First Drive: 2010 Mitsubishi i MIEV Plug-In Electric (Edmunds)

[roflwaffle]

Listen carefully and you might hear the slight whir of its motor, the hint of wind noise and a faint thrum from the tires. Think whisper; that's how quiet this minicar is.

Could this be the sound of future driving? If Mitsubishi has its way, then this Mitsubishi i MIEV — a test bed for an electric vehicle scheduled to be introduced for 2010 — makes a pretty strong case for it. This particular car is one of a 30-vehicle test fleet that's running around Tokyo right now.

At Mitsubishi's first driving demonstration of its i MIEV (Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle) prototype, we jumped behind the wheel to check out the sounds of silence.

Link.

Does anyone have any info on the price? A ~$17,000, after tax credit, 50-100 mile EV would be awesome, but last I read the price was around $35,000 or so.

[SVOboy]

Right now it'll probably be more than 40k due to the strength of the yen. But we'll see how much it is in real life. I really like it when I drove it.

[priestess]

I'm seriously thinking of buying one if the price is reasonable. I've heard iMIEV not long ago but I'm convinced this new Mitsubishi would be a perfect car for me. The hybrids avilable now are big limos and I fancy having a bubble car for city driving. I found an interesting review of iMIEV (one of the first European test drives)
Road Tests: Mitsubishi iMiEV Test Drive
I envy you had an opportunity to drive it!

[SVOboy]

It is a good car and the chassis is solid. Also, the price is supposed to be coming down, so you may have your chance to buy it soon! Welcome to ecomodder