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Deal breaker that might keep you from buying?
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Deal breaker that might keep you from buying?
updated 1 month ago
74 Members
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78
Replies
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I don’t care much about steering wheels, will adapt, and paint approach is not critical to me. That said there are five items I can think of:
1. Ingres/Egress(I hate hitting my head)
2. Seat comfort(a vehicle that provides this range must allow staying in the seat for said range)
3. Rear view monitors/cameras must remain
4. Inability to defog windscreen completely
5. Inability to climb large hills (thermal limitations on discharge)
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If Siri, Alexa or Google is built in, I’m out.
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I have zero interest in monthly subscriptions/integrated data plans, or live data collection on the vehicle.
One of the things that attracted me in the first place was the “right to repair” angle, with diagrams available to the owner. I don’t want proprietary anything, or monthly fees.
+1 also on competent windscreen (critical) and windows (very important) defrosting. I had a car that had weak defrost, it was very unsafe as the weather turned.
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A built in kill switch. I’d find a way to locate and remove it if I can. I saw something about kill switches being put on all cars after 2025 (?) I am not a fan of anything Big Brother associated with my personal belongings. To me my car fits into the fourth amendment rule of law. Maybe that’s why I’m hanging on to the 96 Cherokee. 😜
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I cannot forsee any deal-breaker on design. They completely sold me on the efficiency first principle, so I’m likely to roll with any changes assuming they thought it through.
Cost increase could make me a little nervous, and on that I’d rather them first remove any luxury features, and try to stick to pre-order specs. I’m a barbones type of car guy, spent my young adult life working on air-cooled VWs, so I prefer simple and indifferent to comfort.
The biggest deal-breaker would be management changes. Basically the same major factor why they liquidated the first try. I get nervous with IPO talk, even though more money means I get my Aptera faster, but with more money means more obligation to that money, and I wouldn’t want Steve and Chris to be either replaced by a board, or their vision and determination diluted.
Lastly, if I don’t get my pre-order by the end of 2023 or at least know my ~10k place in line is moving close, I might pull-out. I’ve been wanting to go EV for about a year. My two vehicles are in still great condition, so no rush yet, but I prefer to stop depending on and wasting money on fossil fuels sooner than later.
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Two deal breakers for me would be if I don’t get at least around 30 miles of range from solar. Of course, I chose the full solar option; and yes, I do live in a sunny area. The idea of not having to or rarely charging my vehicle is what really got me on board, so if that turns out to not come true for me, I may have to rethink my next vehicle choice.
The other being if they raise their prices too much due to inflation. They could end up keeping the same prices but lowering the range as I’ve seen someone else mention here, like 400 mile to 300 mile.
This isn’t really a deal breaker for me, but more of a suggestion to Aptera. I would very much prefer the rear view camera to be placed higher up. Where it is now appears to be at waist level. It would be nice to be able to see more than the front of the vehicle behind me, as I’m used to in my current car. I guess I assumed the camera would be built in above the rear window, (or rear solar if you’re getting that option) allowing for a normal view of behind.
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Bad suspension, bad seats or only plastic wrap are breakers.
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Well, much ado about the newly shown Yoke steering wheel. My take is that’s a full blown NO !
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While I can’t say I’m a fan of some of the changes that are being shown in the new Beta renderings, I can say those changes are not deal breakers. What would keep me from continuing to want the Aptera would be seat and driving comfort. After two spinal fusions, one at each end, I don’t enjoy getting in and out of short cars. A comfortable and adjustable seat is a must, as is the ability to sit up while driving. I cannot do the lay-down sports car thing anymore.
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Maybe not a deal breaker but did I read somewhere there is not going to be support for Android Auto? Really??? That will be hard to live without and not sure how I could work around that issue at this point.
Second issue is the mirrors but still probably not a deal breaker. I currently drive a 2020 Hyundai Sonata with the mirrors displayed over the gauges when the turn signals are activated. This has been my only car for over two years and I am still not really used to this feature although I do still have the physical mirrors which I do usually use. If I was forced to use the virtual displays then maybe I would get used to the idea. I have the full solar option reserved and if what I read somewhere is true about the display for the center rearview mirror being in the same place as the physical mirror would be then I am fine with that.
I usually drive with a 4 and 8 position on the steering wheel so I think I could adapt to the yoke without issue as long as the wheel had a good turning ratio. I think somewhere I also read that during long drives the driving assist helps with hand fatigue which is exactly what I have found to be true with my Sonata.
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No level 2 driving capability, solar charging, or 600 mile range would make me wait until they are available.
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Maybe the width. The biggest thing I’ve driven up to this point is a Lincoln Towncar that was 10 inches narrower and it was a pain to park and navigate car lots in. I’m sure I can get used to it in time but if a narrower version or configuration comes along you can go ahead and sign me up.
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A yoke only steering device is a hard pass. If a yoke/wheel are no cost options, fine. I will take the wheel. I have never had a car where I couldn’t adjust the wheel or seat to see the gauges. If that is an issue then move the instrument panel, or make that info a heads up display and put everything else on the center screen. The only relevant things on my Tesla instrument screen are the speed I am going and navigation repeated from the center screen. Everything else is fluff. I like seeing my energy use, but it’s not important.
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A price increase would be a deal breaker for me.
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At this point the only real deal breaker would be subscriptions. Aptera doesn’t want to supports Android Auto? That’s fine but if I’m forced to pay a subscription for Aptera’s navigation software than I would not get the vehicle. Along with that any subscription, I know a car company recently made there heated seats a subscription service and I hate that idea.
A couple things that are almost a deal breaker for me but I’m willing to give it a try are the giant touch screen infotainment center and climate controls with no physic buttons, the Yoke and finally the tiny side mirrors.
I personally love physical buttons, I think there much safer in a car and easier to use. As for the yoke I just don’t consider it safe considering it makes turning the “wheel” past 90 degrees harder ontop of the fact I personally think it just looks terrible. I understand that no side mirrors or tiny side mirrors make the vehicle more aerodynamic but I personally would take slightly less efficiency for real side mirrors.
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Have to have a vegan interior option.
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A price increase. I know many say it’s inevitable but I say they should honor the original price for us early adopters. Raise the price on those who purchase after the vehicle goes into production.
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For me, deal breakers:
1. Safety, if it shows horrific crash test results
2. Efficiency, if the current claims grossly over-estimate the efficiency/range it can achieve
I feel neither is likely.
I think, most of the interior concerns can be mitigated by after-market solutions, at least to the extent that I deem acceptable.
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A significant upward price adjustment would put me into the market for other EV’s.
Yoke steering: meh, but does it have to look like a cartoon face?
Wrap: when it goes bad, on goes some Imron so no problem
Resistance heat: I live in FL so no issue. Pet peave for everyone discussing heat pumps… A/C units are, in fact, heat pumps just not reversible cycle heat pumps…should be little difference in weight.
Tesla charge port: Maybe an issue if they dont have a software handshake with Tesla. There are JC to Tesla ac charging adapters so I dont need a Tesla home charger and with that adapter lots of destination L2 chargers are opened up, but it is the realistic use of Tesla fast charge network that has no specifics yet.
Rear camera: please dont put display up where the mirror always goes. I will not have hatch solar (trivial difference in the real world given the best case solar charge and because I will never leave the car out in the sun all day in Florida on a tegular basis). I want a proper mirror for that spot for use with a unobstructed hatch.
No radio head unit: easily rectified in a number of ways so no problem.
No Android Auto: Now THAT is an issue but not a deal breaker.
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PAINT! No Wrap! Sure, it means jobbing out the final finish, or building a really massive paint booth to paint 40 cars (200 cars?) a day, but paint lasts decades and can be touched up. Last encounter I had with a wrap is that when someone keyed the front bra of an acquanitance’s Porche, it cost him $500 to get rid of the wrinkle. That was just the front one-foot of the car! Imagine if it had to be an entire vehicle or monocoque.
No matter what, a wrap is going to look terrible in 3 years even if there are no antisocial teenagers in the vicinity. Let’s paint them.
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Maybe not a total deal breaker, but if AC charging speed is severely limited, e.g. to 3.6 kW without the option to upgrade it to 11 or preferably 22 kW it would make the car a lot less attractive to me.
Also I hope that the 50 kW DC charging speed gets increased, at least for the 600 and 1000 kWh versions.
Solar charging for me is a very nice feature, but if it means slow normal charging, that is a big minus.
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The possible deal breaker(s) for me:
a) 88in width – a 1 1/2 inch allowance/gap on each side edge of wheel pant, to garage door sill edge; possibly I would just reverse park the Aptera, leaving the front wheels/pants just outside/front of garage sill. That, or I garage the old ICE Mazda6 (should I keep it) inside and park the Aptera in front of garage, for it’s daily Sun charge. Lifted Off Road Kit option might solve this garage door sill scraping issue altogether.
b) Yoke – I’ve been practicing my ICE Mazda6 steering, holding at 9 & 3 o’clock often while cruising or turning and at times, at the 5/6/7 o’clock. It takes getting used to. But I can adapt to it. Seems doable.
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Nothing too significant prevents me from purchasing, except for the lack of Blind Spot Sensors (they are a necessity for me, if they are part of the self driving package that is fine) and if the price increases too significantly from my reservation price. (aka Rivian)
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The only real deal breaker I can fathom is if the cabin is very small/uncomfortable for long trips. This is my freedom car. I’m getting 600 mile so I can drive all day and charge overnight. If I cannot be comfortable driving this car for 8 hours in a day, that might do it for me. Otherwise, I’m all in.
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Hmm I think the only potential deal breakers for myself is if price rises by a significant amount or if it takes a good deal longer (years) to get to production.