11 hours ago, Alex.S said:

just realised I’ve missed an itv program about electric cars! I’ll get it on catch up

I watched that. They deliberately drove a BE car until it ran out of juice to see how that situation could be dealt with by the breakdown service then found with the battery depleted the electric parking brake came on so it couldn't be moved. Nice if you're stuck on a busy road with HGVs hurtling towards you! It needed to be put on a trailer for recovery because it couldn't be towed. Whoever thought an electric parking brake was a good idea?

11 hours ago, Alex.S said:

just realised I’ve missed an itv program about electric cars! I’ll get it on catch up.

The one on ITV at 7.30? Saw that and it was quite informative for a half hour programme. It was more about problems, particularly chargers being unavailable, than the benefits.

One thing that hadn't occurred to me. The presenter deliberately ran her car battery flat (Nissan Leaf) to see what would happen. Plenty of warnings but you get those now and people still run out of petrol. After it finally stopped, she put on the hazards and waited for the breakdown man. By the time he got there, the 12v battery was also flat, so door locks, electric parking brake etc wouldn't work either.

 

Edit: Lol just hit the "submit reply" button and saw that Mike had noticed the same point!😀

There’s got to be can easy fix for that! Spare 12V battery in the boot maybe? 

8 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

By the time he got there, the 12v battery was also flat, so door locks, electric parking brake etc wouldn't work either

The doors lock 😨

What if your in a car accident? 

How long did it take the recovery to get there?  I know the 12v batteries are small but they can't be that small!  Probably sat with the heaters and lights on while charging thier iPad streaming a film?

 

 

22 hours ago, Guy Heaton said:

Mate go for it.  Then when it's time for me to change you can tell me if it's worth it.  😀

Had a look at the Astra Elite online. They’re flogging a dead horse with that one. I looked just b4 getting my focus too. Same car , slightly different engine , 3 cylinder 1.2 turbo 150ps , ( was a 4 cylinder 150ps) a very nice full leather interior heated rear seats etc but they’ve been due to bring out a new model last couple of years. I think a lot of people will be waiting for that. 
SRi has to be avoided. Same crap it was 10 years ago..110ps 

lame 

19 minutes ago, Alex.S said:

Had a look at the Astra Elite online. They’re flogging a dead horse with that one. I looked just b4 getting my focus too. Same car , slightly different engine , 3 cylinder 1.2 turbo 150ps , ( was a 4 cylinder 150ps) a very nice full leather interior heated rear seats etc but they’ve been due to bring out a new model last couple of years. I think a lot of people will be waiting for that. 
SRi has to be avoided. Same crap it was 10 years ago..110ps 

lame 

Pentagon have been trying to get shut of these as a pre reg car with sometimes only 15 miles on the clock at £13k-£15k for the last couple of months at least. 

1 minute ago, Wino said:

Pentagon have been trying to get shut of these as a pre reg car with sometimes only 15 miles on the clock at £13k-£15k for the last couple of months at least. 

All car salesmen are desperate at all times.  but yeah the Vauxhall guy in early 2019 selling me the Astra  Elite was a desperado for sure! 
 

what’s pentagon? Apart from US department of defence? 

Game changer...

https://www.hyundai.co.uk/new-cars/ioniq5?dclid=COey07-Ki-8CFQfEGwod7LkOyQ

1 hour ago, Alex.S said:

Game changer...

https://www.hyundai.co.uk/new-cars/ioniq5?dclid=COey07-Ki-8CFQfEGwod7LkOyQ

That looks interesting, particularly charging time. I've seen prices of up to £48k (before government grant) mentioned for the (very high spec) launch model though. Hopefully the normal range might be a bit more affordable!😀

I see Hyundai are the latest to join the rest ( ford, mini etc etc ) who are having to replace high voltage batteries due to  battery defects in there bev/ hybrid range. 

 

14 hours ago, iantt said:

I see Hyundai are the latest to join the rest ( ford, mini etc etc ) who are having to replace high voltage batteries due to  battery defects in there bev/ hybrid range. 

 

Yes, it's starting to look as if these things are just as, if not more, liable to burst into flames than good old ICE cars! Wonder what that will do for global warming? At least you're unlikely to feel cold when driving one!😀

 

 

 

I had a Seat Leon FR for a few weeks about 18 months ago following a small bump in the Focus - I really liked it... to the extent that I considered swapping out the Focus to buy one. The only reason I didn't was because I was told I didn't need another new car! Pricing looks to be in the same ball park as a Focus with similar features so might be worth a look.

3 hours ago, KrisR said:

I had a Seat Leon FR for a few weeks about 18 months ago following a small bump in the Focus - I really liked it...

That would have been the Mk 3. I had one before my present car and it was a pretty decent drive. Unfortunately mine had an apparent software glitch which the dealer seemed to have no idea how to cure, so I parted with it when the warranty was up. 

Everything I've seen about the version now on sale (Mk 4) suggests it's inferior to the Mk 3, unless you're wild about virtually everything being controlled with the touchscreen.

 

On 3/1/2021 at 12:07 AM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Everything I've seen about the version now on sale (Mk 4) suggests it's inferior to the Mk 3, unless you're wild about virtually everything being controlled with the touchscreen

I work in IT so the nerdy part of me quite likes the idea of a touchscreen that does everything. The realistic IT part of me knows that everything should be a mechanical button or dial!

Toyota 

they do a Corolla GR Sport 2L self charging 184bhp 

Same standard features as a 2019 stx plus some others 

£30k 

 

The GR Sport listed there at £28k has a 120bhp engine. 0-60 over 10 secs. 
it'd be the 184bhp or nothing for me. 
But £30k is or was Vignale territory.....

There was one parked opposite me on Sunday and it did look nice I must admit. 

It was a strange colour but very pleasing on the eye. It wasn't white or light grey somewhere inbetween. 

Whole range is hybrid only. Ford need to up their game. 

Whole range is hybrid only. Ford need to up their game. 

£30k is around the Hyundai N30 price tag IIRC ......

 

Toyota do a Corolla model called Excel , similar money to the GR Sport. As far as I can tell it’s like an Astra Elite or a focus titanium. Can pick whatever engine and match it with the trim you want throughout the range. 

.

Always looking , Peugeot  e208 at the moment tho there’s a 2L hybrid 180bhp Corolla I have one eye on. 
 

 

Only 136hp. But 260nm that’s available from 0km/h 

100kw

Without googling it , Mk4 182 engine has 240nm (?) but from zero is the important part there?