On the front cover of the exotic-feeling Fisker Karma brochure (made entirely from environmentally-friendly post-consumer waste fiber) the words ‘Pure Driving Passion’ are printed across the top beside the company logo. From a driving-enthusiast’s perspective, those words mean a lot. The phrase encompasses the deeply-rooted desires us motoring-enthusiasts strive to achieve (and covet) during our rare vehicular outings when driving ’enjoyment’ replaces ‘just trying to get to work, run errands and/or get home’.
Yet following a recent, highly-publicised breakdown report from Consumer Reports on their new Karma with only 200 miles on the clock, followed by various other constant in-cabin warnings and odd behaviour from their Karma’s electrical systems (not to mention the various complaints from other Karma owners on fiskerbuzz.com), the phrase ‘Pure Driving Passion’ appears to be at odds with these initial findings and problematic niggles that Fisker is steadfastly trying to rectify and sort out… Fisker CEO Tom LaSorda has even written a public letter-of-intent to address these problems, as found on the Fisker Automotive website.
Now surely, this wasn’t the sort of grand entry onto the automotive landscape that Fisker was envisioning for their evocative-looking, extended-range hybrid saloon. And at nearly 5 metres in length and a track-width that sees it nearly taking up an entire lane (thanks to the thick row of batteries running down the centre tunnel of the car), its on-road presence is well-observed to coincide with its straight-off-the-concept-car-stage looks… Make no mistake, this is a very attractive and theatrical car… and so it should be, seeing as how Henrik Fisker’s previous job was styling the beautiful Aston Martin line-up that most motoring enthusiasts (including this one) can’t help but forever bow-down to…
But as is to be expected with any brave new technology excursions, especially those from a brand new company producing a brand new car, reliability risks are almost inevitable, no matter what the price-point, be it $35K or $120K. If it’s a brand new car, it’s nearly a given that it’s going to endure those annoying ’new car’ problems. Not excluding the Chevy Volt’s and Toyota Prius’s documented problematic issues in this arena of emerging hybrid wizardry tech, even old nails like the new Ford Focus and Fiesta have encountered niggles with the adoption of new tech producing unforseen glitches for their new owners… and these cars are from mass-producing, automotive industry leviathans..!
Point being, these ‘new car’ problems occur all the time within the industry. For the Karma though, these early-teething issues have produced an (unfair) unleashing of heavily-publicised (albeit, expected) customer-complaints to ride alongside the tsunami-wave of inevitable scrutineering from armchair critics and those desiring increased blog traffic via rumour-mill derived transcriptions. The weights push against the Karma’s case even firmer since the vehicle in question is touting a futuristic ’green’ agenda with a premium-sector price-tag that most people instantly deem ‘unacceptable’ in the encountering of problems so early on…
But it’s these early adopters (all 500+ of them so far) that should be commended for both their bravery and leap of faith. While most of them already have a Porsche, BMW, Aston or Mercedes tucked-up in their garage, the fact that they’ve entered into an intriguing vehicular ownership proposition/experiment that challenges the conventional layout and thinking of ‘how we choose to get about’ speaks volumes towards the advancement of the artistry within the tech itself – without these initial owners experiencing some form of problem/issue, the product simply wouldn’t be able to evolve and improve.
Also difficult to ignore are the reports of pressuring time-constraints resulting from the massive Government loan and funds infused from private investors leading to speculation that the Karma was placed on the market far earlier than should have been… but that remains an unfounded (and largely irrelevant) notion now. It’s here. It’s brand new. It’s going to have early teething problems. It’s also going to evolve and improve over time. Patience from buyers and proper action from Fisker Automotive is key right now - These first few years are crucial ones.
—By now it’s obvious that I’m straying away from offering up a spec-laden review of the Fisker Karma as that sort of pertinent info has already been splashed out over the internet since last Summer’s launch. But for the sake of knowing and understanding the basics of the Karma, here goes…
It goes without saying that it is a truly striking design exercise, various panel-gaps notwithstanding.. To be in the presence of this car for the first time reminds one of how they feel when drinking-in a stunning concept-car design or a rare 1960s Italian sportscar; there’s just so much to take in and observe. It’s strictly a 4-seater, thanks to the massive battery-hump that runs down the inner-spine of the car. As a result, I could imagine some rear occupants feeling a tad claustrophobic inside over longer journeys.
Construction is mainly by aluminium complemented by ultra high-strength steel in places. Weight is a rather portly 2550 kg, of which 300 kg are the just batteries alone. The Karma utilizes twin, rear-mounted 150 kW electric motors that power the rear wheels via a shared limited-slip differential. The twin motors themselves are fed current by either the 20 kw/h battery pack (running down the spine) or by a 2.0L GM-sourced turbo petrol unit that powers a DC generator which tops up the battery while driving.
The main difference between the Karma and other hybrids being that there’s no physical connection between the 2.0L engine and the rear-driven wheels – all of the energy is transferred electrically. Fisker calls this set-up a ‘series hybrid’ configuration. Just like a Nissan Leaf, the Karma can also be plugged into any conventional socket to power-up the batteries. Regenerative braking plays a part along with an attractive, roof-mounted solar-panel which assists in producing more energy and powering your various onboard accessory gadgets.
There are two modes of driving: ‘Stealth’ mode is engaged via a paddle behind the streering wheel and utilizes 100% electric power with a range of up to 50 miles when the batteries are fully topped-up. ‘Sport’ mode is engaged via another paddle behind the streeing wheel and fires up the petrol engine to assist in sending power to the DC generator that sends power to the rear-mounted twin electric motors responsible for driving the rear wheels and topping up the battery somewhat…. got all that…?!
The fuel tank is a slightly small 36L unit providing juice for the 2.0L engine that offers the hefty Karma 250 miles/400 km of driving and (limited) recharging capabilities. Combined with the 50 mile range set aside in all-electric ‘Stealth’ mode, a fully brimmed Karma will provide upwards of 300 miles/483 km of motoring before having to fill-up and/or plug-in again. Fisker’s patented ‘EVer’ (Electric Vehicle extended range) technology boasts these range figures along with an ‘achievable’ 100 mpg.
Performance is brisk despite the massive weight penalties; 959 lb/ft of torque and a combined power figure of 403 bhp helps achieve 60 mph in 6 seconds in ‘Sport’ mode. All-electric ‘Stealth’ mode sees 60 arrive in 8 seconds. Top speed is 125 mph - Not too shabby…
There are three different models of Karma available as well – EcoStandard, EcoSport and EcoChic – the main differentiation being that the EcoStandard doesn’t receive navigation, rear-view camera (you’d need this, believe me) or the option of having an EcoLeather or EcoSuede interior. The EcoSport and EcoChic models only being differentiated by the afformentioned interior materials.
Things I didn’t like or thought could be improved…? The rear visibility is woeful – the rear window acts as more of a portal to an exiting world than offer-up decent views of what’s actually behind you – a bit of a concern within such a big car. The rear 3/4 view wasn’t that great either. The front A-pillars, combined with the large side-mirrors made for difficult on-road sightings as well.
It’s also rather heavy and feels it on the road, but that figure will only decrease over time (hopefully). The interior space is a bit cramped – not helped by the intrusive battery ‘spine’ that runs through the centre, of course. Again, hopefully that will decrease in size/weight as the model progresses along. Some of the panel-gaps were surprising to see on a production car, but again, that was hardly a big deal and will undoubtedly be rectified on future builds.
—Now, I could continue going on and on about the tech and the sheer plethora of impressive ‘green’ specs (for example: all wood variants found in the car are either ‘rescued wood’ from forest fires, ‘sunken wood’ from the bottom of Lake Michigan or ‘fallen wood’ sourced from old-growth California trees) but that would be dilluting down this article in ‘eco-talk’ even further and masking the reason behind why I think this car deserves more of our attention…
For starters, it doesn’t scream its ‘green’ agenda all over the place. It’s quite simply a classy, large, 4-door automobile with sexy lines imbued with an intriguingly alternative interpretation of the current hybrid/electric exercises vastly sweeping across the automotive landscape. It’s not, in any way whatsoever, a ‘solution’ to our impending/threatened fuel crisis and ill-advised eco-mentalisms… far from it. Make no mistake, this is not ‘the future of motoring’…
You’re still filling up the tank with petrol and adding oil to the engine… You’re still plugging this car into the mains which (mostly) derive a large percentage of their power from fossil-fuel burning sources… You’re still powering-up batteries that derived their lithium from strip-mining practices in 3rd world countries that heavily pollute the waters and land… That’s not very ‘green’ in many books, mine included…
But within this world’s current infrastructure for deriving various vehicular power sources, having to succumb to these present-day environmental glitches amidst the ‘green agenda’ are a given if you want to survive in this current automotive market… The tech is always looking into the future, but the rest of the world will remain far far behind playing catch-up - it’s a tricky balance for a company like Fisker and it’s all about marrying the compromise and accessibility. It’s also part of the reason why I think the all-electric Leaf will fare worse off than the Karma…
You have to look at this car as the brave, unequivocal attempt to produce something new, unique and intriguingly alternative that it is. Sure, there are faults and some problematic issues reported with some of the first production cars but when you consider that Fisker is a brand new car company producing a brand new car unlike anything that has been produced before, you start to see and understand how interesting (and potentially exciting) this upstart automotive company has the potential to become…
And I’m far from being the sort that’s impressed by ‘new tech’ in this day and age… I reserve my own thoughts on humanity’s increasingly speedy venture into realms unknown without stopping to think about the long-term affects of our mile-a-minute actions and ‘inventions’… but that’s for another time and/or blog 
No, what we have here is something that makes an impression and leaves a mark on your motoring consciousness. Spending an afternoon with the Karma is no way to derive any sort of proper evaluation of what Fisker is achieving here – it would obviously take a long-term test for something like that. But what I came away with after I snapped the pictures you see here was the realization that I would rather own one of these over a boring BMW 7-series, Audi or Mercedes S-Class, anyday…
It captures your imagination, and this motoring landscape (and life) should have much more of that… It resets your views and ideas of where the sheer potential of motoring lies and (almost) makes you excited and intrigued over it. As I’ve said previously, I’m hardly the sort to place blinders on and get excited over new tech advances and this whole hybrid/green motoring facade that we’re currently engulfed within… But as the Karma hummed away like a 1950s sci-fi flying saucer in my neighborhood before parting ways, I paused and noticed that I was staring at it like a child does… Pure fascination.
*Special thanks to Rachel Lloyd at Fisker/Rolls Royce Vancouver for the time spent with the Karma.
-Blake J.
AutoInjected.com
Update: Fisker has released pictures of its upcoming 4-door ‘Atlantic’ model due to be unveiled at the New York Auto Show on April 4, 2012 when the detailed tech-specs will also be announced. In the meantime, here are some pics…
Posted by AutoInjected.com 
