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Top Gear electric car - more pics
25 November 2009
Top Gear has built a home-made electric car, a ‘rival’ to the Chevy Volt, and we’ve tested it.
If you watched this week's Top Gear TV show you'll know all about the Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust, a car built by Messrs Clarkson, May and Hammond. If you missed it, you can watch it on iPlayer.
Anyhow, here's a brief review: the Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust is a road legal car/shed that started life as a TVR Chimaera and underwent quite a few modifications to become a 21st-century range-extender, all built for considerably less money than GM would spend... on biscuits.
Exclusive video - Autocar tests the Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust
In order to get an independent opinion on just how good the Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust is, it was then brought to Autocar to undergo our world-famous road test.
Top Gear picture special - Hi-res Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust pictures
The results on the intrepid trio's efforts and our review - conducted by our own intrepid tester Steve Sutcliffe - were screened on Sunday night.
Now you can read the full six-page verdict in today's Autocar magazine, on sale this and every Wednesday.
To whet your appetite, here are a few tasters:
Performance
"We failed to crack 60mph. In the end it reached 50mph in 16.6sec and ran out of juice at 55mph, making it the slowest car we have tested this century."
Ride and handling
"The Eagle i-Thrust rumbles along, its bodywork flapping in the wind as the 2CV tyres try their best – and occasionally fail – to prevent the body panels from rubbing on the floor."
Design and engineering
"There are so many contributory factors to its technical make-up that it could, in fact, be more accurately described as a freak."
Buying and owning
"As Daimler-Benz discovered over a century ago, you’ve got to start somewhere before you can progress."
Verdict
"It's impossible to regard the i-Thrust as a success."
Read Sutcliffe's blog on the Top Gear test here
Top Gear's own take on its capabilities can be read in Top Gear's Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust official press release
Top Gear on video - Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust
Top Gear picture special - Hi-res Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust pictures
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