2011-Road&Track-Fisker Karma (May)

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M U S T A N G I T ' S

B A C K I





and real-world behavior.

Briefly, the good and the bad can be

sort of thing you'd find aplenty in the

real world. To describe this, imagine a

"Carved -of-a-Single- Block" spectrum,

with BMW and Porsche solidly at one

extreme and Lotus artfully at the other.I'd expect the $95,900 Karma to position

itself considerably closer to the BMW/

Porsche end. However, errant rattles on



Bonus Video and Photo GalleriesI ln t he iP a d a nd o nli ne : L a g a n to r oa da nd tr ac kc om lf ia rm a

Depleted to its designed lower limit of1O-15-percent maximum capacity, it ac-

cepts a Levell refill in 10-12 hours, a

220-volt Level 2 recharge in about half

on the left into Sport mode. This one setsthe gasoline engine's calibrations to allow

higher rpm, producing more power. In

doing so, it encourages the generator to

:: Cabin is functional

and stylish. Diamond-

shaped object, left, is one

of the car's synthesized

"letsons" sound outlets

at lower corners.

• S P E C IF I C A T lD N S

Lis t p r i ce

Cu rb we i gh t

We ig h t d i st ri bu t io n , f ir

Wheelbase

Langth

Width

Haight

$95,900-$108,900

est4100lb

47!53

1 2 4 .4 i n.

196.7in .

7 8 .1 i n.

5 2 .4 i n.

P O W E R T R A I N

Type

Engina

Displacamant

Bare Ist roke

C om p ra ss lo n r at io

H or sa p ow a r ( SA E)

Torque

Fua l i n jec t ionR a co m m a nd a d f ue l

Transmission

Ganerator

g aso li n e! e lec t ri c se r ies hyb ri d

a l um .b lo ck& h e ad , d o h c tu r bo 1 6V1 -4

1998cc

86 .0 x 86 .0 m m

9.2:1

260 bhp@ 5300 rpm

260 I b- ft@2000r pm

directp r e m i u m

s i ngl e sp eed

175kW



engine's current mounting hardware and

exhaust tuning-the exhaust, by the way,

nestling completely forward with dual

side exits along the front flanks.

The Ecotec may simply be out of placeat this lofty $lOOK level. Yet even the

Toyota Prius' gasoline engine exhibits

essentially seamless transitions. And a

similar Ecotec, experienced recently in a

Chevy Cruze Eco, displayed almost un-

canny smoothness and quiet behavior.

The Karma also offers its driver a Hill

mode, which could more generally be

called Maximal Brake Regeneration-butfor the fact that all these words wouldn't

fit on its steering-wheel paddle, the one

on the right. Hill mode invokes succes-

sively more aggressive levels of brake

regeneration on coasting and downhill.

Like Sport mode, it also maintains at least

a 50-percent battery charge.

Note, don't confuse this mode with the

Chevy Volt's Hill setting. The Volt's usesits gasoline engine to prepare the battery

for a climb. By contrast, the Karma's Hill

mode maximizes the response of brake

regen and is completely independent of

engine operation.

There's another subtlety of Karma

brake regeneration, this one invoked

when its battery is fully charged, for in-

stance, from regen on a long downhill.Rather than wasting kinetic energy by

transitioning completely to friction brak-

ing, it's sent to the engine/generator pair,

the latter now operating as a motor and

using the engine as a compression brake.

The engine needn't be firing, mind, justacting as an energy-consuming pump,

sort of like a big truck's Jake Brake. Fisker

engineers note this enhances the efficien-

cy of rear-drive brake regen, inherently

a challenge because weight transfer puts

more responsibility on the front brakes.

Another aspect of this is implicit in the

Fiskers layout. This 196.7-in. car rides on

a particularly lengthy wheelbase of 124.4in. (By contrast, a Porsche Panameras

corresponding dimensions are 195.7 in.

and 115.0 in.) Also relevant is the Kar-

ma's extremely tall 22-in. wheel and tire

package. By the way, it was a design goal

to fill the Karma's wheel wells-and the

22-inchers certainly do. There's a Zl-in,

package for those anticipating snow driv-

ing where chains may be required.As with any plug-in hybrid, among its

heaviest elements is the Karma's battery

pack. Fisker locates this pack particularly

low, thus lowering the car's center of grav-

ity.The Karma's long wheelbase, tall wheels

and low cg all combine to reduce weight

transfer on braking, thus enhancing the ef-

ficacyof rear-wheel brake regen. Clever,eh?

The Karma's cabin is rich in handsomelystitched leather and Alcantara, with just a

bit of brightwork and wood trim for style.

Prominent in the driver's view forward

are the car's artful fender contours and

hood details, evocative of earlier sports

cars, not bland aero shapes. Alas, for thelikes of me-bigger than the average bear,

you may recall, and with less than an agile

back-it's fairly tight surroundings: ac-

ceptable once in place, but something of

a circus act getting there. And, in truth, I

didn't attempt the rear seat, though a pair

of perfectly normal Fisker adults sat back

there just fine from time to time.

The Karma's digital instrumentationand 10.2-in. touch-screen are exemplary

in clarity and function. It would take yet

another missive of this length to describe

their many functions in good detail. Suf-

fice it to say,I'd place these among the best

in class.And I haven't even mentioned the

Karma's standard-equipment solar-panel

roof capable ofgenerating its own 120W .

Fisker has clearly accomplished a greatdeal in a relatively short time. To bring a

concept car to production in three years

is no trivial matter. The car already has a

great many exemplary features and, like

any, still has room for improvement. Con-

sidering Fisker's $528.7 million loan from

all of us, courtesy of the U.S. Department

of Energy, I'd say the investment is well

deserved with every indication of an ex-cellent return to come. ~

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2011-Road&Track-Fisker Karma (May)