Guise! Someone bought an i-MiEV!

"KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs" (kusabisensei)
06/02/2014 at 10:23 • Filed to: idiotlopnik

No SR20 since it was driving the other way, and no time to get the potato. It had temp plates! Plus I was in such shock that someone actually bought one! Also, it looks like a Tata Nano, so I was secretly hoping it would be that, as that would be more interesting.

Note the pictured i-MiEV is not the same car, although it might be, since no one actually bought them (other than that guy I saw).

DISCUSSION (22)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
06/02/2014 at 10:25

If I were spending $22k on an electric, I'd be sorely tempted just on the grounds of perversity.

Jagvar > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
06/02/2014 at 10:26

Kinja'd!!!

I saw this one on Saturday! Somebody brought it to Cars and Coffee in Great Falls.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Jagvar
06/02/2014 at 10:33

That makes two suckers who bought them.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
06/02/2014 at 10:33

Only if you put "I am the world's biggest idiot!" as a bumper sticker on the back.

davedave1111 > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
06/02/2014 at 10:37

Did the petrol-powered one not get sold in the US alongside the EV version? Because here I've seen quite a few i's around, but I don't think they were i-MIEV.

To be honest, I'm surprised I don't see more around. It's one of only a handful of even moderately well-design plug-in EVs, possibly the only one when it was launched.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
06/02/2014 at 10:38

Come on, it has a lever to switch between three regenerative braking modes for no reason. How can you hate that?

ColoradoTaco > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
06/02/2014 at 10:46

Three. Someone in my hood bought one too.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > davedave1111
06/02/2014 at 10:53

We only get the electric version in North America. A shame realy. I would drive one with the 660cc turbo.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > davedave1111
06/02/2014 at 10:53

Since Mitsubishi in the US is really just in a death spiral, we didn't get the petrol version.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > ColoradoTaco
06/02/2014 at 10:55

Wiki says there are 1,697 suckers through the end of last year.

davedave1111 > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
06/02/2014 at 10:59

Actually, I looked it up since, the petrol version was only RHD. Don't think you'd have got it even if Mitsubishi was doing well.

FWIW, I don't think Mitsubishi's death spiral is just in the US. Well, death-spiral might be wrong, they may be picking back up, but they've seen ridiculously low sales for a number of years due to making bad cars.

davedave1111 > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
06/02/2014 at 11:01

Suckers? It was the only half-decent electric car out there for at least two or three years.

davedave1111 > Luc - The Acadian Oppo
06/02/2014 at 11:02

To be honest, I think I'd rather have the electric version. If I had somewhere to plug it in, anyway. With US fuel prices I might think differently :)

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > davedave1111
06/02/2014 at 11:08

My reasoning is that the electric version is over $30000.00 and the gas version would be at least half of that. $15000 buys a lot of gas.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > davedave1111
06/02/2014 at 11:16

Kei cars works fine in other places. They don't exactly work as well when the average car is the size of a house.

Which is why Nissan has done much better in the US with the Leaf than Mitsubishi has with the i-MiEV.

Also, Mitsubishi is about dead in the US (not elsewhere, just the US). So there's a bit of that factoring in as well. Outside of the Evo, they don't have any good cars to sell in the US.

davedave1111 > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
06/02/2014 at 11:25

I can see the arguments against kei cars anywhere that doesn't have kei regulations to deal with, but that's rather beside the point. If you're going to have an electric car, it needs to be a small, light, low-powered city car.

The Leaf is just fucking awful. Anyone who bought one of those useless lumps of shit is the sucker, not someone who thought it through properly and went for the only half-decent option. In fact, forget suckers - to buy a Leaf you have to be not only gullible, but also just plain old stupid.

davedave1111 > Luc - The Acadian Oppo
06/02/2014 at 11:31

Not sure about those prices. Google says the i-Miev is about $23k. The petrol powered ones were about £10k new, which is about $15k, so you're only looking at about half the difference you said.

And sadly, $8k doesn't buy a lot of petrol round here. Still enough to run such an economical car for a while, of course.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > davedave1111
06/02/2014 at 11:38

I'm in Canada and the I-MIEV starts at $33,998.00 CAD ($31,200.00 USD) for some reason they still list it as a 2013 model? I'm guessing they haven't sold enough of them to warrant doing a 2014 batch?

Kinja'd!!!

at $23k I would be really tempted to buy one.

I have never seen one in person around here tho. probably because it is too expensive here

EDIT: Sure enough the Americans get it for $22,995.00 the BASTARDS!

Kinja'd!!!

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > davedave1111
06/02/2014 at 12:13

it needs to be a small, light, low-powered city car.

And those are fucking useless in 80%+ of commute patterns * in the United States* . You also continually ignore the point that Mitsubishi in the US is a Dead Brand Walking. No one is buying Mitsubishis in the US!

They sold 1029 MiEVs last year in the US. Nissan sold 22,610 Leafs. Figures here and here.

A kei car makes more sense in the UK, the rest of Europe, and most Asian cities. Mitsubishi made the MiEV larger for the US, but it's still too damn small for US consumer tastes.

Does this mean the Leaf is better? No. But it is another indicator that 90%+ of the US auto consumers have written off Mitsubishi completely.

davedave1111 > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
06/02/2014 at 12:33

"those are fucking useless in 80%+ of commute patterns * in the United States*"

Quite. And would you call the person driving a sensible car for that 20% commute the sucker, or the idiot who buys a shitty, worst-of-both-worlds electric car like the Leaf because their commute isn't actually electric-car-suitable?

" You also continually ignore the point that Mitsubishi in the US is a Dead Brand Walking."

'Continually'? But yes, I've ignored that. I don't see the relevance.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > davedave1111
06/02/2014 at 13:21

Right, because everyone continued to buy Saabs and Oldsmobiles right up to the point when those brands were finally killed off. Mitsubishi is a few years behind where Suzuki is in the US.

Oh wait, that's right. Suzuki no longer sells cars in the US. Because they were crap.

So apparently you want to say that the 22K Americans are morons for buying a Leaf when they could have bought the smaller, shorter range (According to the EPA), and not that much cheaper (Especially considering the leasing deals Nissan is doing), and slightly less efficient (According to the EPA) Mitsubishi.

davedave1111 > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
06/02/2014 at 14:44

No, who peed in your panties? All I said is that the I-mi thingie is at least good at being an electric car, whereas everyone who bought a Leaf because they need what it offers shouldn't have bought an electric car at all.