Featured Drool Worthy Nissan 2-Seater is Unveiled

Does it plug? Can't tell. Then again it's hard to tell the front from the rear

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Looks like something you're more likely to see in a Hot Wheels package than something you see waiting at a stop light next to you... And where is the roll bar and side and rear view mirrors? As in "concept cars" aren't real, they're just pretend. As in show me a photo of a concept car that actually looks like the production version? Has that ever happened before?

 

I still don't understand why Honda's first Hybrid cars had an all Aluminum chassis and mostly plastic body parts that eliminated near a 1000 pounds of vehicle weight didn't become a design that was adopted by other car makers? Obviously it's more expensive and less safe, but seems if they had stuck with it they could of addressed those issues?

 

Many concept cars are just done for attention.

Aluminum and other lighter weight materials have been done for longer than Honda. They just can't beat steel on cost. It is just too plentiful, and easier to work with. The cost can be justified for higher priced cars, but not efficient economy cars.

The i3 happened because of battery prices. Those dropped, and the i3 was cancelled. BMW is still using carbon fiber parts, but deemed investing in larger aluminum frame-CF body car production wasn't needed.

 

My wife's 2014 BMW i3-REx is a 72 mi, CCS-1 plug-in hybrid, with a 640 cc, two cylinder motorcycle engine driving a generator. It gets 39 MPG at 70 MPH with the 2.3 gallon (coded) gas tank it gives about 90 miles between truck stops. Hideously expensive when new at ~$52,000, there was an affordable lease program that let me buy mine for $29,000 with ~6,000 miles.

About aluminum, Tesla has been and expanding their aluminum frame cars. The recent additions of IDEA gigapress lets Tesla form one piece front or back assemblies in seconds. Each part eliminates nearly 100 pieces and over 50 assembly robots. It also leads to a lighter, more crashworthy body at a lower cost.

Bob Wilson

 

Betcha it comes out looking like this:

heavy lids and all

 

Meh... It's ugly. Not practical. If it is just for fun, then I would much rather have Miata or 86. Or... my favorite would be the classic Fairlady 240Z.

 

ugh why, just make an ev Z

 

By larger, I meant higher production numbers. The i3 and i8 were made in low numbers. I guess it could be said that they were quasi-hand made. Moving production to a full factory line like they use for other models would increase production and lower cost per car, but that required a large investment up front. It wasn't worthwhile without other models on the aluminum/CF platform, and the weight savings for the cost weren't needed for other models.

 

But I bet it comes standard with a Remixed version of Boston's "More than a feeling!" that plays at 90 bd everytime you start it up.

 

looks better than an aptera?

 

If you loved the styles of the '80s.

The open grill giving it a dustbuster vibe, does it funneling air flow to the windshield actually help to reduce aerodynamic drag?

 

Which of those convertibles have a screen behind the head rests?

Does this Nissan have a roof?

 

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I can't say I even like the look, and its a show only vehicle, but they did build a prototype. Electric 2 seat roadster?

I'd say I am not in the market but I would prefer the looks and likely handling of the electric boxter or tesla roadster which should be here in 3 years at the latest.

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These will be expensive beasts, but nissan is unlikely to ever produce their roadster and if they did it would look different. I did the like the looks of the old 300zx convertible.

Honda never expected the insight to go into large production numbers, that they tried with the civic hybrid. It didn't matter much that they were losing money on each one, they were getting real world information about drivers and their ultra efficient hybrid.

We can look at corvette, porsche boxter, the original tesla roadster versus this one, and see materials and costs.

Corvette started with a steel frame and fiberglass panels, it has now morphed into an aluminum frame with carbon fiber replacing some of the steel and fiberglass parts, and specialty plastics where appropriate. A convertable is 3700 lbs, its this heavy because of all the equipment and the big v8.

Porsche's boxter which works on the same idea is about 44% aluminum and still mostly steel. Even with the big 400 hp 4L flat 6 engine it weighs over 500 lbs less than the corvette. equipment and engine are enough lighter that even with a lot of steel the car weighs less.

The original tesla roadster with 53 kwh pack was based on the light lotus and had aluminum frame and carbon fiber body. even with the heavy battery pack it weighed 1000 lbs less than the current corvette convertible. But does it matter, the upcoming one will likely weigh as much as the corvette, but will handle and accelerate better, have longer range, and be more efficient and probably cheaper to produce. Still it is rumored to keep the carbon fiber body on aluminum frame of the first one, but without lotus engineers trimming all the weight. Better tires and regen braking along with more powerful and efficient motors mean weight doesn't matter that much. It will cost more but they are trying to be in that exclusive supper car club.

A mix of mainly high strength steel, aluminum, and carbon fiber where it makes sense is what you need for a light enough hybrid or plug-in but still keep insurance and repair costs down. The current prius prime has this mix.

It is other stuff that has been making today's cars so heavy.

 

Except the Boxster (now the model 718) uses a 4 cylinder 2.0L turbocharged engine putting out 300 HP. Until you get to the GTS models with 400 HP 6 cylinder 4L normally aspirated priced through the stratosphere but oh what cars ...