Fossil Free Friday: I saw the wrong thing - An Electric Kia Oddball

-
[Imaginary Fossil Free Friday bonus points for anyone who visits all six clickable links.]

Do you ever feel like you're looking in the wrong direction? Maybe you're walking along looking at a bug in the grass while not noticing the alligator walking down the street? I do that sort of thing a lot. Every day I find my nose pointed in the wrong direction to see what everyone else is gawking at.

Snagit Kia! I want the little blue beast!

Kia put out a new electric car ad this week. And it made me happy until the plot turned and I realized I had been looking at the bug in the grass while they had the (really cool) alligator parked in the  garage.

See the video here

I saw the little blue car and immediately started having Logan's Run fantasies - I've had a lot more of those since visiting the fountains in Fort Worth. But I saw the wedge front end and was thrilled to see a modern incarnation of my beloved Citicar. And I saw the digital readouts in the cozy cabin and thought how sweet it would be to have that car as my around-town commuter. Sigh...

Sorry, dear - I'd drive it!

(Yes, I feel sorry for my wife, too. She has put up with the ever-present fear of what I'll drag home next for a lot of years now.)

I'd definitely order the optional brakes! (with regen!)

But then there's the plot twist where my dream car runs out of juice and starts rolling backwards. It seems my dream car has no brakes, none whatsoever. Then the fantasy ends and the "real" electric car is revealed.

The plug-in Kia Niro EV

The commercial turned out to be for the Kia Niro EV, which is a legitimate and very desirable (and affordable) crossover SUV with 240 miles of range. It's a car-thing that I've wanted since it was announced - a car that will easily do our local running about and realistically get us to the Metroplex to see the fabulous young woman without burning a drop of gasoline.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finally - tackling the No-Weld, Longtail DIY Cargo Bike (for hopefully less than $100)

-
Image
I finally started, y'all! Long-time readers of MH or 2WM are thinking, Jeez, MH, it took you long enough! To that I say,  Both of you are absolutely right. Our biggest-ever posts on both blogs have been about cargo bikes, and the really big one is about a No-Weld DIY Longtail Cargo Bike . So, here we go, people - it's time to build one. This week, the final piece fell into place: a Giant Simple Single cruiser bike ($35ish). Originally, I planned to pick up a cheap Huffy cruiser for the build, but cheap Huffys (Huffies?) have been rather rare lately, so I ended up with a nicer (but cheaper) bike. The free swingarm donor The other two main components that previously came into place are a nice and very cheap 3-speed Schwinn step-through ($20 and not pictured) and a junky full-suspension mountain bike ($0). So, the goal here is to balance this equation: Giant + Schwinn + Junky MTB = Longtail Cargo Bike < $100 Humble beginnings (I'll also
Read more

New Turn-Key Klunkers (Or DIY your own)

-
Image
Yep, my most recent distractions have been variations on the klunker. I've always been fond of upcycled vehicles, the ones where you take something old and uncared-for and turn it into something useful and enjoyed. Cafe racers, resto-mods, rat rods, lowriders, bobbers, all of them have caught my eye over the years. And the klunker fits right in. About forty years ago, some people in California started using old balloon-tired cruiser bicycles and modifying them to become the prototype for the modern mountain bike. If you do an image search for a klunker, you get something that looks like this: That's a whole lot of DIY retro-coolness! But wait.... Yep, at least eight of those are not DIY - they are new! Sure enough, for those of you with klunker lust who'd rather ride than wrench, there are options out there, and some are relatively affordable. The Retrospec Sully For a little over $300 you can have a well equipped klunker with retro looks and qu
Read more

A Return to Low $ Turn-Key Klunkers (Under $500)

-
Image
So, let's talk turn-key klunker again. After spending a year riding and upgrading a (pseudo) klunker, it's become my favorite type of bike. The old HuffKlunk morphed into my favorite mountain-BMX-short-distance commuter, and it's the easiest bike for a grab-and-go ride. Surprisingly, it's also one of the lightest and most comfortable bikes I've owned. So, now I keep an eye out for klunker news and...guess what - a new one popped up this week - the Schwinn Rumbler. And it's down in my almost-willing-to-spend-that-on-a-bike price range. Schwinn Rumbler (at City Grounds) The few specs I found Schwinn Rumbler (Blue) While the thing is gorgeous, I have one concern - it looks pretty small. (My legs like bigger bikes.) I can only find it on the City Grounds site and on eBay (where it costs a lot more). There are no photos of it next to anything for reference. It's not even listed on the Schwinn website. But I love the look and the BMX components and retro straight-
Read more