[Andy]

I've got a friend who was all set to put an order in for an i3 REx but his wife just put the kibosh on it at the last moment.

The latest Ampera deals are looking more palatable so he's now switched his attention to that. We're probably going to nip out in our lunchbreak to go take a look at one. I'm not really up to speed on the Ampera but I've had a quick search on here. Can owners tell me if this 'real world' summary is about right?

* Electric range 40 miles, 50 if driven very carefully
* Petrol range 300 miles
* Petrol efficiency 40mpg (?)
* Usable battery capacity 10kWh
* 16A onboard charging, so 3 hours to charge or 5 hours via 3-pin plug?
* Type 1 charging socket on car.
* Need to purchase Type 2 to Type 1 lead for public charging.
* Servicing about £120 a year.

Anything else on the basics list that he should be aware of?

 

[Andy]

Thanks Mike, that's useful info.

 

[Andy]

Worth considering that there are a limited number of Vauxhall dealers who sell and service Amperas. Around 25 at the moment in the uk. However they do provide a free collection and delivery service for the first four years.

Thanks Geoff. He visited his local dealer earlier in the week, all excited to see the car then got surprised when they told him they didn't sell it. The dealer near work does though which is actually Drive mentioned by Derek above.

 

[Andy]

If it's Drive Leicester, do me a favour and tell them Richard Gledhill sent you - we'll both get £50 each that way Chris Lovell was the salesman I dealt with.

Will do, thanks. I'm not sure if he'll make it as far as signing on the dotted line but he sounds pretty keen.

 

[Andy]

Finally got round to taking a look at an Ampera with my friend. The one in the showroom was an electron model in crystal red. Generally he was quite impressed, some of his comments were:-

* Thought it looked great "sporty".
* External size a bit bigger than expected.
* Interior space a tad disappointing.
* Sitting a lot lower than the i3 (which we drove there in) but the battery pack between passengers and the large centre console left a feeling of being quite packed in.
* Decent luggage space.
* A lot of car for the money with the new reduced offers (which it is!).

Next up will be an extended test drive which I'm sure will help persuade him to go for it. Thanks again for the help in this thread, which I passed on.