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Written by Ollie Kew
It"s a bit of a squeeze in the back of the Nissan BladeGlider. Particularly once its enormous backwards-butterfly door has been pressed shut on its heavy-duty gas strut.My Recaro bucket seat is perched atop the car"s 220kW lithium-ion battery pack, and the inner door sweeps narrowly past my shoulder. But it stops short of being claustrophobic, thanks to frameless visor-like glass and a lack of roof. It"s all very alien, but downright cool too.Nissan has built two BladeGlider cars, as a fully operational update of 2013"s Tokyo motor show concept. Twin rear motors capable of torque vectoring and a mysterious drift mode deliver 230kW (about 265bhp) to the rear wheels.The result is a claimed (and very rapid) 4.8 second 0-62mph sprint, and a 115mph top speed. If the Leaf is Nissan"s go at making the electric car a mass-market commodity, then this is the attempt to show electric cars aren"t all work and no play.We"re on a go-kart track about an hour outside of Rio de Janiero, Brazil. It"s about 35 degrees Celsius and the circuit is grittier than a Scottish police drama. When I ask how much the car is worth, eyeing its bespoke bodywork and intricate wheels, immaculate fit and finish and Williams-developed, Formula E-derived powertrain, the Nissan boys simply wince and scuff their shoes. "Lots", apparently.Not that anyone seems to have told ex-Lotus and current Williams Advanced Engineering engineer and today"s driver Darren Cockle. Darren"s in quali-mode, and ready to scare some journalists.He scrolls through the menus of the steering wheel screen, turning off the traction control (it"s so hot there"s no need for it, but little chance of drift antics either), before booting it out of the pit lane.The BladeGlider"s Boxster-matching 0-62mph claim immediately feels very, very accurate. This is an extremely quick bit of kit, and sheds its speed, despite the 1,400kg kerbweight, just as brutally.
Date written: 18 Aug 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 4712
It"s a bit of a squeeze in the back of the Nissan BladeGlider. Particularly once its enormous backwards-butterfly door has been pressed shut on its heavy-duty gas strut.My Recaro bucket seat is perched atop the car"s 220kW lithium-ion battery pack, and the inner door sweeps narrowly past my shoulder. But it stops short of being claustrophobic, thanks to frameless visor-like glass and a lack of roof. It"s all very alien, but downright cool too.Nissan has built two BladeGlider cars, as a fully operational update of 2013"s Tokyo motor show concept. Twin rear motors capable of torque vectoring and a mysterious drift mode deliver 230kW (about 265bhp) to the rear wheels.The result is a claimed (and very rapid) 4.8 second 0-62mph sprint, and a 115mph top speed. If the Leaf is Nissan"s go at making the electric car a mass-market commodity, then this is the attempt to show electric cars aren"t all work and no play.We"re on a go-kart track about an hour outside of Rio de Janiero, Brazil. It"s about 35 degrees Celsius and the circuit is grittier than a Scottish police drama. When I ask how much the car is worth, eyeing its bespoke bodywork and intricate wheels, immaculate fit and finish and Williams-developed, Formula E-derived powertrain, the Nissan boys simply wince and scuff their shoes. "Lots", apparently.Not that anyone seems to have told ex-Lotus and current Williams Advanced Engineering engineer and today"s driver Darren Cockle. Darren"s in quali-mode, and ready to scare some journalists.He scrolls through the menus of the steering wheel screen, turning off the traction control (it"s so hot there"s no need for it, but little chance of drift antics either), before booting it out of the pit lane.The BladeGlider"s Boxster-matching 0-62mph claim immediately feels very, very accurate. This is an extremely quick bit of kit, and sheds its speed, despite the 1,400kg kerbweight, just as brutally.
Date written: 18 Aug 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 4712
