Wheels COTY.. Electric!

[cro142]

This is an irrelevant choice, simply made to promote a politically correct stance.

I wonder who paid Wheels enough to make this choice?

[Blue Roo]

I know! Lets get Wheels to do a dyno test on the BMW, Toyota Prius and the Nissan Leaf. To find out who's got the most Kw's.
We'll all know that they can stuff that up as well.

[brismike]

Originally Posted by GTP534

"Wheels"? ....... RIP

Haven't bought an issue for a long time.

I only flip thru it at the local supermarket while the missus goes thru the vege isles. Even then I reckon the vege isles would have been more interesting lol.

Cheers Mike

[brismike]

Originally Posted by eb2fairmont

prius's are taxis.

Lol .. there's one around where I live used as a pizza delivery vehicle. Looks effing funny with the big Domino's sign on the roof.

Cheers Mike

[brismike]

Originally Posted by LoudPipes

A similar mentality to most of the, I’ve got a GT or GTS crowd.

Yeah ..but we have got at least 335 KW's worth of similar mentality. ;)

Cheers Mike

[LoudPipes]

Originally Posted by brismike

Yeah ..but we have got at least 335 KW's worth of similar mentality. ;)

Cheers Mike

335kW or fuel economy - it's a tough decision.

[Terror_Tree]

Was there no new holdens to give it to?

[Sprintey]

You gotta love the timing of this COTY - just as oil crashes!

In markets, there's something known as the 'Theory of Contrary Opinion' - when you see the hottest item of the day on all the magazine covers, or the shoe-shine boy gives you the hottest tip, it's generally at its peak.

Electric car just sailed into its perfect storm: slowing global growth and commodities (including energy) crashing. They make the cover of the mags just as they become a far less compelling financial choice compared to the conventional competition. Henry designed the Model T for ethanol and Standard Oil put paid to that; GM used to buy up inner city tramways. This is similar, it's the Saudi's killing off the competiton: many forms of it.

(I say this with 5+Kw on the roof, one would be a good thing in this household. And I really like the idea of motive power provided by far fewer moving parts.)

[XR Martin]

Oil prices or not, economy and emission laws are still getting tougher in most countries so it wont matter if oil hits $10/barrel its just not going to be viable for non-hybrid cars to exist in the future.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by jpblue1000

I think its a good winner. very relevant for our near future. The vast majority of owners globally wouldn't travel outside its range in a day. I did 7 kms yesterday as most days!

Its ugly and expensive, 4 stars is dubious for poor pedestrian safety but very relevant. Good on wheels and COTY.

JP

Would you pay 65k to do your 7k trip each day?

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by jpblue1000

I think they sold nearly 30,000 of them last year in the US alone in less than 12 months. Not really fringe or irrelevant...how many falcons sold?

JP

That means nothing! In the USA that IS fringe and I'll show you an 'example' of why it's currently irrelevant.
The Prius has widely been criticized for how destructive and un Eco friendly it's 'manufacturing' actually is for a ECO car that is meant for a world where resources are in short supply. NOT for niche city yuppies following a green thumb trend in!
And why are you comparing the falcon to this?. It's certainly not in the running for Coty is it. But it'll certainly get you more klms then the still astonishingly acceptable electric cars numbers.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by Wretched

It may be for a small minority but then so is a car that needs to fit 5 overweight individuals, tow a trailer, be RWD, etc.

You may want to check again how many hilux, commadores, rangers and so on sell.
Or am I sensing a tunnel vision attack on the falcon without even realizing it again! Hmmmmmmmm

[SumoDog68]

Originally Posted by LoudPipes

335kW or fuel economy - it's a tough decision.

In the long term petrol car is a dinosaur , what happens when there is no more oil produced - it will be a massive change when that happens.

[Maka]

Good timing, not Wheel's! Home charging your future ev? Better pay attention to your home power usage then if AMEC have their way in the near future - hefty penalties if home power usage goes above average in peak demand maybe coming.

http://fordforums.com.au/showthread....50#post5315450

cheer's, Maka

[naddis01]

I think most people would be charging their EVs during off peak.

[Maka]

Originally Posted by naddis01

I think most people would be charging their EVs during off peak.

Yep too true, then when theres around 5 million ev's on the road the power companies can do further gold plating of the networks & then....

cheer's, Maka

[mik]

Originally Posted by naddis01

I think most people would be charging their EVs during off peak.

It wont matter Naddis, if and when EV`s become popular........ you can gaurantee Govco will put a price on sunlight to get their taxes if needed , or solar panels, or rego or something.

for my money if i wanted a car that was really cheap to operate it would probably be a smallish $20000 dollar economy hatch ...... between 3 and 5l per 100 k it should last for 10+ years if you buy the right one, servicing cost should be minimal, and still have no range worries.

EV`s are a long way off being a better alternative to the old internal combustion engine imo.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by mik

for my money if i wanted a car that was really cheap to operate it would probably be a smallish $20000 dollar economy hatch ...... between 3 and 5l per 100 k it should last for 10+ years if you buy the right one, servicing cost should be minimal, and still have no range worries.

EV`s are a long way off being a better alternative to the old internal combustion engine imo.

Totally agree with this. It also perfectly puts in perspective the real world relativity of the 60k BMW.

[theboxmike]

If they were going to pick an electric car they could of at least chosen the Tesla....

[GTP-814]

one question that begs answering is WHY it ran out of juice (not a break down they claimed) then why didn't the low battery warning give these idiots some indication.
a) either it doesn't have one
b) the low battery warning light didn't work
c) the low battery light was inaccurate
d) it broke down
e) i dont give a f#@%

[jpblue1000]

Originally Posted by GTP-814

one question that begs answering is WHY it ran out of juice (not a break down they claimed) then why didn't the low battery warning give these idiots some indication.
a) either it doesn't have one
b) the low battery warning light didn't work
c) the low battery light was inaccurate
d) it broke down
e) i dont give a f#@%

Perhaps they were trying to see how accurate the gauge was and what the consequences of running flat was. A reasonable assumption given the testing they do to all cars.
Wasn't the first time a car has run out of fuel on the tests.

JP

[Bossxr8]

They say it scored well in safety, but it's only a 4 star ANCAP rated car. The value equation was terrible. So of the 5 categories they rank it only did well in 3. Pathetic result really.

[1TUFFUTE]

So the Coty is dangerous, expensive, unreliable and terrible range. Must have been a great seating position

[Blue Roo]

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

So the Coty is dangerous, expensive, unreliable and terrible range. Must have been a great seating position

Just like the Leyland P76! lol

[Silver Ghia]

An interesting article in todays Carsguide on the i3.

Not as green as it seems

The BMW i3 has 18.8kWh of usable capacity and testing indicates 130km range in Comfort mode.
Based on average CO2 power emissions/kWh, sourced from environment.gov.au, completely recharging the battery will result in emissions of 22.2kg in Victoria, 16.2kg in NSW/ACT, 15.2kg in Queensland, 14.3kg in WA, 12.8kg in the NT, 11.5kg in SA and 3.8kg in Tasmania.
BMW's 1 series hatch has comparable size and performance. The 1.6 litre petrol turbo in the 118i uses 16.9kg over 130km while the diesel 118d uses 15.5kg. They cost $43,000, while the i3 costs $63,900.

Why did this win Wheels COTY, when the CO2 emissions is actually greater than equivalent BMW petrol and diesel vehicles? And costs significantly more?

[new2ford]

So the i3 will be big in Tasmania

Seriously, as others have said here, it's a window into an automotive future. There is a premise that the average Australian drives only 40 km a day, mostly in cities. I don't begrudge the award. Certainly way ahead of the Duke of Edinburgh

[1TUFFUTE]

Meh. We are NOT living in the age of good electric cars yet. We are in the age of good small eco efficient cars still. To win an award against all it's peers.....forts it needs to be better then them at everything.......not just fart cleaner


Don't get me wrong. I loooove the idea of good electric cars. More so good hybrids tho. Like the upcoming next Nissan GTR that's a hybrid

[cro142]

While electric cars may be the way of the future, in 2015 they simply do not stack up on a number of fronts in comparison with their efficient petrol or diesel competitors.

In this context the COTY award is totally irrelevant.

Money must have changed hands here.

[jpblue1000]

Bit like the early Prius brigade. irrespective of price they flocked to it because they could, It 'said' something and made them feel good inside. For a while it was the celebrity car of choice.
I can see the cashed up hipster all over this, plenty of them. People don't always buy for the same reasons or make the same decisions and nearly 30,000m have been sold in the us in last half of 2014.
It will be interesting to see how it goes here. If it wasn't a BMW and I needed a city car id be there. Exciting times, this may prove to be a game changing car...it wont be the best, like a model T so well done BMW.

JP

[FPV+fteT3]

They used to when doing a write up on cars consider replacement costs of parts that could be damaged in a minor accident, that said a 2014 BMW 135i headlamp assy complete is over $4k trade price, now its not worth that but that is what you will pay. You still want a small BM for your daily?