NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
In case you hadn't noticed, BMWs tend to be expensive. The German luxury car maker's latest addition to the line-up is no exception with its suggested retail price of $695.
That might sound downright cheap for a "Beemer," but this one has only three wheels. And they're very small wheels at that. And the motor?
What motor?
The BMW SlideCarver, a three-wheeled kick scooter, comes out of the Munich studio of the car maker's DesignWorksUSA. The scooter, which costs several times the price of a typical kick scooter, borrows suspension elements from the BMW 5-series sedan. It also has hydraulic disc brakes -- the brake lines are filled with a special mineral oil -- on both rear wheels.
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| BMW SlideCarver |
The SlideCarver rides on three smooth rubber tires with wear indicators so you know when it's time to buy a new set. (Replacement wheels cost $32.75 each.)
Made mostly of aluminum, the SlideCarver still weighs a relatively hefty 26 pounds. Not something you'd want to toss over your shoulder for a ride on the downtown bus. (By the way, the SlideCarver supposedly has a "patented folding mechanism with a quick release, which can be operated easily by hand." This feature may, indeed, be patented. As for the rest, not really.)
But the SlideCarver more than makes up in agility what it loses in heft. In fact, it might have a bit too much agility.
The SlideCarver is steered by leaning, like a skateboard, and by turning the front handlebars, like a bicycle. (The SlideCarver has an older sibling, the StreetCarver skateboard, introduced a couple of years ago.) This combo steering mechanism makes for a manhole-sized turning radius, but also makes it a lot of work just to keep the thing going in a straight line.
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In a hastily arranged indoor race against CNN/Money's managing editor, riding a lean-steered K2 scooter, I lost sight of my superior after the second turn. I blame the effort expended in trying to maintain balance and the frequent braking required to keep myself from being chucked upside-down over hip-high cubicle walls.
With a bit more practice, I was able to surf a few of Manhattan's less-crowded sidewalks without incident. (Safety note: BMW recommends full safety gear including a helmet and elbow and knee pads.) Whenever things got a bit crowded -- meaning more than two people abreast -- I hopped off and walked the SlideCarver like a bike so as not to risk breaking any unfortunate pedestrians' ankles in a collision.
Is it a buy?
Now, to answer the lingering question: Is the SlideCarver worth $695?
Are you nuts?
Most kick scooters cost less than $100. A few really nice ones cost $150 or a little more. This one costs nearly 5 times that.
By comparison, the average car costs about $25,000. The BMW 5-series is considerably better than the average car. In fact, it was MONEY magazine's 2004 pick as Best Luxury Car. But it costs about $50,000, twice the cost of the average car, not $125,000.
Now, we understand that kick scooters are not part of BMW's core business. And, obviously, not a lot of marketing thought went into the SlideCarver.
When asked to describe the target demographic for the SlideCarver, a BMW spokesperson responded, "Whoever wants to buy one."
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All of which raises another question: Why did BMW make the SlideCarver?
That's not so obvious.
"It's not going to be the next Razor scooter. It was never intended to be a mass market product," said a BMW spokesperson.
The SlideCarver, she said, was designed for the person who wants a little more from a kick scooter.
"More performance, more handling," she said.
For $700, perhaps what the person wants is a motor.
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