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Ampera would you buy one

4K views 34 replies 15 participants last post by  RichardA 
#1 ·
A few ampera's for sale right now.Would a 14 plate ampera with around 80.000 miles on it be a good buy.The look of the car and what it brings to the table suites me down to the ground.And this site has past and current owners.Im changing from vw cc bluemotion that is nice car so would the ampera be a good reliable replacement
 
#2 ·
The cars are generally reliable, comfortable, cheap to run, you are best with home charging though. A 14 plate will have a little of the Voltec warranty left - about a year - so will need servicing at an Ampera Dealer.
Do check the service history - it is fully upto date and done at an appropriate dealer.
Read the Guide to buying in this sub forum, it covers most things including working out which model it really is!

They are a great car, the downside is its a strict 4 seater.
Mine I'll keep for the moment however it may go in a few years as we will need 5 seats when family comes to visit. But I have commented I may keep it and hire a 5 seater when they come over.
 
#6 · (Edited)
They are a great car, the downside is its a strict 4 seater.
That is not a downside! :cool:

I remember the discomfort of family cars with front benches instead of individual seats. The red image attached shows what this looked like.

Those benches are helpful to snuggle on the front seat and they had seatbelts, an argument for safety, etc. However, they have also been relegated to unfashionable automative history - at least in the UK.

My view is that front benches have gone out of fashion because they are uncomfortable and of poor utility. Families are now smaller - thus need fewer seats, households have more cars - thus have more seats than they can fill, and every passenger enjoys having some personal space.

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The trend away from benches, towards distinct seats, is merely continuing.

The old style rear bench of some cars can still assist snuggling and still presents discomfort to passengers. How many of us even use the middle back seat? I find the middle rear seat renders all rear seats less comfortable, is too small for contemporary safety child seats, causes passengers to slide from side-to-side while serving no practical purpose. In most modern cars it is actually an arm rest disguised as a seat - a faux seat.

I am not alone in my thinking. There is no tolerance of that rear bench nonsense in a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

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Furthermore, having distinct seats is not just for passengers accustomed to luxury living. The black seats of a 1998 Ford Cougar show that sensible rear seat comfort has long been accessible to all.

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Why would smaller contemporary 21st Century families pursue the hard un-contoured benches of automotive history when each passenger can enjoy a properly padded seat, a warm latte holder, no sliding, and no bumping of heads?

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Having strictly four seats is a plus point.
 
#3 ·
The car looks great, better specs than many new offerings, many people on here cannot speak highly enough of them.
That said I personally would steer well clear, they are starting to get old and the manufacturer has essentially dropped support, I would fear that any fault that developed could be awkward to fix, and at this point in time I just don't need that kind of hassle.
 
#4 ·
The thing is the ampera does tick all the boxes for me.And there's risk in buying any second hand car.Listening to owners first hand will help me decide.I see alot of cars about with higher milage which does give me a bit more confidence that a 14 plate ampera has a bit of life left in it.So thankyou for your reply.
 
#5 ·
They are great cars (I had two consecutively!) and a 2014 would give you some Voltec warranty, but it does need to have full service history to be valid. The biggest challenge is finding a Vauxhall dealer who can service or repair. I used Bellingers at Wantage who were very good - I assume still do Ampera but current owners can hopefully confirm?
 
#7 ·
Bellingers Wantage are still servicing Amperas. Very good they are too.

I really enjoy being an Ampera owner. I have a 15 plate with about 55k and really am planning for it to be a keeper, but I am a little annoyed with myself for not having the technical skill and tools/space to carry out some of the more easy mechanical servicing and repair aspects myself.

Actually that has given me a thought for a hobby - I wonder if there is a local course on hobby car mechanics, aimed at reasonably low level stuff like changing brakes discs and pads.
 
#8 ·
@proddick I use Bellingers and they still service the Volts as well.
On the 5 seat problem we have my Son daughter-in Law and grandchild coming over once the panic is over. That's at least a 5 seater if we all go out :( Why I may well hire a car for the few weeks they are over.
 
#10 ·
Just make sure you have say £1000 in the bank to cover any unexpected repairs. Mine's just received a jolt down the charger cable from a granny EVSE that went bang, and I think the charger unit is a little upset. I'm expecting to have to buy a 2nd hand unit from USA for £90 ish. I've already learnt how to set up a virtual-address-locker thing in USA, so I can shop over there & deliver to USA, from where I can ship back to USA; sometimes their websites want to charge a fortune to ship
directly to UK! I also have a pair of genuine CV joints for there coming over this way,which will work out cheaper than Bellingers dealer price. Anything really major has to go to the dealer; if my charger-module swap doesn't work, I'll have to let them fleece me while they fix it!

Also a good idea ro have a backup plan, should anything require the dealer to keep the car. Spares sometime have to come from Germany, so there can be a week or several wait to get it fixed! Handy to be able to nick wife's car, for eg!
 
#11 ·
Thread hijack.
This is my current dilemma.
I can get a 14 plate Positiv for 7k with 50k miles on it. FSH.
I really have no need as my Leafs easily cover pretty much every trip bar maybe once or twice a year without stopping to charge.

But the Ampera just has a certain draw for me and I don't know why exactly.

So anyone after a 24 or a 40 Leaf?
 
#15 ·
Alot of the work i see that the ampera might need doing i am happy to carry it out myself.Although this will be my daily driver i do have the use of other vehicles so if it needs repairs i won't be without a car.We are in lock down for two weeks so i have this time to do my research hopefully with your advice.Thankyou for all the replys so far.But more the merrier good or bad.
 
#16 ·
I love the Ampera, the concept, the one I tried - it’s just the age of the things that is going to become troublesome. I do wish GM gave us the Ampera 2 and Bolt in RHD, there’s still nothing that really comes close.

I’m going to get hammered here for saying this, but if you do want pure electric drive with the convenience of chucking petrol in a tank, the new Honda Jazz is the perfect modern alternative IMO.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Honda Jazz is the perfect modern alternative
Nooo... Hybrids like the Jazz are half of an Ampera. Hybrids are completely missing the EV capacity and cannot be compared with any PHEV.

Back in the day when commuting was a thing, I drove my Outlander 100% EV (on each day that the destination charger was available). The same goes for Ampera. Most drivers will surpass the ~250mpg official claims and reach for infinity.

Carrying a lump under the bonnet is like using an EV to tow a backup car, only more convenient and more environmentally sympathetic ;)

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#19 ·
I'm on my 2nd Ampera (traded up from a 2012 model on 62 plate to a 2013 model on 64 plate). Brilliant car if it suits your lifestyle - Generally short journeys and no need for 5 seats. It was intended as a car that could avoid range anxiety until such time as battery development reaches such a level as to make that irrelevant. I expect the car industry to reach that point in a couple of years but affordability will still be an issue. I'd suggest that you go for the Ampera until such time as a pure BEV with 300 mile range is affordable.
 
#23 ·
Most moving parts are common to other Vauxhalls like the Astra.

The main red flag appears to me to be the transmission bearings in the Voltec system. There are two bearings, and the outer one fails more commonly. Does anyone have the specifications for that bearing assembly, or know if equivalent bearings are used on another car?
 
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#22 ·
It sounds like your journey profile fits the Ampera's strengths. As other have said, if your requirements are within the Ampera's capabilities, it's difficult to fault. We've had one for nearly 18 months and it's met every requirement we've thrown at it with no complaint. It's easily the best car I've ever owned.

As it happens, we've recently replaced the Ampera with a Kia e-Niro because our journey profile seems to be leaning towards more long distances, and we wanted to make the move to full electric. The e-Niro is a fantastic car, with amazing range, excellent performance, features and tech left, right and centre... But... there's just something about the Ampera. Not just that is so comfortable, smooth and quite (quieter than the e-Niro, in fact)... maybe there's something appealing about the batshit overengineering of the thing. Maybe it's the low-key exclusivity of owners club. I don't know exactly, but if I could justify owning two cars (and had the space for it) I'd keep them both.

(Shamelss plug: My Ampera is for sale 😁 SpeakEV ad here. AutoTrader ad here)
 
#26 ·
I have messaged you.
I think the one I was considering might tick your boxes.
 
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#27 ·
@BurningNaturalGas Most hybrids are not EV, but the Jazz drives purely in EV mode and uses the engine as a generator like the Ampera. Yeah it's missing the plugin capability, but it's the closest you'll get in a new car.
 
#29 · (Edited)
If its missing the plug-in capability then all the power in its battery originates from burning petrol. It is a step backwards, and its MPG claims are appalling compared with a plug-in.

Mitsubishi Outlander, Hyundai Ioniq, Prius PHV, and MG HS have more in common with the Ampera.
 
#28 ·
Hmm, as it lacks the plugin aspect, that cripples the potential economy. I'd say a closer approximation is the Ioniq Phev, but, like the Jazz, it also cannot give you max power/acceleration using electric drive alone. i3 Rex is closer still, but more of a city car & BEV with emergency-get-you-out-of-trouble-ICE, and the Ice isn't as well integrated. BMW e330 is another along similar lines to Ioniq Phev. Ditto Golf GTe. All of these close, but no cigar! Jazz just has a CVT to hide the DSG-auto-gearboxes notchiness from you.
 
#30 ·
I was in a similar position in January and haven’t regretted jumping in to a 14-plate Volt with 84000 miles. The car feels solid, is lovely to drive with great tech. Your work situation seems perfect for it. Even on 150-mile return trips with no destination charging it has averaged 60mph, which is better than my old diesel. My only worry is the battery. I don’t think I’ve seen a single report of a UK car running into trouble yet, but there are plenty of people on US Volt Facebook pages who have had sections of the battery replaced, at great cost. Whether that’s just an inevitability because there are so many more Volts over there than Ampera/Volts here, extreme weather conditions coming into play or just owner neglect (lots of owners who comment on the US pages seem to know precious little about the cars, especially compared to members on this forum) I don’t know. That said, my advice is definitely to go for it, just check that the Voltec warranty is still intact first.
 
#35 ·
Oh that's frustrating.

I was about to shamelessly plug my car until I realised I'd already done that above 🤭 (and mine doesn't really meet your requirements, being an out-of-warranty 12-reg)

Oh well, if you're struggling to find something when lockdown eases, it's pretty likely mine will still be for sale.
 
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