To those who've reserved - what would kill the deal?

[Aptera1171]

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the Aptera and have reserved. But, when I broke down and told my wife that I've put $500 on the car that is on our computer wallpaper, she brought up one issue that I couldn't answser -- what if insurance on the Aptera is incredibly high because it is so rare? All I could say was that if this happens, I'll rethink the deposit and maybe pull out of the deal.

I don't mean this thread to be about insurance (please start a new thread if you want one). But, I'm wondering what other issues I may be missing in my decision to put the deposit down.

So my question is, especially to those who have put money down on the Aptera, what would cause you to request a refund of your deposit?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[Yanquetino]

...since I can't put down a deposit, not being a Californian ... I would say that these might be instances when I would ask for a refund:

• Due to the crash testing results, Aptera has to postpone production until, say, 2011. By then there will probably be other pure EV alternatives (Mitsubishi's iMiEV Sport, Subaru's G4e, maybe even Miles' XS500 Javlon, a highway-capable ZENN, Zap's 828e, etc., etc.) --albeit not as unique. My concern over switching to EV transportation takes precedent over one particular vehicle.

• Due to EPA testing, Aptera has to sadly announce that the Typ-1e will actually only have a range of 50 miles. We have a 104-mile commute to work!

• Chevron-Texaco buys Aptera and announces that only a hybrid will henceforth be available --thus keeping the owners addicted to their product. Because they bought the NiMH patents from GM, which led to the destruction of the EV1, and then sued Toyota for putting NiMH in the RAV4-EV, I absolutely refuse to pay another penny for their gasoline.

• We lose our jobs, can't find other employment, and even discover that our retirement savings have been flushed down the u-bend by a complete stock market collapse.

• I suddenly become so old, ill, senile, or otherwise debilitated that the doctors prohibit me from ever getting behind the wheel again.

Those scenarios aside, I seriously doubt that the insurance will prove prohibitively expensive. Insurance companies obviously insure motorcycles. Why would they balk at a new model "motorcycle" that has airbags, seatbelts, and a protective roll cage?

[RoxChkPlusOny]

* I lose my job or choose, of my two jobs, the one that pays way less
* The Typ-1e has a range less than 80 miles and the hybrid edition is delayed past Sep 2009
* Another product with a second passenger alongside the driver, like the ZAP Alias, comes out and offers it to me before the Typ-1e rolls around
* I get a huge raise and can afford a 5+ seater electric that releases around the same time as the Aptera

[MegaAutoBit]

*The Aptera doesn’t have some advance lighting like HID’s or LED lights.
*The 0-60 time is above 10 sec.
*The sound system sounds like crap.
*I can’t comfortably fit in the Aptera.

I know some of these sound trivial but there are several other vehicles close to market like the Volt. So, if I don’t find what I want I will continue to the competition. I spend a lot of the time in the car, driving is one of my favorite past time, so there is no point to buy a car that doesn’t meet my minimum requirements.

[KarenRei]

Personally, I don't think the Volt even compares with the Aptera. Apart from being ugly (IMHO), while the Aptera looks like something out of Blade Runner, the Volt has a significantly higher drag coefficient and weight. Which means more energy consumption, which means more operating expense and worse environmental impact. Oh, and the Volt is going to cost "closer to $40k than $30k".

Of course, since I'm only interested in an EV, not a plug-in hybrid, the Volt is right-out for me. I want all-electric for environmental, operating cost, and potential upgradability reasons, and Aptera's clever approach of spending the extra money to build it super aerodynamic and light so that you can get by with fewer (expensive) batteries seems the only way to go for me.

[Apteratude]

Good thread. We're looking at buying a condo when we can save up enough of a down payment. If we have to choose between a good deal on a condo in a year or so and the aptera, I suppose truthfully speaking I'd choose the condo. My wife and I missed buying a place 10 years ago when things were cheap because we both thought we had significant inheritances coming our way. Well, wife's father got re-married to a girl younger than my wife and now has 2 new kids younger than ours, and my dad's airline he flew for 34 years went bankrupt and he lost the 2.4 million $ pension he had coming to him.

Needless to say, we've discovered we're responsible for our own retirement. There may be some $$$ left over, but I can't pass up the chance to get in on the housing market this next go-around.

As far as "make or break" factors on the Aptera.

I don't mind the stereo being of too high of caliber
Even if the range is 20-30% less it will still fit my needs.
My civic hybrid only does 0-60 in around 12 seconds.
That's good enough for me
I don't see insurance being too out of whack either.

My concerns with an EV are overall build quality/reliability. Being # 989, if early deliveries of the Aptera are found to have recall after recall and reliability/build quality issues, Obviously I'd need to re-think.

As far as GM's Volt Bob Lutz when speaking about it sounds a little annoyed. He seems to not be in such a rush and had now pushed back production expectations to 2011. He sounds a little perturbed by the public outcry for this new technology. Sort of reminiscent of the company's sentiment of the EV1. On one hand they're hyping it, and on the other hand, they're moaning about difficulties in R & D and battery tech/aero challenges.

[MegaAutoBit]

Originally Posted by KarenRei

Personally, I don't think the Volt even compares with the Aptera. Apart from being ugly (IMHO), while the Aptera looks like something out of Blade Runner, the Volt has a significantly higher drag coefficient and weight. Which means more energy consumption, which means more operating expense and worse environmental impact. Oh, and the Volt is going to cost "closer to $40k than $30k".

Of course, since I'm only interested in an EV, not a plug-in hybrid, the Volt is right-out for me. I want all-electric for environmental, operating cost, and potential upgradability reasons, and Aptera's clever approach of spending the extra money to build it super aerodynamic and light so that you can get by with fewer (expensive) batteries seems the only way to go for me.

May be I should explain myself a little further some have miss understood my post. The Aptera is a significantly better vehicle than the Volt. My only point was there are several other vehicles coming on the market with in a year to two years of Aptera going into production like the Volt and the new Tesla. There is no reason to sacrifice on overall comfort and convenience since we have options. So if the radio sounds like a boom box, I’m moving on. I find no entertainment value in listing to a boom box.

Regarding the 0-60 time, I currently drive a car that goes from 0 to 60 in about 13 sec. For me out here in LA, and on the central coast I find it very challenging to drive at times. I currently live in a very old city, were the highway was an afterthought, and a poor one at that. The on/off ramps are street roads that dead-end into the highway and curve around. Thus they are VERY short. I have hard enough time getting up to 40 MPH not to mention 60 MPH off these ramps. Traffic for the most part is doing 75-80 MPH. Needless to say, I have been run off the road more than once trying to enter the highway. I know other parts of the country don’t drive as fast as the people in California, but for a California car, you have to have some power to keep from being run over by those soccer moms driving V8 SUV, and the lawyers that drive their supercharged V8 AMG Mercedes.

[nluneau]

1. The ability to add wings, a tail, and prop, is not possible after all

2. I actually convince my wife that it makes sense for me to purchase the Tesla and that she would really not want to drive it!

[nluneau]

MegaAutoBit, I'll trade you #494 for #503.

[cogito]

If the radio sound is of poor quality but all else passes muster, I’d install an after-market radio and speakers for a few hundred dollars. If the audio problem is loud road-noise, then I’d look elsewhere.

Other deal killers:
If Aptera didn’t handle well on real roads.
If it had trouble making it up the hill to my house.
If it wasn’t comfortable. (too much LA life in cars)