Tuesday, March 23, 2010

iWant mE An iMiEV!



I have been watching this car in development for a while now. If it looks a little familiar - it should be. There once was a time when Daimler-Chrysler and Mitsubishi were best buddies. During which - Mitsubishi got a good look ( or copy of..) the blueprints of the Smart car. I used to love the Smart car - but it has never been the prettiest thing to look at. And once the US version arrived and boasted! a! stunning! 44mpg!(?) - the car lost its wonder to me. Now the Diesel version - that coulda' been a contentda' i tell ya.

Anyways - Mitsubishi reworked ( alot?) of what they were given ( or took...) and the outcome was the "i" car. Much more refined ( in my opinion) than the Smart and ALOT
more practical with a second set of doors.... it all played well with my small car fixation. Of course - the fact that the engine is in the rear - reminiscent of an old Volkswagen brings a flutter to my heart. It did not take long for the company to look at the platform for electric potential and
last year - an electric version wen on sale in Japan. Hence the iMiEV.






It looks like the car only has an 80 mile range - but that would easily get me back and forth to work each day. It will be interesting to see what it costs. With a commute of 25 miles one way-
a Chevrolet Volt could almost function for me as a pure electric car with none of the iMiEV;s shortcomings. Of course - the ( nessesary) design evolution of the Volt has resulted in a car that resembles a puffy Dodge Status.


Some links to test drives and write ups -








Edmunds write up


Top Gear write up



Some of the write ups include estimates to how much the car will cost - which
at this point I am inserting my fingers into my ears.

LALALALALALALALALALALALALA

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are SO dusted if they come out with a camper conversion!!

Anonymous said...

well at least you can get it in your garage...ouch...sorry


we could dig out the whoe front and ramp it in from the side...need a big retaining wall...


or a garage on top with a nice pergola conection ala frllwr?