Electric Vehicles
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@jc said in Electric Vehicles:
@nta said in Electric Vehicles:
Second hand car market is interesting right now - a bloke at work bought a Jeep Grand Cherokee private sale 3 years ago and could recover his money today in a private sale (obviously not the repair costs
because Jeep).I'm eyeing off whether I just take the plunge and spend $80K on a Volvo XC40 Recharge or wait. The X-Trail isn't going to change much in value between now and then...
I’m guessing you haven’t driven one yet. It’s just a little bit nicer than a Leaf. Even at 80k you’re getting a lot of car for your money IMO.
You've driven the Volvo? Thoughts?
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@voodoo Yep. I took out an XC60 and an XC40 and much preferred the smaller one. I also took out a petrol XC40 T5 for comparison and despite the higher price I’d still have chosen the hybrid.
Pros were: Really nice interior. Really nice. Incredibly comfortable seats and high quality materials. The leather on the seats was lovely. Good handling. Looked brilliant in metallic black with black interior and privacy glass.
Cons: Not that quick, but OK. It was only the front wheel drive version, I don’t think the AWD version is out here yet but the dealer said at the time it was very fast. All Volvos are apparently limited to 160km/h top speed now for what that’s worth. Pretty pricy, nearly $100k here in NZ with the various packages, bearing in mind the demonstrator was loaded up with everything. That’s it really, no more cons.
In the end I went a bit further upmarket but if I was going for a PHEV in that range that’s the one I’d have I think.
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@voodoo said in Electric Vehicles:
@nta what's polestar?
Their other only-electric brand.
Polestar 2 - Electric performance fastback | Polestar US
Even more engaging. Experience what the newest Polestar 2 has to offer, including a bespoke Bowers & Wilkins sound system and new interior options.
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@voodoo Polestar started as Volvo's electric-only arm relying more heavily on the Chinese parent, Geely. Better range than the XC40, tho perhaps a bit more minimalist inside. I've heard the infotainment/settings are easier to negotiate as well.
Can get into one of these from about $65k - still qualifies for the NSW State Govt rebate depending on which model/package you get. Prices below are NSW excl grants.
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there is already a large waiting list for these.. @NTA surely the only option is the dual motor unless you're driving miss daisy?
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@bayimports said in Electric Vehicles:
@NTA surely the only option is the dual motor unless you're driving miss daisy?
Dual motor would be nice but think it then goes over the grant limit. Not that anyone buy a $75k motor gives a shit about $3k I guess...
There are also the packs that add between $5k and $8k. You could easily get north of $100k fully loaded.
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@nta said in Electric Vehicles:
@bayimports said in Electric Vehicles:
@NTA surely the only option is the dual motor unless you're driving miss daisy?
Dual motor would be nice but think it then goes over the grant limit. Not that anyone buy a $75k motor gives a shit about $3k I guess...
There are also the packs that add between $5k and $8k. You could easily get north of $100k fully loaded.
Think I costed a fully loaded one at about 90k, I see your point though. 90k unlocks a lot of alternatives
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@bayimports said in Electric Vehicles:
@nta said in Electric Vehicles:
@bayimports said in Electric Vehicles:
@NTA surely the only option is the dual motor unless you're driving miss daisy?
Dual motor would be nice but think it then goes over the grant limit. Not that anyone buy a $75k motor gives a shit about $3k I guess...
There are also the packs that add between $5k and $8k. You could easily get north of $100k fully loaded.
Think I costed a fully loaded one at about 90k, I see your point though. 90k unlocks a lot of alternatives
I didn't realise some packs included elements of others - $85,300 before on-roads, so about that $90K mark.
Would like to test one as well as teh XC40 tho. The Mercedes EQA is in the same ballpark but just doesn't appeal to me at all. Mercs never have.
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Volvo has been using Polestar as its in-house tuning arm for some time. They used to provide upgrade options that gave their production cars stupid levels of extra horsepower, Brembo brakes, tunable suspension dampers etc. A couple of years ago they spun it off as a separate brand that would be more performance based. Originally people thought they would do Polestar = only EVs and Volvo = ICEs and hybrids. But now that Volvo has also gone heavily into electrification there needs to be a new point of difference. The suggestion is that now Volvo have committed to an absolute top speed cap they will use the Polestar brand to serve as the tech testbed and performance brand to match the Germans.
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Interesting test from Matt Watson.
Summary - the Kia and BMW were best performing - they did 91% of their claimed range (Kia won overall) and the Mach-E (entry version) also did well with 3.7 KWH. Audi looks a bad bet in comparison to the Skoda. I still think the Ioniq looks cool.
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@nta said in Electric Vehicles:
Next week is beach driving but it'll all be on the flat, not dunes so much. Just let the tyres down to ~20psi and don't make too many sharp turns
Beach driving was fun. Only got stuck once when I picked the wrong soft spot, and the TRED boards did the job getting out. That was on highway tyres and 17" rims - AT rubber on 15" would have made it even easier.
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@nta didn't join the 40PSI club getting bogged?
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@antipodean said in Electric Vehicles:
@nta didn't join the 40PSI club getting bogged?
Nope. Started at 20 and dropped to 18 after I got stuck.
Saw a couple of Range Rovers out there running highway pressures on 20 inch rims. Those tyres are almost a fucking foot wide tho and only got a couple of km down the beach where it was still firm.
The Thumper Air Compressor I bought was fucking ace return we got back to the road tho. Good output for a small unit.
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@bones said in Electric Vehicles:
@gt12 said in Electric Vehicles:
I still think the Ioniq looks cool
Seen it in the flesh? Have seen a few similar to below flitting around and it's uuuuuuuugly.
That's the previous model to the Ioniq 5, which does look cool
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@nta said in Electric Vehicles:
@bones said in Electric Vehicles:
@gt12 said in Electric Vehicles:
I still think the Ioniq looks cool
Seen it in the flesh? Have seen a few similar to below flitting around and it's uuuuuuuugly.
That's the previous model to the Ioniq 5, which does look cool
Yeah, the newer model looks much better. Not seen one of those yet.
I didn't bother arranging a test drive after the disappointment of the Kia..
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@nta said in Electric Vehicles:
@bones said in Electric Vehicles:
@gt12 said in Electric Vehicles:
I still think the Ioniq looks cool
Seen it in the flesh? Have seen a few similar to below flitting around and it's uuuuuuuugly.
That's the previous model to the Ioniq 5, which does look cool
Based on that test, I think I'm even closer to buying the PHEV X3 (or perhaps the Volvo).
I'm not quite ready to commit to electric (charging at apartments is not easy) and that BMW isn't 4WD, which is a requirement for us next time.
