[Parax]

OK so every where I go people don't stop going on about the cost, so I have put together a few salient points below:

Turns out there are about 3000 car variants priced below the Ampera price and 1000 car variants above. I have not put together a distribution of prices, to calculate how many SD's from mean price or anything, if you want to, feel free, but without accounting for specification or even sales quantity I think its pointless..
Source http://www.carpages.co.uk/guide/

The perfect comparator car must be this Vauxhall Insignia Elite 2.0 cdti:
http://www.carpages.co.uk/guide/vauxhal ... s-auto.asp
(who would buy this now? feel free to paste the above link into any ones price argument)

And cars like this Insignia become a bit of a joke.
http://www.carpages.co.uk/guide/vauxhal ... 4-auto.asp
(@20p per mile to fuel(urban), £265/£190 VED, 0-60 in 9.9, grp23, only advantages here are 1660kg(-80kg) and 4wd)

Maybe this goes some way to explain why the Ampera is priced higher than was initially expected? Maybe Vauxhall was putting other lines at risk once the discount was factored in.

Some other comparatively priced hatchback vehicles:
Audi A5 Sportback 2.0 TDI S line - £31,895 http://www.carpages.co.uk/guide/audi/au ... s-line.asp
Citroen DS5 Hybrid4 200 Airdream EGS6 DSport - £32,200 http://www.carpages.co.uk/guide/citroen ... dsport.asp
Subaru WRX STI 2.5 Type UK - £32,995 http://www.carpages.co.uk/guide/subaru/ ... ype-uk.asp
Volkswagen Golf R 2.0 TSI DSG - £32,790 http://www.carpages.co.uk/guide/volkswa ... .0-tsi.asp
Infiniti EX 30d 5 door - £37,130 http://www.carpages.co.uk/guide/infinit ... 0d-5dr.asp


P.

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

That is very interesting.

When people say how expensive the Ampera is I don't think that realise just how expensive other cars are. Many time I have seen people saying that this is a rediculous amount to spend on a car... not just this car but any car and yet people wouldn't bat an eye if I have bought an Insignia, Audi A5 or Gold R 2.0... yet lots baulk at at Ampera.

They also seem to think that the Ampera is just another car... just another petrol or diesel car. So they think thay can compare it directly to a similar sized petrol/diesel car... such as an Astra. I have seen the Ampera compared many times with the Astra. Yet the Ampera is as far from the Astra as the said Golf is... further. The tech involved is light years ahead and yet people seem to just ignore that fact. They see "car"... they see "Astra sized" and just assume they are the same. If they were the same then yes, the Ampera is way over-priced but taking into account what it actually is then it isn't surprising it costs more is it?

Having said that I still think it should be and could have been less but as you point out, perhaps the price is set to protect existing models and also to ensure that they can meet demand. By pricing a bit higher they will have reduced demand hopefully to a level that can be met by their initial rollout allocation.

I suspect that in a year or two, or perhaps when the car starts to be made in the UK, or at least in Europe, prices will start to fall.

 

[Marshalls_chris]

All

A typical example of the data on running costs I have so far is that I did 48 miles on electricity yesterday and used 8.3KW. ( and smug about the 100% driving style measure as well ! )

I am paying about 10p KW for electricity

So for a good mpg car I would have used 1 gallon which at £1.35 per litre is about £6.

For the ampera it cost me £0.83

Saving me £5.17 on the day.

I am planning to do the full cost analysis but since it's the Jubilee bank holiday there is a party to go to and the promise of Jubillee cocktails !!!

Enjoy the bank holiday everyone

Chris

 

[Septerverius]

I haven't yet bought an Ampera but I have just road tested a demonstrator. I had to drive from Shrewsbury to Hereford for a meeting. I managed 30 miles on the battery as the battery was not fully charged. Then the petrol engine cut in but of most interest to me was the way the engine and battery fluctuated with down hill driving and braking.

My client kindly allowed me to plug in the car for about 5 hours after which I got a further 30 miles.

When I got back to Shrewsbury I had covered 125miles on 1 gallon of petrol. I call that a result. What I would like to know is what return I would get on a trip of say 200 miles without any intermediate charge?

The question of cost in previous posts rather miss the point. Yo have to compare pears with pears and not apples or anything else. What car offers you zero fuel use for certain journeys, 125mpg on other journeys and 60 -80 mpg for different journeys again? Average these out at well above 80 - 100mpg and you have your answer.

I see Ampera owners as pioneers. The technology will get cheaper and the battery technology will allow smaller more powerful batteries that take less time to charge as we move forward. Then more and more people with be prepared to buy into lower cost motoring.

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

I did 267 miles in total on one trip of which 47 was on battery. Overall was 61.3mpg but that was with a 45 min charge at a motorway service area (hence the 12.7kWh instead of the usual 10.7kWh)

See here:


20120517_174129 by Paul Churchley, on Flickr

I am finding that at sensible speeds of under 70mph I am getting about 45-55mpg when running on petrol only. When that is combined with the 40-50 miles I am getting on battery per charge you can see the result... lifetime is working out at about 95mpg at the moment after 1200 miles.

I would estimate that on a 200 mile trip I would guess would work out at between 55mpg and 60mpg at 60-70mph.

 

[Septerverius]

Colleague of mine took demo from Telford to Cambridge and back and averaged 78 with one full battery and no intermediate charge. I pick up my new Ampera next Wednesday!

 

[SharkVolt]

Just adding the (immediate) savings in fuel bills makes the Ampera/Volt far less costly to own than any of the reviewers seem to realize or mention. They like to say your higher purchase price won't be recovered for many years.

The simple truth is: Hardly anyone pays cash for a new car. It is almost always financed by some bank or loan company.

So, your monthly payments for the Ampera/Volt may be higher than for a cheaper car, but you fuel savings can bring those payments down to the equivalent of a cheap econobox purchase.

That means you start saving with this car IMMEDIATELY, not after 5-6 years of owning it!

That is the best kept secret of the Voltec powered cars.