NPR

Nice to see another Ioniq driver, TNT. Mine is going back at the end of the month, three year lease is up. It's been a great car, but too big for the second car. Renault ZOE replacing it.

Sandstorm wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 8:46 pm
Do you need a big car for your family or an expensive one that’ll get you noticed by wankers down the golf club?

5 person family. Hoping the 2 girls take up rugby. Not going to fit everyone in a Leaf. Though if I could I would buy a Ford Ranger Dual Cab and put a lawn mower in the tray, so I can pretend I work.

I am a ditch digger, golf is a skill never want to master.

I recently got myself something new... and it runs on 98 octane avgas.

When you set the cruise controls and sensor pack to stay in your lane, distance keep, slow down around corners, etc, and go to economy settings you get upwards of 900km per tank (country trips, not city driiving, although it shuts down at traffic lights and other halts). And when you get there, you press a button and it parks itself

Of course, if you want to have some fun you can turn all that shit off, use the steering column paddles to change gears, and it will accelerate to 150km in about 5 seconds.

Monkey Magic wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 8:56 pm

Yeeb wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 8:57 am

CM11 wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 8:54 am Any decent big, affordable EVs? We need a 7 seater and anytime I look the only options are top end. There's the Prius+ as a hybrid but as far as I remember the extra seats are small and take up all the boot space?

Unless you want a huge expensive Tesla or Xc90 or Merc, then ‘no’
Am in same position as you, if we want a 7 seater then will have to get a petrol, and would probably be second hand to save cash. Nissan do an EV truck thing but looks like a van.

Not sure what the market is like in UK but have you looked into the Mitsubishi outlander hybrid. Pretty sure there is decent 7 seater option. And they've been around a while now and shown their reliability

Outlander hybrid in uk is 5 seat not 7. Same with Honda CR-V

Have been helping Mrs Saint teat a numbrr if EVs fir her next car. As a Dustrict Nurse her driving profile is perfect fir an EV - effectively she needs a decent boot, 50 miles a day with the occasional 100+ mile trip.

So far, the e-Niro is easily the best car out there - the range is a lot more than she needs, and I was amazed at the build quality for the price. The MG is a close second given how much cheaper it is.

The Nissan ride quality is awful as soon as you get off of carpet smooth tarmac and we had to cut the test drive short. The i3 would be perfect for a city centre runabout and I personally loved jt.

Cars we are keeping an eye on - the new Citroën eC4, and the new Honda. Looking to purchase by Christmas

I love how quiet it is in the tesla.

Saint wrote: Sat Jul 25, 2020 10:08 pm Have been helping Mrs Saint teat a numbrr if EVs fir her next car. As a Dustrict Nurse her driving profile is perfect fir an EV - effectively she needs a decent boot, 50 miles a day with the occasional 100+ mile trip.

So far, the e-Niro is easily the best car out there - the range is a lot more than she needs, and I was amazed at the build quality for the price. The MG is a close second given how much cheaper it is.

The Nissan ride quality is awful as soon as you get off of carpet smooth tarmac and we had to cut the test drive short. The i3 would be perfect for a city centre runabout and I personally loved jt.

Cars we are keeping an eye on - the new Citroën eC4, and the new Honda. Looking to purchase by Christmas

The Hyundai Kona is equally good bigger range but the boot may be on the small side. The MG is due a refresh in about a year, but I haven't heard anyone complaining about the spec or range at the price point.

If you're anything like us, you'll find that you use the EV more and more as the everyday car.

Hal Jordan wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 9:18 am

Saint wrote: Sat Jul 25, 2020 10:08 pm Have been helping Mrs Saint teat a numbrr if EVs fir her next car. As a Dustrict Nurse her driving profile is perfect fir an EV - effectively she needs a decent boot, 50 miles a day with the occasional 100+ mile trip.

So far, the e-Niro is easily the best car out there - the range is a lot more than she needs, and I was amazed at the build quality for the price. The MG is a close second given how much cheaper it is.

The Nissan ride quality is awful as soon as you get off of carpet smooth tarmac and we had to cut the test drive short. The i3 would be perfect for a city centre runabout and I personally loved jt.

Cars we are keeping an eye on - the new Citroën eC4, and the new Honda. Looking to purchase by Christmas

The Hyundai Kona is equally good bigger range but the boot may be on the small side. The MG is due a refresh in about a year, but I haven't heard anyone complaining about the spec or range at the price point.

If you're anything like us, you'll find that you use the EV more and more as the everyday car.

She didn't like the Kona, even though it is the same platform as the eNiro.

Agreed the spec of the MG is great, and if you're a cash buyer it's great value. But the residuals really hurt it as a PCP

Hal Jordan wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 10:26 pm Nice to see another Ioniq driver, TNT. Mine is going back at the end of the month, three year lease is up. It's been a great car, but too big for the second car. Renault ZOE replacing it.

Yeah, it's a lovely car but there aren't too many of them around, Hyundai haven't produced that many for export. I don't feel comfortable with lease just yet, so I'll likely drive mine into the ground. Will be interesting to see how it fares after 10 years, hopefully better than those 1st gen Leafs!

Actually thinking of a second hand Zoe here, so that my 18 y.o. can drive around without borrowing our only car.

Just ordered a Taycan as i buy my car through the company so getting a huge tax saving on my BIK.

It is frankly a stunning car to drive, took the Taycan Turbo (yes EV's arent Turbo charged take it up with Porsche) for a test drive and it's possibly the best car i have ever driven. My mileage is home to work and back again with trips to the golf club, I charge at work and at home so the range issue isnt really an issue for me as the wife's car will be used for any distance driving that I/we do. Considered Tesla but the nearest dealership for them is Edinburgh and I'm overly keen on their look.

A big queue to get a build slot though, not likely to arrive until some point 4Q but can't wait.

Northern Lights wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 10:53 am Just ordered a Taycan as i buy my car through the company so getting a huge tax saving on my BIK.

It is frankly a stunning car to drive, took the Taycan Turbo (yes EV's arent Turbo charged take it up with Porsche) for a test drive and it's possibly the best car i have ever driven. My mileage is home to work and back again with trips to the golf club, I charge at work and at home so the range issue isnt really an issue for me as the wife's car will be used for any distance driving that I/we do. Considered Tesla but the nearest dealership for them is Edinburgh and I'm overly keen on their look.

A big queue to get a build slot though, not likely to arrive until some point 4Q but can't wait.

Good stuff lorthern, always nice to get a tax boost for something. Sadly don’t have a company at the moment so no sexy tax breaks for me whatever I buy.
What is the electric only range out of interest ? And do you have various modes where you can choose performance , or forcing it to stay on batteries ?

Re the tElsa - are you overly keen or not overly keen, think you missed a word out there

Yeeb wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 11:29 am

Northern Lights wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 10:53 am Just ordered a Taycan as i buy my car through the company so getting a huge tax saving on my BIK.

It is frankly a stunning car to drive, took the Taycan Turbo (yes EV's arent Turbo charged take it up with Porsche) for a test drive and it's possibly the best car i have ever driven. My mileage is home to work and back again with trips to the golf club, I charge at work and at home so the range issue isnt really an issue for me as the wife's car will be used for any distance driving that I/we do. Considered Tesla but the nearest dealership for them is Edinburgh and I'm overly keen on their look.

A big queue to get a build slot though, not likely to arrive until some point 4Q but can't wait.

Good stuff lorthern, always nice to get a tax boost for something. Sadly don’t have a company at the moment so no sexy tax breaks for me whatever I buy.
What is the electric only range out of interest ? And do you have various modes where you can choose performance , or forcing it to stay on batteries ?

Re the tElsa - are you overly keen or not overly keen, think you missed a word out there

Sorry NOT overly keen

The range is meant to be 300 odd miles plus which i am sure goes up or down depending on weather/driving style etc etc

They have 3 models 4S, Turbo or Turbo S - whish basically comes down to how fast you want to accelerate versus how much you want to pay, i didnt get into the range bit too much on the various models as i think it only moves by 20 odd miles the quicker you want to go.

Entry model which i've gone for still gives 0-60 in 4 secs which is enough to toast most things off the road, the Turbo S is something like 2.6 secs which is just downright scary. Not a huge amount of boot space but enough for my golf bats, 4 decent seats which is a bone of contention with the wife and kids as i have 3 bairns so no space for the wife or 1 of the kids (as 2 of them are in full teenage rage mode I've options on who to leave behind) but the wife has a 7 seat disco so we are not, as i pointed out to them, short on being able to ferry us all around. Most of my driving is just me or picking up 1 or 2 of the kids, very seldom would i have the 5 of us.

A lot of reviews of the Taycan have said that unless you're willy waggling, the 4S is fine and spend the money on the options (I. E. all the stuff you would expect not to have to pay for). But I wouldn't say no if I had the chance.

What colour? Please say green because if you say grey I will scream.

Hal Jordan wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 12:53 pm A lot of reviews of the Taycan have said that unless you're willy waggling, the 4S is fine and spend the money on the options (I. E. all the stuff you would expect not to have to pay for). But I wouldn't say no if I had the chance.

What colour? Please say green because if you say grey I will scream.

Blue. I would never buy a green car but that's probably just me.

On the options it's a Porsche and it's fairly standard when specing out their cars in my experience, they are great at engineering though as their gear works, unlike some competitor brands that you can buy. You get in, turn the key and it goes which is not always the case with others.

The other models just give more speed (acceleration), being electric top end is not there but you dont need top end when you are on public roads. So i suppose a degree of willy waggling but you get accused of that anyway by driving a Porsche, so a bit of a meh shrug from me on that, if you can afford it and are happy to do so good luck to them, i personally wasnt interested as by the time i had spec'd the 4S up it was already the wrong side of £100k

He didn't say grey!!!! Hallelujah!

Any Porsche will be a good car.

The new Polestar 2 is getting rave reviews although I'm not sure I would spend £5k on the Performance pack to get bigger wheels (worse ride, worse efficiency), Brembo brakes that will never seriously be needed in 21st century traffic and manually adjustable dampers (which no one will ever adjust). Keep the money and spend it on coke and hookers.

Drove a Polestar 2 during the week in London.
Ridiculously powerful and not too bad to drive.
Fast charging a pain in the hole. You really need to be able to charge it at home to make EV's worthwhile for home use.

Like a lot of people an EV would be fine for 90% of the trips I do but not 90% of the mileage. If I go to say Eryri or mid-Wales for the day I don’t want to have to think about where I stop to recharge on the way home. I’m not in the market for/can’t afford things with 250ish mile range. Hybrid would be fine although the idea of lugging around everything needed for two totally separate means of propulsion sticks in my throat.
Anyway with no commuting and old man driving my Golf Blue Motion gets the best part of 60 mpg on a decent trip.

We run 2 cars. Waiting on a petrol Octavia combi to be delivered in August and that'll do the job for long journeys + family holidays but missus mainly does city commuting. EV would be fine for that.

GogLais wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:53 am Like a lot of people an EV would be fine for 90% of the trips I do but not 90% of the mileage. If I go to say Eryri or mid-Wales for the day I don’t want to have to think about where I stop to recharge on the way home. I’m not in the market for/can’t afford things with 250ish mile range. Hybrid would be fine although the idea of lugging around everything needed for two totally separate means of propulsion sticks in my throat.
Anyway with no commuting and old man driving my Golf Blue Motion gets the best part of 60 mpg on a decent trip.

Wales is a charging desert.

GogLais wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:53 am Like a lot of people an EV would be fine for 90% of the trips I do but not 90% of the mileage. If I go to say Eryri or mid-Wales for the day I don’t want to have to think about where I stop to recharge on the way home. I’m not in the market for/can’t afford things with 250ish mile range. Hybrid would be fine although the idea of lugging around everything needed for two totally separate means of propulsion sticks in my throat.
Anyway with no commuting and old man driving my Golf Blue Motion gets the best part of 60 mpg on a decent trip.

I have a BYD Atto3. a couple of weeks back I did a run from Tauranga in NZ's North Island down to Wellington. Bloody cold temps early and some pretty hilly terrain including the climb up to the plateau of the Desert Road past the central volcanoes. Demanding stuff for range in any EV... we have an app that will plot the journey for you and adds charging points including how much charge you need to regain to get to the next stop. The trip was easy... stopping for 30-40 minutes at a fast charger made good lunch / coffee break time and we covered the total distance in a time roughly 40 minutes longer than Google maps suggested for a car journey., with the added gloat factor to give some shine. Return was the same... a couple of quick stops to top up, grab a coffee and carry on.

It's getting easier with more commercial chargers coming on line all the time, with more and more EVs on the road here.

The comfort factor is excellent. No engine / transmission noise makes a massive difference over a journey.

Sandstorm wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:13 am

Shanky’s mate wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:03 am

The Leaf is a usual size 5 door hatch. They’re not a tiny car... I don’t get the size reference here being a worry.

Several Bordies here have too many kids.

Catherlicks.

2nd hand EV prices have dropped a lot recently.

Loosely connected, but Glasgow Council have just admitted that roughly 45% of their vehicles can't enter their new LEZ, and most are specialist vehicles crucial to services within the area. They are having to spend millions a month hiring compliant vehicles.

Uncle fester wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 9:45 am We run 2 cars. Waiting on a petrol Octavia combi to be delivered in August and that'll do the job for long journeys + family holidays but missus mainly does city commuting. EV would be fine for that.

Same for us.

We've got a big 4x4 diesel for the longer and winter trips, and a Renault Zoe for the school and shopping runs.

I think having a purely EV car just wouldn't work for us right now, as we're out a fair bit in the hills in the Trossachs and Cairngorms, but I reckon a PHEV would be a really decent compromise. Our neighbour has a Mitsubishi Outlander and I'd be tempted by that or the LR Discovery Sport PHEV. The real stumbling block is that they're still bloody expensive, mainly as - for LR in particular - they're relatively new.

Hoping the prices drop in next year, as the kids are going to be going to the same school at last, and we're aiming at going back to one car as we can walk them into school.

Guy Smiley wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 4:43 am

GogLais wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:53 am Like a lot of people an EV would be fine for 90% of the trips I do but not 90% of the mileage. If I go to say Eryri or mid-Wales for the day I don’t want to have to think about where I stop to recharge on the way home. I’m not in the market for/can’t afford things with 250ish mile range. Hybrid would be fine although the idea of lugging around everything needed for two totally separate means of propulsion sticks in my throat.
Anyway with no commuting and old man driving my Golf Blue Motion gets the best part of 60 mpg on a decent trip.

I have a BYD Atto3. a couple of weeks back I did a run from Tauranga in NZ's North Island down to Wellington. Bloody cold temps early and some pretty hilly terrain including the climb up to the plateau of the Desert Road past the central volcanoes. Demanding stuff for range in any EV... we have an app that will plot the journey for you and adds charging points including how much charge you need to regain to get to the next stop. The trip was easy... stopping for 30-40 minutes at a fast charger made good lunch / coffee break time and we covered the total distance in a time roughly 40 minutes longer than Google maps suggested for a car journey., with the added gloat factor to give some shine. Return was the same... a couple of quick stops to top up, grab a coffee and carry on.

It's getting easier with more commercial chargers coming on line all the time, with more and more EVs on the road here.

The comfort factor is excellent. No engine / transmission noise makes a massive difference over a journey.

Requires what would be for me a new, more leisurely approach to driving. Atm I appreciate I need a break every couple of hours but I wouldn’t like the timing and duration of that being forced on me.
As regards apps, yes an app can tell me where there is a charger but that won’t stop somebody getting there before me. The idea of being on a long journey and having to wait a chunk of time to access a charger would really annoy me. As I say a new approach to driving.

petej wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 6:42 am 2nd hand EV prices have dropped a lot recently.

They were insanely inflated due to various reasons, a lot to do with the supply chain for new vehicles, so it's basically settling down.

We now have Schrodinger's EV in the minds of some, apparently they are too expensive for Joe Public to buy, but are also becoming almost worthless due to used prices dropping.

Hal Jordan wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 11:22 am

petej wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 6:42 am 2nd hand EV prices have dropped a lot recently.

They were insanely inflated due to various reasons, a lot to do with the supply chain for new vehicles, so it's basically settling down.

We now have Schrodinger's EV in the minds of some, apparently they are too expensive for Joe Public to buy, but are also becoming almost worthless due to used prices dropping.

I've test drove a lot of EVs so just waiting for the 2nd hand market to bottom out before getting something. On the home charging I was looking at getting a zappi charger. Anyone had bad experiences with them? Probably going to get the charger first as intend to replace my car in the next 6 months

Uncle fester wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 9:45 am We run 2 cars. Waiting on a petrol Octavia combi to be delivered in August and that'll do the job for long journeys + family holidays but missus mainly does city commuting. EV would be fine for that.

Ran vRS wagons for many years. Brilliant cars but when the last one died
a) It was a 6 month waiting for a new one.
b) The NX gen looked like some hideous attempt to hijack the Transformers franchise.
c) And the nail in the coffin is new prices were over that of a low mileage, M spec 5 series.

petej wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 2:50 pm

Hal Jordan wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 11:22 am

petej wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 6:42 am 2nd hand EV prices have dropped a lot recently.

They were insanely inflated due to various reasons, a lot to do with the supply chain for new vehicles, so it's basically settling down.

We now have Schrodinger's EV in the minds of some, apparently they are too expensive for Joe Public to buy, but are also becoming almost worthless due to used prices dropping.

I've test drove a lot of EVs so just waiting for the 2nd hand market to bottom out before getting something. On the home charging I was looking at getting a zappi charger. Anyone had bad experiences with them? Probably going to get the charger first as intend to replace my car in the next 6 months

I have the Zappi

It works well the app is intuitive and it works with our solar panels. Don't have any experience of other chargers but I can't fault the Zappi

yermum wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 12:33 pm

petej wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 2:50 pm

Hal Jordan wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 11:22 am

They were insanely inflated due to various reasons, a lot to do with the supply chain for new vehicles, so it's basically settling down.

We now have Schrodinger's EV in the minds of some, apparently they are too expensive for Joe Public to buy, but are also becoming almost worthless due to used prices dropping.

I've test drove a lot of EVs so just waiting for the 2nd hand market to bottom out before getting something. On the home charging I was looking at getting a zappi charger. Anyone had bad experiences with them? Probably going to get the charger first as intend to replace my car in the next 6 months

I have the Zappi

It works well the app is intuitive and it works with our solar panels. Don't have any experience of other chargers but I can't fault the Zappi

Thank you.

Zapp Bannigan wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 12:39 pm

yermum wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 12:33 pm

petej wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 2:50 pm
I've test drove a lot of EVs so just waiting for the 2nd hand market to bottom out before getting something. On the home charging I was looking at getting a zappi charger. Anyone had bad experiences with them? Probably going to get the charger first as intend to replace my car in the next 6 months

I have the Zappi

It works well the app is intuitive and it works with our solar panels. Don't have any experience of other chargers but I can't fault the Zappi

Thank you.

I got one installed by Hive (Alfen I think). The app is simple but works well (limits to when the tariff is cheaper overnight etc), no issues so far. I didn't get one that integrates with my solar pv, but I only have a small-ish system, and I'm using a smart switch to heat the water tank via an immersion heater.

My daughter and a couple of her student pals have borrowed my e-Niro to head up to Sutherland for a week. It'll be interesting to see how they get on using the public charging network up there!