Electric Vehicles
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Testing two more cars next Friday. Kia EV6 & Mercedes EQC.
I'm really impressed with the styling of the EV6 and in the flesh I think it looks great. The interior quality is way way up there too, the look and feel is great. It only feels a bit cheap in the boot, when you open it up and it's just colossal levels of cheap crappy looking plastic. The EQC I've not been that bothered by as the local dealer has huge arrogance. We rocked up there to take a look and they didn't really want to help us. They also told my children off for touching the car beside the EQC which I didn't really appreciate. Why park the EQC demo beside a restored special edition SL? Put your posh cars in the posh area, not beside the family wagon for goodness sakes. Anyway, my in-laws have ordered one and think it's incredible. So we decided to take a look.
Hoping I don't like it as means I'll be in a tricky situation on the IX3 we have on order which is due next Feb ....
EDIT: Forgot to add we sat in another iX. My wife couldn't believe I didn't mind it, think the interior looks like it's designed by a Kardashian. Think's it is absolutely ghastly. I had to agree with her. I hadn't noticed all the crrap like crystal buttons etc. It really is awful.
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@majorrage said in Electric Vehicles:
It only feels a bit cheap in the boot, when you open it up and it's just colossal levels of cheap crappy looking plastic.
I'm sure your victims will leave the appropriate view.
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@mariner4life said in Electric Vehicles:
BYD's buses are not great
okay, but not great.
In terms of anything specific? Performance? Reliability? Range? Comfort?
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@nta said in Electric Vehicles:
@majorrage said in Electric Vehicles:
It only feels a bit cheap in the boot, when you open it up and it's just colossal levels of cheap crappy looking plastic.
I'm sure your victims will leave the appropriate view.
All jokes aside, our dog will travel in the boot a lot. And I think every time we went around a corner if she put her paw on the plastic, it'll leave a big scratch.
It's not the end of the world though, as it's only the boot. Will report next week on the driving dynamics.
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@majorrage said in Electric Vehicles:
@nta said in Electric Vehicles:
@majorrage said in Electric Vehicles:
It only feels a bit cheap in the boot, when you open it up and it's just colossal levels of cheap crappy looking plastic.
I'm sure your victims will leave the appropriate view.
All jokes aside, our dog will travel in the boot a lot. And I think every time we went around a corner if she put her paw on the plastic, it'll leave a big scratch.
It's not the end of the world though, as it's only the boot. Will report next week on the driving dynamics.
I hear it is quite impressive in terms of where Kia has been, and where they are now.
It sort of looks like a hatch back, but is way too big when you see the dimensions. Same as the Ioniq5.
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@nta said in Electric Vehicles:
@mariner4life said in Electric Vehicles:
BYD's buses are not great
okay, but not great.
In terms of anything specific? Performance? Reliability? Range? Comfort?
All of the above
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@nta said in Electric Vehicles:
@majorrage said in Electric Vehicles:
@nta said in Electric Vehicles:
@majorrage said in Electric Vehicles:
It only feels a bit cheap in the boot, when you open it up and it's just colossal levels of cheap crappy looking plastic.
I'm sure your victims will leave the appropriate view.
All jokes aside, our dog will travel in the boot a lot. And I think every time we went around a corner if she put her paw on the plastic, it'll leave a big scratch.
It's not the end of the world though, as it's only the boot. Will report next week on the driving dynamics.
I hear it is quite impressive in terms of where Kia has been, and where they are now.
It sort of looks like a hatch back, but is way too big when you see the dimensions. Same as the Ioniq5.
Yes, that's exactly it. It's been a few years since I've driven a KIA and I was chatting to the salesman about it. He said their standard stuff is still behind the Germans, but nowhere near as far as it was. It had to come up though in order to offer 7 year warranties.
But the new one is a game changer - time will tell on lasting / degradation, but it feels a proper high quality product inside.
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Is your wife OK with it?
I think I remember you saying that she is (like my wife) a bit of a snob about what brands are Ok and which are not.
We can't get Hyundai or Kia here and it pisses me off as it would be welcome competition.
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@gt12 said in Electric Vehicles:
Is your wife OK with it?
I think I remember you saying that she is (like my wife) a bit of a snob about what brands are Ok and which are not.
We can't get Hyundai or Kia here and it pisses me off as it would be welcome competition.
That'll be interesting to see what she thinks. We have the BMW coming anyway (although I could cancel that in the compulsory cooling off period) so these drives are more for interest sakes.
My suspicion is that she'll be very impressed by the KIA but won't want the brand. And that she'll love the EQC until I point out to her the price of the one we'd want with all the options ticked ....
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I was amazed by the evolution and competition of Kia and Hyundai and I think it is great one isn't quite owned by the other, seems to bring out their competitive juices.
From what I have read, the European reviewers have no badge snobbery regards the Ioniq5 or EV6, best just to get the wife in the car without telling them the badge, perhaps?
Regards a dog in the back and cheap plastics, we got one of those square rimmed fabric dog beds and she just sleeps in that and it doesn't move around. -
@nostrildamus Do you work for KIA?
it's all good, yes badge snobbery is dead in the general populations - especially by reviewers. No need to try and fool the wife, it is what it is!
To be clear, the plastic doesn't bother me that much, it's just the only place I think it looks cheap & I suspect it could look a complete mess after a 3-4 year ownership.
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Two more electric cars driven.
Mercedes EQC - it's a lovely place to be, beautifully made car with some really nice tech. But I think they are aiming it at people a little older than me. Very soft & perhaps just a little bit boring ....
Kia EV6 - Really disappointed. The fit and finish on the car really is superb. The infotainment looks a lot cheaper than others, which is to be expected given the price. But it's still a lot to pay for a Kia. But the drive. Oh man. Completely gutlesss. Doing 60mph on the A3, I floored it to get it up to 75ish and basically nothing happened. It's really really slow. You can't overtake anything in it. Absolutely no idea how they've managed to do that.
Can now sleep well knowing we've ordered the right car.
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Tesla Model 3.
It’s the next generation of driving. The tech in it is so far ahead of the rest. It’s quite the car, long way ahead of the last one I drove. But, the list of things I don’t like is quite long.
You need a head up display. Absurd to look left to see speed. The fit / finish of the car is poor. There is a lot of tech for tech sake - buttons to open doors etc. Having to go through an iPad to do anything gets annoying really quick. But worst of all, both my wife and I felt really ill. I imagine the kids in the back will be worse.
So in summary, in a lot of ways it’s the best car in the world. But in others it’s the complete opposite.
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@majorrage said in Electric Vehicles:
Tesla Model 3.
It’s the next generation of driving. The tech in it is so far ahead of the rest. It’s quite the car, long way ahead of the last one I drove. But, the list of things I don’t like is quite long.
You need a head up display. Absurd to look left to see speed. The fit / finish of the car is poor. There is a lot of tech for tech sake - buttons to open doors etc. Having to go through an iPad to do anything gets annoying really quick. But worst of all, both my wife and I felt really ill. I imagine the kids in the back will be worse.
So in summary, in a lot of ways it’s the best car in the world. But in others it’s the complete opposite.
I love these posts btw. Having to use that iPad must be fucking frustrating - fuck navigating that to turn the fan up or down, or the temp up or down.
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@gt12 said in Electric Vehicles:
@majorrage said in Electric Vehicles:
Tesla Model 3.
It’s the next generation of driving. The tech in it is so far ahead of the rest. It’s quite the car, long way ahead of the last one I drove. But, the list of things I don’t like is quite long.
You need a head up display. Absurd to look left to see speed. The fit / finish of the car is poor. There is a lot of tech for tech sake - buttons to open doors etc. Having to go through an iPad to do anything gets annoying really quick. But worst of all, both my wife and I felt really ill. I imagine the kids in the back will be worse.
So in summary, in a lot of ways it’s the best car in the world. But in others it’s the complete opposite.
I love these posts btw. Having to use that iPad must be fucking frustrating - fuck navigating that to turn the fan up or down, or the temp up or down.
The first time I sat in a Model S I thought to myself "this is what you get when nerds design cars. I couldn't believe the interior, fit and finish quality for the price". One trillion dollar company. Rivian went public and is now worth more than Ford. And people wonder if there's a bubble.
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@gt12 said in Electric Vehicles:
@majorrage said in Electric Vehicles:
Tesla Model 3.
It’s the next generation of driving. The tech in it is so far ahead of the rest. It’s quite the car, long way ahead of the last one I drove. But, the list of things I don’t like is quite long.
You need a head up display. Absurd to look left to see speed. The fit / finish of the car is poor. There is a lot of tech for tech sake - buttons to open doors etc. Having to go through an iPad to do anything gets annoying really quick. But worst of all, both my wife and I felt really ill. I imagine the kids in the back will be worse.
So in summary, in a lot of ways it’s the best car in the world. But in others it’s the complete opposite.
I love these posts btw. Having to use that iPad must be fucking frustrating - fuck navigating that to turn the fan up or down, or the temp up or down.
My neighbour has just got one & is three days in. He completely agrees with me on all the negatives and says right now, he wish he hadn't got one. I suspect though that once he's familiar with the screen and running it, he'll love it. Although I think he'll never get used to the speedo not being right in front - he pointed out something I hadn't noticed. He needs glasses for reading (getting older ...) and said that glancing down to see the speed has always been fine, but glancing right means he's out of focus. So it takes him time.
He's got 3 kids so I asked him if he'd considered the Model X. He hadn't as his mate has one and stuff keeps falling off it ...
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@antipodean said in Electric Vehicles:
@gt12 said in Electric Vehicles:
@majorrage said in Electric Vehicles:
Tesla Model 3.
It’s the next generation of driving. The tech in it is so far ahead of the rest. It’s quite the car, long way ahead of the last one I drove. But, the list of things I don’t like is quite long.
You need a head up display. Absurd to look left to see speed. The fit / finish of the car is poor. There is a lot of tech for tech sake - buttons to open doors etc. Having to go through an iPad to do anything gets annoying really quick. But worst of all, both my wife and I felt really ill. I imagine the kids in the back will be worse.
So in summary, in a lot of ways it’s the best car in the world. But in others it’s the complete opposite.
I love these posts btw. Having to use that iPad must be fucking frustrating - fuck navigating that to turn the fan up or down, or the temp up or down.
The first time I sat in a Model S I thought to myself "this is what you get when nerds design cars. I couldn't believe the interior, fit and finish quality for the price". One trillion dollar company. Rivian went public and is now worth more than Ford. And people wonder if there's a bubble.
Indeed. The big one I've not driven is the E-Mach. Might organise that now.
I don't know much about Rivian honestly, but if Tesla taught me anything today, it's that they really are a tech company which makes cars. As the tech is phenomenal, but the car is just average. At a premium price,
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@jc said in Electric Vehicles:
@gt12 And as a right handed person in a right hand drive car, having to use that ipad with my left while driving sounds … complicated.
To be fair it's quite intuitive. I just don't see why you should need to go into an iPad, settings screen etc etc to do the basics like turn on a fan. It really steamed up and it took my wife around about 10-15 seconds to figure it out. Now obviously you'd learn it once then it would always be quick, but what's wrong with the odd button?
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@majorrage said in Electric Vehicles:
Although I think he'll never get used to the speedo not being right in front
At the other end of the scale - the wife had a Toyota Yaris a few years ago and it had a centre instrument cluster.
Driving it at night, switching from the X-Trail, meant I often had moments of panic where I thought a fuse had blown.
TBH I barely look at the speedo in the X-Trail these days. It has been over 8 years and I know roughly what speed I'm travelling around suburbia, and cruise control takes care of the rest.
