Our 2023 Fisker Ocean Extreme Longtermer Proved a Cautionary Tale

And just like that, it was gone. Ostensibly picked up for some legally mandated recall work, our 2023 Fisker Ocean Extreme drove off and never came home. Three weeks later, we finally heard from our last remaining contact at the dying company that the car was gone for good. A rather ignominious, if not unexpected, end to our stewardship, and certainly not how these things usually play out.

We always knew this was a possibility. We were surprised Fisker even went through with the loan to us, as it was clear the company was going under in June when we took delivery of our Ocean. Sure enough, 13 days later, Fisker declared bankruptcy and never recovered. Once that happened, we figured one of three possibilities would play out:

• Option 1: Fisker takes the car back and sells it along with the rest of the unsold inventory to American Lease.
• Option 2: Fisker forgets we have the car (internal record keeping was reportedly spotty, at best), and eventually the bankruptcy court, a creditor, or American Lease comes looking for it months down the road.
• Option 3: Fisker and everyone else forgets we have the car, and we just end up keeping it.

Honestly, we figured Option 1 was the least likely, but it turns out—despite everything else going on—they were keeping tabs on us after all. On the one hand, we were a little sad to see the experiment cut short but, on the other, not especially upset at dodging any consequences of sticking it out.

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What Did We Learn?

More than anything, our abbreviated test of the Ocean was a cautionary tale. For owners, for investors, and for anyone considering rolling the dice on a startup automaker in the future. We’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve told us they bet big on Fisker hoping it would be the next Tesla only to lose it all, whether by purchasing a car at the original MSRP or the stock when it went public. A lot of people got burned, and a lot of owners are stuck with cars that are buggy, have almost no parts and service support, and are worth a tiny fraction of their original price.

Specifically, we learned companies rushing to get their first product on the market are prone to cutting corners, especially on software. Fisker isn’t alone in this; even Tesla has delivered cars without all their features enabled. In the Ocean’s case, though, functions like adaptive cruise control will never be turned on, the hardware installed in the car and baked into the price rendered forever useless.

Still, Fisker stands with only VinFast in the sheer volume of software glitches we experienced in a matter of months. Unlike VinFast, though, Fisker isn’t around to do anything about them anymore. The one software update we experienced mostly fixed problems relating to a recall and even managed to introduce a new bug as a parting gift.

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Look on the Bright Side

Despite the challenges, the underlying car was pretty good. Forget all the bells and whistles; as a vehicle, it does a fine job of getting you from A to B in quiet comfort. We commuted, we road-tripped, we shuttled friends and family, and in those mundane tasks we found a lot of promise. No, it wasn’t much for corner-carving, but it never promised to be.

Beyond the everyday, we found a lot to like in the car’s unique features. Far and away our favorite was California Mode, which opened every window in the car except the windshield and instantly cooled the interior on a hot day. We got far more use out of that than the rotating screen and its streaming apps, but the latter weren’t unwelcome on long charging stops. We also never tired of looking at it, though explaining to fellow aesthetic admirers they shouldn’t go buy a used one got old after a while. The “taco trays,” though? Mostly useless.

We also found it to be sturdy, solid, and well built inside and out. Thank contract manufacturer Magna for that one. The plethora of recycled materials making up the interior, meanwhile, warmed our tree-hugging hearts.

More than anything, we appreciated its range. Nearly 300 miles of 70-mph highway driving puts quite a lot of EVs to shame and made road trips far less stressful by reducing charging stops. Its 37-minute charging time needed to get from 5 to 80 percent is less impressive but far from the worst we’ve experienced.

To be fair, Fisker arrived at those numbers through some brute-force engineering. A 113-kWh battery will take a while to charge even if it accepts a lot of power from the charger. It also masks some inefficiency with sheer capacity. No, our long-term Tesla Model Y doesn’t go as far on a full charge, but it got 2.90 miles to the kilowatt-hour over the first four months and 6,862 miles in our fleet, whereas the Fisker only managed 2.27 miles per kWh over 6,660 miles. As such, the cost per mile for the Fisker was $0.17 to the Tesla’s $0.11.

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The Trade-Offs

We’re also thankful we never faced a mechanical issue with the car, nor an accident (though we did come frighteningly close). Repairing a car with no dealer network, almost no ready supply of spare parts, and precious few technicians with the software to work on it was a constant source of stress, especially when we were a long way from home. Would we be able to fix it, ever? The honest truth is: We don’t know, and we’re not mad we didn’t have to find out.

A fender-bender totaling the car wasn’t the only source of worry, either. Recurring glitches in the active and passive safety systems left us unconvinced they’d be fully operational in the event of an emergency. All we could do was drive the car as if it were a 2003 model, not a 2023, and assume the electronic safety net simply didn’t exist.

In a way, experiencing the Ocean was like driving a brand-new 20-year-old car. Workable, certainly, but not recommended for the squeamish. You have to want to drive this car, specifically, (or have no other choice) and be willing to take a chance on glitches and damages.

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Not Any Time Soon

As far as we’re aware, this is the first time an automaker has gone out of business during a MotorTrend long-term test. Given all the anxiety and uncertainty, it’s not something we’re itching to experience again any time soon. Still, it was a unique and intriguing situation to report on, not to mention a guidepost for future encounters with startup automakers.

Much as we were able to make peace with the Ocean’s shortcomings, though, it’s not something we can recommend in good conscience. Some Fisker owners have banded together to support each other with service support, parts, and knowledge, but there’s simply not a lot to go around. If you don’t already have one, we would advise against picking one up cheap unless you’re fully prepared to write it off entirely at the first sign of major trouble. For those who do still own them, you have our thoughts and prayers.

For More on Our Long-Term 2023 Fisker Ocean Extreme:

• Our Fisker Ocean Just Arrived For a Yearlong Test. Then Its Maker Went Bankrupt.
• We Know Fisker’s Bankrupt, but What’s This SUV Like as a Car?
• Risky Business? Road-Tripping a Fisker Ocean EV Isn't for the Meek
• The SUV of the Year Review of Our 2023 Fisker Ocean Extreme (Sort Of)
• Everything That’s Gone Wrong With Our Fisker Ocean

Sea Salt Interior ($2,500: white Alcantara interior color); 22-inch F06 Vortex wheels ($1,450); Sea Grass paint ($975); Retractable cargo cover ($199)