Fisker Ocean review

Let’s start with cabin space. There’s a 476-litre boot out back with underfloor storage for cables and a second row that folds flat. It’s not Skoda-gargantuan, and in fact for the Ocean’s outward size, the packaging and use of space could be better. The Model Y is bigger back here.

The electric rear windows on three sides are going to be a gimmick for most of us, but if you carry a dog in the boot they will love you forever. Assuming they don’t already. Passenger space in the second row is good, especially for the centre passenger as Fisker has carved out foot space where the back of the centre console usually sits.

How’s life up front?

Unlike the Model Y and most other electric crossovers, the Ocean doesn’t bury everything in the central touchscreen. There are pads on the steering wheel, a secondary display ahead of the driver and useful aircon and volume buttons at the bottom of the dash. Above them sits the 17.1-inch portrait touchscreen, which on Extreme models can rotate to landscape. But only when you’re stationary or it would interfere with the column stalk. Gimmick, then? Well, no, not if you’re charging and want to watch something on Netflix.

The seats are really well shaped and comfortable and although the white Alcantara would be a nightmare for families, it does make for an uplifting interior that helps draw your attention away from the cheap plastics.

How’s the V2.0 software?

Largely glitch-free. Certainly we didn’t have a single warning light pop up, and aside from the brake regen issue described earlier, it didn’t give us any problems. Some of the functionality is still lacking though: currently there’s no support for Apple Carplay or Android Auto, the adaptive cruise control isn’t operational and Bluetooth connection was patchy.
 
The screen is possibly a hair slow responding to touch, but it’s well laid out and pretty easy to find your way around. Most importantly to the driver settings that allow you to disable the speed sign recognition...

Any quirky features tucked away in there?

How about the taco trays? In place of the glovebox there’s a slide out tray table (don’t worry about storage capacity there’s plenty of other pockets around the place, just no lockable bin to hide stuff away), and when you open the centre bin you’ll find half the capacity taken up by a flip-out tray table like those ones in aeroplane armrests. This one’s equally fiddly and threatening to fingertips, but actually pretty handy for putting your laptop on while you’re charging. It’s a bit rickety though: another sign that Fisker hasn’t quite had the funds available to sort everything out.