[Richard Gledhill]

Mine is STILL in progress at Drive Vauxhall, 6 weeks after I placed the deposit! Seems I'm waiting for a brand new one from Vauxhall, rather than one of the batch that Pentagon bought some months back. Hopefully should pick it up the week after Easter.
Great news Lee, looking forward to hearing how you get on!
Richard

 

[Richard Gledhill]

Ah, that's nothing! Back in 1999 I waited 5 and a half MONTHS for my Impreza Turbo to arrive! All being well I should get my Ampera next Wednesday or thereabouts, so only a week or so more to go...
Did you see that on YouTube, in the Official Vauxhall stream, there are about 20 Ampera videos on there, including the complete DVD you get when you get the car? Makes for interesting viewing!

 

[Richard Gledhill]

Might be they don't supply it any more, I don't know (as I don't have my car yet ) It just mentioned in the first section that it was a DVD supplied with the car, but the videos are a couple of years old now. They're actually a very useful guide to the various charging regimes and plug types, as well as some of the controls on the car itself.

 

[Richard Gledhill]

Nope, mine's coming from Drive Vauxhall in Leicester. It's a brand new staight-off-the-Vauxhall-production-and-fettling-line-at-Luton car, not part of the batch Pentagon bought a while back.

 

[Richard Gledhill]

I collect mine on Wednesday

 

[Richard Gledhill]

I finally picked up mine on Wednesday evening and love it! So far its lifetime average is "250+ mpg", since I've done about 120 miles on it and used 0.05 gallons (yes, really). I even managed to get back from the dealer in Leicester to home near Coventry purely on electric charge, with 1 mile remaining!
Everyone I take in it is blown away by the serene way in which it drives, yet with instantly accessible acceleration when required. I haven't quite squeezed into the 40 mile club yet as everything's been at either 60mph, or my 5 mile route to work which uses 9 miles of range because of climate control and battery temperature management.
I haven't figured out how to get the pre-warming system running to get it to bring the cabin temperature up while still on charge so I can improve that range, but it doesn't work how I expected so I have to read the manual again ;-)

 

[Richard Gledhill]

There is, but you have to do some masonic handshake first, something like unlocking, then locking, then pressing the special button within 5 seconds...

 

[Richard Gledhill]

Ah, so the vehicle will already be locked anyway, but you still press Lock, Pre-heat within 5 seconds. Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow morning!

 

[Richard Gledhill]

Yes, definitely Lee. Meanwhile I'll prime your neighbours to video it and put it on YouTube

 

[Richard Gledhill]

Thanks Dean! Apparently white was the biggest selling colour for all cars in the last few months and I always like to be a bit different

 

[Richard Gledhill]

Ah, I haven't been holding it down for a few seconds. I'm sure if I went back and re-read the manual it would tell me that so thanks for helping out!
Cheers
Richard

 

[Richard Gledhill]

Me too. One of the guys at work is interested in getting one now as we've negotiated a lease scheme for £350/month for 40k miles over 3 years for him...

 

[Richard Gledhill]

By the way Stuart, Drive Vauxhall of Leicester are doing good company car leasing deals - give them a shout, ask for Chris and tell them Richard Gledhill referred you. We're looking at using them for a company car for a colleague at work...

[Edited: weird, when I replied to this last night it's because I'm sure it showed Stuart's post from page 2 at the end and I thought my previous reply hadn't gone in! Now I see I've replied twice... oops!]