The Car thread

[Milo]

On 09/05/2023 at 15:49, Bellend Sebastian said:

I've had an electric car for a week and I think that's me converted.

 

I don't read them but I keep getting links to negative articles, especially in the Telegraph, about 'how the EV dream is over' and stuff like that. They seem absolutely furious about them for some reason

I’m similar - I’m about 6 weeks in to my change to electric. 
 

And getting a home charger fitted tomorrow which will make life a little easier. 
 

I did my first 100 mile plus journey at the weekend, back up to Leicester. It wasn’t brilliant - range dropped hugely on the motorway and had to stop to recharge. I really don’t have the patience to a) keep stopping to charge it, or b) drive at 70 on the motorway to preserve the range. 
 

But the positives still massively outweigh the negatives for me. 
 

Absolutely converted. 

[Tommy G]

59 minutes ago, Milo said:

I’m similar - I’m about 6 weeks in to my change to electric. 
 

And getting a home charger fitted tomorrow which will make life a little easier. 
 

I did my first 100 mile plus journey at the weekend, back up to Leicester. It wasn’t brilliant - range dropped hugely on the motorway and had to stop to recharge. I really don’t have the patience to a) keep stopping to charge it, or b) drive at 70 on the motorway to preserve the range. 
 

But the positives still massively outweigh the negatives for me. 
 

Absolutely converted. 

Presume charge on the return not between 0-100 miles?!

 

I get about 190-200 miles out of mine 

Edited 10 May 2023 by Tommy G

[Zear0]

I'll join the love in for the EV. Two years into my e-Niro and will definitely stay electric. We do have a second car which is ICE for when we visit The Lakes but it's barely used. 

 

Been able to visit family in London and Norwich without needing to recharge the Niro too so have completely avoided public chargers. 

 

I've also had two charge points fitted at work which have very nearly paid for themselves as they're always being used. 

[Milo]

11 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Presume charge on the return not between 0-100 miles?!

 

I get about 190-200 miles out of mine 

Had to do it both ways. 
 

Thought I’d juiced it enough to get there.  But hadn’t. 
 

And then couldn’t find a decent charging point anywhere near where I was staying in Burbage…so had to charge on the way back. 

 

Ball ache, but home charger should sort it out

 

 

[Bellend Sebastian]

1 hour ago, Milo said:

I’m similar - I’m about 6 weeks in to my change to electric. 
 

And getting a home charger fitted tomorrow which will make life a little easier. 
 

I did my first 100 mile plus journey at the weekend, back up to Leicester. It wasn’t brilliant - range dropped hugely on the motorway and had to stop to recharge. I really don’t have the patience to a) keep stopping to charge it, or b) drive at 70 on the motorway to preserve the range. 
 

But the positives still massively outweigh the negatives for me. 
 

Absolutely converted. 

That's where I'm at an advantage, as I'd been driving a really inefficient petrol car and since petrol prices went silly I've been setting the cruise control at 65 on the motorway anyway, just to stop being being bankrupted. No new habit required!

[Milo]

3 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

That's where I'm at an advantage, as I'd been driving a really inefficient petrol car and since petrol prices went silly I've been setting the cruise control at 65 on the motorway anyway, just to stop being being bankrupted. No new habit required!

Haha - you’re a better man than I am 👍

[The Bear]

ZapMap tells you very charger in the country and whether it's working or not 

 

I hope you all use that. 

[JonnyBoy]

Really pleased I went for the model 3 long range, going to Lake District on Friday - 360 miles fully charged! There is a great service station called tebay services near which will top up the charge and great farm shop worth visiting with fresh produce (was a series on tv about it not too long ago) 

[Zear0]

14 minutes ago, JonnyBoy said:

Really pleased I went for the model 3 long range, going to Lake District on Friday - 360 miles fully charged! There is a great service station called tebay services near which will top up the charge and great farm shop worth visiting with fresh produce (was a series on tv about it not too long ago) 

Tebay are the same company who run the Gloucester services too.  An absolute gem for the motorway service station connoisseurs amongst us.

[The Bear]

18 minutes ago, JonnyBoy said:

Really pleased I went for the model 3 long range, going to Lake District on Friday - 360 miles fully charged! There is a great service station called tebay services near which will top up the charge and great farm shop worth visiting with fresh produce (was a series on tv about it not too long ago) 

360 is the book number (WLTP) for mileage. You won't see that in real life, especially with motorway driving. You should get 250-280 though now it's late Spring (you'd struggle to get 250 in winter cold temps), especially if you stick to 70mph and below. 

Edited 10 May 2023 by The Bear

[Tommy G]

2 hours ago, Milo said:

Had to do it both ways. 
 

Thought I’d juiced it enough to get there.  But hadn’t. 
 

And then couldn’t find a decent charging point anywhere near where I was staying in Burbage…so had to charge on the way back. 

 

Ball ache, but home charger should sort it out

 

 

For future ref there’s two at sketchley grange hotel think they are 22KW, then you have the superchargers at McDonald’s (2 in Hinckley) that are super fast but 75p a KWH. 

[Bellend Sebastian]

Accidentally turned on the "car drives itself mode" on way home.

 

Like trying to wrestle with a poltergeist for control of the wheel

[Bellend Sebastian]

Activated accidentally whilst turning off another 'car knows best' system

[VLC86]

24 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Activated accidentally whilst turning off another 'car knows best' system

Drove back from Edinburgh in mine, for 130 miles I didn’t touch the break or accelerator and used lane keep assist for about 95% of the drive.

 

Sometimes it does go a little mental but it’s pretty good on the Mach E, can see why it’s been signed off for self driving.

[tom27111]

On 08/05/2023 at 22:45, Tielemans63 said:

Some advice please people. I've accepted that it's time to go full boring bastard and get an SUV (or something similar). Will probs go for used (2022) and currently looking at a Sportage, Qashqai or maybe a T-Roc.

 

Would want an automatic but open to petrol, diesel or hybrid.

 

Any recommendations?

Going back to this...

 

I did 3 hours in a 22 plate Qashqai today.

 

It was alright, the seats were all electric, but honestly, nothing on the Sportage. 

 

Kia have absolutely fvcking nailed it.

 

Sitting in the drivers seat, the Nissan isn't even close.

 

I've driven almost everything, bar supercars, but that new shape Sportage is the best all-rounder I've ever driven.

 

For an affordable family car, I honestly can't recommend it highly enough.

 

Fcck me, I don't even work for them 

 

If anyone is interested in one though, my old boss is starting at a Kia main main dealer next month. He'll sort you out.

 

I'm sure @Bellend Sebastian will back me up on that.

[Bellend Sebastian]

4 hours ago, tom27111 said:

Going back to this...

 

I did 3 hours in a 22 plate Qashqai today.

 

It was alright, the seats were all electric, but honestly, nothing on the Sportage. 

 

Kia have absolutely fvcking nailed it.

 

Sitting in the drivers seat, the Nissan isn't even close.

 

I've driven almost everything, bar supercars, but that new shape Sportage is the best all-rounder I've ever driven.

 

For an affordable family car, I honestly can't recommend it highly enough.

 

Fcck me, I don't even work for them 

 

If anyone is interested in one though, my old boss is starting at a Kia main main dealer next month. He'll sort you out.

 

I'm sure @Bellend Sebastian will back me up on that.

Luke's off to Kia? Good luck to him.

 

He couldn't have been more helpful, lovely chap

[Tielemans63]

6 hours ago, tom27111 said:

Going back to this...

 

I did 3 hours in a 22 plate Qashqai today.

 

It was alright, the seats were all electric, but honestly, nothing on the Sportage. 

 

Kia have absolutely fvcking nailed it.

 

Sitting in the drivers seat, the Nissan isn't even close.

 

I've driven almost everything, bar supercars, but that new shape Sportage is the best all-rounder I've ever driven.

 

For an affordable family car, I honestly can't recommend it highly enough.

 

Fcck me, I don't even work for them 

 

If anyone is interested in one though, my old boss is starting at a Kia main main dealer next month. He'll sort you out.

 

I'm sure @Bellend Sebastian will back me up on that.

The Sportage looks amazing and the reviews I've read are glowing however I don't think it's quite within my budget unfortunately. Going to go to Kia and see what they can do for me anyway. Been looking at the XCeed and the Stonic alternatives but can't get excited about either. Hopefully I'm wrong and the Sportage is in budget!

 

Thanks the advice!

[tom27111]

10 hours ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Luke's off to Kia? Good luck to him.

 

He couldn't have been more helpful, lovely chap

 

Yeah, he's going to their dealership in Stevanage.

 

Motorvogue isn't a great place to work to be honest, he's been looking for alternatives for a while.

 

He is a top bloke, I left over a year ago and we still keep in touch regularly. 

 

Glad he helped you out 

[JonnyBoy]

On 10/05/2023 at 21:42, The Bear said:

360 is the book number (WLTP) for mileage. You won't see that in real life, especially with motorway driving. You should get 250-280 though now it's late Spring (you'd struggle to get 250 in winter cold temps), especially if you stick to 70mph and below. 

Was a pain in winter driving to Tesco 3 miles away and using apparently 20 miles! Have noticed a big difference in warmer temperatures which has been good. 

[The Bear]

2 hours ago, JonnyBoy said:

Was a pain in winter driving to Tesco 3 miles away and using apparently 20 miles! Have noticed a big difference in warmer temperatures which has been good. 

I usually keep mine in Chill mode. It puts the electric motors in a lower power mode. I've not seen confirmation that it uses less energy but I've convinced myself it does. Certainly stops you accelerating so hard all the time if you have a heavy right foot. 

[SystonFox]

20 hours ago, The Bear said:

I usually keep mine in Chill mode. It puts the electric motors in a lower power mode. I've not seen confirmation that it uses less energy but I've convinced myself it does. Certainly stops you accelerating so hard all the time if you have a heavy right foot. 

chill mode does nothing except restrict the power. it's still thirsty if you smash the go pedal though!

 

i've done around 36k in mine and my average is about 215-220 wh/m or whatever the equation is

[moore_94]

Went to put the drivers side window down earlier

 

Went down a little and then all of a sudden seemed to just drop completely down

 

Now wont come back up, and had to put a tarp all around the driver door and shut it into it until Monday

 

ffs 

Edited 20 May 2023 by moore_94

[UniFox21]

On 20/05/2023 at 20:39, moore_94 said:

Went to put the drivers side window down earlier

 

Went down a little and then all of a sudden seemed to just drop completely down

 

Now wont come back up, and had to put a tarp all around the driver door and shut it into it until Monday

 

ffs 

I had that there other year around September time when it absolutely threw it down 

 

The plastic around the doors etc would then buffet and vibrate whenever I'd get to about 70 

 

If I remember it was the regulator that had gone and the entire mechanism needed replacing, with none of my usual garages wanting to go near it with it being electrical 

[VLC86]

On 10/05/2023 at 21:24, JonnyBoy said:

Really pleased I went for the model 3 long range, going to Lake District on Friday - 360 miles fully charged! There is a great service station called tebay services near which will top up the charge and great farm shop worth visiting with fresh produce (was a series on tv about it not too long ago) 

Tebay is the GOAT of services.

[FoyleFox]

Went to Fully Charged Live this weekend, got to experience lots of test drives, my first time driving an EV. Very enjoyable and informative. If it was affordable I'd definitely get one, sadly nothing I like is.