5 ms·
I absolutely love convertibles, and don't understand how I missed this when it was new (perhaps because I don't live in Japan? but still). a couple of things s
by jerrysievert 6y ago
I absolutely love convertibles, and don't understand how I missed this when it was new (perhaps because I don't live in Japan? but still).
a couple of things stand out to me:
1) that's a huge amount of space used for storage of the top - a vertical storage with a little more folding would likely have made better use of the space
2) I would love to see something like this in an electric, but doubt I ever will - something of this era and features could likely never pass modern safety requirements (yeah, I know about the nobe 100, but it's not exactly a car)
regardless, it's nice to see so much attention to detail that seems to be lost these days with modern cars.
- russellbeattie 6y agoI would love to see a fad in California of small, lightweight, convertible electric cars. I'd love an electric 1957 Porsche Speedster style car to zip around town in. No luxuries needed - just enough to meet regulations. Take a $14,000 Chevy Spark, cut off the roof, swap the engine for an electric motor and I'd be happy as can be, even with only 100 miles range.
- ofcrpls 6y agoI'd buy a Suzuki Swift in a heartbeat if it were available.
- thisisnico 6y agoDefinitely would get a Suzuki Jimny, a jeep on a budget.
- PaulWaldman 6y agoSmart sells an electric convertable, just not in the US.
- spike021 6y agoIt's not that easy, though. Safety regulations are completely different now compared to 1957, using your Porsche example. Bumper and ride heights, crumple zones, etc. All these factors would make it very difficult to just recreate vintage vehicles while still being street-legal.
- jerrysievert 6y agoI think they were talking about converting a 1957 corvette. personally, I think that the closest you'll get will either be a Miata conversion or a z3 conversion. realistically, there's not enough room to convert either of those to be more than a novelty at the moment as for something new, I still hold out hope that Mazda will go electric and come up with a nice new electric Miata, but I'm not holding my breath.
- russellbeattie 6y agoThat's why I also used a hypothetical electric convertible Chevy Spark as an example, as it's being sold today, has minimum frills, but still meets regulations.
- bolotye 6y agoCheck out the Fiat 500e. The 2021 will be Fiat’s own design, but older ones are basically Bosch internals stuffed into a Fiat 500 shell. Cheap off lease ones are available and so far (6 months in) dead reliable. And a very fun ride.
- mikekchar 6y agoA Japanese car that has similar charm (to me anyway) is the Daihatsu Copen. The original looks suspiciously similar to the Figaro :-) Lately I haven't been so impressed with the styling, but it still has a European roadster look going for it. It's a ridiculously cheap car as well :-)