The electric Meyers Manx comes at a price. But it’s not cheap fun…
Icons in the automotive world come in many shapes and sizes. Brilliant sports cars, ruthless off-road executioners, legendary racing cars, stunning spiders, technological feats, innovative designs that characterized an era; the choice is huge. As with everything, there is of course an ordinary hierarchy among icons. Some models are even more iconic than others. A Meyers Manx is not a Ferrari 250 SWB California. And not an original MINI either. Maybe not even a Mercedes G-Class. But, we dare to call the Meyers Manx quite an icon.
Created at a time when freedom was still a fully fueled Mercedes, the Manx was a car for people who wanted even more freedom. The buggy is inextricably linked to the beach atmosphere. Surfing, crossing the dunes, swimming trunks or bikini, sunglasses and go. Steve McQueen had one too. With a Corvair turbo block in the back.
The ocean has an almost unparalleled way of ‘clearing one’s head’. Staring at the wide sea with the promise of perhaps a better place down the road. Or from a horror shark that eats you up. The admiration of the power of nature when the waves crash relentlessly on hollowed-out rocks. It evokes a feeling that writer Romain Rolland aptly described in a letter to Sigmund Freud in 1927. He gave it the term Ocean Feeling.
It is this feeling that PR-B0iZ, dressed in purple pants, often try to sell. For example, when they have press photos taken of a sturdy D-segmenter, with a few surfboards on the optional roof rack. You know the car is headed straight for a lease, plus a gray parking lot in front of a nondescript office where people put some numbers and letters on virtual paper. But hey, the idea is nice.
Where these brave marketing attempts usually fail to really capture this feeling and partly pass it on to the drivers, the Meyers Manx succeeds. Get in and the busy life falls away from you. In fact, you are already (almost) on the beach. Although in reality you are in Ootmarsum, Overijssel.
Unfortunately, crossing the beach with an air-cooled motorcycle on dino juice is of course not real bon ton more in 2023. Don’t worry: there is now an electric Meyers Manx. Just a little more acceptable perhaps for the general public, who hope to feel it again someday Ocean Feeling has long since given up. And prefers to force recalcitrant individuals to do the same.
The advantage is: it has become a beautiful thing. Many people have mastered that retro design with a modern edge these days. And a little instantly torque and power never get away in the loose sand. The Manx 2.0 electric dune buggy, as it is officially called, has enough power with 204 hp. The zero-to-one hundred can be done in 4.5 seconds.
The 20 kWh battery, on the other hand, is not necessarily oversized. Officially, this is good for a range of 240 kilometers. A 40 kWh battery is optionally available, doubling the range. At least according to the maker’s own statements. Compared to other EVs, that seems optimistic to us. Well, a little dreaming fits the car.
However, the harsh reality is also there. With a price of $ 74,000 for the cheapest, the Manx will probably remain reserved for affluent customers anyway. People who actually only use the car at their Xth house as temporary transport. Then range isn’t that important. Hop to the sea and then travel for miles in your head.
Normal mortals can for their Ocean Feeling fortunately continue to divert to the HEMA. There they will gladly sell you a qualitatively acceptable inflatable beach ball. For less. Whose deed.
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