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Re iDrive, is that like the knob on Mercedes?<br /><br />
Yes it’s a twisty control knob to navigate the screen & menus etc. It works really well.
A debit card is all you need on main routes. I’ve only ever found one rapid charger that needed an app, a regional provider in an out-of-the-way place (Dragon Charging). I just flash my debit card and proceed.
Ta. Last time I looked into it (before getting the i3) you needed a whole load of apps & cards. I’ll keep the Octopus one with payment attached and hopefully a debit card will sort any others out.
You get 20% off at Osprey chargers with Electroverse between 7 and 11pm. This may be of no use to you but might save you a few quid. I also got an account with my Polestar that gets me 30p rapid charging at Ionity. Nothing like that with your vehicle?<br /><br />
Any discount is handy if I happen to be travelling at the right time 👍
And yes VW comes with We Charge which seems to get a discount on some. It won’t accept my payment details to actually set it up though 🙄
Worth looking at the Tesla open for all chargers as well. <br /><br />
I’ll check this out cheers. I’ve seen that Tesla now let non Teslas use some of their chargers. They do seem to have their network sorted.
was the car new? Most come with a scheme that gives preferentially rates at most operators. <br /><br /><br />
Yes new car and comes with VW We Charge, struggling to set it up at the moment. Looks like the free account gets a slight discount and different monthly plans get more off. We won’t use it enough to make it worth paying monthly.
Last one i played with (2022MY) wasn’t bad at all, which given the development time, i’m not surprised.<br /><br />
My 2012 330D and 2020 i3S both worked flawlessly.
@phil5556 I find it's definitely still worth prioritising the charger networks with the best reputations. ie instavolt, Osprey, Tesla. Also possibly add Gridserve, MFG, Ionity. Don't know what Charge Place Scotland is like these days. Geniepoint are terrible round these parts, but the units are gradually being replaced by the new owners, I think they are prioritising units in Morrisons car parks. BP and Shell chargers are still hit and miss.
(if it hasn't happened already, I'm sure I read somewhere that Instavolt are being added to the Octopus RFID card)
Don’t know what Charge Place Scotland is like these days
Depends on location. Pricing is all over the place depending on atea and generally 50kW is the fastest you’ll find. Weird charging points as it has a lot of nhs and council properties in it. It’s more of a universal payment system than a coherent network but works well for only needing one card that covers all of Scotland. Used it a lot before my wallbox went in.
Finally after almost 8 months my Q4 arrived tonight. Looking forward to trying her out tomorrow.
AI? Mine just have knobs to adjust how clean you want the screen
Apparently so. A few years back Tesla removed the IR rain sensor in their designs and spent time training the system to recognize the rain intensity using camera data. Musk tweeted something like ‘trained on 1000s of different types of rain’. Unsure if that set contained British rain.
https://electrek.co/2019/10/14/tesla-deep-rain-neural-net-automatic-wipers/
There are still options for slow, medium, and fast wiping at what I suppose are fixed rates. And an on demand button at the end of the stalk (I assume this is an option on the wheel for the new stalkless models). Using AutoPilot always shifts to AI-based wiping. This seems reasonable - if it gets hard to see then the machine should get to choose when to wipe. Though I’m hoping the cameras can see better than I can!
https://www.teslarati.com/elon-musk-apologizes-tesla-auto-wipers/amp/
I never found my MBs’ auto wiper setting satisfactory so I don’t get quite as worked up as some folks do.
I'll take one:
I’ll take one:
Ohh, now we're talking. That article mentions it will be "among a slew of fast EV estate cars when it launches next year", which is music to my ears - I'm out of the loop, what would the others be? I know it's market led, but the lack of estates in favour of SUV shaped things has always bummed me out.
what would the others be?
There's an electric 5 series which will also be avaialable in estate form, it has been confirmed. £70k+ though!
That ID.7 is all well and good, but can VW pleeeeeease bring out an ID.Caddy on the same platform 😫
Can't find the space toddler's eponymous thread but:
- His stupid pickup truck has no airbags which means, unless he backs down, it can't be type approved in the EU, North America or large parts of the rest of the world,
- It's GVW exceeds 3500kg so you can't drive it without a C1 license which most people under 40 don't have
Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Ooh...you lot seen teh Volvo EX30.. can get the 440BHP version for £44k in the top spec trim... that's a LOT of money, but is rather cheap for a high spec EV...
The carwow review wasn't super impressed.. the touchscreen seemed to annoy mat watson a fair bit!
DrP
On the other hand Jonny Smith seemed very impressed with the EX30, with the exception of driver info all being on the stupid single central screen rather than visible in front of the driver - which is a pet peeve of mine and why I'd never consider buying a Model 3. I also love his attitude to coupe SUV things - totally agree they need to get in the bin.
His stupid pickup truck has no airbags
What??!
Re the EX30, it looks like a great car for the price. I hope people hate the display and no-one wants to buy one which would depress the used prices enough. I'm quite accommodating when it comes to stuff like that. Mind you, it would drive my wife insane and I am not sure I could deal with that 🙂
I hope people hate the display and no-one wants to buy one
Ha! Ditto!
I'm normally keen to adopt new tech and ideas... but... I struggle to see how having EVERYTHING (IIRC there's NIL on the normal 'dash location') on the big middle screen is good...
Speedo - middle screen
Control wing mirrors - middle screen
Control HVAC - middle screen..
Call me old fashioned, but having speed in eyeline (or down a bit) seems much safer than having to look right all the time?
And i'd go mad having to go through 3 screens to turn heating up/down...
DrP
You don't have to go through three screens on the EX30, there's a permanent bar on the bottom. The real issue is the speedo. But I could probably live with it if the car were that good - and the model with the high towing capacity is also the ludicrously quick 4WD one.. My Prius had a touch screen before it was cool, and simple green 7-segment display just behind the steering wheel that projected onto a mirror just under the dash. It looked like it was on the dash, so not a HUD, but as far as your eyes were concerned it was like 2m away which meant much less focus adjusting. Brilliant idea. Volvo should do the same.
The rear legroom is more of a deal breaker tbh.
Call me old fashioned, but having speed in eyeline (or down a bit) seems much safer than having to look right all the time?
Our old Yaris had a centre mount speedo high and set back on the dash. It had some clever lens on it and angled to the driver. As you looked ahead you could see it in peripheral vision without needing to refocus.
The lower, Gert big tablet on the dashboard has none of this.
So central speedometer I'm ok with, tablet version I'm not.
ID Buzz and Ioniq 5, both teeth gnashingly irritating and dangerous to use on the move. I can’t fathom who it is who demands this stuff in a vehicle.
Apparently the new CEO of VW admitted that the current generation of VW's was designed by engineers and bean counters ignoring what the customers told them and requested. He's promised to turn this around and put buttons and simpler controls back in....
Sorry, last post replying to this thread while I read it.
Has anyone seen some of the news about new battery tech coming through? I wonder if this is also causing folk to hold off on purchasing a new EV.
For example - Toyota talking about 20% more range, 20-40% less cost and 10-20min charging times, all from a solid state and less environmentally damaging battery. By 2026...
https://media.toyota.co.uk/toyota-sets-out-advanced-battery-technology-roadmap/
Not sure if it’s been covered up thread but our ID3 has a row of buttons (touch not physical but can’t have everything) for basic stuff like heat, fan speed, etc. great.. BUT the **** things aren’t backlit! Unbelievable oversight. So you can only use them during hours of daylight FFS.
The only thing worse than this is when it kicks me out of gear into park while reversing if you even slightly unweight the drivers seat. Coupled with me living on a busy main road near a corner and reversing into the drive it’s very dangerous indeed! It has in the past done it THREE TIMES in one manoeuvre. I was ready to burn it to the ground that evening.
Other than those two monumental issues its been a great car 🙂
It’s getting replaced with an EQA soon though as there were some great deals on my salary sacrifice scheme. I’m not a fan of SUVs whatsoever but they don’t make an equivalent hatch, it’s mainly my wife driving it, it’s the smallest one they do and not offensively large/tall. Footprint isn’t a lot more than the ID and the boot is a tiny bit smaller!
His stupid pickup truck has no airbags which means, unless he backs down, it can’t be type approved in the EU, North America or large parts of the rest of the world,
It’s GVW exceeds 3500kg so you can’t drive it without a C1 license which most people under 40 don’t have
There's a handful of other things that will make it technically impossible to homologate in Europe and the US as well. Lots of speculation at work about what method they'll use. Sell and then recall, bribe, lie, rush in a fix 2 days before job 1...
And i'll have you know, i lobbied extensively for separate screens, and some physical buttons.
teeth gnashingly irritating and dangerous to use on the move
Yeah it really is worth learning how to use the voice commands. Feels unnecessary and annoying at first, but really saves the day and once you know the commands it really is easier.
Has anyone seen some of the news about new battery tech coming through?
Yes, it gets mentioned a fair bit - it's a solid state battery. It means the electrolyte is not a liquid, so it's safer, and can be made more compact and energy dense so you get either double the range in the same battery or the same range with half the battery which should therefore be half the cost. Lots of people working on them, Toyota have invested in the company who appear to be becoming the first into production.
I reckon they won't become radically cheaper at first - probably just somewhat higher range, and the price will remain high as people continue to pay that much for them. Then when that money dries up in the future they'll start bringing out cheaper ones.
There’s a handful of other things that will make it technically impossible to homologate in Europe and the US
Stainless steel sharp angled body panels not meeting pedestrian safety standards?
CEO of VW admitted that the current generation of VW’s was designed … ignoring what the customers told them and requested
I just sent VW an email this morning saying they give the impression they are more interested in their convenience than their customers'. They had two Apps, 'Volkswagen' and 'WeConnect' and are consolidating to just one - but they have removed WeConnect before some of its functionality is working in Volkwagen.
It's worrying that the manufacturer can effectively remove things from your car, years after purchase, and you can't do anything about it.
There’s a handful of other things that will make it technically impossible to homologate in Europe and the US as well.
If we see the idiot-truck in the UK I’ll eat my Model 3. I wonder how many people who would have considered a Tesla are actively put off by the fact he seems to have gone completely off his trolley over the last few years?
"And i’ll have you know, i lobbied extensively for separate screens, and some physical buttons."
On the EX30? Please try harder. Could have chosen to wait for it, but no driver display automatically ruled it out. Otherwise ideal.
No driver screen, and no physical buttons/knobs for things like heating controls etc are a bit of a red line for me. I guess if cars get cheap enough then I might compromise but at current prices it's a no from me.
I've just bought a 2 year old merc eqc relatively cheaply, pick it up on Friday. It should be fine for 90% of the miles we do, am a bit concerned about the few longer trips we might do every year where we'd have to use public charging, especially biking trips to north Wales which look like an ev charging desert.
Drivers screen - Check
Backlit physical buttons - check
Seperate heating controls - check
Crystal ball - check
Too many screens now.... Wing mirror screen pushes me over the edge... I'm oot!
DrP
Stainless steel sharp angled body panels not meeting pedestrian safety standards?
That too!
especially biking trips to north Wales which look like an ev charging desert.
Where are you coming from?
Where are you coming from?
Manchester, I haven't looked too closely at how to make it work, but I guess it'd involve charging somewhere near Chester to give enough range to run around in north Wales for a couple of days, and then charge again round Chester on the way back
Just a heads up for anyone on British Gas - if you're on the current variable EV tariff, that expires this month and you'll get bumped back onto the standard rate.
If you try and change to the fixed EV tariff via the notification they send it might not actually change - I've had to spend 30mins on chat to get it sorted before that offer expires on the 17th and then there's no EV option at all.
So if you think you've changed it might be worth checking just to make sure.
re. Toyota and new battery tech... looks like Toyota are deliberately trying to do everything possible except develop a competitive EV..
Where are you coming from?
Manchester
Tesla open for all at flint is a quick charger.
Too many screens now…. Wing mirror screen pushes me over the edge… I’m oot!
I don’t have the digital mirrors. They’re a bit weird looking and, by all accounts aren’t anywhere near as good as actual mirrors.
The rest of the car is a dream to operate though. A single button press on the steering wheel disables the Lane keeping assist for example.
There’s a HUD, a touchscreen, an i-drive thingy and hard buttons for pretty much every essential function.
It’s the slickest and most intuitive car I’ve ever owned in that respect.
Manchester, I haven’t looked too closely at how to make it work, but I guess it’d involve charging somewhere near Chester to give enough range to run around in north Wales for a couple of days, and then charge again round Chester on the way back
There's a public Tesla Supercharger at Flint Mountain and Gridserve have just upgraded Chester Services on the M56 to a 12 charger hub. Couple of Osprey rapids at the Talardy Hotel at St Asaph junction on A55. Some random Fuuse chargers near the A55 as well but I have no idea how reliable they are. Zap-Map or Plugshare are your friends.
No driver screen, and no physical buttons/knobs for things like heating controls etc are a bit of a red line for me.
Why are folk constantly adjusting their HVAC? Surely just set the temperature you want and leave it. With EVs you don't even need the defrost mode if you preheat the car in the morning. Same with mirrors. If the car has profiles then just set the mirrors and steering wheel where you want them and memorise. As for no driver screen. give it a try for a day and of you don't like it fair enough. Volvo claim it takes less time for your eyes to refocus from the road to a central screen than from the road to a conventional dash. Personally I don't have a problem with speed on the central display. Takes about 5 mins to get used to. Going from my Model Y to another car these days is like going from a smartphone to a Blackberry. Yes I get some people still like Blackberries.
Why are folk constantly adjusting their HVAC?
Depends how good it is. The best one I had was in the Prius - worked spot on all the time on auto. The Merc is also great. On the Hyundai it was ok except it turned on full blast for a minute or two when you got in, but then it seemed to favour less colder air to cool the cabin rather than more milder air - with the result that any body part near the vents got unpleasantly cold. In the Leaf, it's alright but in eco mode it decides that if the inside temperature is ok seems to shut off completely, which is very stuffy; and in weather like this it rarely blows enough to de-mist the car so it needs adjustment.
Why are folk constantly adjusting their HVAC?
Probably not that often, but when I do want to adjust it I want to do it without having to go into a menu (also don't want passenger having to go into a many to adjust temperature etc) , plus things like heated seats, rear screen de mist etc are on and off a lot.
My primary issue with using a touchscreen for everything is that you have to look at the screen to know where the virtual button is, where with knobs, dials and switches I can just feel for it.
I generally hate touchscreens in moving vehicles, I find them terrible to use, ideally you have a touchscreen for some operations that works better with a touchscreen (like address input, map scrolling etc) and buttons/switches for things that work better as buttons
I get how touchscreens only (especially a single central screen) makes things cheaper and easier for a manufacturer, but they don't make things easier for me as a driver, they make things worse.
Could I put up with a car that has purely a central touchscreen, yeah of course I could, but if I have a choice I'd probably rather not put up with one. I might actually not mind paying a bit more for a car that doesn't have one.
^^ voice. It's worth learning.
Also, car ownership is an extremely tactile experience and how things feel really matters.
I have a pathological hatred of Vauxhalls because I had to endure the stupid indicator stalks that they used in the late 90’s and 2000’s. They just felt horrible.
All touchscreens feel the same and I feel something is lost from the whole experience as a result.
I do care about user interface, but I care more about ride, handling, refinement and seat comfort more.
Why are folk constantly adjusting their HVAC?
You've never met my OH... same with car audio volume..
Up a bit... down a bit... up a bit... !!!
DrP
matt_outandabout
Apparently the new CEO of VW admitted that the current generation of VW’s was designed by engineers and bean counters ignoring what the customers told them and requested. He’s promised to turn this around and put buttons and simpler controls back in….
They have just released the ID7 which has fixed pretty much none of the issues, all the same crap. But the temp and volume controls are backlit now.
You’ve never met my OH… same with car audio volume..
Up a bit… down a bit… up a bit… !!!
Maybe hiding them all might prevent it?