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Old 04-05-2012, 03:39 PM   #14 (permalink)
cfg83
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1999 Saturn SW2 - '99 Saturn SW2 Wagon
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Sven7 -

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sven7 View Post
I sat in one at the Detroit Auto Show a couple months ago. The thing is what you'd expect from a Chinese B segment sedan. Its interior is incredibly cheap and the steering wheel feels like it'd snap off if you looked at it wrong. Its exterior is, despite their efforts at updating the grille and adding DRL's, visually about ten years behind anything else on the road.

Regardless of power sources or economy I don't see many people buying this based on looks and interior quality alone. It could get 200mpge or run on grey water and I still might not consider buying it.

Then again I haven't driven one. Has anyone else experienced this car in person?
I've seen it live at the Santa Monica alternative car show, but I never sat inside it. It's definitely a boring little car, *by* *design*. The idea was to make the car appear as conventional as possible. The Coda body must already exist as a regular gasser, so that lowers the R&D and UMC.

It may be that they didn't choose the chassis, the chassis may have chosen them by being low cost + able to support the battery weight.

I would like to know the price of the gasser version in China in relation to other Chinese cars. That would give me an idea as to what the chassis is costing them.

CarloSW2
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