Real-world range is estimated by Hall himself at between 60- and 100 miles, depending entirely on how much fun you’re having at the time. “That’s far enough for a weekend blast, or probably to get to your local car club meet and back; and as far, realistically, as most people will want to drive it without a break anyway,” he says. And at that point, there’s DC rapid charging capability at up to 60kW, to put range back into the car usefully quickly.
With a bathtub-style glassfibre body, the Meon wears its buggy identity very proudly indeed. If you don’t instantly love its dinky, retro-cool, froggy-eyed, chromey-hooped appearance, you might well look at parts – the exposed, rough-looking ‘B-sides’ of the GRP tub on the bodyside, perhaps, and some of the components of the interior (our test car was a prototype, and did have some non-production-spec, 3D printed parts) – and wonder why £75,000 isn’t buying you a higher-quality finish.
But the Meon has refinements where they really matter. Hall’s very first car flew through its ‘IVA’ single vehicle approval test without a revision, described by the VOSA examiner as “absolutely perfect”. It’s a car that does lightness and buggy-chic simplicity with lots of commitment, and doesn’t carry a single extra kilo for the sake of appearances.
