Post by Odysseus on Feb 25, 2023 1:45:05 GMT
One of the most talked about, universally loved, and hankered after cars of the last few years isn’t German, doesn’t have a brace of turbochargers, and won’t require a fresh mortgage to buy. It’s also not technically a car. The Citröen Ami is a quadricycle. And a terrible car. But if I’m brutally honest, that’s part of its charm.
The idea behind it is fairly simple: it’s a tiny EV designed to go short distances as cheaply and fuss-free as possible. The cheapness is essential — it needs to be an affordable way for lots of people to get around, much like the Citroen 2CV was a half-century ago. To do that, the French automaker had to economize the crap out of it.
The idea behind it is fairly simple: it’s a tiny EV designed to go short distances as cheaply and fuss-free as possible. The cheapness is essential — it needs to be an affordable way for lots of people to get around, much like the Citroen 2CV was a half-century ago. To do that, the French automaker had to economize the crap out of it.
The plastic front and rear body panels are identical; red lights at the back go where you’d find headlights at the front. The doors are the same part too, the drivers’ door hinged backward and the passenger side opening normally. The seats are identical molded plastic numbers, and only the driver’s seat slides forward. Rather than a trunk, there’s storage space behind the seats and a handy slot for your stuff in the passenger footwell. The heater fan is either on or off, no in between, and there’s no A/C because that would add weight. You open the windows on a lever, folding the bottom parts out by hand — a nod to the 2CV. There’s no infotainment system save for a phone cradle and a USB-A charging port beneath it — though Citröen will sell you an Ami themed Ultimate Ears bluetooth speaker for 143 Euros that fits into a slot on the dash so you needn’t drive by the sounds of a tinny phone speaker.
Citröen has spent no expense on the powertrain either. A 5.5-kWh lithium-ion battery feeds an 8-horsepower, 29-lb-ft motor that drives the front wheels. Performance-wise, you’re not going to be blown away: The Ami scoots to its limited 28-mph top speed in around ten seconds. Drive it sensibly, says Citröen, and you can get a little over 46 miles from a charge. Hoon everywhere at 28 mph and you’ll get much, much less. With a heavy foot and cold weather, I managed high 30s at best. ...
