Finally saw a Fisker Ocean

I've held a good amount of Fisker stock for a few years while it's nosedived (along with most of my other EV stocks). So I've been following along with what the company is doing, but as with all start-ups somewhat worried about whether it will pan out. This area I live in is full of the hottest new cars constantly, but hadn't seen a Fisker here (other than the original Fisker Karma I see in the morning commute on occasion). Until today, when one showed up right in my cul-de-sac. Apparently bought by the daughter (in her 40s or 50s) of my retired neighbors.

Spotted it across the way when they were heading out for dinner or something

When they got back I walked over to check it out. The owners raved about it, including the husband who said he DDs an Audi S5 and that the Fisker has a "very Audi feel to it" (well, it's built in Austria not far from Germany lol). They apparently had just gotten it a few weeks ago and driven down from New Jersey a couple hundred miles. I asked if it had given them any issues since they got it and they said only two things: a couple ghost warning lights that came on a few times (fixed by the latest software update), and their daughter said the little rear-seat screen to activate the rear heated seats wasn't all that responsive, that it had some kind of lag to it. Anyhow, a quick look around and here are my takeaways:

1. It really does look great in person. I don't love the wheels (they're 22s, btw) but overall it's lightyears more stylish than the obvious competitor, the Tesla Model X (aka egg-car). At least in my opinion, YMMV. 

2. This is the "ONE" edition (I guess that's the launch one), in the top-end "Extreme" trim, so it's pretty loaded up (I think the Extreme is about $60+) . It had black leather (thank God no white interior!). The interior overall was pretty nice. Like, not luxury but very German-feeling overall. Function over form with nice materials. The backseat had a TON of legroom. It looked like a 7-footer could sit back there easily, and the rear seats recline as well. 

2. The dash is, I guess, typical of the new EVs: mostly electronic. Gauge cluster is a long, wide square screen (thankfully in front of the steering wheel) and the display was extremely sharp and looked nice (with an actual speedometer readout). The main control screen is huge, and can rotate vertical or horizontal. Like a humongous iPhone. It looked nice, the display was sharp, and the lady said the controls are very intuitive and didn't take long to figure out. There was a row of normal buttons at the bottom that I think was HVAC stuff. I commented on "aw, no actual volume knob" and she pointed out that there's a roll-wheel on the steering wheel for volume. 

3. Looked like there are cradles under the center display for two smartphones - I assume those are smart chargers or something. Two cupholders up front, and the steering wheel had a nice feel/shape/thickness to it. Again, it all felt like quality, but also very minimalist - kind of the opposite of what I see on a lot of recent Japanese cars that have "stuff" everywhere on the dash area.

Apparently up front is not storage, it's all the electrical, motors, etc and it takes a special tool to open it - no "hood release" etc. The cargo area was pretty much par for the course for an SUV this size. Not huge, but big enough for your weekend bags. The little rear quarter window rolls down and they said their dog loves it back there because he can get some air and look out the little window. 

This one had the huge Solar Sky roof which is about a 4-foot panel that slides all the way back so both rows of seats are open-air. It's also a solar roof and looks pretty cool when open or closed. I didn't take a pic, but it looks like it does on the website. This one had the "california mode" that basically opens everything at once (roof, all 6 side windows, and rear windows) and maybe some other stuff. She pressed one button from her remote and it opened everything instantly. 

What else....the brakes are pretty darn big. They didn't look huge at a glance until I realized they were under 22" wheels. I figure you could maybe get an 18-19" wheel on the Ocean over the brakes, but probably not any smaller than that. 

The lady who owned it mostly wanted to show all the nifty electronic stuff (video rearview mirror, other little neat stuff), her husband mentioned his two cars are a Mustang GT and a tuned Audi S5, and that the Ocean "absolutely crushes both of those in accelleration" unsurprisingly. IIRC the Extreme has something like 550 horsepower so.....but also a 360-mile range. Apparently next year it will be able to use the Tesla Superchargers, but he said theirs charged at about 120 (kw?) at a non-Tesla charging station in NJ (He said something abou the Supercharger being "200"). Sorry, I haven't researched the rates enough to be positive what he was referencing, but I'm sure some of you know. 

Oh, and the rear window rolls down. Which is a huge selling point to someone like me who has owned a number of Toyota SUVs. Love that feature, all SUVs should have it. 

That's about all, I didn't want to hold them up too long since they had just driven several hours to see family. But overall pretty impressive in-person, and I'll also mention the doors felt beefy - like that Euro feel where they close softly yet solidly. The popout door pulls were pretty neat, though I always worry stuff like that will eventually break and become a problem, IDK. 

Oh, she said they recommended them to get the matte paint finish (since that's the trendy stuff these days) but she liked the gloss better. The color was nice, I'd drive a car this color. Thank God Henrik likes nice colors and doesn't want everything painted white, gray, or black lol. 

Anyhow, just happy to see one in person - hopefully the stock prices will start to go up as deliveries happen and they get more visibility. Definitely one of the better-looking SUVs out there at the moment - and probable one of the best-looking EVs period (IMO, along with the Rivian SUV). 

Thanks for that report. I too, am a dismayed Fisker stock holder and hearing your positive observations gives me a little hope for the company...and my investment!

Not sure if it's me or not but the photos are not coming up for the 1st two. 

Sine_Qua_Non said:

Not sure if it's me or not but the photos are not coming up for the 1st two. 

Same

My Uncle just got his, he said they were having some software issues already.  Going to check it out over Thanksgiving when they come up

It will be interesting to see how these shake out.  The original run of fisker cars were pretty much just abandoned by fisher wherever they died. Tampa Jag sold em and had one sitting on a lift for over five years all torn apart because there were no parts and they had to start robbing parts off of non running cars to keep they few that actually worked on the road.  I don't know how they handled it with owners but it seemed like a giant E36 M3 show from the outside looking in.

RonnieFnD said:

It will be interesting to see how these shake out.  The original run of fisker cars were pretty much just abandoned by fisher wherever they died. Tampa Jag sold em and had one sitting on a lift for over five years all torn apart because there were no parts and they had to start robbing parts off of non running cars to keep they few that actually worked on the road.  I don't know how they handled it with owners but it seemed like a giant E36 M3 show from the outside looking in.

That's because the company had been sold to the Chinese after the battery manufacturer went bankrupt (and there weren't many choices back then), they lost federal funding, and a shipload of Karmas got flooded during a hurricane. Then the company was sold off by the venture capitalists that controlled it (not Fisker, who had already left), i believe.  So there *was* no Fisker in the US after 2011. The Chinese renamed it Karma automotive and actually still make a version of that car though (which is actually sold in the US again, at like one dealer in Denver, I think). 

Oddly, there is still an original Fisker Karma that I see regularly around here in the commute. No idea how he gets parts for it, but I hear like 90% of the parts for teh Chinese version fit the original, so that may be it.

.....in any case, this is a totally different company apart from the name (named after the founder, since he kept the trademark to his name lol) and he's the controlling shareholder now and hopefully can "drive" it in the right direction (pun intended).  I think he learned the lesson about trying to make bespoke/coachbuild cars in-house, which was expensive and low-volume. That's why the new ones are made by Magna, a contract builder that makes things like the G-Wagen and various other high-end Euro brand models to spec. So hopefully Magna's infrastructure and experience and their partial ownership share will result in high quality. Seems like there are still a few bugs, but they seem to be mostly software-related and relatively minor. IDK.

All in all, hope it does well (mostly because I think Henrik designs great-looking cars .... Aston, Z8, etc. ). 

For some reason can't edit the original post, so trying to repost the pics. See if this works:

Sorry, only took a couple