These Were the Weirdest Cars of the 2010s

The 2010s were not an optimal time for weird cars to make it to production. The decade began with a global economic crisis, and ended with automotive companies streamlining and cost-cutting while prepping for a zero-emissions future. Emissions cheating fines were measured in the billions. Carmakers seldom found firm enough footing for decadence and risk-taking. At the same time, companies were growing better at analyzing sales and market data…and the data said to build more crossovers.

Not all was staid about the automotive market of the 2010s, however. For better or worse, a few genuinely oddball cars did make it through to production. Here are 10 of our favorites.

Mini Paceman (2013-16)

The Paceman was for that special customer who wanted a two-door sub-compact crossover that was just as impractical as the Mini, but sacrificed some of the fun driving dynamics for more ride height. This customer also wanted the choice of a manual transmission, apparently.

Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet (2011-14)

“This bog-standard four-door crossover needs more pizzazz. Let’s remove two doors, chop off the roof, and make sure at least 93 percent of them are produced in beige.”The Murano CrossCabriolet could have been added to the list of charges in former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn’s indictment.

Lincoln MKT (2010-19)

The MKT wasn’t a bad car, but the proportions are off; it’s just awful to look at from all angles. It scores added weird points for being a Lincoln, which means someone had to choose this over a Ford and pay more for it. Lincoln replaced the MKT with the Aviator, which is like swapping out the weird DJ at your wedding with Bruno Mars.

Toyota Mirai (2014-19)

Hydrogen fuel cell car? Outstanding. Bring on the zero-emissions future. But why did Toyota’s 2014 crack at it have to be so bizarre-looking? The Mirai made the Prius look fashionable. The next-gen car, thankfully, is a major step forward on the aesthetic front.

Volkswagen XL-1 (2015)

Ah, the early 2010s, when Volkswagen diesel engines earned plaudits rather than indictments. VW developed the XL-1, a limited=run, hyper-efficient and aerodynamic diesel hybrid that earned 100-plus mpg. It had practical touches like not-quite-gullwing doors, enclosed rear wheels and no rear window. There were plans to put a limited run into production. Then Dieselgate happened…

Mercedes G63 AMG 6×6 (2013-15)

For the buyer for whom the Mercedes G-Wagen was not excessive or exclusive enough, Mercedes-AMG built this small run of 6×6 sport utility trucks — which started at more than $500,000.

Range Rover Evoque Convertible (2017-19)

The Evoque is a stylish little subcompact Range Rover crossover that did not have design input from Victoria Beckham. Land Rover then decided to make it into a heavy, oddly proportioned convertible, because…? ¯\_(?)_/¯

Nissan Juke (2010-19)

The Nissan Juke has running lights that sit where the headlights should be and headlights that sit where the fog lamps should be. Toss in some very prominent wheel arches, and you’ve got one weird-looking car. Nissan went back to the drawing board for the second generation, mercifully.

Acura ZDX (2010-13)

The ZDX rocked the sloping “coupe SUV” look well before it became cool. (Or at least, “cool.” It had a rounded backside, sharp, vaguely Cadillac-like lines at the front and a rear door handle built into the window. It was fun to drive, but that was not enough to save it.

Citroën C4 Cactus (2014-17)

The C4 Cactus is a well-regarded crossover that never hit America. On top of the odd face, it came with some classic Citroën quirkiness — namely the weird “airbump” panels on the outside designed to protect the car to protect against parking lot dings.

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VW’s New Camper Van Isn’t Coming Here, But We Drove It Anyway

Brand: Volkswagen
Product: California Ocean T6.1
Release Date: Never, at least for us Americans
Price: ~$83,729+
From: volkswagen-vans.co.uk

Volkswagen is one of the few carmakers that’s managed to create icons both within and outside of the automotive world. Since its inception in 1947, the VW Type II van has become the symbol for any wandering tribe of free-spirited individuals not only as a vehicle, but as a home. Its self-reliant nature and simple design have allowed it not only to persist, but to become cemented as a symbol of the counterculture movement of the ’60s as well as part of the camping pantheon. These German vans have become as much a symbol as they are a vehicle, representing seemingly endless possibilities. And that legacy endures to this day.

Recently, your humble scribe spent three days in Canada driving the new Volkswagen camper van, the T6.1 California Ocean, around the southern half of Nova Scotia, covering over 400 miles of pine-lined rustic shores and sprawling interior farmlands. Although VW sent us to this Canadian coastal province to drive a van named after the state son closely identified with boxy Vee-Dubs, neither Canadians nor Californians can have one; it’s not sold in North America. Volkswagen, it seems, just wanted us to know what we were missing.

What We Like

The updated looks of the 2020 California Ocean — a new front bumper and an enlarged grill for added airflow to the engine — don’t seem overly striking at first; indeed, it somehow looks both very large and compact all at the same time. But the two-tone white on copper finish that our vans had gave the VWs a retro look that simultaneously managed to be modern and chic.

The appeal was clear: whenever we stopped, someone would pull up alongside the van and ask a flurry of questions — and inevitably walk away sad when they heard they couldn’t have one. It’s no Italian sports car, but the mix of strange beauty and German practicality here is hard to deny.

With the T6.1, the California has been loaded with even more comfort- and efficiency-minded gadgets. The interior feels truly massive — at least by New York City apartment standards. The cabin has an hoest-to-god lounge feel, made possible by its driver and passenger seats’ nifty trick of turning 180-degrees, allowing them to face the rear bench (slash fold-out bed that sleeps two) and camper-van-classic fold-out table.

The list of features certainly doesn’t stop there. Y’all ready? The California also has (deep breath) a two-burner propane stovetop, refrigerator, sink, cold-water shower, on-board water and propane tanks, twin removable tables and chairs, an awning, a diesel-powered heater and more Batmobile-esque gadgets that would take years of ownership to uncover.

In spite of all those features, the interior feels well-thought-out. A few new touches include aluminum handles for the interior cabinetry, wood trim and flooring, new push-to-release mechanisms for some of the kitchen appliances and updated upholstery. Though some of these details may feel small on their own, they add up to a vehicle that feels much more like a home than a van ought to.

Of course, there are still some classic features it shares with some of the camper vans of yore. The California is still fitted with that iconic feature, the pop-top roof bed that sleeps an additional two people. Unlike the Microbuses and Westfalias of the past, these new iterations aren’t a canvas tent with a sliding piece of wood for a bed. The T6.1 has a new bed design with a built-in box spring and queen-size mattress surrounded by a sturdy, almost white-water-raft like material, and it can be deployed in less than two minutes with the push of a button. The van also has a digital pitch gauge allowing the driver to find a level spot setting up camp.

If you decide, like I did, to forgo the new alarm clock feature (in which the cabin lights gently fade on at whatever time you choose), the pop-up tent has zip-open flaps on all four walls to allow the sunrise to wake you. It’s also great for letting in some fresh air if the diesel heater has been cooking a little too hard through the night.

There is a new 12.3-inch display at the helm, which acts as the pilot’s right-hand man. This screen is home to a heap of controls for the technological wonders of the modern motoring (and camping) world. VW calls it the Volkswagen Digital Cockpit; it controls the auxiliary heater and fan, cabin lights, Apple CarPlay, sat-nav and pop-top mechanism. You can track the power you’re using from this same screen; on a full charge, the van’s camping accessories can run for nearly 40 hours. And even if you run the cabin power flat over a weekend, never fear; the motor and radio are on their own dedicated battery.

It’s easy to forget this thing is a vehicle when it’s parked, but it drives pretty well too. The turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four provides plenty of power, while the three-way adaptive suspension provides a smooth highway ride in Comfort Mode and an appropriately responsive one when you hit the button for the rather-unexpected Sport Mode.

Watch Out For

It may be surprisingly good to drive, but that can lead you to feel a bit too trusting in the corners — a potentially hazardous issue with something that is nearly 10 feet tall and clocking in at 6,000 pounds. You really do have to keep its limitations in mind, because it is working hard to hide them from you.

The bigger issue though: it’s really expensive. Although there is a lot of value here, the price tag can be shocking: up to $99,000 for the fully-loaded Ocean package I tested. The differences between a base model and a fully-optioned one aren’t that extreme, essentially coming down to a flip-out kitchen instead of a fixed one and a handful of aesthetic items. The optioned-out model was a blast to spend a weekend in, but if these were available Stateside, I’d grab the simple, no-frills version and save tens of thousands of dollars while still having largely the same experience.

Verdict

Even though it’s too expensive for me, the new VW T6.1 California Ocean has made me even more jealous of our European friends’ ability to spend the weekend in one of the excellent new iterations of VW’s long line of adventure machines. Here’s hoping this tradition of boxy camper vans continues into Volkswagen’s electric future — and that those future campers make their way Stateside.

VW hosted us and provided this product for review.

Note: Purchasing products through our links may earn us a portion of the sale, which supports our editorial team’s mission. Learn more here.

Why Do the Subaru Outback’s Headlights Make It Less Safe than the Legacy? We Found Out

Back in November, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety — better known as the IIHS — released its safety ratings for the all-new 2020 Subaru Legacy and Outback. The duo have long been considering among the safest cars on the road, capturing IIHS honors over and over again; the 2020 models were no different, each grabbing accolades from the independent safety-testing agency. Yet there was a slight disparity between the two models: while the Legacy received the top marks of Top Safety Pick+, the Outback only scored the penultimate rank of Top Safety Pick.

Which seemed a little odd, considering the Legacy and Outback are basically the exact same car.

Sure, the Legacy is a three-box sedan, while the Outback is a station wagon pretending to be an SUV. But apart from the added junk in the trunk and the lifted suspension, the two Subies are all but mechanically identical. They both use the same powertrain. They both are built off the same platform, boasting nearly identical wheelbases and widths. And, more importantly for the purposes of this conversation, they share the same headlights.

Yet the IIHS’s official announcement called out the Legacy’s optional curve-adaptive headlights as being the deciding factor in the TSP+ honor, even though those same lightblasters — which swivel in the direction the car is turning to throw their beams into the turn — also are offered on the Outback.

“While the 2019 Outback earned the higher-tier “plus” award, the 2020 model is limited to a Top Safety Pick due to an acceptable headlight rating,” the IIHS said by way of explanation. “That rating applies to its base headlights as well as its available curve-adaptive LEDs on models built after October 2019.”

Like any good journalists in 2019, we turned to Twitter to seek more info. And surprisingly enough, IIHS responded.

The headlights on the Outback are mounted about 4 inches higher than they are on the Legacy, which makes it harder to achieve visibility and reduce glare. In this case, the headlights on the Outback produced more glare than those of the Legacy.

— IIHS (@IIHS_autosafety) December 3, 2019

Curious to know more, we wrote back asking if IIHS generally gave worse safety rankings to higher-mounted headlights than it did to low-riding ones — an idea that seemed a little counter-intuitive to us, considering basic physics means visibility should be improved with added height. We also asked about added details regarding the “glare” IIHS mentioned.

Glare is measured at 3 feet, 7 inches off the ground. Vehicles that exceed glare thresholds are assigned demerits. In the case of the Outback’s curve-adaptive lights, you can see its excessive glare by approach here. pic.twitter.com/ICNta0I2Ll

— IIHS (@IIHS_autosafety) December 3, 2019

Thanks to the IIHS’s thoroughly, ridiculously comprehensive guide to its headlight testing procedures, we know that the agency says “the maximum glare for 5-10 [meters] should not exceed 10 lux” while “the glare illuminance for the remainder of the approach (i.e., 10-120 m for curves and 10-250 m for the straightaway) should not exceed the cumulative exposure distance limits shown in Figure 3.” (Figure 3, for what it’s worth, is the chart below.)

(“Lux,” in case you were wondering, is the standard unit of measurement for illumination. One lux equals one lumen of light per square meter; very roughly speaking, it’s the amount of light a candle would cast on a wall from a meter away, or a bit lighter than the ground would be on a clear night with a full moon.)

The 2020 Outback’s IIHS page, as well as the chart in the company’s tweet above, reveals that the low beams of the adaptive LED headlamps of the top-shelf Limited and Touring trims caused “some glare,” maxing out at 52.3% more than the suggested maximum at the left edge of a left turn from 250 meters (825 feet) away and 46.4% more than the limit from the right edge of a right turn from 150 meters (495 feet) away.

While the IIHS’s chart is a touch hard to decipher, as it seems somewhat outdated — the data points listed don’t correspond exactly to the distances mentioned in the Outback’s analysis — it seems to suggest that 0.5 lux is the glare cutoff for both of those aforementioned distances. Overages in the 50% range, therefore, would add up to an extra 0.25 lux — about the difference between the ground on a clear night with a quarter moon and a clear night with a full one.

So, that matter was a little more buttoned-up. Still, something about the test still seemed odd to us. We went back to Twitter once more, to find out a little about why the seemingly-arbitrary height of the test was chosen.

This is in line with typical driver eye height in a small or midsize car. It’s true that many people sit higher, but glare should be limited for as many drivers as possible.

— IIHS (@IIHS_autosafety) December 3, 2019

In other words: the Outback’s demerit, simply put, wasn’t because its headlights are worse for the driver, but because they’re worse for other drivers.

Our Favorite Honda of the 2000s Is Back, and Better Than Ever

Honda’s accessories division, Honda Access, is building a number of custom vehicles for the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon in January. One of those is likely to turn many automotive enthusiasts’ heads: a freshened, 20th-anniversary edition of the legendary Honda S2000 convertible.

The S2000 was one of the classic cars of the 2000s. Built from 2000 to 2009, it had a reputation for being one of the best pure driver’s cars ever. It was a rear-wheel-drive convertible, with a naturally-aspirated 2.0-liter inline-four engine putting out as much as 247 horsepower and a six-speed manual transmission. Features like a 50/50 weight distribution and a high redline showed that Honda built the car for the driver to push it to its limits.

Collectors knew what they had at the time. S2000 Auction prices on Bring a Trailer have stayed relatively reasonable, because there are so many low-mileage, well-cared-for examples kicking around. But none of those come close to being as special as this 2020 custom model.

Honda Access’s version, based on the original AP1-spec version of the car, has a Grand Prix White paint job. It features several modifications to the bodywork, including a wider grille, side sills and a new spoiler. It also received suspension and audio system upgrades.

The natural question this S2000 raises is, of course, whether it portends a return for the Honda S2000 — and whether Honda would sell that vehicle in the U.S. Hopes for a new S2000 may hang on the distinction between Honda Access labeling this a “prototype” versus a “concept” in Japanese — a distinction that seems tenuous at best. Like the Honda E electric car, a new S2000 two-seater convertible would delight journalists, but probably not sell very well in the American market. Still, never hurts to keep your fingers crossed.

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No One Should Buy a Classic Land Rover Defender. Here’s Why

Few vehicles summon up the sort of romance and nostalgia of the classic Land Rover Defender. The boxy, burly off-roader has stood for freedom and independence for decades, epitomizing the appeal of the outdoors even when trapped in the densest urban confines. Its rarity in the United States has pushed it even further into the realm of exclusivity; while most countries see them as farmland workhorses and stripped-down safari trucks, here in America, even high-mileage ones in mediocre condition often command pricetags that could buy far newer, better-driving and more reliable vehicles.

Here’s the thing, though: The old Land Rover Defender sucks.

Subjectively, sure, it’s super-cool. Objectively? It stinks. By the standards of modern vehicles, it’s crude, slow and unsafe. Hell, even by the standards of the 1990s, it was mediocre. Those final years of Defenders available in America were on sale alongside the storied likes of the third-gen Toyota 4Runner and 80-Series Land Cruiser, the XJ-gen Jeep Cherokee and the Mitsubishi Montero — all of which delivered more refinement and power than the Defender. Stacked against modern Land Rovers, Toyotas, Jeeps or other off-roaders, it’s even worse.

For the record, I’m not speaking out of a certain orifice like Ace Ventura here. Not too long ago, I was lucky enough to drive one of South Carolina-based Himalaya’s Defender by Himalaya models, which represents perhaps the best possible version of an original Defender. Off-road, traversing the deep wood trails of upstate New York at low speeds, it was delightful. But once back into the real world of, y’know, roads — paved and dirt alike — it rapidly proved irritating.

The seating position, close enough to the controls , made every shift a long, deliberate process. The open flanks that seemed so inviting in the quiet woods stirred up the air to tinnitus-inducing levels. The slow steering that helped place the front end so carefully at 10 miles per hour felt painfully, almost unsafely cumbersome at the speed limit. Which, for the record, is about as fast as you’ll go on a highway, considering the brick-like aerodynamics and lack of power.

The all-new 2020 Defender has taken its fair share of heat for being, in effect, “too civilized.” But you who likes civilization? Humans. Go ask the 2.5 billion people on Earth who lack modern sanitation what they’d think of a little more civilization. Or the 790 million without clean water at all. Civilization isn’t a bad word; it’s the reason for and the goal of mankind’s existence on the planet. Let’s not be so quick to pooh-pooh it.

Also, speaking of that new version: crash test results for the 2020 Defender haven’t been announced yet, but it’d be literally impossible for it to be less safe than the old model, because that car was pulled from the U.S. marketplace in 1997 because it no longer met safety regulations. Admittedly, that’s a compromise made with many old cars, but it’s still worth repeating, as is the following: in 1997, there were 268 million people in America and 42,013 auto-related deaths; 20 years later, there were 58 million more Americans, yet nearly 5,000 people died on the road. It ain’t because we drove less, and it sure as hell ain’t because we turned into better drivers; it’s because the cars became safer.

The chief substantive draws of the old Defender, of course, are its incredible off-road capability, compact proportions and open-air flexibility. All of which are indeed appealing, and seem like fine reasons to snap up a second vehicle. Or at least they would be, were it not for a little vehicle called…the Jeep Wrangler.

America’s homegrown off-road icon does just about everything the Defender does, and it does it on the cheap. The least-expensive beater Defender you can find on Cars.com right now, for example, still costs $15,000; all but two of the ones found on the site cost more than $20K. Wranglers from the same era, in contrast, run as cheap as $2,000. You can snag a cherry of a YJ for that same $15K, or a very nice 2010-model-year JK that still has fewer miles than that $15K Landie. And fixing up those Jeeps is all but guaranteed to be cheaper and easier alike than trying to wrangle parts for a three-decade-old British ride.

So, no: you shouldn’t buy a classic Land Rover Defender. If you want a boxy, open-top off-roader from decades past, go pick up a Wrangler. Or, if you want a compact Land Rover for city driving and off-roading alike, you can snag a lease on a Discovery Sport for $329 a month right now with $3,495 down. Neither may pack quite as much curb appeal as a Defender, but you won’t care; you’ll be sitting inside, driving the damn thing. Which is what you should be doing with it.

(That said…I mean, I still want one.)

The 32 Best Car Features Ever: Exposed Gear Levers, $160K Clocks and More

When automotive designers and engineers get together and put forward the best they have to offer, cult followings and icon statuses just come naturally. For era-defining cars, influences from highway safety rules and crash protection regulations play just as big of a part in the final product as culture and societal trends.

If global warming wasn’t a thing and if fossil fuels weren’t going the way of, well, the dinosaurs, the Tesla Model S might not have even been a scribble on a napkin, let alone the seismic shock to the auto industry it’s become. Had it not been for the flash and excess of the ’80s, we might never have seen the V12 Ferrari Testarossa or Lamborghini Countach 5000 QV. But what these cars make us feel and think of when we hear them wailing their way towards their redline or simply sitting quietly in a parking lot is a product of all the little things that make up the big picture.

Some of the best automotive details come from form following function or vice versa, from exercises in excess and/or minimalism. Some serve no purpose whatsoever, but the car wouldn’t be the same without. Regardless of their initial intention, these are our 32 favorite car quirks of all.

Ferrari Testarossa Side Intakes

As big as they were, the Testarossa’s gills were completely functional. The massive intakes and long strakes served to organize turbulent air and use it to cool radiators and channel hot air through vents in the engine lid, creating downforce, and thus negating the use of a massive spoiler. Form and function, hand in hand.

Spyker C8 Exposed Gear Lever

Seeing the mechanical linkage of the shifter exposed is like looking into a grandfather clock. It’s absolutely mesmerizing to see that sort of precise engineering at work.

Porsche 930 ‘Slantnose’ Whale Tale

It might have been more of a necessity on Porsche’s part to keep drivers from consistently coming out of turns the wrong way forward, but damn it if it doesn’t suit the 930’s powerful personality to a T.

F50 Transparent Rear End

It’s almost a forbidden feeling catching a glimpse of the F50’s mesh rear end — like you weren’t supposed to see that glorious V12, but you can’t look away.

Pagani Zonda R Exhaust + Exhaust Note

A Mercedes-AMG hand-built V12 mated to Pagani’s even-length exhaust headers and stacked quad pipes would put the current F1 grid to shame in a sound comparison.

Koenigsegg CCX Dihedral Doors

The CCX dihedral doors only serve to highlight Christian von Koenigsegg’s delightfully mad way of going about simple functions.

LFA Tachometer

The only way Lexus could get the tachometer to keep pace with the speed with which its V10 could rev was to go digital.

Volkswagen Phaeton Trunk Hinges

There’s something to be said for beautifully milled and wonderfully complex trunk hinges on a Volkswagen.

Bentley Bentayga Breitling Mulliner Tourbillon

The world’s most expensive in-car clock ($160,000) in the world’s most expensive SUV ($250,000) creates a wonderful exercise in excess.

Original Mini Exterior Weld Seams

Putting the weld seams on the outside meant Mini didn’t have to fit the welding machine in the car during assembly, meaning they could build the Mini even smaller. Brilliant.

Jaguar XJ220 Hidden Headlights

When pop-up headlights were regrettably being phased out, the drop-down shields of the XJ220 made for a worthy continuation of the concept.

Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic Suicide Doors

Picking one aspect to highlight from the Bugatti Type 57 is a herculean task, but the way the suicide doors open up — as if they are welcoming you into its warm embrace — may be the most beautiful detail of all.

Jaguar D-Type Speed Hump

The spiritual connection to Jag’s storied Le Mans racer just oozes legendary performance and panache.

Alfa Romeo Grille

Most cars on the road today have some sort of rectangular cop-out for a grille, but that’s because few cars have the style and elegance required to sport one like Alfa Romeo’s signature fascia.

Porsche 918 Top Exit Twin Exhaust

It had to be done to make sure the engine and hybrid system could fit in the 918 and still be low enough not to compromise the handling or design. But when fire starts spitting out of the the twin exhausts, you can’t help but applaud Porsche for “going green.”

Bugatti Chiron Side Intake

Very rarely do a concept car’s lines make it to the production model; when the side intake mimics the company founder’s signature, it deserves recognition.

BMW i8 Laser Headlights (EU only)

The design alone makes every other headlight on the road look like a gaslight lantern.

Porsche Targa Top

Simply put, it’s the better way to do a convertible.

Aston Martin Vulcan Tail Lights

Like nothing else on the road. In fact, you’d have to be aboard the Millennium Falcon at light speed with stars streaming by to see anything similar.

Mercedes 6×6 Third Axle

The only way to describe it: necessarily unnecessary.

2016 Ford GT Rear Quarter

Between the separated intakes, massive flying buttress and the tail light doubling as a hot air extractor, the GT’s butt comes together as one fantastic piece of design.

Alfa Romeo TZ3 Zagato Cam Tail

One of Zagato’s signature design elements incorporated into one of the most beautiful cars of the modern era.

BMW M4 GTS Roll Cage

Roll cages in road cars usually seem out of place, no matter the performance or intentions of the vehicle. But the M4 GTS’s copper webbing of high-strength protection looks like a work of art.

Audi A4 Clamshell Hood

Hood shut lines can make or break a car’s design, so for a mass-production car like the new A4 to receive the extra attention and engineering to hide the necessary surface break is commendable by all accounts.

Porsche GT3 RS Fender Vents

Usually when vents are put on cars for performance gains, they stick out like the dorsal fin on a sailfish. But the new GT3 RS fender vents sit just below the body panel surface as a subtle call to performance rather than an obnoxious aerodynamic catcall.

Lamborghini Aventador Ignition

Unleashing 700+ horsepower with the flip of a switch that looks at home on an F-22 Raptor just makes sense.

Citroen DS Steering Wheel

Absurd. Ridiculous. Unbelievably stylish. All the reasons we love Citroen.

Shelby Cobra 427 Side Pipes

When there’s a 7.0-liter engine shoehorned into a car barely big enough for two people, anything other than side-mounted exhausts would be doing it a disservice.

Porsche Carrera Beechwood Shifter

It’s an homage to the Porsche 917 race car, which is fitting for the Carrera GT considering its V10 may have started life as F1 engine development project.

Audi Virtual Cockpit

In an age where infotainment systems stick out of otherwise well-designed dashboards like technological afterthoughts, Audi’s virtual cockpit gets the job done and with a stunning, customizable display.

Tesla Model 3’s Front End

With Tesla’s “skateboard” battery pack, Elon Musk could have made the Tesla Model 3 look any way he wanted. By completely removing the grille from a car that will undoubtedly sell well, Tesla is deliberately challenging the status quo of car design.

Ferrari 599 Gated Shifter

As it’s the last analog manual V12 Ferrari ever built, we’re glad Maranello decided not to cover up its beautiful simplicity with a leather boot.

The First 5 Things You Should Do When Buying an Electric Car

So, you’ve finally decided to do it: You’re getting an electric car. You’ve weighed the pros and cons, debated the advantages of plug-in hybrids versus pure EVs, and determined that a vehicle that forgoes internal combustion for electrons, batteries and motors is the right fit for you.

First off, congratulations. For most buyers, electric cars are likely to be more pleasant to drive than gas- or diesel-powered ones. Their powertrains aren’t just more quiet, they also deliver all their torque immediately, without a need to rev up like ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles do, so they feel peppier from behind the wheel; their powertrains are simpler, so maintenance is generally easier and less frequent; their fuel is cheaper and, depending on where it’s sourced from, likely more eco-friendly than the fossil juice squeezed out of the ground.

Still, de-ICE-ing does involve making a few changes to your life. So to help, we’ve pulled together a guide to the first few things you should do once you’ve decided you’re going to buy an electric car.

1. Get a home charger.

Charging at home is by far one of the biggest advantages of owning an electric vehicle. But to really capitalize on this, you’ll need more than a three-prong 110-volt outlet, which only adds roughly four miles of range for every hour on the socket. You’ll want to install what EV nerds call an SAE J1772 — or, as it’s more colloquially known, a Level 2 charger. Depending on the car, these can deliver between around 12–60 miles of range per hour, though 25 miles per hour is a fair average. Still, even that’s enough to add 200-plus miles of range overnight, which can fill up an Audi E-Tron or a Jaguar I-Pace.

Installing a charger for your home can seem a bit intimidating; unless you’re an electrician or electrical engineer, it’s the sort of task best left to a professional. Luckily, the folks at Amazon have this under control; not only do they offer a bevy of EV chargers, but they also offer electric car charging installation through their Amazon Home Services department. (Angie’s List also provides references for EV charging station installers.)

A Level 2 charger. (Photo: Michael Hicks)

If you’re feeling particularly industrious or green, you might also want to consider adding some solar panels to your roof, so you can charge that EV for free. (And, unless you live on Dracula’s schedule, a big home battery like Tesla’s Powerwall to store that power until you plug in at dinnertime.)

2. Learn about the charging networks (and download their apps).

Refueling at home may be way easier with an EV than with a gas-powered car, but the opposite holds true once you’re out of your driveway. Unlike the 168,000 gas stations found across America, electric car chargers aren’t abundant in every town, they’re not always easy to spot — and they’re not all the same.

You’ll need to learn the differences between types of chargers. While all cars sold Stateside can use the SAE J1772 Level 2 charger, Level 3 charging — also called DC fast charging — uses three different types of plugs. The best-known is Tesla’s Superchargers, which only work with the California-based company’s cars and can be found at 685 locations across the U.S. Then there’s the CHAdeMO style of charger, used solely by Nissan and Mitsubishi and found at 2,282 spots across America. Finally, there’s CCS, a.k.a. the SAE Combo Combined Charging System; this is used by all the rest of the EVs currently on sale, from the Porsche Taycan to the Smart ForTwo, and found at 2,043 sites in the U.S. (All figures via the Department of Energy, and valid as of December 2019.)

These Level 3 chargers can pump electrons into cars at far greater rates than in-home ones, with the fastest currently out there recharging even EVs with large batteries to an 80-percent state of charge or more in roughly half an hour. That said, charging speeds can vary wildly, even within this tier; some CCS chargers max out at 50 kW, for example, while others can deliver a stunning 350 kW.

A Porsche Taycan at an Ionity charging station. Ionity is a cross-European charging network.

Different electric cars can also slurp up energy at different rates. The Taycan can take on power at levels of up to 270 kW, while the E-tron can only handle up to 150 kW, and the Nissan Leaf tops out at 100 kW. Other factors such as weather and equipment can also affect how fast the electrons flow.

The easiest way to suss out chargers is, as you might expect in this day and age, through an app or website. There are plenty of them to choose from, such as PlugShare, ChargeHub and Chargeway, with the latter notable for using a color-coded system to help you find the right type of charger for your vehicle. (Most of these apps will also tell you what level of power you can expect from a given plug.)

Many electric car charging stations are tied into networks, which allow you to set up a single account to quickly and easily pay for power from them. Tesla employs its own network, which only works with its vehicles; the other big three ones — Electrify America, ChargePoint and EVGo — are brand-agnostic. (They all also have their own apps, of course, which you can use to find chargers and pay for electricity.) As with gas prices, rates vary by region — but it’ll still almost always be cheaper than refueling an equivalent ICE vehicle.

All that said, remember: no matter how fast your car charges, it’s going to seem glacial compared to refueling an internal-combustion vehicle. Plan accordingly. (We suggest keeping a good book in the car.)

3. Look into tax breaks and other benefits.

The federal government hands out tax credits of $7,500 for the first 200,000 EVs a carmaker sells, with the credits tapering off after that figure. As of January 1, 2020, every electric car other than those made by Tesla is still eligible. (You can find out more about the forms you need to fill out here.)

In addition, many states offer their own tax credits or other financial incentives for going electric, ranging from the waiving of sales tax to as much as $5,000 in their own tax credits, in the case of Colorado. That rebate, for the record, means a Boulder resident could buy a $38,085 Hyundai Kona EV for just $25,585.

A number of municipalities, utilities and businesses also offer other benefits to EV ownership, such as the ability to drive solo in carpool lanes, credits on owners’ home electricity bills or rebates on home chargers, access to exclusive parking spots and exemptions from emissions testing. That last one, to be fair, just seems more like common sense than a perk.

Always crank up your jams before searching for EV ownership benefits.

4. Get a rental car or car-sharing membership.

Sooner or later, you’ll likely come across a task that your EV isn’t quite right for. Maybe it’s taking a long road trip through remote areas where chargers are hard to find; maybe it’s hauling home an amazing couch that won’t fit into your Tesla Model 3. When that happens, you’ll probably need a reliable way to grab a spare ride.

If you think you might need gas-powered wheels on the regular (say, every week or two), a car-sharing service like Zipcar likely makes the most sense. If you figure you’ll only need an alternative a few times a year, it’s better to stick with traditional car rental companies; just be sure to join a rewards program like Hertz Gold Plus or Enterprise Plus, so you can earn free rentals.

5. Buy some good gloves.

Since running the car’s heater exacts a much larger toll on range in an EV than in a gas-powered car (internal combustion engines spew out heat as a waste product, same as the human body; electric motors are far more thermally efficient), a good pair of gloves can be the difference between easily finishing a trip and having to seek out a charging station. Toss a nice pair like Filson’s full knit ones in the glovebox on day one and leave ’em there until you need them.

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