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Thinking about an Ampera, but......

3449 Views 11 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  proddick
Hello Everyone

Firstly a quick thank you for all the information and tips on this forum. This site is a great UK resource for anyone thinking of moving to the concept of vehicles powered by electricity.

I am thinking about looking at a Vauxhall Ampera, but am wondering about a couple of issues which hopefully current owners will be able to help me with. The first is noise, not so much during electric operation but more so under petrol power. My journey to / from work takes me onto the A1 and M25, and I am wondering if I will notice wind and / or road noise. I have been unable to find any db ratings which would indicate cabin noise levels and so would be grateful for comments on any real world experiences.

My second query concerns wing mirrors, which I note are not electrically operated. There is not much room in many car parks, especially supermarkets, and I wondered if anyone has noted any inconvenience with the fixed wing mirrors or suffered any damage?
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The same on the Ampera... the mirror adjusts electrically but do not fold electrically. They can be folded in manually by had which is what I normally do in car parks.

The noise when running on petrol is pretty quiet. At motorway speeds I generally don't notice it at all but as has been mentioned already, at lower speeds occasionally the engine revs a little higher than your speed might suggest as the engine in not connected to the wheels. This has never been an issue for us as the general noise level is pretty low but it is that disconnect between the wheels and the engine that can sound a bit strange when you first own one. You soon get used to it and then I'd say the noise is geenrally lower than an ICE for the most part.

What do others think?
The auto-dipping rear view mirror is on the USA Volt I believe... it didn't make it onto the UK Ampera.

There are many signs of cost-cutting such as that... combined with the price hike at launch from the touted £28k to at launch £35k (after the grant) for the Electron I nearly didn't buy one. In fact, I took myself off the waiting list in anger. Once it was launched I had a change of heart and I am glad I did in spite of the niggles. I still think it is over-priced but I put that down to the government grant which has allowed Vauxhall to up the price by £5k! Just my opinion!!!
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