June 2025
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Ask any question for EVs which you need help, advice, suggestions or discuss relevant issues.
Discuss articles that have been hosted elsewhere (this may be reviewed after a while to see how it's working)... Read more
Picked up our new to us 72 plate VW ID3 earlier. Car is immaculate, I can’t even find a single stone chip. Added bonus from the dealer on top of what I regard as a good deal at £15,500 was a free Superguard application that they initially offered at circa £300! I suspect this was applied in error, but I’m delighted with the presentation and the wee bonus. Only downside was the salesman didn’t bother to come out and show us the controls, he essentially got the paperwork signed, handed me the keys and went off to have his lunch. I’ll let that slide as in every other way this was a good experience.
First drive consisted on a very congested trip from Edinburgh to Prestwick. 86 miles of barely getting over 40mph, until we got past Glasgow and the road quietens down.
Car is smooth and quiet as EV’s typically are, but the road noise is noticeable lower than in the Leaf it replaces. The ride quality is very decent too, though not quite up to the standard of my C Class Merc. It’s surprisingly spacious inside, particularly regards rear leg room. It’s a bit of a tardis. Small on the outside, big g on the inside. Some of the plastics aren’t up to expected VW standards, but it’s a step up on the last one I drove - an early 20 plate.
It averaged 4 miles per kWh with the AC on and including a few foot down acceleration tests. With 204PS and instant torque it goes like the clappers. Not quite dual motor Tesla warp drive, but very quick in its own right. Rear wheel drive means it might be lively in the wet if driven aggressively. Not something I’m guilty of doing on the road.
Downsides include the lack of proper heating controls, I hate those touch sensor things, and the ICE is fiddly. The biggest negative by far is that intrusive and b***** dangerous lane assist nonsense that tries to fight you if you cross a line without indicating, it’s often picking up lines in the road such as old road workings etc rather than the painted lines. But looking online it can apparently be permanently turned off in settings - and it promptly shall be.
Beyond that it is a Golf sized car on the outside, Passat sized on the inside. It’s as quick to accelerate as a GTi yet smooth as an S class. There’s no noisy combustion motor up front rattling away and no complex automatic gearbox - it’s a battery and a big electric motor. It’ll cost buttons to fuel, and it cost nearly £20,000 less than its new price at less than 3yrs old with 18,000 miles up and it looks like a new car. It comes with 2yrs VW warranty, 5yrs battery pack cover, 2yrs Mot cover and 2yrs servicing for £99 extra. All in a good buy compared to a more expensive used Golf.
I’ll report back once I’ve switched off the unnecessary and distracting lane assist nonsense and had a drive without it trying to veer me into hedges. Read more
Owned for a few months now, so I can offer an opinion on whether the electric ID3 is a genuinely usable main family car. Yes, yes it is. It can do over 200 miles on a charge without effort, it’s comfortable, quiet, fast, very spacious, costs buttons to run and service and to date hasn’t caused any issues. That these are now cheaper than a used petrol Golf makes them a bit of a used car bargain in my opinion. Hopefully this one doesn’t get trashed by a red light hopping taxi.
Hi all,
I am new here, so please be gentle with me. ... Read more
…keep us posted FD. I’m currently considering an MG5 long range, as it seems to fit the brief for what I need and they do seem to be very good value.I’m still looking. Ruled out an MG5 as it’s got no euroncap rating and the wife won’t allow me to buy one if the kids are to go in it. I agree with her on that though. Budget is now slightly higher at £18,000!
I bought a 2019 MX 5 6 months ago and I'm very pleased with it.
I have since heard stories about all MX 5's being prone to rust because they aren't rust proofed in the factory. I don't know if that is accurate or not. At the moment there is some surface rust underneath and as I intend keeping the car I am considering having it professionally rust proofed. I've been quoted between £800 and £1000 and I'm looking for some advice as to whether this is a sound investment or not and how long the treatment lasts for. Read more
I have since heard stories about all MX 5's being prone to rust because they aren't rust proofed in the factory.
They are indeed rot-boxes. Since their birth in 1989 when they effectively replaced British sports cars, thousands of them have already turned into rust....
With a 10K budget, what are forum member opinion as to the merits of the newer 1.5 varient over the previous 1.4? (apart from being a newer car) Particularly in an auto Octavia (l'm aware of the debate around the dsg gearbox) Read more
Getting back to the 1.4/1.5 engine..............Autotrader has engine power & torque the same. MPG is also noticibly less with the later 1.5 even in the ACT varient....
I have a 4 year old that has caused no problems at all until the weekend. The stop start activated at a set of lights and the car then would not restart. Being the weekend I had to have it recovered to home. It won’t start and in fact is really difficult to turn back off when trying to start it. So, two local dealers both agree it’s likely to be covered by the warranty. Earliest one can look is the 16th, the other the 27th. Local garage will have a look on Wednesday. Isitnormal to have to wait that long for a dealer, is it a ‘clever’ way of effectively stopping you using the warranty? Read more
Andrew you mentioned a competitive business world, thats exactly what both the car industry and the one i work in are, or should be.
All the promises and showroom/sales glitz means the square root of sod all if there's no back up or service worth mentioning....
Speaking to someone who sells car wash products to the trade and he tells me that some car wash depots use products that can damage the paintwork. In particular the wheel cleaners .
The claim was that brick acid is commonly used .... Read more
The roof mounted aerial amplifier is another vulnerable area for the high pressure hose lance.
It’s easily damaged and replacements are very expensive , around £600 and long waits for modern cars. My partner waited five months for the one for her Captur
The history of this is fascinating but sadly not pertinent to the problem. The basic problem was imho the combination of poor management and militant unions causing a ‘perfect storm’ to destroy the car industry. I worked in Germany for several years in the early to mid 70,s. They didn’t work any harder, in fact a shorter working week. They weren’t any cleverer either. However in all those years working in construction and industry I can’t recall one day lost to strike action. They didn’t have to work harder they simply worked continuously and conscientiously. Many industries were not subject to union intervention, they had local works committees. If a worker had a problem he put it to the committee and was guaranteed an answer and usually a solution within two weeks. This seemed to work well and obviate the need for unions or strikes. Fairly simple stuff but of course the German mind set is different from ours. We could still achieve this but it needs significant investment, which seems we are reluctant to provide but the Chinese are not. In this world of the largest bank balance wins I fear we are at the mercy of the richest investors.
Many people have commented on the distractions caused by touch screen controls. This article quotes research on it.
www.carsandhorsepower.com/featured/your-fancy-car-...t... Read more
So there you are hammering along a motorway in heavy traffic when the sky clouds over, rain comes on and the screen starts misting up. You need to put on the demist, adjust the temp and put on the aircon to clear the screen. With knobs it was push a button and turn a knob. I wouldn't want to be trying to do that with a touch screen.
I keep the aircon on all the time set to a comfortable temperature. No need to adjust it even with the onset of sudden heavy rain....
Hi All, After a recent thread where I managed to finally rid myself of an exceptionally faulty Jaguar I-Pace I am hoping for any potential advice on a replacement. Budget of about 25k for ideally something approved used.
Key factors are reliability, years 2020+ (as those tend to have reasonable CarPlay compatibility), 40k miles or below, suitable for long drives and occasional family use. I’ve done my research and I have narrowed it down to a 5 series Diesel, or Lexus NX?... Read more
Man, I seem to have gone down a rabbit hole with this Lexus theft thing. Seems absolutely nuts and have never heard of it.
So is a BMW a safer bet? Is a 5 series considered reliable compared to say an A6?...
And on that note it's probably best we draw this thread to a close, it's drifted a bit too much. Also it's gone beyond 100 posts where we usually create a new one as this software does not allow us to have more than one page to a thread.
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