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To add to my mini fleet of EV's I am saying goodbye to my once loved 12 year old M3 CO2 generator and hope to reduce my lifelong carbon footprint by moving to an Ampera.
The M3 simply isn't as much fun as an EV and markedly slower when commuting which in common with most drivers, covers most trips.
EV's don't give you "Fuel Cost anxiety" in the way that ICE's do and I find that I can drive much quicker nipping about in high torque silent EV's.
It is one of the VK12 cars as noted on another thread with only 11,500 miles on it and was priced much lower than others of similar age. Oddly, the garage have a Positiv with higher mileage for the same price so it was a no brainer.
They are selling them on a sale or return basis for Vauxhall so I guess have been dumped on the market en mass at different locations. No haggling allowed.
It is mint and I have 12 months warranty and "at least" 8 years battery warranty. 10 years to be confirmed so maybe Vauxhall are putting their money where their mouth is on the cells.
I have been driving EV's for over 5 years so know what to expect but during my test drive, one thing that stood out was the damned creep when stationary.
The very first second I put the car in reverse and went to gently move it, I jumped out of my skin when it moved as I took my foot off the brake.
Almost hit the car behind.
I do not like that at all as I hate it on conventional Auto's. The M3 has an automatic mode on its SMG gearbox but it uses a conventional gearbox and clutch so no creep when stopped and in gear.
On my other EV's, I use the accelerator to hold it on inclines etc and glide away without rolling back as most ICE's do. Using the brake to hold the car back even on level roads simply cannot be safe (I was hit by an auto ICE once who drifted out of a T junction) so one of my first jobs will be to find out if a service centre can switch it off as on the Tesla's.
It may well get HID lamps as well when winter hits us as on my other two cars. I considered the M3's to be the best on the road and you get used to it.
I have read the general warnings on another thread but my Elise EV has had them for years and passes MOT's without comment.
It is hardly a locking up offence anyway. We are still hopefully a free country.
The car is delivered (90 miles away) next week and I will report back another time.
The M3 simply isn't as much fun as an EV and markedly slower when commuting which in common with most drivers, covers most trips.
EV's don't give you "Fuel Cost anxiety" in the way that ICE's do and I find that I can drive much quicker nipping about in high torque silent EV's.
It is one of the VK12 cars as noted on another thread with only 11,500 miles on it and was priced much lower than others of similar age. Oddly, the garage have a Positiv with higher mileage for the same price so it was a no brainer.
They are selling them on a sale or return basis for Vauxhall so I guess have been dumped on the market en mass at different locations. No haggling allowed.
It is mint and I have 12 months warranty and "at least" 8 years battery warranty. 10 years to be confirmed so maybe Vauxhall are putting their money where their mouth is on the cells.
I have been driving EV's for over 5 years so know what to expect but during my test drive, one thing that stood out was the damned creep when stationary.
The very first second I put the car in reverse and went to gently move it, I jumped out of my skin when it moved as I took my foot off the brake.
Almost hit the car behind.
I do not like that at all as I hate it on conventional Auto's. The M3 has an automatic mode on its SMG gearbox but it uses a conventional gearbox and clutch so no creep when stopped and in gear.
On my other EV's, I use the accelerator to hold it on inclines etc and glide away without rolling back as most ICE's do. Using the brake to hold the car back even on level roads simply cannot be safe (I was hit by an auto ICE once who drifted out of a T junction) so one of my first jobs will be to find out if a service centre can switch it off as on the Tesla's.
It may well get HID lamps as well when winter hits us as on my other two cars. I considered the M3's to be the best on the road and you get used to it.
I have read the general warnings on another thread but my Elise EV has had them for years and passes MOT's without comment.
It is hardly a locking up offence anyway. We are still hopefully a free country.
The car is delivered (90 miles away) next week and I will report back another time.