Vauxhall Ampera ?
Discussion
Hi
I have a 2015 ampera as a company car.
I really like it but I think the economics probably only work if you have relatively short daily commute.
I do most of my miles in electric only. I only get around 20 -25 miles this time of year in pure electric as the heater canes the battery. In the summer and I can get over 40, depending on how its driven of course.
MPG figures are nonsense as they assume you pay nothing for the electicity. I get free electric at work but pay for it at home.
When paying for it electricity it works out at around 60 - 70 mpg in the winter and 150 plus in the summer.
The mpg does drop allot when using petrol though. I occasionally do a 200 mile round trip and that works out at about 50 mpg.
Overall the car is pretty nippy, very smooth to drive and not terrible round corners due to the low centre of gravity.
Has been reliable but the sat nav etc is a bit rubbish.
Also its only a four seater due to battery tunnel and there is an annoying extremely low rubber spoiler which scrapes on every round bump and drive you go onto.
if your driving habits suit the car I would deffo recommend.
I have a 2015 ampera as a company car.
I really like it but I think the economics probably only work if you have relatively short daily commute.
I do most of my miles in electric only. I only get around 20 -25 miles this time of year in pure electric as the heater canes the battery. In the summer and I can get over 40, depending on how its driven of course.
MPG figures are nonsense as they assume you pay nothing for the electicity. I get free electric at work but pay for it at home.
When paying for it electricity it works out at around 60 - 70 mpg in the winter and 150 plus in the summer.
The mpg does drop allot when using petrol though. I occasionally do a 200 mile round trip and that works out at about 50 mpg.
Overall the car is pretty nippy, very smooth to drive and not terrible round corners due to the low centre of gravity.
Has been reliable but the sat nav etc is a bit rubbish.
Also its only a four seater due to battery tunnel and there is an annoying extremely low rubber spoiler which scrapes on every round bump and drive you go onto.
if your driving habits suit the car I would deffo recommend.
Simon-7pf0x said:
Hi
I have a 2015 ampera as a company car.
I really like it but I think the economics probably only work if you have relatively short daily commute.
I do most of my miles in electric only. I only get around 20 -25 miles this time of year in pure electric as the heater canes the battery. In the summer and I can get over 40, depending on how its driven of course.
MPG figures are nonsense as they assume you pay nothing for the electicity. I get free electric at work but pay for it at home.
When paying for it electricity it works out at around 60 - 70 mpg in the winter and 150 plus in the summer.
The mpg does drop allot when using petrol though. I occasionally do a 200 mile round trip and that works out at about 50 mpg.
Overall the car is pretty nippy, very smooth to drive and not terrible round corners due to the low centre of gravity.
Has been reliable but the sat nav etc is a bit rubbish.
Also its only a four seater due to battery tunnel and there is an annoying extremely low rubber spoiler which scrapes on every round bump and drive you go onto.
if your driving habits suit the car I would deffo recommend.
How can elec work out at a MPG figure? You're not using petrol when using elec so irrelevant to MPG - a combined mpg + m/kwh might be better. but I don't understand how you can claim your electric cost in mpg???I have a 2015 ampera as a company car.
I really like it but I think the economics probably only work if you have relatively short daily commute.
I do most of my miles in electric only. I only get around 20 -25 miles this time of year in pure electric as the heater canes the battery. In the summer and I can get over 40, depending on how its driven of course.
MPG figures are nonsense as they assume you pay nothing for the electicity. I get free electric at work but pay for it at home.
When paying for it electricity it works out at around 60 - 70 mpg in the winter and 150 plus in the summer.
The mpg does drop allot when using petrol though. I occasionally do a 200 mile round trip and that works out at about 50 mpg.
Overall the car is pretty nippy, very smooth to drive and not terrible round corners due to the low centre of gravity.
Has been reliable but the sat nav etc is a bit rubbish.
Also its only a four seater due to battery tunnel and there is an annoying extremely low rubber spoiler which scrapes on every round bump and drive you go onto.
if your driving habits suit the car I would deffo recommend.
Considered one but things I didn't like:
- There's only about 30 Vauxhall dealers that will service or do warranty work on them, some big gaps depending on where you live
- no roofrack or towbar options would make carrying bikes a pain
- only 4 seats rather than 5, and an odd gap you get between the two rear seats (some have a charge cable bag thing to fill the gap)
- fiddly fabric load cover (using loops and hooks) not an estate-style roller or a solid shelf
They're a nicely specified car though, and decent value. Good choice if those issues above don't concern you. MPG is almost meaningless on PHEVs, but very cheap to run if you're mostly driving within the electric range.
Outlander PHEV is worth a look too, also depreciated quite steeply as loads sold into fleets and are now back on the market. Bit more roomy and practical if you need that.
In the end a cheap lease deal on a Golf GTE swayed me that way, and I'm hoping by the time that 2 years is up there'll be an affordable pure EV with enough range to cover what I need.
- There's only about 30 Vauxhall dealers that will service or do warranty work on them, some big gaps depending on where you live
- no roofrack or towbar options would make carrying bikes a pain
- only 4 seats rather than 5, and an odd gap you get between the two rear seats (some have a charge cable bag thing to fill the gap)
- fiddly fabric load cover (using loops and hooks) not an estate-style roller or a solid shelf
They're a nicely specified car though, and decent value. Good choice if those issues above don't concern you. MPG is almost meaningless on PHEVs, but very cheap to run if you're mostly driving within the electric range.
Outlander PHEV is worth a look too, also depreciated quite steeply as loads sold into fleets and are now back on the market. Bit more roomy and practical if you need that.
In the end a cheap lease deal on a Golf GTE swayed me that way, and I'm hoping by the time that 2 years is up there'll be an affordable pure EV with enough range to cover what I need.
Meaningless in the sense that PHEV petrol consumption varies wildly with usage. The standardised tests to come up with a MPG figure make sense for conventional cars, even if just as the basis for comparison between cars, and make it fairly easy to understand what a car will cost to run.
What does it cost to do 10,000 miles in a PHEV? Could be £200, could be £1500 depending entirely on how long the journeys are and how inclined the driver is to plug it in.
What does it cost to do 10,000 miles in a PHEV? Could be £200, could be £1500 depending entirely on how long the journeys are and how inclined the driver is to plug it in.
I take your point, but still think its a useful comparison if not perfect.
I agree with your comments on the boot cover by the way, it feels really cheap and is fiddly. don't bother most of the time.
We have a few Outlanders at work but they are much noisier than the Ampera once using the engine, in my opinion.
I agree with your comments on the boot cover by the way, it feels really cheap and is fiddly. don't bother most of the time.
We have a few Outlanders at work but they are much noisier than the Ampera once using the engine, in my opinion.
Simon-7pf0x said:
I use a Saris bones bike carrier on mine.
Its not officially approved but seems to work ok.
Don't see why MPG is meaningless. allot of people like to know if a PHEV will save them money and you can't compare wh/m with a diesel.
Oddly enough, Saris do officially approve it for the Chevy Volt - ostensibly the same car, of course: https://www.saris.com/catalog/racks#®ion=1&...Its not officially approved but seems to work ok.
Don't see why MPG is meaningless. allot of people like to know if a PHEV will save them money and you can't compare wh/m with a diesel.
But they don't have it in the Ampera list - don't know why.
Does the top "leg" sit on top of the spoiler then? And the two other legs sit on the bumper? Do you need to use hatch huggers for the top and side straps or just the top ones?
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