[Spiny]

@HEVRA how are the independents coming along?

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[Richard Gledhill]

Thanks - must admit I don't think I've ever looked in the Vendors area

 

[Barty]

... I haven't yet found an independent that will touch them and to be honest, I don't ever expect to.

Cleevely Electric Vehicles near me in Cheltenham work on all types of EVs (mainly Leafs, I3s, Outlanders and Teslas) and they have said they'd be more than happy to service my Ampera if I didn't feel like the drive to Wantage. They are familiar with the Ampera and did do some brakes maintenance for me a couple of months ago without any problems.

I'm sure they would be fine doing normal servicing and general maintenance, but as you say more specialist repairs could be a problem in the future. Even so, I'm not too worried, if something major crops up and there are no Ampera specialists left within reach I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

p.s. I found them via the HEVRA list of independents.

 

[Russ]

I feel that with the increase in hybrid numbers of many iterations including "self charging " ones, maintaining them will become easier in the next few years as they come out of manufacturers warranties.
Little or no maintenance is required on the electrical side so ideal for the indy to get in to.

 

[Marli]

Do what I did... Persuade your mechenic mate to get an electric car.
He should be an ev pro (hold finger in air) just in time for my first non warranty service.

 

[Simon Alvey]

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?

 

[black_amp]

Wisdom is about 22ft from the Volt internet

 

[Spiny]

I assume you mean the granny lead - It will not do 2 cars (unless car 2 is a smart car) I think its 7 metre long.

For a Wall mounted EVSE a 10m lead works. This is more than the normal tethered lead so you would need a socketed EVSE. Probably a good idea anyway as the next EV will almost certainly be a Type 2.

 

[Milesprower]

Hi guys, looking at getting myself a 2014 plate. Been browsing the forums getting a lot of great advice.

I just want to be sure what I need to check to ensure the 8 year warranty is valid. It's been serviced at about 15, 35 and 55k miles, but not sure who with yet.

 

[Peter Cittern]

It depends on the dealer. Getting an definitive answer from Vxhl can be tricky. Have all the services been carried out by approved Ampera dealerships and are they within 6 weeks of the previous one? If not, all might not be lost but it might depend on the dealership. One of my services is a couple of months out but Bellingers service manager told me that would not affect the warranty (as there are no serviceable parts on the HV system - with the possible exception of the HV coolant change at 5 years- has yours had that done yet?) and he claimed he was the one who would decide.
I hope I never have to find out what would actually happen if I had a claim, but I think Bellingers would be the best bet compared to a lot of the other dealers.

 

[Milesprower]

It depends on the dealer. Getting an definitive answer from Vxhl can be tricky. Have all the services been carried out by approved Ampera dealerships and are they within 6 weeks of the previous one? If not, all might not be lost but it might depend on the dealership. One of my services is a couple of months out but Bellingers service manager told me that would not affect the warranty (as there are no serviceable parts on the HV system - with the possible exception of the HV coolant change at 5 years- has yours had that done yet?) and he claimed he was the one who would decide.
I hope I never have to find out what would actually happen if I had a claim, but I think Bellingers would be the best bet compared to a lot of the other dealers.

Thanks for the advice, what I'm getting is it may be best to check with Bellingers.

I just wanted to check what you meant by the service being within 6 weeks of the previous one?

 

[black_amp]

VX advised the the service needed to be completed withing 6 weeks of the due date to ensure warranty cover.

 

[Squasher]

Hi all. Looked at a 15 plate MY12 car today. 51k miles, lifetime MPG 52 !!! Anyway, the elec miles remaining said zero. I used Mountain Mode for about 5-10 mins but it still said zero. Should I have driven it more in MM to see if the elec range went up? Plugged the charger in and it started charging, within minutes the elec range said 4 miles. Could the dealer (who was using it as a runabout) have totally used up elec range to the point that it wouldn't register anything? As I drove it in Normal mode, it was running on battery, which made me suspicious, but the GOM always said zero. Thanks!

 

[Spiny]

Poor thing has almost never been charged, its been used as BIK car or possibly in london to avoid the congestion charge.

Any miles added to the battery in MM mode will be clocked up as petrol miles unless you turn off the car and restart when sometime the battery will add the miles, this is where the 4 suddenly appeared from - it would normally take 20 mins on a wallbox to add 4 miles (you get around 12 miles an hour) .
Really this needs a proper charge (4 hours on a wallbox or overnight on the granny charger ) it should have around 35/40 miles showing at a guess the way its been used. the GOM looks back at the recent driving habits.

Still one thing the battery has hardly been exercised. It will also need a new 12V at a guess - folks who treat Amperas like this do not do simple preventive maintenance.

 

[Squasher]

So how come it drove on elec power but didn't give me any clue as to how much range was left? I also didn't say, Hold mode was greyed out. Is this expected, given the circumstances? Thanks in advance.

 

[Spiny]

It always drives on electric, at slow <40 mph about the engine is just a genset over 40 the engine can be clutched to the wheels for efficency but as soon as you put your foot down if declutches and the electric only is used.
The electric engine is more powerful than the petrol one in this car unlike a normal hybrid /PHEV

If electricity is generated by MM or In HOLD mode then its not added to the GOM, the car treats it as petrol miles and the petrol mile display on the centre console will increase as the electric is used up. Then the engine will run again. Only once the car was turned off and back on did any of the left over petrol miles make it to the GOM.

The petrol gauge in the DIC will possibly increase its value if MM is used from 0 - have not tried that but mine is charged

Ask the dealer to charge it properly one night and then see what is displayed.

 

[HandyAndy]

The MY12 models have a few software bugs in the GOM display/Mode selection - you've just hit one of them. When it totally runs out of electricity in Normal mode, it switches to ICE, and you know all about that! You then decide you want to build up a bit of a reserve so you can leccy through the next village you come to, so you select MM to do this. Which it will. Ice revs away & is genuinely charging the battery, but for some bizarre reason you can't now switch back to Normal mode and see what Ev range you have! You may have added 3 miles to your Ev range, or maybe 8, or whatever, but it won't let you see! The only way to find out is to stop the car, switch off, switch back on, and lo & behold, you can see Normal mode with 3 or 8 or whatever miles you have in hand. Why it won't let you flip back easily is a bug imho.

When you're in MM mode, the car likes to keep a much larger battery reserve, = 1/3 the capacity, so around 15 miles worth. E.g, if in Normal mode with 35 miles range showing, try switching to MM - it will immediately deduct about 15 miles and show you 20 left! So in the earlier scenario above, it seems that while you're in MM mode, as far as the car's concerned, you're in negative territory (!!) as far as the car's concerned, and you have insufficient leccy to be in that mode so it's not going to get your hopes too high by displaying miles you're not going to get because you're just about to drive up the north face of the Eiger or something!

It's a bit stroppy if you get below 5 miles left in Normal mode - at any time it's likely to display the engine & gallons left, although still actually working in Normal mode under the covers draining leccy. So switch to Hold mode with <5 miles left, and you probably can't get out of that easily. So I make sure I do all my Normal/Hold flipping with >5 miles remaining.

Here's another slight niggle - the petrol gauge. Ice miles remaining is decently shown - but if you get low, the display flips with <50 miles left in the tank, it then displays a low fuel message & periodically pings at you reminding you to fins a petrol station, but you now can't see how many petrol miles remain! So if you're squeezing the tank to almost empty, you need to note the miles-gone when it switches to the warning message, and after that you have to work out from the odometer how many Ice miles are left in the tank. Easiest thing is to avoid getting that low.

 

[Squasher]

It's a bit stroppy

From reading these forums, that is the conclusion I'm reaching! I can see it would be easy for someone to be put off buying one of these cars (poor headlights, steering lock issue, 12v battery weirdness, servicing requirements.......) Plenty of "nuances".

 

[Russ]

Hi @Squasher . Don't let these "nuances" put you off as it really is the best "hybrid" out there.
Just make sure the car has had annual services logged by Vauxhall to retain the Voltec warranty unless you can get a reasonable price for it. The battery is kept in good condition automatically even when on petrol as the car is 100% or nearly a BEV but with a generator that can be allowed to drive the wheels it higher speeds but only in Hold or flat battery mode.
I have had mine for four years or more now and still have fun every day from the lights!

 

[Malcolm Alden]

Fake or excellent deal!

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