i-MiEV is one of 10 top auto failures of last decade - NOT!

[alohart]

The i-MiEV made Yahoo Automotive's list of the top 10 auto failures of the past decade. My Honda Insight also made this list I don't know whether to feel like a chump for buying two "failures" or to feel smug because of my discriminating taste

I know that JoeS has the same distinction. Anyone else out there own more than one of these "failures"?

 

[PV1]

"One step above public transportation". I'd like to know what car they just got out of before testing the i.

No kidding the Murano CrossCabriolet is on this list. It's only a year old, and ain't cheap. The SSR was $53,000. The Thunderbird was never really pushed (sounds painfully familiar :roll: )

I used to pass a silver Insight everyday going to school. Pretty neat little machine. My one friend said he saw an EV1 pass through town, I bet he confused it for the Insight (or he was just flat out pulling my chain).

Personally, I'm glad I own one of these "Failures". It's the best car I've driven so far. If I was going to design and build a car, I can't say it would have the same shape (I would've made it extremely aerodynamic, EV1 style), but I doubt I could make it as mechanically sound as the i is. Mitsubishi definitely put the innovation where it counts (save for the Marketing division). A few commercials would do wonders for the sales of this car. The other day a guy in a Mini Cooper smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

 

[JoeS]

Another automotive hack, uh, "journalist", failing to recognize the merits of our iMiEV. :twisted:

What does one expect from a former artist who likes to drive fast and is now an "Automotive Editor" who lists, under "education", a bunch of high-performance driving schools? https://plus.google.com/105577544254975516322/about

To this day, the Gen1 Honda Insight is the most efficient gasoline-powered production car ever produced, includes all the normal amenities (aircon, power windows, stereo, etc.) and safety features of the day, and is our wonderful long-distance car. Mine has a lifetime 77mpg (wife's is only 73mpg lifetime), with 85mpg summer cruising down the highway easily achievable. I guess the Insight's top speed of 110mph is too tame for him. This car suffered the same fate as our iMiEV: zero marketing and incredibly negatively-biased Honda salespeople.

At least he identified his criteria, I think: "...based on sales numbers, styling and our hard, fast opinion..." :lol:

Sad.

Perhaps we shouldn't be posting, as that just adds to the publicity they're seeking... :evil:

 

[sandange]

I recently went to my Mitsu dealer for my 1 year service check up.

While there, I saw my sales person and had a really ling talk.
He is an EV enthusiast and also drive an I supplied by his dealership,
He informed me that he had attempted to buy a use I Miev for his own personal use from an American source but it did not work out.

He also confided in me that from all the sales he had of all the different models he sold.
The I Miev clients were his happiest & without any complaints

I Apologize in Advance
Now you've got me on a roll

I also have a BMW Motorcycle 1998 R1200C with 80,000 km, that has been trashed by many critics & Jay Leno as well. That serves me well and always draw attention and positive comments from passers by.

I built & live in a house that has dubbed a poor mans log home, but we enjoy an attractive ,extremely energy efficient , & comfortable home,
That I keep having a difference of opinion with the municipal tax evaluator.

I owned a highly rated vehicle - a Mazda Tribute that turned out to be one of
the worst cars I owned in the last 20 years

Bought a 27" large screen (TV back in the 70s) highly recommended by consumers reports, it that
was trash within a year
I could go onn....

What do I think of Yahoo Automotive & other the consumers reports and evaluations?
You know what I think of them.....
I've seen too many loud keyboard pounders self proclaimed experts.

How good is our I Miev

After 38,000km ( 23,500 miles) in 1 year - I Say Great

Want to know how good this car or any other is - ask again when it is more than 6 years old and has more than 225,000 km (140,00 miles)

What did this Yahoo reporter base his findings on?

My apologizes for the rant once again

 

[Don]

I also have a BMW Motorcycle 1998 R1200C with 80,000 km, that has been trashed by many critics & Jay Leno as well. That serves me well and always draw attention and positive comments from passers by.

I have a 1979 Honda CBX

http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-japanese-motorcycles/honda-cbx-1000.aspx#axzz2Z3zfCYdA

I've never read it anywhere, but I'm sure by many standards, it must be the king of 'motorcycle failures' of all time. I have little doubt at all that more engineering went into this bike than into either the Honda Insight or the iMiEV. It's a completely different bike that anything Honda built before or since and they sold fewer than 30,000 of them worldwide in 1979 and the numbers drastically declined for 1980. Honda lost a ton of money on it, though it did get them back on the front pages of all the motorcycle mags again, which is thought to be why they built it in the first place. They halfheartedly tried to re-invent it as a touring bike with a full fairing for 1981 and 1982, but sold fewer than 10,000 of those - Hundreds of the '81/'82 models were given away to schools to be used to train mechanics

The '79's sold new for about $4500, but toward the end of the year you could pick one up languishing in a dealers showroom for about $3500 - Still a TON of money for a bike in 1979. This 'failure' turned out to be quite collectible. every now and then, a really low mileage one in great condition comes up for sale and they usually bring in the $25K to $30K range

So . . . . since I don't have an Insight in my garage to park my 'failure' iMiEV next to, it has the next best thing for company :lol:

BTW - Jay Leno owns a CBX

Don

 

[siai47]

I would never believe that someone would have a 1979 CBX and a I-MiEV other then me. I share your love for off the wall stuff I guess. The CBX was of built to showcase Honda's engineering ability and they even said at the time that a four cylinder would have been a better choice but they wanted to do it anyway. In addition, it was the first motorcycle to be built at Honda's Marysville facility to test the plant for future Goldwing production. I bought my original CBX new in '79 and later traded for a Kawasaki KZ-1300 (six cylinder, water cooling). However, I missed the old CBX and about 15 years ago bought a replacement that I still own. Now I have a Candy red CBX and a Silver I-MiEV--guess I should have got the silver CBX so they matched. I never thought the CBX was a failure and neither do I think that of the I-MiEV. BTW--I also owned a 2006 Insight!

 

[sandange]

I had a motorcycle repair shop and serviced a few CBX, back in the day.

The EPA requirements had them running so lean they would often burn some valves,
And with all those valves, 4/per cylinder , It was a very expensive rebuild. many of them were just put aside.

By the way does this engine configuration look familiar
In Line 6 is back

http://www.gizmag.com/bmw-k1600-six-cylinder-motorcycles/16578/

 

[Archsteve]

Incredible. The i-miev is incredibly fun to drive. It has awesome acceleration in town. Being a small car with great acceleration is why its so fun, I think. Its too bad there was such minimal marketing.

 

[Don]

In addition, it was the first motorcycle to be built at Honda's Marysville facility to test the plant for future Goldwing production. I bought my original CBX new in '79 and later traded for a Kawasaki KZ-1300 (six cylinder, water cooling).

All '79's and early '80 models were made in Japan - They switched production over to Marysville in the middle of the 1980 model year

My current Candy Glory Red '79 (I also owned a Silver '79 earlier) has several modifications which make it better to ride . . . . and lots of Chrome on it too - If you follow the ICOA, it's known as the Katrina Bike and was on the cover of the Summer 2009 issue of the CBXpress

To add to my list of 'failures' that I've proudly owned over the years - I had a '65 Corvair Corsa convertible (140 HP 4X1 bbl carbs) for several years in the '70's . . . . my wife and I dated in that car. We bought another one, a '66 Corsa convertible about 30 years later and drove it to America's Largest Block Party (www.cruisinthecoast.com) for several years before selling it shortly after Katrina

When I was stationed at a radar site on the Oregon coast, the '65 held the site record time for the fastest time down the 3 mile twisty hill road leading to the site . . . . and also the 3rd fastest time Up the hill too! Loved both of those cars

Don

 

[rkarl89203]

North bend?

I was at Calumet AFS...

 

[Malm]

I think in Europe and Japan I-MiEV wouldn't be in that list. At least, here in Portugal, the i-MiEV is getting the attention of many people, and I never in the past was so asked about it then now. My experience is well known by the Portuguese EV enthusiasts, and surely made for the publicity of the i-MiEV much more then anything that Mitsubishi Portugal done. Now that many Portuguese can get one second hand bought on France or Spain by less then 10.000 €, some of them with less then 10.000 miles and one range like a new one, our number is increasing faster. I think soon the i-MiEV owners will be second place, by number, behind the Leaf, but with the marvelous feeling that the battery will last longer.

 

[CraigJ]

In addition, it was the first motorcycle to be built at Honda's Marysville facility to test the plant for future Goldwing production. I bought my original CBX new in '79 and later traded for a Kawasaki KZ-1300 (six cylinder, water cooling).

All '79's and early '80 models were made in Japan - They switched production over to Marysville in the middle of the 1980 model year

My current Candy Glory Red '79 (I also owned a Silver '79 earlier) has several modifications which make it better to ride . . . . and lots of Chrome on it too - If you follow the ICOA, it's known as the Katrina Bike and was on the cover of the Summer 2009 issue of the CBXpress

To add to my list of 'failures' that I've proudly owned over the years - I had a '65 Corvair Corsa convertible (140 HP 4X1 bbl carbs) for several years in the '70's . . . . my wife and I dated in that car. We bought another one, a '66 Corsa convertible about 30 years later and drove it to America's Largest Block Party (http://www.cruisinthecoast.com) for several years before selling it shortly after Katrina

When I was stationed at a radar site on the Oregon coast, the '65 held the site record time for the fastest time down the 3 mile twisty hill road leading to the site . . . . and also the 3rd fastest time Up the hill too! Loved both of those cars

Don

what's the deal with Corvair people buying I-mievs?

those would be mine :mrgreen:

 

[Phximiev]

This article caught my eye because of the negativity in the title; however, it turned out to be a good read: http://autoweek.com/article/drive-reviews/imiev-we-test-worst-selling-car-america

Is this author a member of this forum?

If so, speak up!

 

[jray3]

This article caught my eye because of the negativity in the title; however, it turned out to be a good read: http://autoweek.com/article/drive-reviews/imiev-we-test-worst-selling-car-america

Awesome! He joins Aaron Robinson as a pedigreed automotive journalist that owns and daily-drives the i-MiEV.
http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/i-bought-a-used-electric-vehicle-got-a-plug-we-can-use-column

I haven't seen more from Aaron since this column, it's coming up on one year with the car for him, so will try to poke him for a follow-up.

 

[phb10186]

Well, the vast majority of the I-Miev electrical side spawned the Outlander PHEV, which is a runaway success.

The I-Miev was just too expensive, as was the original Insight, and they were both a bit small for the regular Joe, with too many compromises perceived at the time.

It depends on what you call a failure. Windows was a failure originally, now look at that.

Very few things released at the early-adopter stage are a success, but that doesnt mean they are failures - it depends on the criteria of a 'failure' - theirs may be different from mine, journalists are not scientists.

No doubt the I-Miev was a commercial failure as a standalone project, but certainly not an R&D failure for Mitsubishi inc., nor effectively a proof of concept failure.

Count yourself lucky if you managed to pick up an I for 5000-1000, I consider that to be a success in market economics.

 

[PV1]

The failure with the i-MiEV was marketing and car reviewers who don't get it. It's hard to sell a car when only those in the know or happen to stumble upon it know about it. I found out about the i-MiEV through a video game :roll: (by the way, Gran Turismo 6 has the 2003 i concept pictured in the "aero mods to reduce drag" thread at the top of page 10).

My "failure" has saved me about $5,000 in fuel and oil so far :mrgreen: . So, that means for a $27,000 purchase price (without incentives), I should break even in 15 years, or 11 years with incentives (final price total of $20,904), IF the Cavalier or even the i-MiEV would last that long.

 

[JoeS]

This article caught my eye ...http://autoweek.com/article/drive-reviews/imiev-we-test-worst-selling-car-america

Kudos to Mark Vaughn for his article - another enlightened person! :idea: The not-unusual negative scenarios he described ("what if I need to go to Vegas tomorrow?") he dealt with humorously and perceptively. Thank you for exposing the practicality of our little workpony. Due to the low total sales, we're probably going to be viewed as a cult classic in the future - like the 2CV. Incidentally, "I couldn't take it any more" and took the liberty of changing the title of this thread. :roll:

 

[Phximiev]

I did send an email complimenting his article to one of the editors on the "Contact Us" page.

I suggest that others from this forum do so also.

Couldn't hurt!

 

[blackheart]

I've not had my miev for very long. But the only thing I would have to say to the review is, in the 6,000 miles that I have driven my little car, would have have had to do at least 1 oil change, and at least a dozen hours either in a filling station, waiting in line at a filling station, looking for a filling station or washing up from using a filling station...
But no - I've never spent a minute in a stinky gas station or jiffy lube with my little miev. And never will. Yes my 'gas' is a little expensive buying at the top tier pricing (until I go to off peak pricing), but my little miev is sooooo much more efficient - it not only saves energy to get me around.... it even saves my time ;-)


Forgive me for my bias, but it seems like those that are too opinionated should probably work harder at keeping their opinions to themselves - instead of making a living from it.