Our Fisker Ocean Just Arrived For a Yearlong Test. Then Its Maker Went Bankrupt.
Even with everything going on right now, we’re embarking on a yearlong test of the Fisker Ocean.
That’s right, we’ve added a 2023 Fisker Ocean Extreme to our yearlong review fleet despite everything that’s going on with the company right now. You have questions, no doubt, and we have answers.
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Why Are We Doing This?
A couple of reasons. First and foremost, nearly every review of the Ocean to date has been a first drive impression (our comparison with the Model Y excepted, of course). Journalists have had a limited amount of time with it, and as a result, most reviews have focused heavily on the software. While we consider the Ocean a software-defined vehicle and fully appreciate how crucial it is to not only the functioning of the car but also customer satisfaction, there’s more to explore than just the apps. It is, after all, still a car. How it functions over a period longer than a couple days is worth exploring, especially because so few people have done so.
Hanging above all other questions, though, is what happens now that the company is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Will services be interrupted? Will features stop working? Will we be able to get it serviced if we need to, and what will that process look like? We don’t know the answers to any of these questions. We’ve never had a company fall into bankruptcy during a long-term evaluation, but we’ll share whatever happens with you.
Regardless, we’re excited to explore what the Ocean is like to live with and put its long list of standard features to work.
What Did MotorTrend Get?
We picked up our 2023 Ocean Extreme just 13 days before the bankruptcy filing. The Extreme is the second-highest trim level below the One launch edition and physically the same car short of some after-sales perks like free lifetime internet connectivity (presumably for the original buyer only), $1,000 in public charging credits, free infotainment system hardware upgrades, and an extended warranty.
The Extreme comes with tons of bells and whistles, including heated seats all around, the solar-panel sunroof that trickle-charges the battery, all-wheel drive, a boost mode that temporarily ups the maximum motor power, the rotating infotainment screen that lets you watch videos when the car is parked, the premium stereo, a rear screen with climate controls, a power tailgate, and EPA-estimated 360 miles of range, and of course, California mode, which drops every window but the windshield (even the little ones near the back on the sides) and opens the sunroof simultaneously.
The dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain puts out a cumulative 468 hp and 514 lb-ft, but with Boost mode active, it’ll jump to 564 hp and 543 lb-ft for the duration of a launch-control acceleration run. You can only use Boost mode 500 times over the life of the vehicle to cut down on wear and tear—but seriously, how many times are you really going to use it anyway? Our yearlong review Ocean, plucked from Fisker’s press fleet, came with 3,457 miles on it and 493 Boosts left. We’re not too worried about running out.
As it happens, our Fisker is the exact same Ocean we had in for the Tesla comparison a few months ago, so we already know exactly how well it performs. Using boost mode, it’s good for a 3.7-second sprint to 60 mph and a 12.3-second quarter-mile finish at 110.6 mph. It stops from 60 mph in 122 feet, which isn’t bad considering it weighs 5,358 pounds. Around a skidpad, it pulls 0.82 lateral g average, and in our figure-eight test, it ran a 26.7-second lap at 0.69 g average. That makes it quicker than a Model Y Long Range but otherwise a little behind the midsize electric SUV standard bearer, performance wise.
It does go farther than that Model Y, though. We’ve also already performed our Road-Trip Range Test and found the Ocean Extreme will go 292 miles at a constant 70 mph before you’ve used up 95 percent of the battery. The Model Y Long Range only goes 229 miles in the same test (though it’s only rated to go 330 miles).
All that for the price of $37,499, at current rates. As you may know, Fisker drastically cut Ocean prices starting in late March and later decided to waive the destination fee, all to help boost sales on existing inventory. Originally, our Ocean Extreme would’ve cost $63,937 to start and $69,091 as tested, owing to the $2,500 Sea Salt white Alcantara interior, $1,450 22-inch wheels, $975 Sea Grass dark green paint, $199 cargo cover, and $2,438 destination charge.
What Happens Now?
These be uncharted waters, so for now, we’re going to keep calm and carry on. We’re going to live with it, road trip it, haul people and stuff with it, try out all the features, and do all the other things we’d normally do with a long-term test car. Depending on what happens with Fisker the company, we’ll report on how that affects our car and what it means for owners. We have no idea what that’ll entail, but it’ll certainly be interesting.
Were you one of those kids who taught themselves to identify cars at night by their headlights and taillights? I was. I was also one of those kids with a huge box of Hot Wheels and impressive collection of home-made Lego hot rods. I asked my parents for a Power Wheels Porsche 911 for Christmas for years, though the best I got was a pedal-powered tractor. I drove the wheels off it. I used to tell my friends I’d own a “slug bug” one day. When I was 15, my dad told me he would get me a car on the condition that I had to maintain it. He came back with a rough-around-the-edges 1967 Volkswagen Beetle he’d picked up for something like $600. I drove the wheels off that thing, too, even though it was only slightly faster than the tractor. When I got tired of chasing electrical gremlins (none of which were related to my bitchin’ self-installed stereo, thank you very much), I thought I’d move on to something more sensible. I bought a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT and got my first speeding ticket in that car during the test drive. Not my first-ever ticket, mind you. That came behind the wheel of a Geo Metro hatchback I delivered pizza in during high school. I never planned to have this job. I was actually an aerospace engineering major in college, but calculus and I had a bad breakup. Considering how much better my English grades were than my calculus grades, I decided to stick to my strengths and write instead. When I made the switch, people kept asking me what I wanted to do with my life. I told them I’d like to write for a car magazine someday, not expecting it to actually happen. I figured I’d be in newspapers, maybe a magazine if I was lucky. Then this happened, which was slightly awkward because I grew up reading Car & Driver, but convenient since I don’t live in Michigan. Now I just try to make it through the day without adding any more names to the list of people who want to kill me and take my job.
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