?



how much of a parasitic load will kill a 100% charged battery in 11 weeks? so it goes 100% to 90% with at least a 146w load, then what's the remaining load? couldn't they put in a large circuit disconnect (maybe turned with the key) physically separating the batteries from the computer,etc.?
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IMHO, if Tesla doesn't either solve that problem or warranty their batteries in that event, their odds of a future are slim. Who'd want to risk a $40K repair bill if you knew that was possible?

As for the Karma Fisker, why would anyone spend big $$ for an electric car with a mere 32 mile range on its electric motor? That's terrible.
 
P

Pariah

Elite Member
Apr 16, 2000
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AstroManLuca said:
Exactly, look at the Ford GT. How many times did Jeremy Clarkson have to get his fixed?
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There was nothing wrong with Jeremy's Ford GT. He had an aftermarket alarm system installed in it that caused all the problems.

edit:
Should have read the rest of the thread, someone already mentioned the cause of Jeremy's problems.

Comparing the Ford GT's initial problems with that of the Karma's isn't just.
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I agree because the Ford GT didn't have any initial problems except that it didn't meet sales expectations and production was ended early.

No idea how they collected these results, but looks pretty flawless to me:

http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Reliability.aspx?year=2006&make=Ford&model=GT
 
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