This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

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Andy Beats
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by Andy Beats »

Been looking at the Nissan Ariya bumf lately, that looks like another alternative to the ID4 for my wife.
Prefer the dash layout.
For me, still think a Leaf will do me fine, give that it's very firmly a second commute-only car.
Deliveroo guy turned up in one last night and we were there for 20 minutes chatting about it.
He's just moved down from Elgin and is stunned at the plethora of charging points around Aberdeen.
He lives in a flat, but the lack of home-charging isn't an issue for him at all.
monkeyhanger
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by monkeyhanger »

Andy Beats wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 10:13 am Been looking at the Nissan Ariya bumf lately, that looks like another alternative to the ID4 for my wife.
Prefer the dash layout.
For me, still think a Leaf will do me fine, give that it's very firmly a second commute-only car.
Deliveroo guy turned up in one last night and we were there for 20 minutes chatting about it.
He's just moved down from Elgin and is stunned at the plethora of charging points around Aberdeen.
He lives in a flat, but the lack of home-charging isn't an issue for him at all.
I wouldn't have issues with the lack of home charging either if my locality was littered with free charging points (a Scottish perk). In England though, if I were in that situation of paying diesel prices to fill up, I'd be in no hurry to ditch the ICE car.

Hope you were the last call on the deliveroo guy's route - otherwise you've got 12 cold pizzas on your conscience!
Andy Beats
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by Andy Beats »

Having an EV in Aberdeen can make you a pariah when the whole city relies on oil so much for their living, so the sheer number of charging points is a surprise.
monkeyhanger
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by monkeyhanger »

So...I had my test drive today, and I was let out on my own with it for 20 mins.

First impressions with the seats - comfortable but the cloth on my chosen model isn't really to my tastes - I guess I'm too used to sports seats in greys and GTI/GTD tartan. I'd pay extra for Sports seats, but while I'm sat in them,I can't see them. The airplane fold up/down skinny arm rests are a bit crap. Maybe I'd need time to get used to them, but never really been a user of arm rests in other cars, except the A4's which was large and highly adjustable.

The dash plastics are hard by the windscreen (which you'd have to stretch to touch), and softer where they're accessible. The door cards are softer than the Polo's but harder than a MK7 Golf's. Not really liking the piano black door grab handles purely for reasons of practicability in avoiding fingerprints and microscratches. The haptic switches have a click to them if you press them hard enough, didn't really have time to mess with them for functionality/ease of use.

The interior size is weirdly huge. You know this is the size of a Golf (2cm wider, 1cm shorter), but 17cm taller (that's the battery pack you're sat on), so maybe think of it as a slightly short Golf Plus on the outside. On the inside it is hugely spacious- it's like being in my Cousin's Q5.

Onto the drive...I press the start button on the steering column where a manual key would go - silly place! You have to fumble for it because you can't see it -
should've placed it on view in the lower dash.

Button pressed...I forget that there's no engine noise, there's no tone to indicate everything's ready to go. I turned it off and back on again to be sure it was on (it was). I cautiously tickle the throttle as I'm half expecting some serious sensitivity and don't want to plight into the car opposite. Thankfully it crawls if you just tickle it. I get out of the car park and the silence is weird, like I'm on one of those electric teams in Amsterdam.

I get out on the open road (A19 sliproad), getting past the crawler in front of me and boot it. There's quite a pull but zero drama, the acceleration is very linear. I drove it normally between 70 and 80mph once I got there. It's still smooth and eerily quiet, a smaller whisper of wind noise. I came off the A19 a few junctions up and have adrive around the country roads near Seghill. I was able to stop and boot it from a standstill 3 times - consistently quick off the line with zero drame and linear all the way to 80.

So it's competent, pretty quick in a very usable.way, but a bit dull. This is probably the way with affordable EVs - until the batteries get light and cheap, you'll need to be spending £50k+ to get something genuinely sporty and desirable.

Definitely not a car that excites - will make a good car for the kids with plenty of interior room and rear legroom.
SRGTD
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by SRGTD »

@monkeyhanger; Sounds interesting. I think it would take me a while to a complete lack of engine noise. I wonder what some members on this and other forums who crave more noise from their cars would think of it?

High gloss plastics does seem a strange choice for touch points in a car that’ll get a lot of use such as interior door pulls. I think I’d seriously consider getting them vinyl wrapped - assuming a vinyl wrap would be durable enough to withstand heavy use.

I saw a render of the ID.2 the other day - if the production version looks anything like the render, I think it actually looks OK and could be a possible replacement for my Polo GTI+ when the time comes to change it. That’s a good few years away though - maybe there’ll be a performance version by then (wishful thinking!) 🤔.
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monkeyhanger
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by monkeyhanger »

Apart from the front lights and rear lights, that render looks exactly like the ID3, just a little shorter.

Wrapping the gloss black handles and trim of the central storage area is something I'll give some serious consideration. It's something that's been done on one of the ID3 forums already.

If I had to round up the ID3 in a few words it would be roomy, practical, moderately fast but a bit dull - which is just like the A4 it'll replace.

By the time the performance versions come in through cheaper and lighter batteries, the grant will be long gone.

For what I'm ultimately paying for it after discounts and incentives (£27400ish), as well as the fuel savings to be had, it seems a fair bit of car for the money.
Andy Beats
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by Andy Beats »

Start up sound is maybe in the settings, you get a choice of tones (or no tone) in the Leaf.
Andy Beats
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by Andy Beats »

SRGTD wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 10:49 pm I wonder what some members on this and other forums who crave more noise from their cars would think of it?
Oh they'll moan but, I make no apology for saying this, they need to grow the hell up.
They need to realise noise is a massive problem, especially in Britain where the majority of people live near main roads.
Let them have their wee app where the noise of a V8 is piped into the cabin only. but the rest of the world doesn't have to hear their childish pish.
monkeyhanger
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by monkeyhanger »

Andy Beats wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:04 am Start up sound is maybe in the settings, you get a choice of tones (or no tone) in the Leaf.
Probably is, but with 20.mins of play time on the test drive, I didn't really delve into the menus, I just wanted to drive it as much as possible. Despite being heavy footed in acceleration, I did 16 miles and the 80% charge range of 183 miles when I took it out had only dropped to 176 miles when I brought it back. I must've been reasonably economical when up to speed.
monkeyhanger
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by monkeyhanger »

Andy Beats wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:08 am
SRGTD wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 10:49 pm I wonder what some members on this and other forums who crave more noise from their cars would think of it?
Oh they'll moan but, I make no apology for saying this, they need to grow the hell up.
They need to realise noise is a massive problem, especially in Britain where the majority of people live near main roads.
Let them have their wee app where the noise of a V8 is piped into the cabin only. but the rest of the world doesn't have to hear their childish pish.
Forums are full of 2 people - enthusiasts for the car and people looking for DIY fixes/mods or confirm a known issue they're experiencing.

Among those enthusiasts there'll be a disproportionately large representation of the performance models - those people want noise. It's easy to say "grow up" when you're 40+, but there's plenty of younger drivers out there who want a bit of noise. Did you want a silent car when you were 19? I certainly didn't. I loved driving my Dad's 2.8L Granada estate Ghia when my mates were pootling about in their mam's 1.0 mini metro. I used to love getting out in the boss's Granada Scorpio Cosworth too. That thing snarled like a pissed off Panther.
Andy Beats
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by Andy Beats »

monkeyhanger wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:30 am Among those enthusiasts there'll be a disproportionately large representation of the performance models - those people want noise. It's easy to say "grow up" when you're 40+, but there's plenty of younger drivers out there who want a bit of noise. Did you want a silent car when you were 19? I certainly didn't. I loved driving my Dad's 2.8L Granada estate Ghia when my mates were pootling about in their mam's 1.0 mini metro. I used to love getting out in the boss's Granada Scorpio Cosworth too. That thing snarled like a pissed off Panther.
Noise has never, ever, bothered me in cars or bikes.
Quote the opposite, my biking friends will tell you I've always been the one to stick with standard exhausts when they were all fitting loud pipes.
I've just never seen the point of announcing your presence to all and sundry, or the selfishness in imposing your noise on others.
S_94
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by S_94 »

I've got nothing against people making their cars louder (to a degree). But some people really take the p***, I've seen so many Corsa drivers around my area with stupidly loud exhausts, slamming their foot down but the car is hardly moving. It's quite funny to watch. :lol:

A few months back a Lamborghini went past, which was loud, but it was a good loud. If that makes sense. I think when it's a natural noise from a performance car it's okay, when people are trying to make their 1 litre Corsa's sound the same, it's awful.
monkeyhanger
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by monkeyhanger »

S_94 wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 11:29 am I've got nothing against people making their cars louder (to a degree). But some people really take the p***, I've seen so many Corsa drivers around my area with stupidly loud exhausts, slamming their foot down but the car is hardly moving. It's quite funny to watch. :lol:

A few months back a Lamborghini went past, which was loud, but it was a good loud. If that makes sense. I think when it's a natural noise from a performance car it's okay, when people are trying to make their 1 litre Corsa's sound the same, it's awful.
I appreciate good loud - there's a Ferrari Enzo owned by one of the restaurants very close to me on the Riverside, sounds amazing. I also like the sound of Ducatis and some Japanese bikes, but not the farty Harleys that patrol the coast around me. 1.0 Sheep in Wolf's clothing Corsas congregating in mcDonalds car parks just make me laugh, they're so tragic. Not as noisy as the new menace in mcDonalds car parks - the East European Ubereats/deliveroo/just eat drivers who sit and constantly toot their horns at each other while waiting for their consignment - it's like being at the Arc de Triomphe or the Coloseum.
Andy Beats
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by Andy Beats »

We've got a Maserati Quattroporto down our street, and an ex-pat Yank who has a Dodge charger and a 1972 Mustang Mach 1.
I've no doubt many people would drool at the noise these cars make, but when they regularly drive past your house it's a different story....
I honestly, truthfully, long for the day when all vehicles are electric and quiet.
Andy Beats
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Re: This'll make Andy's jaw drop...

Post by Andy Beats »

Ooooh, liking the new Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Definite Lancia Delta Integrale look to it, and rear wheel drive for a bit of opposite lock fun again.
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