[brian]

Wow, that's bad. The car simply isn't worth that much money. It was very difficult to justify at the current price, but there's no way I could recommend it for the new price. Good thing the price increase doesn't apply to existing orders, but I think this will seriously reduce the number of Karmas on the road next year.

-Brian

 

[brian]

This is just another bad move by Fisker's PR team who clearly have no clue. You just don't do things like this. You don't raise a product's price the same day that it hits the shelves. Stupid. They should have at least waited for the current orders to get delivered, and announced this in the spring.

 

[brian]

Really? My $500 iPad has more technology than that car. Sorry, but putting a battery and electric motors on a car is no justification for the price. The quality of the car is fine, but no better than my Lexus at half the price. The performance is downright awful for a car in that price range - probably the slowest $100k+ car out there. There are *much* better cars from proven companies that you can buy for that. There may not be any better "looking" cars for that price, but that's only part of what makes a car a good car.

-Brian

 

[brian]

Yeah, and the handling and ride of a $20k Toyota Camry have been praised too, but that's not the point. The Karma is priced in the ultra-luxury range, so one expects ultra-luxury performance and features. This car has neither. It's luxury yes, but not at the level that justifies this new price, and the performance is extremely sub-par when most cars in this category are 0-60 in 5.0 seconds or less. Dunno... I guess there are folks who get wooed by the sexy looks, but when I look at the whole package it seems like it's a $70k car with a lot of lipstick.

-Brian

 

[brian]

I put my deposit down when the car was $88k, and at that price it seemed like a better option than buying the Tesla that I was looking at. As things dragged on my enthusiasm wavered *a lot*, but I stuck with it because I had committed myself and delivery always "appeared" to be imminent month after month.

I've been right on the edge of canceling my order (as is evident from my many posts on the subject), but luckily I'm getting mine at the old price, not this new ridiculously overpriced price that starts in 2 days. I would *never* buy this car or be able to recommend it at the new price. There are just too many other better cars out there that are much more fun to drive for that kind of money. Sorry, but it's true. I've driven this car, and frankly it's good, but not great. It's a great eco-car for sure, but if you ignore the eco aspect and focus just on the car itself and the driving experience it's really just a B or B+.

As for the Owner's Club, yes, I was very enthusiastic about all of this a year ago when I started it. But honestly, right now I have very little interest in pursuing it because I have no faith in Fisker Automotive, and this whole experience has been one aggravation and disappointment after another. I really think that anyone who believes that $120k for this car is a great deal needs to go drive some other cars in that price range, and then you'll know what I'm talking about.

I think the best comparison is my old 1993 Mitsubishi 3000. That was the best looking car you could get back then without buying a supercar:

It looked like a Ferrari, but only cost $24k. It may have looked like a Ferrari, but it was no Ferrari, and Mitsubishi knew that. They didn't jack the price up to ridiculous levels based on the car's looks. It was priced accordingly for the car's performance and quality at the time. The Karma is essentially the same thing - the best looking non-supercar that you can buy, but they're jacking it up to supercar prices based on that alone even tho nothing else about the car warrants it.

-Brian

 

[brian]

I agree with everything Fabulist said, but I'd add 1 more thing:

5. It means there will be fewer Karmas on the road, so ours will be more special. When you pay $100k+ for a car you expect some exclusivity, and the price increase will help with that.

-Brian

 

[brian]

Ugg... ok... so here's the thing on that. The Karma is *not* a great Eco car. It only goes 50 miles on electric and then gets a lousy 21-25 mpg after that. Once again, it's a B not an A. This car just isn't as great as everyone is working it up to be. Yes, it's the only luxury eco car out there, so if that's what you're in the market for then it's the car to get, but that still doesn't justify the price.

-Brian

 

[brian]

You know, as useless as the solar panel actually is I really like it. It was a huge selling point for the car for me just because of the geek factor. A few weeks ago I worked out the math on it, and calculated that if you left it out in the sun all day and lived near the equator then you'd get about $8-12 worth of free electricity from it per year (by Austin Energy electric rates at least). Therefore, it would take 300 years to break even on the cost (assuming that the wholesale price of the panel was ~$3000).

Regardless, I probably would not have ordered the car if it didn't have it

-Brian