Fisker ocean - UK forum

[Sean.]

So I went to MK yesterday and I had a test drive of an Ocean as find it an interesting car so was curious. A few points:

Good

• Test drive car was on 70% with 270 miles of range showing left. I think this is really damn good.
  • This has to be a GOM as 100% wouldn't equal their WLTP but means it's estimating 385 miles on 100% based on how that car is driven in the winter.
  • This was a car on 22inch, you need the smaller 20's as always to get the highest range.
  • Test route didn't have any 70's but had some 60's and obviously floored it a few times in different modes to see what it's like.
  • It was warm as had just come back from a test drive before but they didn't look very busy at all so they might be cold running.
  • Low temps, maybe 6C I think I remember yesterday.
• The suspension on 22's is very good. I don't think anyone in UK will have issue with that.
  • It's not air suspension but it was soaking up bad roads and we went down some really nicely.
  • Much better than a Tesla and more than good enough for our roads.
• California mode is cool, you are close to convertible with just pillars around you
  • The solar roof also opens up and does so with an opening far bigger than I've seen on any car I've ever had where the panoramic roof opens. People in front and even rear seats will have sky and not roof over their heads
• The taco trays as they call it make sense to me. I never use my glovebox really so wouldn't miss it but these might get use on occasions.
• Was expecting a lack of video apps but it had Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney, YouTube and maybe odd other one, mainly missing was Netflix but it'll probably come.
• Screen in back arm rest to control climate and heated seats. It's just a mono screen but would do the job.
• Not as fast as a Model 3 Performance but still pretty quick. Feels like it skips on the instant jerk and smooths that a bit then builds power instead. I kind of like that, similar to Eletre.
• Looks good and a nice selection of colours and interiors.
• Was expecting back space to be tight but took my 6 foot eldest along and he said he had loads of space. So roomy.
• Warranty is 6 years or 60,000 miles which ever comes first. Think that's pretty good. Battery was of course even longer.

Undecided

• Seats were maybe not massively padded. Hard to know if this might be an issue on long journeys or with the nice smooth suspension would be fine.
• Heatpump was pretty loud. Not sure it's a bad but certainly when kicked on in their showroom they quickly turned it off so maybe people didn't notice.
• Both accelerator and brake were a bit spongy. You need to push the pedals a bit more for anything to seem like it's happening. Not sure it's bad, just different.
• Unsure on the region braking, seems you need the brake but it'll regen also but test drive not long enough to really make my mind up here.
• Boot isn't massive but probably big enough for most, a bit of underfloor for cables but not really much else.

Bad

• Car mentioned low battery on startup yet it had 70%. I did a quick Google on this and it seems the car doesn't yet properly charge the 12V from the High Voltage battery so it would be that. That's an issue that they obviously will after to resolve quickly
  • Front bonnet doesn't open so to charge the 12V you have to pop some trim and remove some bolts as saw a video on this. So not easy to charge yourself.
• Again from a google when I was looking about low battery, it seems the car has massive vampire drain. Can loose like 3 - 4% a day which is stupid and that also needs fixing. You'll be wasting massive amounts of range and electricity when it's parked up currently.
• Infotainment is pretty slow. It's not unusable but think more old Land Rover / Jaguar before their current Pivi Pro.
  • Not a deal stopper but it probably would annoy you, especially if you were used to Tesla which is the other end of the scale.
• Personal one for me but music apps it only had Spotify. I'm an Apple Music person but some others might want Tidal as the other common choice. Hopefully they add at some point but compared to the video apps, this was lacking.

I think for range and comfort alone, it's a solid choice but they need to sort the 12V issue and the vampire drain before I could ever tell anyone to buy one. If they can do something to improve the infotainment speed then they deserve to do quite a few sales. Just not sure they will and bit risky on if they'll be around for the long haul.


I'd be right up for that as well to be honest. Also different kind of car but I'd quite fancy a R1S also.

Thanks for the detailed and interesting write-up.

Are you still holding your Eletre order? I'm still holding mine, but prevaricating a bit. Test drive I had in November was great but if I'm being honest I think I'll take a massive haircut on residuals in this market. Its brutal currently.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Thanks for the detailed and interesting write-up.

Are you still holding your Eletre order? I'm still holding mine, but prevaricating a bit. Test drive I had in November was great but if I'm being honest I think I'll take a massive haircut on residuals in this market. Its brutal currently.

Funny you say this Sean as I noticed today that the £75k residual on an Eletre R is now £65k after 4 years on a PCP on their website but APR is the same. Not that i believed £75k was realistic but on a PCP its not my problem. That adds a few hundred per month to the PCP.

My Discovery dropped £14k in value the month after I ordered so it will certainly cost me a lot more than it was going to when I ordered. As I plan to move probably during the time I have this car, I don't want to be spending too much on cars when that comes around.

I still think it's a stellar car. Just need to think carefully on this, it's not the slam dunk it was before.

 

[Sean.]

I still think it's a stellar car. Just need to think carefully on this, it's not the slam dunk it was before.

Agreed.

 

[Sean.]

Not good…

 

[MrBadger]

Didn’t do Tesla any harm…

A decent setup will get snapped up before it goes to the wall. Imagine what would happen if the likes of Apple bailed it out …

 

[MkPotato]

A decent setup will get snapped up before it goes to the wall. Imagine what would happen if the likes of Apple bailed it out …

I think the EV industry is crying out for someone to apply Apple-like ergonomic and consumer-focused design to Tesla-like drivetrain and OS tech.

Unfortunately, Tesla definitely aren’t pursuing this strategy (despite their initial “it just works” reputation). I find Tesla incredibly frustrating, as they insist on making the essential driving experience awkward by eg removing USS, not sorting the rain sensors, botching the blindspot monitoring, and removing physical controls. All these are the human/EV interface, and any half-decent consumer product should aim to maximise ease of use.

Obviously, other EV manufacturers also seem to struggle to create a satisfactory user interface, so that’s not as much of a dig at Tesla as it sounds.

(I think Android Automotive as in Polestar 2 etc is quite a good stab at a user-friendly OS. It’s not without its quirks/annoyances, but combined with a decent number of physical controls, makes a more ICE-like experience).

 

[Zilla91]

Not quite sure how having physical controls is an “ICE-like experience“

 

[FastLaneJB]

I kind of get the drive to remove controls and simplify as much as possible in EV's more so than ICE's. Currently the cost of the battery can make them more expensive than an equivalent ICE so they are trying to remove cost in other ways to try to make up for that. Look at something like the Volvo EX30, they've not put anything in the doors to save money like speakers or even buttons to control anything. The sound system is just a soundbar setup at the front I believe. They've managed to hit a pretty damn low price because of all these changes I suspect to make the car less expensive in other areas.

Not a lot of innovation was happening in the car world so good to see people trying new things. Yes not all of it hits the mark but we've more choice than we've had in the past at the moment, we should be thankful for that. If it results in an utterly terrible car, the market will still punish them with bad sales vs better cars.

 

[ajmorr.is]

Yes for the driver this is fine. Just it’s a bit annoying when misses is fiddling with the temp and I want to know where I’m going on the map. It’s not major and you can live without it but still think it’s a bonus to have vs not.

My wife, who is probably the slowest person I know to accept technological change has (within 12 months) totally got used to the Tesla screen in terms of setting her own temperature, and controlling the volume. For climate, there are two arrows either side of the currently set temperature which will allow for adjustments without popping up the full climate panel and she uses these happily. It also allows for heated seat activation, so almost everything commonly adjusted can be done without blocking the map.

I do wish there were a few more assignable physical buttons - and this is one of the reasons why I've got a S3XY knob on pre-order.

 

[spdpsba]

Imagine what would happen if the likes of Apple bailed it out …

Uncle Timmy is one of the risk averse CEO in the whole tech world this will never happen as long as he is the CEO. More chances of google bailing them out but you know how their product is going to end up like.

 

[WannabeOwner]

My recollection is that Apple have considering "getting into EVs" on multiple occasions ... and not done it. I mean ... EV is a computer-on-wheels (as Tesla have demonstrated ... and legacy Auto is having so much difficulty transitioning too, with their "huge numbers of suppliers / sub-contractors software-integration nightmare" so should be right up Apple's street ... but not happened (well ... "yet")

 

[stonecoldrmw]

So I went to MK yesterday and I had a test drive of an Ocean as find it an interesting car so was curious. A few points:

Good

• Test drive car was on 70% with 270 miles of range showing left. I think this is really damn good.
  • This has to be a GOM as 100% wouldn't equal their WLTP but means it's estimating 385 miles on 100% based on how that car is driven in the winter.
  • This was a car on 22inch, you need the smaller 20's as always to get the highest range.
  • Test route didn't have any 70's but had some 60's and obviously floored it a few times in different modes to see what it's like.
  • It was warm as had just come back from a test drive before but they didn't look very busy at all so they might be cold running.
  • Low temps, maybe 6C I think I remember yesterday.
• The suspension on 22's is very good. I don't think anyone in UK will have issue with that.
  • It's not air suspension but it was soaking up bad roads and we went down some really nicely.
  • Much better than a Tesla and more than good enough for our roads.
• California mode is cool, you are close to convertible with just pillars around you
  • The solar roof also opens up and does so with an opening far bigger than I've seen on any car I've ever had where the panoramic roof opens. People in front and even rear seats will have sky and not roof over their heads
• The taco trays as they call it make sense to me. I never use my glovebox really so wouldn't miss it but these might get use on occasions.
• Was expecting a lack of video apps but it had Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney, YouTube and maybe odd other one, mainly missing was Netflix but it'll probably come.
• Screen in back arm rest to control climate and heated seats. It's just a mono screen but would do the job.
• Not as fast as a Model 3 Performance but still pretty quick. Feels like it skips on the instant jerk and smooths that a bit then builds power instead. I kind of like that, similar to Eletre.
• Looks good and a nice selection of colours and interiors.
• Was expecting back space to be tight but took my 6 foot eldest along and he said he had loads of space. So roomy.
• Warranty is 6 years or 60,000 miles which ever comes first. Think that's pretty good. Battery was of course even longer.

Undecided

• Seats were maybe not massively padded. Hard to know if this might be an issue on long journeys or with the nice smooth suspension would be fine.
• Heatpump was pretty loud. Not sure it's a bad but certainly when kicked on in their showroom they quickly turned it off so maybe people didn't notice.
• Both accelerator and brake were a bit spongy. You need to push the pedals a bit more for anything to seem like it's happening. Not sure it's bad, just different.
• Unsure on the region braking, seems you need the brake but it'll regen also but test drive not long enough to really make my mind up here.
• Boot isn't massive but probably big enough for most, a bit of underfloor for cables but not really much else.

Bad

• Car mentioned low battery on startup yet it had 70%. I did a quick Google on this and it seems the car doesn't yet properly charge the 12V from the High Voltage battery so it would be that. That's an issue that they obviously will after to resolve quickly
  • Front bonnet doesn't open so to charge the 12V you have to pop some trim and remove some bolts as saw a video on this. So not easy to charge yourself.
• Again from a google when I was looking about low battery, it seems the car has massive vampire drain. Can loose like 3 - 4% a day which is stupid and that also needs fixing. You'll be wasting massive amounts of range and electricity when it's parked up currently.
• Infotainment is pretty slow. It's not unusable but think more old Land Rover / Jaguar before their current Pivi Pro.
  • Not a deal stopper but it probably would annoy you, especially if you were used to Tesla which is the other end of the scale.
• Personal one for me but music apps it only had Spotify. I'm an Apple Music person but some others might want Tidal as the other common choice. Hopefully they add at some point but compared to the video apps, this was lacking.

I think for range and comfort alone, it's a solid choice but they need to sort the 12V issue and the vampire drain before I could ever tell anyone to buy one. If they can do something to improve the infotainment speed then they deserve to do quite a few sales. Just not sure they will and bit risky on if they'll be around for the long haul.


I'd be right up for that as well to be honest. Also different kind of car but I'd quite fancy a R1S also.

Some interesting takeaways in there. you sound like you've been fair across the board there too.

Allow me to answer a couple of things which may help provide more context/clarity.

Ref the seats: I've done a couple of 1hr 20 min runs and a 2 hour run so far in my FOE. Definitely no less comfortable than the Tesla. In fact I'd say it was marginally better but mainly due to the seat height when stepping out of the vehicle.

Ref the accelerator and brakes being spongy. Definitely in Earth mode, the accelerator pedal is like driving a 1.6l petrol. There is a subtle delay that is weird when you think it's an EV but i understand the logic. If I were just going from an ICE to an EV, this mode I'd think would make that transition much easier. I don't find it has that lag when in Fun or Hyper mode. Brakes seem ok really, nothin that would make me feel they are too odd.

Ref Regen braking: It's good but it doesn't pull as harshly as the Tesla did. certainly doesn't bring you to a stop as quickly as the Tesla did anyway. I've found I need the breaks about 2 thirds in to my stopping distance to ensure I get slowed down in time.

Ref the boot: the space is marginally smaller than the M3P and obvs there's no Frunk. However, I think the space is more user friendly as it's more of a regular car shape with a bigger entry space and more uniform space to sit within as opposed to the M3P which has a more narrower boot entry.

Ref the battery drain, currently I'm losing 1 percent overnight, sometimes not even that. The latest OTA software update should have resolved that, although I know of a few people that have got other similar issues that are waiting to be resolved.

Infotainment isn't that bad, I've found. I wouldn't have said that the Tesla one was quick but then again that was mainly my experience with the connectivity. I was always having drop outs. Fisker seems to have been ok thus far. Could always be a bit smoother, but in general its been ok.

Would agree on the music apps thing; I wanted Youtube Music in the Tesla and I would have said the same for the Fisker as I was already paying for Youtube Music at home. As it stands, I've had to move to Spotify as the account is not free, just the connectivity to use it. I'd really prefer Android Auto but can't see this coming in the next 6 months at least.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Thanks I appreciate that. I try to give everything a fair chance. I want them to succeed as one of the few companies that's hit RHD market at same time as LHD. Not some "RHD is absolutely important and we definitely plan to launch our LHD car that's been out for 5 years already before 2040 in the UK"

I do have a concern about the company avoiding bankruptcy. Lots of EV companies get close and pull it around but feels like this is Fiskers moment where they might have to pull that off also.

 

[Js1977]

Thanks I appreciate that. I try to give everything a fair chance. I want them to succeed as one of the few companies that's hit RHD market at same time as LHD. Not some "RHD is absolutely important and we definitely plan to launch our LHD car that's been out for 5 years already before 2040 in the UK"

I do have a concern about the company avoiding bankruptcy. Lots of EV companies get close and pull it around but feels like this is Fiskers moment where they might have to pull that off also.

By all means I applaud them and wish them well. I just dont thing they should have done a RHD car so early specially when the initial LHD is not quite a complete item yet. Its a case of bravery or madness imho.

Not quite the car from my era to be buying when new but I can possibly imagine what some people over "here" said about the BMW E30 M3 back then.

 

[FastLaneJB]

By all means I applaud them and wish them well. I just dont thing they should have done a RHD car so early specially when the initial LHD is not quite a complete item yet. Its a case of bravery or madness imho.

Not quite the car from my era to be buying when new but I can possibly imagine what some people over "here" said about the BMW E30 M3 back then.

I take this more that it shouldn't be all that hard to make both LHD and RHD cars if you design it with that in mind. Then why not launch in as many markets as you can quickly? At least with the initial direct to customer model via a website only, your overheads to be in a country is pretty low.

 

[WannabeOwner]

I take this more that it shouldn't be all that hard to make both LHD and RHD cars if you design it with that in mind

Perhaps they have designed the production line to "make either" rather than (as I understand it, for other Marquees) having to "change the line over"

I have no knowledge on this though.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Perhaps they have designed the production line to "make either" rather than (as I understand it, for other Marquees) having to "change the line over"

I have no knowledge on this though.

No knowledge needed, your on the Internet

Either way they were smart and the others dumb in my books or at least until they potentially go bust but it won’t be from launching in LHD and RHD at same time. If anything that’s helping them as they’d have sold even fewer cars otherwise.

I suspect the issue is while it’s a really nice looking car. The infotainment is likely to put a lot of people off as it’s not all that quick.

Also had my son with me, he said he didn’t like the materials in the car. I told him it’s all designed to use as much recyclable stuff as possible but in his opinion that’s only fine if it still seems to have nice quality, which he didn’t feel like it did. I disagree with him on that other than the door handles that are as bad as people say.

 

[DJP31]

Funny you say this Sean as I noticed today that the £75k residual on an Eletre R is now £65k after 4 years on a PCP on their website but APR is the same. Not that i believed £75k was realistic but on a PCP its not my problem. That adds a few hundred per month to the PCP.

My Discovery dropped £14k in value the month after I ordered so it will certainly cost me a lot more than it was going to when I ordered. As I plan to move probably during the time I have this car, I don't want to be spending too much on cars when that comes around.

I still think it's a stellar car. Just need to think carefully on this, it's not the slam dunk it was before.

I quite enjoyed my Eletre test drive, although did miss the Tesla one pedal driving. It's been interesting reading some of the owners reports on disappointing range and charging speeds (ignoring some of the obvs EV newbie comments) and that worries me. especially coming from the MS and SuC'ing network. Not that I use it that much but to drop range massively and lose the Tesla charging infra makes me a bit twitchy.

I didn't warm to the FOE in the showroom, but did like the look of the Polestar 3. That and the Polestar 4 are on my radar, do you have any thoughts on them?

 

[Zilla91]

lose the Tesla charging infra makes me a bit twitchy.

More and more are open to all so no need to get twitchy

 

[DJP31]

More and more are open to all so no need to get twitchy

I know all the new V4's are open to all but there's still only about 20 sites open to non Tesla's. I also know my fear is irrational considering I got my first Tesla in 2017 when there weren't even 20 sites in total in the UK and it was a Model S60D .