Vauxhall Ampera

Well after my 35km during the week, I just did a long trip with the missus and the kids (Limerick to Kilkenny)

So, same car same driver and driving style - this time I got 58.8km from full to zero

Weather was still cold but not freezing (started at 10C was 12C when we arrived in Kilkenny), little wind and some drizzle.

So the differences were, preheated on mains and 1 single drive in fairly free flowing N road traffic, cabin heating kept at a minimum. Vs lots of short trips in stop/start traffic on my commute with heating on max

On my normal commute I'm lucky if I get to 50% on the driving style graph in the efficiency page

Hi marklazarcovic... You got an ampera too iirc, how long have you had yours? And what's your best/worst range on battery?

n97 mini wrote: »

Once they get close to, or over, 100k miles the asking price drops. Most cars are the same. I'm sure the drive train is still fine...

The sister car for this, the Chevrolet Volt first gen, have many examples over 300k miles in the US with no battery loss. I'd have no concerns at all.

slicedpanman wrote: »

It really doesn't like the cold and all the stop starting of short trips. Starting cold seems to knock one or two km off the range each time as does blasting the heat

I find I lose about 1-1.5 miles on the range estimation in winter with my Prius Plug-in (get about 11 miles in summer), though it's hard to tell what my effective range is because using the heater = running the ICE.

I wouldn't worry too much about the brake components

But yeah most cars need considerable suspension work around the 200-300km mark. That would cost hundreds rather than thousands though. I would prefer to buy a car a few thousand cheaper that might need a few hundred spent on it than buying an expensive low miler

unkel wrote: »

I wouldn't worry too much about the brake components

The fact the friction brakes will be used less than a traditional car doesn't mean they can be ignored either.

I've had to replace all the caliper guide pins on the rear brakes on my Prius as they were seized - they need regular inspection and lubrication to avoid this. Every 2 years or so is probably enough.

I don't know how much of an issue this is with other hybrids and EVs, but if you see rusty discs (and not just light surface rust) then they'll need attention. Some cursory Googling suggests the Volt/Ampera is not immune to this problem.

Even if the discs look OK it's probably good to check them and lubricate the pins. I gained about a mile EV range after doing this

n97 mini wrote: »

- TPMS actually shows tyre pressures without having to use OBD. I don't know why the Leaf doesn't. The downside is that when the car is in metric mode, tyre pressure is shown in kilopascals! Why?! Should be in Bar ideally, but I still use PSI anyway.

Because kPa is the metric unit of pressure. Divide it by 100 and you'll have the value in bars. In which part the Pound per Square Inch is metric? ;P

Dark and Long wrote: »

I simply could not look at a leaf every day, it's just so ugly and unappealing, snobbish I know, but I like a good looking car! I don't plan on having this commute for much longer, so I was looking ahead and figured it would do my needs in future, while cutting my costs presently and having a car I like the look of.

I did over 50k km in a leaf in around 12 months. You don't have to look at it when you are driving! :P

Dark and Long wrote: »

Have one of these about a month now and love it. I have a 250km round commute to work and got it after work put in chargers, spending about 5/8th's of what I was on fuel (coming from a 2.0 cDTI Astra). Find it great to drive and very comfy. The touch sensitive infomatant system is really annoying for things like the temp control, and I find the windscreen fogs up very easily and much more than any other car I've had for some reason (although I am aware I'm a bit more stingy with the heating in EV mode!!).

Whats insurance on these, I know that'l be variable based on other factors.
Anyone know what are the actual servicing costs up north?

Kamili wrote: »

Theres two for sale on done deal at the moment, no mention of spec and I haven't gone digging.

https://www.donedeal.ie/all?words=Ampera&area=Ireland&campaign=14

Seems steep compared to the UK based one,

White or red they look amazing imo

I heard the volt/ampera don't have exact same suspension etc, only the drivetrain is the same, slight differences in a lot of other things.

I prefer a retractable roller cover, Ive an estate and as I might have anything in there I prefer its not visible, more suprising to me is the lack of any or a significant barrier to stop items in there moving through into the rest of the car, one vehicle looked like the barrier was about as substantial as a piece of hardboard others had none on display, other than that I like the look of both cars, volt looks nicer, but the ampera looks ok in certain colours

Patser wrote: »

Strange timing to see this thread, just seen my 1st Chevy Volt in the flesh - a 12 reg, one of the rebadged Amperas. Not too bad looking a car up close.

Cough.... an ampera is actually a rebadged Volt, not the other way round

Simona1986 wrote: »

Anyone know how long the charge cable is? Would it reach a socket on the front of a house if the Ampera is the second car in a driveway if that makes sense?

I don't know specifically for the Ampera, but most EVs come with a 5m cable. This would not be long enough to reach the second car on the drive

For this reason, I had a 15m cable made for me

wing52 wrote: »

Is you're 15m cable as tough or better than the standard. Ones?

Probably better. It is very heavy. I have it permanently tethered to my charger. It hangs in the bushes between my and my neighbour's driveway right beside the charge port of my car, for maximum convenience. The only solution more convenient than this would be wireless charging

Simona1986 wrote: »

Only issue so far is the front splitter scrapes off the ground on the way into the driveway, it's extremely low!

Yeah, I've to watch the speed bumps, it's a low clearance alright

Has anyone figured out how to play music through the stereo from a phone via bluetooth? Works fine for calls but doesn't seem to pick up as an audio device.

Also, in case anyone was unsure - we've been accepted for the reduced rates toll tag.

ELM327 wrote:

As a PHEV or as an EV? PHEV will also get accepted but you don't get the full reduction that full EVs get.

PHEV I assume and I'm nearly sure that's what we applied for. Still a decent saving.

ELM327 wrote:

AFAIR the EU models didnt come with bluetooth audio, just bluetooth calls, but I do stand to be corrected on this.

That would make sense on my attempts so far!