Posted on 11/27/2009 8:18:12 AM PST by thackney
Build and sell it for under $30,00 and they may have something. Until then, it will remain an expensive toy.
The only bad news: The BMW Vision is more vision than production-ready concept car. What you'd most likely see on sale would be the key components such as the drivetrain and battery technology transplanted to a more mainstream body.
Then, no thank you... With the exception of the new 650i, the new beemers are ugly turds with wheels... I keep my 3 old e28s and the e30, they are built so much better...
Anything above $15k is out of my price range.....
Other than the all-glass doors, I don’t see anything that would prevent this from rolling into showrooms in the next 2 years as-is. The looks aren’t all that far off of the mainstream, particularly for BMW, whose non-sedan/non-crossover vehicles are all a bit quirky (Z3, Z4, 6-series, Z8). As it is a hybrid, and an unusual one at that, the styling seems fine. Paint it something other than the white/blue, and you’d not likely pick it out of a lineup of current vehicles easily. Also, the paint it does have is close to the current scheme on the company’s bikes, particularly the HP2 and its other high-sport offerings.
Looks become secondary when you drive the 1-series. Admittedly, not my favorite BMW design, but power/performance is outstanding.
BMW’s biggest problem is still the HPFP on twin turbos. It’s inexcusable that they allow that problem to go on and on without a fix.
Not enough room to haul my stuff.
Ping
The E65/E66 looks like a Lexus.
I will say that I find the new five nice though and the F02 760il is growing on me...
I doubt you find any hybrid below $15k, ever. Let alone with diesel.
Mine too right now, but we must be reasonable. The technology must be financed initially to lower the costs later. If these were to come on the market under 30K, then you (and I) will be able to afford a used one in a few years. Also as the design becomes more mainstream, production costs and selling price should fall as well.
Another suppository shaped vehicle. Great.
How long did they drag ass on the F01 software updates, and that was for their “flagship” car...
I have three e28's (M5, 535is, 533i) and one of these e30s ("the ugly car") which I think looks terrible, but runs like a real race car...
I don't know why they just couldn't keep that old 4 cylinder engine in production, it is a rocket...
They should start reporting.....
.....Miles per BTU burned per pound of mass driven.....
as in including all electric power plant BTU input before conversion and and transmission losses and a test to show performance during acceleration and deceleration. This would be a true measure of the power plant to axle effectiveness from fuel to driving a car regardless of weight.
Hybrid does gain efficiency due to regenerative braking (if it is there), diesel gains efficiency over gasoline I think, but "plug in" gives the advantage of using grid power unless the measure accounts for it. The mass factor would add the ability to directly measure the power train without giving credit for a ridiculously light car driven by a 90 pound weakling.
The LI-PO batteries alone will cost more than that, for the time being at least.
And more than likely the batt. of the future is LI-FI, Li-Fi cells are much less violate and last perhaps thousands of cycles verses hundreds, and can be fast charged without the danger associated with fast charging Li-Po batts.
The cost of periodically replacing these would have to be factored into the cost of operation. Battery life & cost remains my biggest concern with the plug-in hybrids, I believe all of the other technology is available and stable.
BMW’s 31 miles of all electric drive is not “about” Volt’s 40 miles of all electric drive.
Plus it looks like all that tech would cost about $200K.
Get it “around” the Volt’s $40K then we are talk’n.
Our lame grid system is going to hurt the future of electric cars in this country.
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