Comments on: Capsule Review: 2010 Mindset EV

By: cleek

cleek — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:19:27 +0000

We could do worse. I like the concept. But what happens when you high center the beast and come to rest on the battery pack? ..smoke…sparks…china syndrome??

By: jerseydevil

jerseydevil — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:55:20 +0000

what a cool lookin ride!

By: Stingray

Stingray — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:32:24 +0000

I like the car, the rear wheel looks a bit cartoonish or like the 1st pic is a rendering.

I don’t agree so much with the iPod interior, but somehow, I also dig it.

The car reminds me a 55 Chevy Nomad, even the dashboard looks like the one on a tri-five Chevy.

By: David Holzman

David Holzman — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:28:27 +0000

Whitewalls are more visible from the side at night. My Honda is dark green, and I put white reflective tape on the hubcaps, and on the black plastic strip that runs along the side.

By: Caffiend

Caffiend — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:12:39 +0000

A factory Donk? FFS. Lose the stupid wheels & whitewalls. Drop it about 3 inches, and then we’ll talk.

By: Srynerson

Srynerson — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:31:19 +0000

But why whitewall tires??

They’re going to cruise the Miracle Mile?

By: Martin Schwoerer

Martin Schwoerer — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:16:15 +0000

I received a call from Mindset, it seems I got the center of gravity wrong: it’s around 50 cm, not 70 cm. All the better! And the drag coefficient data is wrong/preliminary, I shouldn’t have mentioned it. My apologies to Mr Hartmann.

By: CuoreSprtv

CuoreSprtv — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:52:40 +0000

Did anyone checked their site? They advertise it as a hybrid with on – board generator, seems very similar to Volt and not a pure EV. Love the design too, it’s quirky, but works, like some sort of Citroen.

And yeah, Gattaca is one of the best movies out there!

By: John Horner

John Horner — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:35:55 +0000

Count me another Gattaca fan. The DS and P6 remain two of the most gorgeous sedans ever built. What modern sedan can compare?

By: John Holt

John Holt — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:15:48 +0000

“Forward looking” it may be, but it sure is fugly.

By: JellyMunchkin

JellyMunchkin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:37:42 +0000

22s with whitewalls… that’s balls.

By: Martin Schwoerer

Martin Schwoerer — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:21:33 +0000

Thanks everybody, for the kind words, and for the interesting questions.

My approach was to write a subjective review that betrays my positive emotions about the Mindset’s concept; I’m glad most everybody understood I’m not saying this is *the* definitive car of the future.

In a way, 1981.911.sc is right: there’s no guaranteeing that this car will ever be market-ready and that it will hold its promise. Mindset might run out of money. Or the car might turn out to be overweight once all crash test criteria are fulfilled. Or EVs as such might be a cul de sac. But I think I made it obvious enough that this car is no more than a prototype, and anybody knows there is a big difference between a mule and a horse.

Re crash resistence, I think an aluminum space frame is a good approach for a smallish series.

Re battery capacity, the testing event ran for several hours and yet I saw no evidence of nervousness among the Mindset people. Which doesn’t mean very much, I know. Official range is 100-200 km; rating according to ECE is 180KM.

They plan to offer a range extender too. Loading time is 1-5 hours, depending on the employed loading device. Battery capacity is 20 kWh. The electric motor is a HSM (synchronous hybrid) made by Brusa.

David — I’m a lousy racer, but at least I’ll be holding the handycam when Capt Mike, TTAC’s own Samir Syed and me hit the Nurburgring on July 6. If I survive Capt Mike’s Porsche-antics, I’ll post here.

By: Micheal Blue

Micheal Blue — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:58:52 +0000

I like the wacky looks. At the same time I find huge wheels and tiny brakes look too weird. They should install 17-inch brakes, and then it would look much better.

By: Frank Williams

Frank Williams — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:46:03 +0000

And then I remembered a movie I hadn’t thought of in a decade, and it struck me: this doesn’t seem like 2009, this is more like Gattaca.

Gattica wasn’t the movie that came to mind when I saw the lead photo (the profile shot). The first thing that popped in my head was Back to the Future 3, where they’ve put wagon wheels on the Delorean.

By: shaker

shaker — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:42:06 +0000

Somehow, the whitewalls work for me – another quirk on a quirky ride.

Does that cool rear window lift up? (a’la 4th gen Camaro).

I keep telling myself that in a few short years, we’ll have lots of cool, weird and high-tech cars to shop for – hope that’s the case.

By: qa

qa — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:34:18 +0000

My issue is with the size of the brakes; you’ve got these huge wheels then if you look real close you can see the (tiny) brake rotors.

Probably no need for big rotors. Electric motors are effective brakes that recharge the battery while at it.

By: paul_y

paul_y — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:01:28 +0000

I had heard of this before; I love the design, and admission that it’s creators don’t intend to save the world with it.

@Paul Niedermeyer: I fail to see why anything shouldn’t have whitewalls.

By: Bunter1

Bunter1 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:59:02 +0000

Gattaca was cool.

By: Vega

Vega — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:04:48 +0000

The nose reminds me of a Karmann Ghia. Nice work.

Oh and the brakes are plenty big enough, considering the thing only weighs 800kg.

By: Kurt.

Kurt. — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:30:01 +0000

It’s ugly. Redesign the nose to the leading edge of the front wheel well and do SOMETHING with the rear wheel well. Then ditch the whitewalls.

I like the interior.

Adjust the shape, keep the price down, and I’ll be interested.

By: afabbro

afabbro — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:16:38 +0000

Let’s just hope they don’t do a GM – show off a sporty, cool-looking prototype and then a year later pull the sheet off something that looks like a warmed-over Cobalt.

By: Paul Niedermeyer

Paul Niedermeyer — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:41:49 +0000

But why whitewall tires??

By: maniceightball

maniceightball — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:11:06 +0000

I quite like it a lot. Well, except for the headlights cribbed from a new MINI.

It seems like it might work, if only for what everyone else has already said: a business model that isn’t ludicrously ambitious.

By: niky

niky — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:53:42 +0000

Well… unlike with other road cars, the large wheels here serve a different purpose. Normally, with road cars, you put on bigger wheels to make way for bigger brakes. Here, the large diameter, narrow wheels are there simply to give a long and narrow contact patch for less rolling resistance.

By: djn

djn — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:43:09 +0000

Gattaca was the best car movie ever. Uma Thurman in the DS convertible was mind blowing. I thought the cars were turbines, not electric, especially the Rover 2000