It’s not unusual to see rare, luxury vehicles on the streets of Kelowna. With beautiful weather, beautiful drives, and a city that is the playground of Western Canada’s rich and famous, it comes as no great shock to see Lamborghinis, Porsches, and Ferrari’s cruising the streets
What is a rare sight, however, is a Fisker Karma EcoChic that has been spotted throughout the city. The luxury sports sedan belongs to Quincy Vrecko, a local realtor who deals in properties valued at $1 million and up.
Vrecko purchased the car when he was in the market for a luxury vehicle that was different, yet environmentally friendly.
With those requirements in mind, the Fisker Karma seemed like the obvious choice as it is an electric vehicle with an onboard range extender giving the Karma a combined city/highway fuel efficiency of 52 mpg.
Vrecko says that it is this environmental consciousness that is his favourite aspect of the car.
“From an environmental aspect, being a realtor, I really enjoy the fact that we are leaving a very small footprint on the environment. This car will travel about 80 kilometres a day on pure electricity. So, it’s a nice thing to have because we do spend a lot of time in our cars,” Vrecko said.
“It also has the capability to go extended range, because it runs a two litre engine that powers a gas generator and keeps the car going for long ranges.”
The Karma was designed by Henrik Fisker, a legend in the automotive industry who also designed the BMW Z8, the Aston Martin DB9 and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, and flaunts a solar panel roof and an eco friendly interior among its virtues.
“The interior of the car is all geared towards the environment; There are no leathers or anything like that in the car,” explains Vrecko.
“There’s an alcantara suede, which is a manmade suede, for the interior seating surfaces and dashboard and all of the wood is reclaimed wood; It was reclaimed from the bottom of a lake in California.”
This Fisker Karma isn’t just good looking though. Its performance capabilities are nothing to sneeze at as it boasts an amazing 960 lb per sq ft of torque, making acceleration a dream. In fact, the car does 60 mp/h in 7.9 seconds, and when the gas-powered generator kicks in, it completes the acceleration test in 5.9 seconds.
At one time, Vrecko worked in luxury vehicle sales and has driven everything, including Porsches, Lamborghinis, and Ferraris, but he prefers his Fisker Karma, hands down.
The luxury real estate agent said: “It’s one of the nicest cars I’ve ever driven because of the torque and the power of the car.
It sits low to the ground, it’s a long vehicle at about 196 inches long and it’s very wide and squat, so it can pull about .93 Gs through a corner, making it one of the best handling cars I’ve ever driven.”
The car also comes with some additional perks, care of the City of Kelowna.
The EcoPass program allows drivers of electric, hybrid and low emissions vehicles to park on downtown streets for free.
For those who live, work, or spend a lot of time downtown, it’s an added benefit, and one that Vrecko was really pleased to discover.
Combining a low environmental impact, exquisite styling, and luxury performance in one car is a win-win and Vrecko couldn’t be happier with his rare vehicle.
“I like the fact that it’s a unique car. Realtors really need four doors, and to have that option with the four doors in a car that has such unique styling and is environmentally friendly is great. The Fisker Karma is the complete package.”
B.C. born and raised, Vrecko got his drive from competing as a national level gymnast for 12 years, winning awards for the province.
After retiring from gymnastics, his passion to succeed continued on in his sales career. He spent some time in Calgary where he met his wife, and had two children before returning to B.C.
Now back home, he is focused on establishing a reliable business focused on customer satisfaction and honest hard work.
