Afeela 1 - I afeela like this thing is dead in the water already

dogememe

dogememe

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Napa, CA.
I'm not a TFL fan but they have one of the few decent videos on it so far:

I went in person to the Corte Madera showroom as I was in the area and it was an extra two minute drive to check it out. I didn't bother scheduling a demo, as it seems from the video it was just "check out the mood lighting and you can stream from your Playstation wow" but I did walk around the car and talk to one of the employees for a bit.

So, this ugly thing starts at $90K. I'm not sure why anyone would buy this, based on looks and shape alone. First off, it looks like a used bar of soap, and second, it should be an SUV, the most popular form factor for vehicles in the US. But, I'm a nice person, and I kept those thoughts to myself. I did ask why they chose to make a sedan instead of an SUV. The employee I was talking to said that other EV makers already have good trucks like Rivian etc so they weren't interested in that market.

I asked him why, if I was in the market for a $100K EV sedan, would I pick this over a Model S Plaid or Lucid Air. He gave me two reasons: 1. The car will be made by an established automaker (Honda) which has a track record of reliability (although I think this means nothing as Honda is new to EVs) 2. Afeela has lidar which Tesla doesn't and that means it's future proof and will be on the forefront of autonomous driving for many years. They are promising "level 2 plus" and are "aiming for level 4" autonomy. Hmm, someone else has been saying the same thing for years (Tesla, I'm looking at you). Again, I see nothing special here... Mercedes has level 3 autonomous driving in the US already and that vehicle is a similar price. And, if all you want is a car than can drive itself in many conditions, you can buy a Tesla, GM, or Ford for half the price as the Afeela.

I asked if the tech they're launching in this car would trickle down to regular Honda cars down the road. I was told "probably not" which came as a surprise to me. The only reason I see this car even existing is for them to refine and demo their self-driving tech for other, cheaper, mass market cars or to license to other automakers. Not having that intention makes me wonder what the point of this entire vehicle even is.

My final questions were related to battery and charging tech. For the price they're asking, it should at least be a road trip monster. Yet, all they could tell me is it AWD, they're aiming for a 300 mile range, and that it'll have "the Tesla plug." They were unable to tell me how many kw it could charge at, whether it was a 400V or 800V class battery pack, or really anything of substance. I must have been the first person to ask actual technical EV questions as they gave me very weird looks when I was asking about that stuff LOL.

In conclusion, I'm thinking they'll sell exactly 2 of these, and it'll be an even bigger flop than some of the other half baked EV "startups" out there... although they were very happy to talk about how "they aren't a startup" lol.

Oh, and the name" Afeela by Sony-Honda Mobility" is STUPID. I'm already seeing memes on it and it hasn't even launched yet.
 
Why is the soundtrack for Boston's "More than a feeling" playing in my head?

"It's more than Afeela!"

Anything about the car aside, weird name. And judging from your comments about the knowledge of the salespeople, I can't see this going well. Of course the fact that it's backed by Honda may lend an air of legitimacy, but we'll see. I hope they have the software fairly ironed out, then if they go down the toilet like Fisker, the cars will still be usable.
 
The "Honda reliability" is a carpet they are riding on from 10-15 years ago, they are not anything special anymore. Not bad, but certainly don't live up to their billing. It will work with a bunch of buyers though.

All the other obvious blunders you pointed out will be the death of the thing.
 
The only reliability left with Honda is in their sales smack....
 
Haven't seen gaps this bad since the cybertruck.


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1745529917654.webp
 
Sounds like they have as much publicly available info as the Dale.

If they don't know the range, what haven't they perfected yet? The battery? Motor? Programming?

They won't admit to the tech filtering down to other Hondas, because the guy selling these has the thankless job of selling these.
 
dogememe said:
I'm not a TFL fan but they have one of the few decent videos on it so far:

I went in person to the Corte Madera showroom as I was in the area and it was an extra two minute drive to check it out. I didn't bother scheduling a demo, as it seems from the video it was just "check out the mood lighting and you can stream from your Playstation wow" but I did walk around the car and talk to one of the employees for a bit.

So, this ugly thing starts at $90K. I'm not sure why anyone would buy this, based on looks and shape alone. First off, it looks like a used bar of soap, and second, it should be an SUV, the most popular form factor for vehicles in the US. But, I'm a nice person, and I kept those thoughts to myself. I did ask why they chose to make a sedan instead of an SUV. The employee I was talking to said that other EV makers already have good trucks like Rivian etc so they weren't interested in that market.

I asked him why, if I was in the market for a $100K EV sedan, would I pick this over a Model S Plaid or Lucid Air. He gave me two reasons: 1. The car will be made by an established automaker (Honda) which has a track record of reliability (although I think this means nothing as Honda is new to EVs) 2. Afeela has lidar which Tesla doesn't and that means it's future proof and will be on the forefront of autonomous driving for many years. They are promising "level 2 plus" and are "aiming for level 4" autonomy. Hmm, someone else has been saying the same thing for years (Tesla, I'm looking at you). Again, I see nothing special here... Mercedes has level 3 autonomous driving in the US already and that vehicle is a similar price. And, if all you want is a car than can drive itself in many conditions, you can buy a Tesla, GM, or Ford for half the price as the Afeela.

I asked if the tech they're launching in this car would trickle down to regular Honda cars down the road. I was told "probably not" which came as a surprise to me. The only reason I see this car even existing is for them to refine and demo their self-driving tech for other, cheaper, mass market cars or to license to other automakers. Not having that intention makes me wonder what the point of this entire vehicle even is.

My final questions were related to battery and charging tech. For the price they're asking, it should at least be a road trip monster. Yet, all they could tell me is it AWD, they're aiming for a 300 mile range, and that it'll have "the Tesla plug." They were unable to tell me how many kw it could charge at, whether it was a 400V or 800V class battery pack, or really anything of substance. I must have been the first person to ask actual technical EV questions as they gave me very weird looks when I was asking about that stuff LOL.

In conclusion, I'm thinking they'll sell exactly 2 of these, and it'll be an even bigger flop than some of the other half baked EV "startups" out there... although they were very happy to talk about how "they aren't a startup" lol.

Oh, and the name" Afeela by Sony-Honda Mobility" is STUPID. I'm already seeing memes on it and it hasn't even launched yet.
Click to expand...

I like TFL. Roman Mica rubbed me the wrong way. I interviewed for an internship with him as I was finishing up my degree in Journalism. I sold cars, wrenched, detailed etc. He have his son a job. Nathan Adlan is cool.
 
Look at the four times Apple "attempted " to build an ev. Apparently Apple wanted everything their way and didn't want to split revenue evenly. BMW was the last straw as they said Apple wanted them to do the heavy lifting and reap most of the rewards
 
dogememe said:
2. Afeela has lidar which Tesla doesn't and that means it's future proof and will be on the forefront of autonomous driving for many years. They are promising "level 2 plus" and are "aiming for level 4" autonomy. Hmm, someone else has been saying the same thing for years (Tesla, I'm looking at you). Again, I see nothing special here... Mercedes has level 3 autonomous driving in the US already and that vehicle is a similar price. And, if all you want is a car than can drive itself in many conditions, you can buy a Tesla, GM, or Ford for half the price as the Afeela.
Click to expand...

LIDAR is superior, but right now it really requires large rotating devices like what Waymo uses.

ratio3x2_1920.jpg



There were a whole bunch of competitors testing in San Francisco where the hills were considered a tough proving ground. GM stopped their Cruise experiment.
 
y_p_w said:
LIDAR is superior, but right now it really requires large rotating devices like what Waymo uses.

ratio3x2_1920.jpg



There were a whole bunch of competitors testing in San Francisco where the hills were considered a tough proving ground. GM stopped their Cruise experiment.
Click to expand...

I’ve been in a Waymo, it works great! Very nice experience and it drives well.
 
This company sounds like a promotion project in a Japanese conglomerate that doesn't solve any existing problem that isn't already solved by someone else, or add any new value not already added by another company.

Self driving? Cost? Safety? Luxury and comfort? I don't think it is aiming or focusing on anything in particular.
 
y_p_w said:
LIDAR is superior, but right now it really requires large rotating devices like what Waymo uses.

ratio3x2_1920.jpg



There were a whole bunch of competitors testing in San Francisco where the hills were considered a tough proving ground. GM stopped their Cruise experiment.
Click to expand...
Basic forward radar would be an improvement on a Tesla to be honest. LiDAR isn't a must for an improvement in driving experience, even if it's the best possible option.
 
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