1974 Sebring Vanguard Citicar General Electric ? from North America
Summary:
Quirky and Fun to Drive
Faults:
Controls in rear burned up (the switches that control speed as this is an electric car). It was stored in a barn for a long time, until my dad installed the replacement controls.
The brakes didn't work when we got it out of storage. We drove it down my dad's cousin's long dirt driveway until we got to the road. The car slipped into a ditch and we had to shift it into reverse to stop it from falling all the way down! What an adventure!
Door likes to open all by itself on the road.
My dad was driving it to my aunt's house for storage when the controls burned up again! He hasn't yet installed the modern replacements, so it's another long winter of storage.
General Comments:
I'm only 12 so I can't drive yet, but I absolutely LOVE this thing! This car is electric and was made in the '70's oil crisis, so it is necessarily very light and only holds two. The top speed is supposed to be 40 mph but is really a lot less, around 38 mph downhill.
I proposed getting an electric car when we thought our Honda was going to die, and that night my mom and dad bought it off eBay for $2000.
When I drove it in a parking lot and a grassy yard, I thought it was very agile, at least it could dodge the occasional tree very easily. However, I've never driven another automobile so I don't have much to compare it to.
When my dad drives it on the road, we get lots of stares and thumbs ups. If you don't like attention this is not the car for you.
However, if you like a repair challenge and love speeding past gas stations and laughing at those prices, or feel guilty stinking up the environment in your gas car, this vehicle might be the car for you.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 6th April, 2008
21st Apr 2010, 13:03
I own two of these cars and they work great. You I have the same kind of issues that you have with any vehicle of this vintage that has been sitting for years; the main draw back is the contactor type speed controls, they are big switches and are susceptible to dirt and age. Clean and inspect them every few years, and they work great, neglect them and they start to act up.
It's the only vehicle I've every owned that has a full roll cage from the factory, and the only car I've owned that will never rust out (ABS plastic body over aluminum), and because it uses all kinds of off the shelf parts, it should run forever.
29th Nov 2010, 17:37
Hello from Illinois.
I just purchased a CityCar. I am a newbee.
I am impressed and proud to own a USA made EV. The first production EV. KC.
3rd Jan 2016, 05:08
It's a good thing these can't go much faster than 40mph. If they were true 60mph highway cars, those batteries on the bottom wouldn't be enough to act as a counterweight in high winds. These are fun-looking little wedges, but I'm glad that we've moved on. The progress on electric cars was pretty slow moving during the 20th century. You went from cars with a 40-mile range and a top speed of 20 mph in the 1920s, to cars with a 60-mile range and a top speed of 40 mph in the 1960s, to this car, with a 70/80-mile range (could be better now with newer batteries) and 40 mph top speed in the mid-70s and early 80s.
20th Jul 2008, 09:52
I wrote this comment. Yeah, the stuff doesn't work, but what else can you expect from a '70's vintage EXTREMELY cheap American car? Modern electric cars are EXTREMELY RELIABLE on the whole.