- Edmunds bought a Fisker Ocean 10 months ago for a long-term test.
- It proved to be an extremely expensive experiment, with the Ocean losing 80% of its value in less than the year.
- The experience itself was bad, too, with laggy software and a litany of unfulfilled promises.
Edmunds just wrapped up a 10-month test of the Fisker Ocean, and boy was it expensive. The auto buying site purchased the top-trim Ocean for $69,012. After 10 months that included Fisker filing for bankruptcy, the car is now worth $13,500. That hurts.
Watching Edmunds' latest video on the Fisker, it's not hard to see why. The brand's editors describe a litany of issues that they assumed would get better over time. But with Fisker now effectively defunct, there's little hope it'll get any better. With almost no spare parts out there and only a crowdsourced patchwork of support options, it may actually get worse.
That's tough when starting from such a low baseline. From the beginning, the Ocean has struggled to detect its keyfob. Senior Reviews Editor Brian Wong says it frequently fails to recognize an unlock command even after holding the button for 15-20 seconds. The car also occasionally won't detect the key once he gets inside, and it won't start until the issue resolves itself. Staffers couldn't carry a backup key, either, as the Ocean only came with one fob. The company promised that a mobile app was on the way to provide an alternative access method, but it never did. Now, it never will. There are plenty of other software issues that Edmunds editors and buyers alike were expecting to get fixed.
"We were really counting on those updates to sort of fix those things as we went along," Wong said.
The car still rolls backwards on hills when you let off the brake, he said. It was supposed to have a hill start function from the get-go. But it never worked. Fisker said an auto-brake-hold function was coming in software version 2.0, but Edmunds' vehicle never got it. Editors also complained of a laggy, low-resolution backup camera. There was enough of a delay that you might not see an object before you hit it, one staffer noted.
It wasn't all bad news, though. The Fisker looks good and rides well, with an exceptional maximum range. In Edmunds' range test, the Ocean delivered 358 miles of range in mixed city/highway conditions. That's fantastic for a mid-size electric SUV. Plus, people loved the California mode, which allows you to drop all of the glass behind the windshield, including the panoramic roof, the small window behind the C pillar and the rear glass. I often see a Fisker Ocean at my local surf break in California mode, with a surfboard sticking out of the back. The advertisement writes itself.
But unfortunately, there's no one left to buy an ad spot. Fisker is bankrupt, leaving its owners in the lurch. Edmunds took an 80% hit on this car, losing $55,512 in less than a year. The company buys these cars to get a true ownership experience. For Fisker owners, there's only one way to describe it: Brutal.
Contact the author: Mack.Hogan@insideevs.com.
