Fisker Tramonto
Nauman Farooq drives Henrik Fisker's first coachbuilt car
Fisker Tramonto
The wait is finally over. If you saw the story PistonHeads broke yesterday (see link below), you'll know that many have been waiting anxiously as to what Henrik Fisker's first car would look like.
The tension started when we ran the story in January this year that Fisker, Aston Martin’s former design director, was going his own way, and had announced that his new car company would be called Fisker Coachbuild. We didn’t have to wait long because, after fewer than eight months, we are now looking at the first production-ready product.
Not only that, I have driven it too.
Yes, that’s right, I was invited to Southern California, to drive the car, ahead of its launch at the Frankfurt Autoshow.
Normally, a car company shows us a car at some big auto show, and then sends us an invitation six months later to have a go in it. So confident was he of his product, Fisker didn’t mind letting me drive it.
So, what is the first product from Fisker Coachbuild?
First buy one of these
Fisker has taken those coachbuilding values, and taken them to the next level. So, this is not a car built from scratch but one based on an existing production car, in this case, a Mercedes-Benz SL55. Yet this is not just a re-skinned SL55, it is a thoroughly worked over SL55.
Motivation
It has a unique sound track too. Fisker and his business partner Bernhard Koehler, who is the engineering arm in the company (and had previously spent the last 21 years with BMW) wanted to make sure the cars sound has its own identity. The result is a sound that is different from anything you can think of.
Actually, I can tell you what it sounds like: when the throttle is wide open, it sounds like a Nascar doing 200mph around the Texas Motor Speedway. That is appropriate, since the biggest market for this car will be North America, and appropriate also since this car can, claims Fisker, hit a Nascar-matching 205 mph. It also has a claimed 0-60 mph time of 3.6 seconds. That makes it as quick as a Lamborghini Murcielago. It didn’t feel as quick as that, but perhaps one day we'll attach test equipment to it and get an objective idea of what it’ll really do.
Under there somewhere is an SL55
You can quibble about the numbers but this is, without doubt, a seriously quick car. This car is more eager to pounce off the line than the SL55 -- if you want a car specifically to win traffic light grand prix, this is it. The remapping of the Benz gearbox also means it will react to your inputs far faster. Even on the go, as soon as I twitched my right toe, it instantly lunged forward up to speeds that would have given me a free stay at the Los Angeles Police Department.
One thing I never liked on the SL55 was the instability of the back end in tight corners, and the floatiness of the ride at highway speeds. The Tramonto fixes that. Fisker and Koehler again tweaked the suspension, giving it a firmer ride, some of which might be courtesy of the gorgeous 20-inch rims, and has added a ride height feature, which allows you to raise the whole car by an inch. That should make it slightly easier to go over speed bumps.
The new suspension componentry has also tied down the rear end. This goes around tight corners as if it were velcroed to the tarmac. It has also eliminated the floaty feel and as a result it now feels like a sports car, not just a GT pretending to be a sports car. A pleasant surprise was that despite the new components -- and there are a lot of them -- there are no shakes or rattles, even on some very choppy roads. And I do mean no shakes or rattles at all. So yes, the fit and finish is superb.
Eyes right
The other thing to note is how many heads you turn just driving around. To my surprise, Fisker had allowed me to test the car on the roads around Newport Beach (which is strange, since the car had a picture embargo on it). He explained that since most of the owners would use it on roads such as these, that's where it should be tested.
The thumbs up and “nice car, mister” comments are great, but it was a bit of an unnerving experience since the car I was driving is the exact car that would be shown at the Frankfurt auto show -- and as a development test vehicle, it was worth about two million dollars.
Not to worry, the production model doesn’t cost that much, but the price tag of US$253,000 is still a lot of money. That price can change significantly, depending on the options you order.
Armani on wheels
You get hold of one of these by first ordering an SL55 with all the options you want. Fisker gets the car delivered to him -- sadly he has no special deal with Mercedes-Benz -- and he incorporates all the options into the Tramonto. So if you had park distance control on your SL55, it’ll retain that.
However, when you open the boot, you find it lined with alcantera, and the handle for the convertible top tray is now made from aluminium -- though it retains the SL55's powered hard-top roof. That's not the only item to get treated in nice materials. The new bodywork is made from carbon fibre, so it’s a bit lighter than the SL55. The interior can be trimmed in many different types of materials -- basically anything you can think of.
After all, this is a custom made car. Think of it as an Armani suit on wheels.
And that's the key to its attraction to prospective customers. If you happen to live in places like Monaco,Dubai or Southern California, SLs are common as muck. So, if you like the Benz platform, but don’t want to drive the car that everyone else seems to have, you want a Fisker. Since Fisker will produce no more than 150 examples of the Tramonto for the global market, you certainly won't be tripping over them.
Is it worth it?
I know what you’re saying: this is a lot more expensive than an SL55, so is it worth it? Think of it this way: this car would appeal to those who like the Brabus-tuned SL. The reality is that this car is just as fast as the Mercedes-McLaren SLR, and it is a whole lot cheaper than that, and allows you to go topless. You could go even faster too, because Fisker is working on an SL65-based version with a likely 680bhp.
Still, you might not be totally convinced, and that's fine, since only 150 people will ever own one. It very probably won’t be bought by people who just won the lottery but, if you have a car collection or have owned many different exotics over the years, this will be of interest to you.
So, do I like the car? It's a car to be seen in and to enjoy being seen in. And if it makes you feel like a million dollars and costs you a quarter of a million, it's totally worth it.
naumanf1 said:
The price tag of US$253,000 includes the price of the SL55.
Since it is a coachbuild car, it will be sold around the world, so even Denmark and UK. If you can buy an SL55 in your country, you can buy one of these too.
Well, yes.
In Denmark the main obstacle is that the price of a SL55 is ~380,000 € to start with.
So the whole car would easily touch 700,000 € or more which may be a limiting factor in its popularity.
>> Edited by dca on Thursday 15th September 09:28
but what is it 
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