We've been driving our HW pinball machine in Australia, hard, for 6 months now. Car number 202. My mate likes driving, as do I, but I haven't been able to spend as much time under the hood as I would like. So we have been cruising the streets trying to get a bit of experience as learner drivers without crashing in to something. Its my job to make sure its always mobile one way or another. 1,500 trips and 10,000 kms (balls) on the clock and it still looks and drives like brand new. Trips were very short at the beginning but we now drive a lot longer with less trips in a day. (We're getting better)
Had a roadside puncture of the left flipper at about trip 600. Required a couple of staples and UV glue to get us mobile again before a complete set of new tyres arrived from the API shop. We rotate the tyres (flippers and slingshots) every 300 trips or so to get more life from these tyres. (Keep an eye on the tips and corners for damage, tears and wear.)
This machine was built to last the distance. A tough cookie. Beautifully engineered under the hood with quality components and a fantastic driving experience! So anyone um and arrghing , tyre kicking; get one!! You won't be disappointed and won't suffer from "buyers remorse".
Sorry to hear of some 48V engine problems that some new cars are experiencing. Replace it with a 15.7A or greater engine or call the trusty API engineering roadside assistance who will help you in a jiffy when you open a service ticket. They are truly the best in the business when it comes to service and support and have helped us with a few minor glitches for which we have submitted time of occurrence, description and log from the machine.
We just luv driving this machine, hard, and can't get enough of it!