2018 Karma Revero Review - What The Heck Is It???

[@skittlesgarage]

Karma owner here: The exhaust smell is a myth. The car turns off when it stops unless you are at 0 miles. At speed you’ll never smell the exhaust, even when you have the window open. BTW- the biggest reason the original car failed was because the sole battery supplier, A123 went out of business. There were other issues, for sure, but not having a battery supplier for your electric car is going to make it impossible to build and sell more units.

[@chaseincats]

KARMA OWNER HERE: the blue bar is your "power buffer." It will decrease if you drive aggressively and refil itself as you drive normally/quicker during regen braking. The car will go into 'reduced power mode' if you dip below the final bar. Regardless of how aggressively I drive, I've never gotten the blue gauge below half.

[@adonissowah1774]

Hi I’m seriously considering buying this car . My skepticism is in regards to range . I’m under the impression that as advertised I only get 100 miles in range . My question is when terms of refueling. Do I just fill up with gasoline and the generator will take care of charging the battery? Or do I have to charge the batteries as well when covering long distances? I was under the impression it was fill up and go?

[@chaseincats]

@@adonissowah1774 the battery will get you ~50 miles. when the battery is empty, the gas generator will come on to maintain the battery's state of charge. if you dont want to charge it, just put gas in. the caveat is the car gets ~20MPG when running on gas. it is really designed to be a commuter ev with a backup generator in case you drive further than 50 miles. my daily commute is ~40 miles so I only really use a few miles of gas over the weekend when I drive to see friends, etc. it works exactly the same way the Chevrolet Volt works, if that helps.

[@skittlesgarage]

I test drove a Revero @ West Coast Exotics years ago and liked it so much, I took my chances and bought a 2012 Fisker Karma back in 2022. Besides the 2 new screens, software and extra drive mode (sustain), the interior is identical to my car and the driving experience is nearly identical. These cars handle well and are fun to drive. And the car is a looker.

[@anthonykiedis1765]

The Fisker Karma is probably the cheapest "exotic" you can buy. Despite how few were made, I regularly see them on the used market for $30,000ish.

[@xFactoryUSA]

Yes, cus you aren’t going to autozone for parts. Good luuuucccckkk hahaha

[@anthonykiedis1765]

@@xFactoryUSA you aren't going anywhere for parts. Pretty sure finding parts and/or someone to touch that thing would be the biggest obstacle lol

[@bwofficial1776]

@@xFactoryUSA At least the gas engine is from GM.

[@LousWRX]

I remember seeing a silver one of these vehicles in Naperville. It was the previous model you had mentioned, The Fisker Karma, as you mentioned the vehicle is huge, they weigh 5,300 lbs. The 2012 Karma has a 0-60 time of 6 seconds. I'm going to guess the overall vehicles weight, and one speed transmission are the reasons behind its lacking performance, but otherwise it definitely as you mentioned one of the most unique looking vehicles out there, especially for its time. Bur very cool review Zack, and I'm glad you had the time to review one and talk about its history.

[@doctorzaius4084]

Electric motors make a ton of torque, but those figures don't line up with the OOMPH you'd expect from comparable output in a normal car. The Fisker Karma motor made an impressive 959lb/ft, but that's passing through a single-speed (1:1) transmission and a 4:1 axle ratio for 3,836lb/ft of torque at the wheels. For comparison, an Infiniti Q50 RS engine makes roughly the same 400hp, with only 350lb/ft of torque. But multiplied through a 7-speed transmission (4.783:1 1st gear) and 3.133:1 axle ratio you get about 5,245lb/ft maximum at the wheels (even more, technically, since there's some amount of multiplication through the torque converter as well). And that's in a car that weighs over 1,000lbs less!

[@starcrash1750]

As a Finn i have never see them and the factory that Produced them (Valmet Automotive) now Build's Mercedes 😄

[@KingLos312]

I’ve seen a red Karma revero out here in Chicago like 2 weeks ago and fell in love with it. It’s an absolutely beautifully different looking exotic car and looking to buy 1 soon

[@Foxonian]

In the original Fisker Karma, the roof solar panels only ran all of the accessories in the car like the A/C, power windows, etc. No doubt due to advances in solar technology, Karma could get more power out of the same size panels to do all of that and charge the battery.

[@losingmyfavoritegame8752]

I would play with the regenerative brake paddle all of the time! 😂

[@mooremaceo]

I didn't fall in love with this car until I saw one in person! Definitely has a one of a kind presence!

[@gg_vard]

Not surprising at all to see the stalks and steering wheel buttons are GM parts * Electric mirrors, too! I think thst part is also used in European Opels

[@chaseincats]

the controls on the steering wheel are right out of a chevy volt

[@theoutsider7581]

The blue bar gauge is called the Performance Buffer - but haven't found what it actually is representing

[@Robcomesana]

I'm only guessing here, but probably it has to do with battery available power. When any battery runs on lower charge percentages or is hot or cold or stressed, the BMS usually reduces the max. available power. This blue bar may be more related to charge, however. Since engine max. power is lower than electric max. power, the battery acts as a buffer. So, if you do some hard acceleration and then go easy with the traffic, the engine would recharge the battery easily. However, if you do a hard acceleration driving or really high speed driving, the average power leaving the battery may be higher than the engine max. power. So, it may lose energy faster than it's restored, even with the engine at full throttle. On that scenario, the blue bar would probably go down, giving you feedback on a lower available power. I may be wrong, but this makes sense to me.

[@jacquesc3166]

@@Robcomesana Reasonable guess.

[@jameyyork8085]

I LOVE driving this car. Is it practical? No. But I don't mind getting stuck in traffic anymore. As far as interior space, I'm 6 feet tall and I have enough room to go from the driver's seat to the back seat with plenty of leg room. The visibility is limited and it is a big car. There have been a few hiccups learning the different settings but Karma concierge is like having your own personal advisor. And I do. His name is Steven. I do have one unsolved mystery. What is the "slot" between the cupholders and the console armrest?

[@celsovera91]

One thing I did appreciate about Fisker is that it was originally based in my hometown of Anaheim, CA

[@Koulis_]

Henrik Fisker was a designer for Aston Martin for a while and was partially in charge of the design of the DB9 which I think shows in some of the detail in this car. He went on to do some of the initial design for the Tesla Model S which I think, again, has some influence in areas of this car.

[@dontelindsey5846]

Had no idea he worked with Tesla.

[@TheGamingNorwegian]

@@dontelindsey5846 Yea he did, thats when he got the bright idea to start his own car company and design a turd for Tesla.

[@bwofficial1776]

Fisker's a bit of a sore spot in my area. My state gave them millions of dollars in subsidies to renovate a then-recently closed GM plant to build Karmas. They never did anything and then disappeared with the money. The plant ended up getting torn down and converted into a massive Amazon warehouse. It's ironic that this uses a GM engine and GM switchgear. I've seen one at my office and they are distinctive. We've come a long way in battery packaging. As you're sitting at a traffic light, you get to enjoy your own car's fumes.

[@wondercat6169]

Karma Reveros aren't made from Fisker for whatever that's worth

[@dontelindsey5846]

We must both live in the same state. People were and still are upset about that.

[@davidglad]

Funny. Playing with that chime about 8:00 in sounds like the Speed Racer opening title sequence!

[@cosmoid]

Could the blue bar perhaps demonstrate the ratio of electric to gas usage?

[@scott8919]

I'm wondering if that blue bar is showing power available. Like when the motors heat up it must drop to show you can only access a certain percentage. Ten segments = 10% each? The only other thing I can think of is it shows time left for full power. Like if you're flooring it it counts down until the motors need to cool.

[@denvera1g1]

The original Kharma was what inspired me to want to take something with a larger roof, and integrate solar into it to use for something more than just a bit of cooling, say a 1996 Cadillac Fleetood limousine, a 15 passenger ford econoline, or hupefully eventually, a school bus.

[@tomehCanada]

I love the looks of it and it would be a fun commuter car.

[@losingmyfavoritegame8752]

Clearly the blue bar is how unique the car is.

[@deathstar1235]

Hey I just got myself a 2003 caddilac seville sts. Saw your video 2 years ago about a Deville. Only worry is the Northstar V8. This one has 170k miles on it so hopefully that's a good thing for me.

[@davidp2888]

5:25 Very weird optics going on. It looks like you're driving into the sun when looking through the windshield. The tinting on the side windows makes a huge difference.

[@doctorzaius4084]

The original Fisker came out around the same time as the Tesla Model S, and back then I was SURE the Fisker would be the big hit and the Tesla would flop. I thought they both looked great, but the plug-in hybrid was a lot more practical (virtually zero public charging infrastructure in 2011) especially since it used a bunch of off-the-shelf GM parts. Well, obviously that was very wrong. I only ever saw 3 Fisker Karmas - one was at a film shoot in Manhattan and two looked DOA and dusty being towed on a flatbed. I have seen a few Karma Reveros since they began making them again, and I still think they look great, but it's shocking that anyone buys them at this point. The only other car that was a true series hybrid like this was the BMW i3 with the optional range extender. Even the Volt and newer Honda hybrids have the capability of using the gas engine to drive the wheels, although they rarely do. It seems confusing that a relatively powerful and not particularly efficient engine is used in the Karmas, but they need a very large generator to keep those batteries charged!

[@VladimirBlarp]

They are striking cars that are a mechanical mess. The car itself looks slick, it looks fast, and looks exotic. But underneath those looks is a mind boggling mechanical and electrical zoo of weirdness matched by no other car out there.

[@marcelt.3315]

*MYSTERIOUS BLUE BAR* it looks to be a ½inch from the fuel gauge icon that has an arrow directly next to it pointing directly at blue bar?!? Think it's basically telling ya your fuel economy in a poorly designed blue bar system, you STOMP on the GAS, the BAR'S go DOWN!? Think it's a basic MPG fuel economy status Icon, wrapped in something kind of complicated??! I could be wrong, that's my guess!??

[@projectcarz4798]

Blue gauge is probably a mpg or efficiency gauge

[@DiscGolfDom23]

All of the steering wheel controls/stalks are 100% GM, they look like they're from a Cruze or Sonic.

[@matthewspry4217]

The new ones are built with a BMW engine??

[@betrapvideos]

I saw 1 in Virginia in 2011...and never again

[@gg_vard]

Wasn't there another version, from a different company, of the Karma / Revero but with a V8?

[@The_gear_head_]

The destino v8 which is just an ls swapped rebranding

[@dave11686]

So cool

[@UpperRobin29]

It has a 2.0 LNF motor just to not use it. Weird

[@laskos02]

Seen one in Poland

[@jacquesc3166]

What color was it??

[@laskos02]

@@jacquesc3166 silver in Kielce

[@American_Voyager101]

KARMA IS MY BOYFRIEND KARMA IS A GOD KARMA IS THE BREEZE ON MY HAIR ON THE WEEKEND KARMA IS A RELAXING THOUGHT aside from the taylor swift stuff, the branding stills puzzles me and people say that the older versions have a horrible sticky infotaimnent screen

[@globuslive]

She shuts off bruh, when stopping, so exhaust is not the issue

[@jeebusk]

video a bit long winded...

[@HMartindeCampo]

What’s the max distance?? 0 to 60? You lost the light because you missed out on some important data buddy… and I didn’t subscribe because of it

[@Josh-hv5ni]

This guy does better than 90% of reviewers.. and he’s one of the only karma revero reviews that isn’t blatantly sponsored by karma