Drove a couple new EVs

Since I rarely have ever exceeded the 45 mile EV range of the Volt, I've decided that a pure EV would work for me even with an 80-90 mile range. I already mentioned the 3 days I spent with an i3 a couple months ago, but this weekend I spent some time with a couple domestic offerings.

First up, the Ford Focus EV. Blue on tan, very similar to my Volt's color combo.

Lease cost (only thinking of leases on new tech, and the lease cost includes the $7500 federal credit and the $2300 MD credit coming right off the top of the pricing on EVs) with 0 down and tax/title/tags rolled in was $240/mo.

Fairly attractive car, in and out. Comfy and laden with tech. Reasonably quick, and like all EVs, silent and smooth torque delivery. Throttle response was decent, but it was a bit more sedate than the VOlt or i3. You could feel the added weight of the batteries, but it still tended to feel like my Volt, both in handling and a little bit in acceleration. Pop it down to L and regen is increased, but it's not quite as aggresive as the Volt or the i3, so you don't really one-pedal it in daily driving. I'd still leave it in L for everything. Decent rear seat legrom, but the cargo area was all eaten up with the battery pack. There is a deep well for a few grocery bags, but for the most part, the cargo area is not very good. Still as an EV, it's very much a real car and with subtle styling, it blends in with other cars without screaming EV.

Next up, the Spark EV, which just showed up in MD showrooms. Test car was Lime green with dark grey interior.

lease cost on teh optined up 2LT was just under $200/mo with 0 down and tax/title/tags rolled in.

Not pretty, but a fun little car. Definitely quicker than the Volt. In fact, other than the Tesla it feels like it's probably the quickest modern EV around, until you get over 70 at which point the i3 is faster. I drove it in L and Sport mode and on low speed roads, it's quick and you definitely drive with one pedal due to the heavy regen slowing it down when you let off the throttle (a bit like the Volt in L, though slightly more aggressive). The quiet thrust of the motor makes it feel a lot more quick and luxurious than its economy car roots would imply, and it's kind of giggle inducing to punch it and feel the torque (about 330lb ft!) pull the car quietly but quickly). Throttle response is great in Sport and it really feels playful in traffic and on back roads.

Seats in the 2LT are nice, and the leather steering wheel is a good addition. The base 1LT has electric blue accents inside, and the 2LT switches that to a platinum silver, which looks a bit more "real car" like. It's still a cheap economy car inside, though, but it's livable with a veneer of high tech. What isn't so livable is rear seat legroom, which is to be expected in a car this small (and it's TINY). But since it uses a low mounted battery pack, the hatch space is much better than the Focus EV.

Almost came home with the Spark, it's that fun. And I can live with the homely but funky styling and I like the bright green color (there was a black one in the dealership that was still wrapped in it's protective covering that got sold while I was test driving this one). Just not quite ready to pull the trigger.

The Spark is the odd case of adding an electric motor made the car better, not worse. Doesn't Nascho have one of these?

In reply to Gearheadotaku:

Yes. I checked it out when he ran it at the last local track night. Pretty cool, but I guess the traction control is a bit intrusive for performance driving. I doubt that's what GM had in mind when they designed it

Yep Nashco has one. If they were sold by me, I think the proportion of American cars on the roads would go waaay up.

Green Car Reports says that the Spark EV is being offered at a $139 monthly lease with no money down. That's pretty hard to pass up.

Chris - Have you had a chance to drive a Leaf yet? As the runaway affordable sales leader, it pretty much sets the baseline for the segment.

I have yet to see a Spark EV in person, but the gasoline Spark I sat in seemed like a total penalty box. Perhaps being fun makes up for that? How did its' rear seat room and cargo are compare to the i3?

In reply to nderwater:

The $139 lease is for the 1LT base model with 0 down but dealer fees, tax, title, and tags not included (and the way MD taxes leases, it's still a lot o fmoney to come up with for a basic car). So i think that just under $200/mo is fair.

As I mentioned, the back seat in the Spark is not livable with any regular adult in the front seat. The BMW is much better in that regard, though getting into the back seat when parked in a parking lot is difficult due to the suicide partial rear doors (you have to open the front and rear doors to get in the back which means you kind of have to be between them on the side of the car to do it, and when you're parked next to someone, it's a challenge).

I have driven a Leaf, and it's about like the Focus for performance and comfort, but with a better cargo carrying capacity due to being designed as an EV up front. But I dont' like the way it looks in and out, even compared to the Spark.

In reply to Chris_V: Too bad, I love the Leaf. Way better than the Focus although I have not even seen the Spark EV.

I think the Spark's mostly a decent-looking car. Their only major design mistakes were:

1. Making the tiny wheels look even more tiny with the usual flat-faced fenders that are so common now
2. Having a concentric ripple over those horrible fenders in the rear.

I get the feeling a lot of lazy designers now take the slammed, giant-wheeled concept cars they're given to work with, downsize the wheels to something sensible (or further to "economical") and then fill in the leftover fender gap with a big flat fender face.

GameboyRMH wrote: I get the feeling a lot of lazy designers now take the slammed, giant-wheeled concept cars they're given to work with, downsize the wheels to something sensible (or further to "economical") and then fill in the leftover fender gap with a big flat fender face.

Hahaha! It's like a child's drawing of a car, with tiny little wheels and a lot of fender height...

What's the deal with the rear doors on the Spark? Suicide doors?

Enyar wrote: What's the deal with the rear doors on the Spark? Suicide doors?

No, normal doors. The handles are up in the black bit of the C pillar area of the rear doors.

I've gotta find the closest dealership to SE PA. I really want to test drive a Spark EV and figure out how all the incentives/taxes would work with buying across state lines. Are MD dealerships open on Sundays?

In reply to problemaddict:

Looking at the Chevy website, the $139 appears to be restricted to residents of MD, CA, & OR so it may not be as good a deal for you.

Any reason you are not looking at the Fiat EV you can get one in California for ~139$ a month no money out of pocket for 24 months. I basically drove them all and the I3 to me it worlds better then the domestic stuff, and I am not a BMW fan. Paying 303$ a month on my I3 Rex with a MSRP of 54,700 with 4K down. Residual is 30,200 and I might just take them up on it I like it that much. With the gas savings over my F350 and the electricity KWh reduction in California the car makes me 500$ a month richer even after the payment.

I would have done the leaf but man did the seats suck and the interior was terrible, the Fiat was actually a step up in ergonomics.

wearymicrobe wrote: Any reason you are not looking at the Fiat EV you can get one in California for ~139$ a month no money out of pocket for 24 months.

The Fiat isn't available in MD. It's a California compliance car, not nationally available.

I basically drove them all and the I3 to me it worlds better then the domestic stuff, and I am not a BMW fan. Paying 303$ a month on my I3 Rex with a MSRP of 54,700 with 4K down.

I spent 3 days with the i3 and loved it. A tiny bit quicker than the Spark, but it felt lighter. I drove a base model, so the interior was cheap and the recycled materials, though a neat idea, really looked like cheap plastic. The one I wanted was the Tera World interior with the black leather and wood trim (which looks really good to me), and with the options I want, was well over $50k. And the lease deal at the time was $560/mo after $4k down. I'm not putting ANY money down on a lease. Period. The Spark and Focus are around $200/mo with zero down and zero out of pocket costs (tax/title/tags rolled into the payment). That's vastly cheaper for very nearly as good an EV. Yeah, $300/mo isn't bad (that's my Volt payment), but that $4k down is just silly to me on a lease as that's just lost money. That's 20+ months of payments on the Spark. So half the lease would be paid for with just the down payment you made on the i3. As I said, for the most part I liked the i3, but there are shortcomings to it as well and for $500+ a month, I didn't want to make those compromises.

In reply to wearymicrobe:

We need to talk about that, I sit in it every day and everything seems totally fine to me.

secretariata wrote: In reply to problemaddict: Looking at the Chevy website, the $139 appears to be restricted to residents of MD, CA, & OR so it may not be as good a deal for you.

Well, he'd be out the $2300 tax credit for MD, but he'd still qualify for the $7500 federal credit, so that might not be so bad. A 1LT Spark could still be under $200/mo for him.

Might want to check with Hoffman Chevrolet in Hagerstown, MD, to see if they can do a dealer trade with a dealer close to Baltimore that has them (like Win Kelly)