![]() The Microlino whirs and sings noticeably, right from the beginning and up to its 56-mph top speed. Once you stop, you need to yank the parking brake the transmission lacks Park.Īnd if you thought EVs are about silence, think again. And thus, the impression emerges that the Microlino, most certainly, is not a real car. The car's lack of sophistication extends to unexpected areas, such as the noisy windshield wiper and the half-windows that need to be pulled open. More importantly, Microlino representatives aren't keen to talk about passive safety and when they do, they emphasize "compatibility." But shouldn't a car protect its owner first? But the steering wheel is a curiosity: a generic three-spoke unit without an airbag, it does not reflect the exterior's higher level of sophistication. There's a conventional key, gears are selected by turning a knob, small screens indicate speed, and a touch bar on the front door allows you to select climate-control functions. The trunk is surprisingly large at 8.1 cubic feet. Above your head, there's a fabric top perfectly executed by supplier Magna CTS, it is one of the best-engineered and highest-quality parts of this vehicle. Once inside, there is room for driver and passenger, snug but not cramped. The front door opens with an electric switch, is pulled closed with a strap, and locked electrically. ![]() The proportions are captured accurately, the surface treatment is clean, and details such as LED lighting are decidedly futuristic. Made of steel and aluminum, it perfectly translates the motif of the original Isetta into the modern age. The Microlino brings a lot of sophistication in the realm of styling. ![]() While the Smart was a sturdy and safe car, capable of reaching nearly 100 mph and subjected to rigorous crash tests, the Microlino is just a quadricycle regulation is far more lenient. With a length of 99.2 inches and a width of 58.0 inches, it's slightly smaller than the Smart Fortwo the States first got in 2008. The Microlino aims to pick up where premium concepts like the NILS and the Rak-e left off. They are easy to park and practical, but too slow for a lot of city traffic and not allowed on motorways. But with regular cars becoming so big and expensive, Stellantis recently joined the game with the Citroën Ami and Opel Rocks-e, both of which are only available as smaller L6e "light quadricycle" models. All were electric and designed as L7e "heavy quadricycles"-and, with the exception of the Twizy, all of them were subsequently buried. At the 2011 Frankfurt auto show, Audi launched the Urban Concept, VW showed the NILS, and Opel the Rak-e Renault had earlier shown its Twizy. The industry has toyed with reinventing city cars as quadricycles for over a decade. But Swiss inventor Wim Ouboter saw the opportunity to reimagine it as an electric car-or, rather, a quadricycle, because it would hardly be able to conform to the regulatory standards that an automobile must meet. Fewer than 90 inches long and powered by a wheezing two-stroke engine, the Isetta is hopelessly unsafe and outdated. That midcentury bubble car had entirely disappeared from European roads by the 1970s, but its design-you enter through the front-continues to bring a smile to the face of anyone who happens upon one. Now there is a new player in the market, focused on Europe, but with a few orders already placed from the U.S.: the Microlino, a thoroughly modern take on BMW's famous Isetta. But aggressive safety rules and electrification have made them bigger and heavier: The latest Smart is almost 170 inches long and weighs over 4000 pounds. While never particularly popular in the U.S., cars like the original Mini, the Fiat 500, and the Smart were successful all over the globe.
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