Regions outside the U.S. with better-organized towns and urban areas get to have all the fun when it comes to adorable little microcars. Japan has its kei cars, and European countries get things like the Renault Twizy, the Citroën Ami, and this precious gumdrop of a “car” called the Microlino. The Microlino effectively picks up where the BMW Isetta left off in the 1950s and ’60s.
It’s adorable, at least until you slam on the brakes, as Auto Zeitung, a German car website, found out. In an emergency brake test, the Microlino stood on its two front wheels as if it were about to do a somersault, and when the driver released the brake to avoid said roll, it came even closer to tipping on its side.
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Microlino’s response to the video was, “We were unable to reproduce the results in the numerous approval tests at the external testing company, nor in our internal tests. Of course, we will analyse the car in detail to get to the bottom of the matter.”
Its figures are actually pretty respectable
The Microlino is available with three different battery sizes, a 5.5 kWh battery that’s good for a 58-mile range on the WLTP cycle, a 10.5 kWh battery that’s rated at 110-mile range, and a 15 kWh battery pack is rated at a 141-mile maximum range. It has a 16.6 horsepower rear-mounted electric motor, and the fastest version can go about 56 mph. The range estimates and top speed are surprisingly good, though the WLTP range cycle tends to be more optimistic than the EPA’s range estimates in the U.S..
It is 99.17-inches long, about 58-inches wide, and about 59-inches tall, so it’s about six-inches shorter in length than a second-generation Smart ForTwo, 7.5-inches narrower, and 2.2-inches shorter in height. It has front and rear unassisted disc brakes, and unassisted steering, and since it’s technically classified as a Quadricycle, it isn’t legally required to have anti-lock brakes, air bags, or stability control, hence the chaotic behavior in Auto Zeitung’s test.
Price-wise, Microlinos can cost upward of £18,000, so they aren’t especially cheap to buy, but Car Magazine UK said in their review of the Microlino that it feels a cut above its primary competitors, the Citroën Ami and Renault Twizy. Plus it’s achingly chic, so does the price really matter when the car looks this special?
