Vauxhall Ampera

gunnerfitzy

KELTICKNIGHTT wrote: »

Was looking at buying ampera 142 reg when converted from UK to Irish plates.
I have work round trip of 70 Kms per day to work.
Currently I spend 45 euros on petrol per week for work
70% motorway driving to work
Trying to figure out how much I save with ampera.
What to expect with Ampera with 70% motorway and 30 % non motorway from tank in Ampera.
Contacted few garages around 1 in cork where I live and couple outside of cork.
Parts a issue .have to come from UK
Does the electronics and electric parts give much issue.
When needed. How hard or easy to get parts for electrical side
Cheers

I recently sold my Ampera.

I found Charles Hurst in Belfast good to deal with for parts. I needed a relay for the rear demister one time plus service parts another time. They either had them in stock or ordered them in and then mailed them to Cork. I had James in Des Golden service the car. He did a lot of his EV training in the UK on an Ampera. Great to deal with.

KELTICKNIGHTT

gunnerfitzy wrote: »

I recently sold my Ampera.

I found Charles Hurst in Belfast good to deal with for parts. I needed a relay for the rear demister one time plus service parts another time. They either had them in stock or ordered them in and then mailed them to Cork. I had James in Des Golden service the car. He did a lot of his EV training in the UK on an Ampera. Great to deal with.

Think his garage is in Wilton.cheers for that.
Do you need dedicated charger at home or would 3 pin work ok.know 3 pin charging would take long while to change.
I like the look and style of ampera inside and outside looks good too .
What's the ride like .is it firm or medium on non motorway roads
What's size tyres do ampera take .
Cheers

gunnerfitzy

KELTICKNIGHTT wrote: »

Think his garage is in Wilton.cheers for that.
Do you need dedicated charger at home or would 3 pin work ok.know 3 pin charging would take long while to change.
I like the look and style of ampera inside and outside looks good too .
What's the ride like .is it firm or medium on non motorway roads
What's size tyres do ampera take .
Cheers

Ya. He's in Wilton.

A dedicated charge point is preferable. The Ampera qualifies for the SEAI grant. But I believe some are happy enough with the 3 pin.

If you know an electrician and it's a straightforward install, it is possible to save some money by purchasing a CP yourself and then getting an electrician to install it.

Looks are fantastic inside and out. It's a real head-turner and rare on the roads.

I would say its a medium ride. Some over-inflate the tyres to get a few extra KM but that then will likely make the ride more firm.

I used Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 215/55 R17 W (98) on mine. Not cheap, about €120 each. But very good tyres.

Edit: Charge time was about 3.5 hours from empty on the dedicated charger. So I'd expect 5-6 hours on the 3 pin.

KELTICKNIGHTT

gunnerfitzy wrote: »

Ya. He's in Wilton.

A dedicated charge point is preferable. The Ampera qualifies for the SEAI grant. But I believe some are happy enough with the 3 pin.

If you know an electrician and it's a straightforward install, it is possible to save some money by purchasing a CP yourself and then getting an electrician to install it.

Looks are fantastic inside and out. It's a real head-turner and rare on the roads.

I would say its a medium ride. Some over-inflate the tyres to get a few extra KM but that then will likely make the ride more firm.

I used Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 215/55 R17 W (98) on mine. Not cheap, about €120 each. But very good tyres.

Edit: Charge time was about 3.5 hours from empty on the dedicated charger. So I'd expect 5-6 hours on the 3 pin.

Thanks for all the info.
Tells me about cost of running ampera.
Should save a good bit on running costs back and forth to work.

Alkers

KELTICKNIGHTT wrote: »

Anything to look out for when buying

There's a few bits, I'm nearly sure I posted a link on this thread to an extremely comprehensive buying guide from another forum. Read back over this thread or I'll look for that guide again when I'm on my lunch break tomorrow

Alkers

Alkers wrote: »

There's a few bits, I'm nearly sure I posted a link on this thread to an extremely comprehensive buying guide from another forum. Read back over this thread or I'll look for that guide again when I'm on my lunch break tomorrow

https://www.speakev.com/threads/guide-to-buying-a-second-hand-ampera.26041/

KELTICKNIGHTT

Alkers wrote: »

https://www.speakev.com/threads/guide-to-buying-a-second-hand-ampera.26041/

Thanks for that. A lot of information there on ampera.

Alkers

We've had a couple of issues with our ampera since Xmas. First was a complete failure to drive or charge - car wouldn't initialise which was preventing it from turning on properly and also wouldn't accept a charge.

This was a battery out fault finding excercise eventually traced to faulty wiring between the battery and electric motor which had suffered from water ingress and corroded.

That was only repaired a week and we had the inverter fail so the 12v battery wants being charged. Replaced that and car is back running perfectly again.

Still a brilliant car but when things go wrong, expect delays as people aren't familiar with them and there are delays in ordering parts.