I test drove a Reva G-Wiz today, a tiny tiny electric car. It's so small, you strap one onto each foot.
Well, actually, not quite, but it is tiny: certainly far smaller than a SMART FourTwo.
A pair of G-Wiz'es. You strap one onto each foot
Despite that, it has four seats and can take two adults and two children, or three adults on short journeys.
Maximum speed is 40mph, and although it is best used for pottering around town rather than going anywhere far, it does a good job. It certainly kept up with the traffic around town when I was driving it today - and was small enough to squeeze through gaps that other cars couldn't even contemplate.
Ride was firm but not choppy and the car handled unmade roads with less bouncing around than I expected. Speed humps are best taken carefully though - the tiny wheelbase and the small wheels mean taking speed humps at speed would be not particularly comfortable.
Handling is not wonderful, but is safe. Taking a corner a little too enthusiastically makes the car drift wide. That said, it is a lot of fun to drive and buzzing silently along the road is actually a lot of fun.
Inner-city dual carriageway driving is fine, but I would probably think twice before going out onto the motorways or fast dual carriageways with the G-Wiz. Where it is best is driving around town at speeds of 30-40mph.
I have to say I really enjoyed driving it and was quite impressed with it. I've got a thing about microcars and electric cars, so I was always going to be easily impressed by it, but for a little town car it does things remarkably well.
Turning circle is staggeringly good. I can almost turn the car around on my driveway without using the reverse gear! There is no power steering and bakes are of the good old drum variety front and rear with no servo assistance, but once you're used to that, it really isn't a problem.
Boot space is limited: you either have rear seats or a boot, not both. However, there is a storage compartment under the bonnet as well, so various bags and bits can be put in there. Fold the seats down and you have a fair amount of space for luggage: certainly more than you get in a SMART.
As for overall appearance, you can see it is a low production vehicle, with amateurish over-large rubber door seals spoiling the looks on the outside. The windows slide rather than go up and down, there are various creaks from the plastics and the interior trim is screwed together, but not particularly nicely finished: an hour or so's worth of work to finish everything off properly would make the world of difference.
The car is fully electric with two modes - economy and performance. In performance mode, the car goes well and certainly won't have trouble with the ebb and flow of town traffic. Economy is a little more sedate, but even so I was able to keep up with traffic pulling away from the lights on flat roads in economy mode.
You sit up quite high up in the car. I was suprised to find myself sitting at the same height as the occupants in a Citroen Picasso, and looking down at Fiesta drivers. This height seemed to help: certainly I didn't come across anyone trying to bully me in the same way as you get bullied if you normally drive a small car. It also helped with overall vision - you can easily place the four corners of the car.
The amount of space you have in the car depends on where you have the seats. If you have anyone in the back, you're leg room isn't going to be wonderful, and at 6' tall, I have to have the seat back adjusted back in order to give me enough headroom. If you aren't using the rear seats, you can slide the front seats right back and then you do have a good amount of space - certainly legroom than I find I have in an old-shape Ford Fiesta.
I didn't try getting into the back of the car - I don't think I would have fitted, although a slightly shorter adult did get into the back of the car - without the use of a shoe-horn.
I was very impressed with one option on the car that I had previously dismissed as a gadget: climate controlled seats. The test car had leather seats and today was a warm day, so it wasn't long before my back was getting hot and sticky. Turn on the climate control seats to cool and within a minute I had to turn the system off because I was getting too cold! I've been told that the heating is just as good as well. Apparently, it doesn't make that much of a difference on battery range either, which is good.
Another nice feature is the remote control heater, which allows you to turn the heater or air conditioner on whilst the car is parked up on charge: so when you get into the car it is the right temperature and you haven't used up any precious battery juice. The main heater and air conditioner does use up a considerable amount of juice so this is a nice feature.
There are a fair few cubby holes dotted around, including two cup holders in the front - something I always look for, and the car also comes with DAB radio/CD player which is a definate nice to have.
So: what does it cost? Well, the basic model costs £6999 whilst the luxury model with leather seats, DAB radio/CD player and remote control heater and central locking costs £7799. The only options are air conditioning, climate controlled seats and alloy wheels.
So would I buy one? The short answer is yes I would. In fact, the slightly longer answer is yes I am buying one. For shorter journeys it is absolutely ideal and we don't need two petrol powered cars for what we do as a family.
Well, actually, not quite, but it is tiny: certainly far smaller than a SMART FourTwo.
A pair of G-Wiz'es. You strap one onto each foot
Despite that, it has four seats and can take two adults and two children, or three adults on short journeys.
Maximum speed is 40mph, and although it is best used for pottering around town rather than going anywhere far, it does a good job. It certainly kept up with the traffic around town when I was driving it today - and was small enough to squeeze through gaps that other cars couldn't even contemplate.
Ride was firm but not choppy and the car handled unmade roads with less bouncing around than I expected. Speed humps are best taken carefully though - the tiny wheelbase and the small wheels mean taking speed humps at speed would be not particularly comfortable.
Handling is not wonderful, but is safe. Taking a corner a little too enthusiastically makes the car drift wide. That said, it is a lot of fun to drive and buzzing silently along the road is actually a lot of fun.
Inner-city dual carriageway driving is fine, but I would probably think twice before going out onto the motorways or fast dual carriageways with the G-Wiz. Where it is best is driving around town at speeds of 30-40mph.
I have to say I really enjoyed driving it and was quite impressed with it. I've got a thing about microcars and electric cars, so I was always going to be easily impressed by it, but for a little town car it does things remarkably well.
Turning circle is staggeringly good. I can almost turn the car around on my driveway without using the reverse gear! There is no power steering and bakes are of the good old drum variety front and rear with no servo assistance, but once you're used to that, it really isn't a problem.
Boot space is limited: you either have rear seats or a boot, not both. However, there is a storage compartment under the bonnet as well, so various bags and bits can be put in there. Fold the seats down and you have a fair amount of space for luggage: certainly more than you get in a SMART.
As for overall appearance, you can see it is a low production vehicle, with amateurish over-large rubber door seals spoiling the looks on the outside. The windows slide rather than go up and down, there are various creaks from the plastics and the interior trim is screwed together, but not particularly nicely finished: an hour or so's worth of work to finish everything off properly would make the world of difference.
The car is fully electric with two modes - economy and performance. In performance mode, the car goes well and certainly won't have trouble with the ebb and flow of town traffic. Economy is a little more sedate, but even so I was able to keep up with traffic pulling away from the lights on flat roads in economy mode.
You sit up quite high up in the car. I was suprised to find myself sitting at the same height as the occupants in a Citroen Picasso, and looking down at Fiesta drivers. This height seemed to help: certainly I didn't come across anyone trying to bully me in the same way as you get bullied if you normally drive a small car. It also helped with overall vision - you can easily place the four corners of the car.
The amount of space you have in the car depends on where you have the seats. If you have anyone in the back, you're leg room isn't going to be wonderful, and at 6' tall, I have to have the seat back adjusted back in order to give me enough headroom. If you aren't using the rear seats, you can slide the front seats right back and then you do have a good amount of space - certainly legroom than I find I have in an old-shape Ford Fiesta.
I didn't try getting into the back of the car - I don't think I would have fitted, although a slightly shorter adult did get into the back of the car - without the use of a shoe-horn.
I was very impressed with one option on the car that I had previously dismissed as a gadget: climate controlled seats. The test car had leather seats and today was a warm day, so it wasn't long before my back was getting hot and sticky. Turn on the climate control seats to cool and within a minute I had to turn the system off because I was getting too cold! I've been told that the heating is just as good as well. Apparently, it doesn't make that much of a difference on battery range either, which is good.
Another nice feature is the remote control heater, which allows you to turn the heater or air conditioner on whilst the car is parked up on charge: so when you get into the car it is the right temperature and you haven't used up any precious battery juice. The main heater and air conditioner does use up a considerable amount of juice so this is a nice feature.
There are a fair few cubby holes dotted around, including two cup holders in the front - something I always look for, and the car also comes with DAB radio/CD player which is a definate nice to have.
So: what does it cost? Well, the basic model costs £6999 whilst the luxury model with leather seats, DAB radio/CD player and remote control heater and central locking costs £7799. The only options are air conditioning, climate controlled seats and alloy wheels.
So would I buy one? The short answer is yes I would. In fact, the slightly longer answer is yes I am buying one. For shorter journeys it is absolutely ideal and we don't need two petrol powered cars for what we do as a family.