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Re: warranty.
Maybe dont need main dealer servicing, but Hyundai definitely challenged the service history on one occasion when dealer hadnt updated the digital records. When the service at main dealer is around £60, and I can work in there while waiting and drink their free coffee I dont mind going to them. I'm not sure an independent would be any cheaper, and I doubt they would have the tools for the coolant flushes on the big service (Hyundai had to wait for special kit to do this).
you are not required to have dealer services to sustain a warranty are you? I thought this was established some years ago. If the warranty depends on service history then any valid service is sufficient.
Not quite *any* valid service. Then are some caveats about authorized service centres, competent persons and the use of OE or authorised alternative parts.
In the interests of research, and having a white icy road this morning, i tried it out.
Nice! Just tried mine too, couldn't even get it to lock up or slide, just braked to a stop.
Re. EV servicing. Took my Kia EV6 for its first annual service last month. Sat in a Starbuck’s opposite the garage working while I waited for the car to be serviced. I had a clear view of the dealer’s car park and could see my car.
After about 2 hours they took the car to the workshop. 25 minutes later it was back in the car park and I got the call to say the service had been done. Those 25 minutes included the technician making a video showing me the brakes and underside of the car, a wash and vacuum!
Manufacturers used to make a decent profit on every car they sold and then a fair bit more servicing and repairing those cars. With EVs a lot of manufacturers seem to be struggling to get their costs down to the point where they can make any sort of profit even with the current "EV premium" and helpful tax breaks. So, I can see why they are keen to hang on to as much of that servicing revenue as they can. The problem (for them) is that there really isn't much that needs doing and there is only so much people are going to be willing to pay for a wash, vacuum and visual check.
I think they are relying on the fact that ICE car drivers are used to paying for dealer servicing, at least for the length of the warranty and they hope they wont mind too much paying a similar amount to service their EV (even if very little actually needs to be done). Over time I guess independent service centres will spring up that will do an "EV service" while you wait for a lot less than the main dealer. A bit like the jiffy-lube places that Americans use for their regular oil changes. At that point I can see franchise dealerships disappearing as cars are bought online direct from the manufacturer and serviced at independent centres. But who knows, maybe they'll find a way to carry on.
Re. EV servicing. Took my Kia Ev6 for its annual service a month ago. Dropped it at 8.30am, as requested, and went to work. The Kia app notified me the doors were unlocked at 4.15pm, the bonnet was opened at 4.18pm. I had the phone call at 4.28pm to come and come and collect it. I gave watching the video a miss 🙂
That's funny 🙂 I guess with modern cars that have cameras all over the place and an app that let you view then, you could watch the service being done.
It has long been alleged that dealers make most of their money from servicing and EVs will erode much of that. It's usually Americans saying this so I don't know how much that applies here. But if it's true dealers will have to reduce the discounts they can give.
and adjusting the handbrake
Good luck with that without the computer
Good luck with that without the computer
My point was the handbrake will only need adjusting if it fails the MOT handbrake check.
Thus, I'm doubtful Volvo/Polestar adjust everyone's handbrake EVERY service!
DrP
EDIT - also, it seems, that if present a handbrake issue comes up on the infotainment, so a few prompts to guide towards if an issue is/isn't present.
It has long been alleged that dealers make most of their money from servicing
Not just alleged. Andy Palmer former COO of Nissan and CEO of Aston Martin admitted it on Xitter.
I took my e-Up for service to maintain the warranty. They changed the cabin air filter. Nothing else.
Just wanted to update on my EQA with regards to regen settings, collision prevention settings and all the other settings in the snow/ice.
I have intentionally (Where safe to do so) been a little ham-fisted with lifting off the accelerator when in max regen on slippy roads. It has resulted in zero issues. The car just takes care of it. Absolutely delighted with it so far.
Must say compared to my previous RWD C Class AMG it seems to be a lot better
Thanks @Molgrips
That’s the info I wanted on the Ioniq. I did have a quick look at the Kona and I need to investigate more.
The local Renault garage also does Hyundai, so should manage to get something sorted.
I’ll report back.
Update - not much.
After much debate and considering options we've now sold the battery lease Zoe - I wouldn't trust Arnold Clark to not balls up taking on the lease, so I sold it to someone who bought the battery as part of the deal.
Not settled on anything yet. Was supposed to be test driving a Hyundai Kona and newer Zoe today, but the weather has put paid to that. My head says that the Hynudai is likley to be a better long term buy than the Zoe, but the smaller size and slightly longer range of the Zoe does appeal.
The search continues!
My point was the handbrake will only need adjusting if it fails the MOT handbrake check.
Probably.
My point was the simplest tasks on current cars requires the right laptop to be plugged into it. It's why dealers are always the best bet in the first 5 years.
Oh..I agree on that...
My warranty runs out in about 3 weeks...
I've had a few issues dealt with in the year I've had it:
-new 'ipad' screen - has a crack in it,behind the digitizer, from purchase. (Bought it second hand(. Went straight from purchase to Volvo (well, a week) and they warrantied it.
-faulty parking sensor... Volvo kinda implied it had a stone chip, but swapped it anyway.
-creaking suspension top bearing - seems to be a known issue with a technical journal recall present, so no issues getting that done... Has been agreed..waiting for the parts in the next few days.
This is the newest car I've ever owned (was 3 years old when I got it), but I think all these errors are exactly the kinda thing to appear in the first few years, so not overly fussed.
DrP
Smart already booked in for faulty door handle. Stupid bloody design. Looks funky but is essentially a bit silly. I’m all for keyless entry, but handles like the PS2 were just fine. These things that pop out. Ffs.
Pop out door handles: is there any actual benefit?
In the icy weather last week mine froze and wouldn’t pop out when I unlocked the car.
Took me a while to get the driver door handle out so I could get in the car. Stupid thing then froze in the out position and wouldn’t fold in.
Smart already booked in for faulty door handle.
That's one of the things that is putting me off the Smart. I don't mind flush door handles as long as you can manually operate them. For example, I think the Tesla (and Renault?) door handles are flush but you can pop them out manually if they fail to pop out automatically, which is OK. But having to rely on them to pop out and retract automatically just seems like a problem waiting to happen as soon as it gets cold.
Mind you, I've considered so many EVs over the past few months and every single one of them has something that makes me think "no way, I couldn't live with that", which is why I'm still driving my old ICE car. Hopefully one day soon something major will go wrong with it and I'll be forced to finally choose an EV and just live with its issues 🙂
But having to rely on them to pop out and retract automatically just seems like a problem waiting to happen as soon as it gets cold.
It really hasn't been, you just open the app 5 or 10 mins beforehand and put the heating on or put it in defrost mode. Which if its freezing outside, you'd want to be doing anyway. Door handles have always worked for me
think it’s a bit of a myth that engine braking is better for snow.
Bit late to the game with this one - but yes engine braking is better than foot braking. As each individual cylinder compresses it builds braking torque until it reaches TDC then braking torque ramps down until the next cylinder compresses. It's kinda like 'soft' imperceptible ABS pulses.
And the reason I opened this thread.......
We have a NissanTownstar van at work which apart from it being too small (compared to the Ducato it replaced) has been well received. Question though (which I could probably Google), at what point do the brake lights come on when using regen braking? It has 3 levels with #3 being quite sharp/heavy braking and the default being very mild.
I’d expect it to be linked to the deceleration rate, rather than the regen setting (it is on my car).
There are multiple systems that can request a deceleration (adaptive cruise, collision avoidance, even the driver), with higher regen levels your really just getting more “engine breaking” (in an ICE sense), before having to press the brake pedal. Even when you press the brake pedal, the demanded deceleration may be achieved just by regen breaking, without the foundation brakes (disks and pads) having to get involved. Foundation brakes usually come in as you come to a stop, as they’ll be needed for auto-hold type features.
There may be some variance between different cars depending on how well they’ve tuned the brake blending algorithms.
Pop out door handles: is there any actual benefit?
Aero, that's about it. We've been chasing the next 0,1% of drag reduction since i started in the industry.
The aero stuff you have now on a stock family saloon would have only been found on a very economy focused car (Prius sort of thing) 15-20 years ago. Pop out handles apparently look cool as well, according to the styling guys...
I’d expect it to be linked to the deceleration rate, rather than the regen setting (it is on my car).
It is. 3 years ago, industry guideline was 1.2 m/s2 deceleration for brakelights on with vehicle instructed deceleration. 200ms timer for driver instructed (after detection of pressing the brake pedal). Most manufacturers hit the lights around 1m/s2 for all the auto deceleration systems.
Makes no difference to what braking system is actually used, just the input (pedal/automatic) and the net rate of deceleration.
I think regen braking is better on snow or ice , as is anything else that stops sudden acceleration, deceleration
What car is that @B.A.Nana?
Model3 so ignore me, I've since re-read what you wrote and realised I initially misunderstood the context of what you wrote. So yes the model3 / Y is a manual handle that has some advantage when frozen. TBH They're a love/ hate design, it looks nice having clean lines, but you're forever having to open the doors for people who've never used a Tesla door handle before.
TBH They’re a love/ hate design, it looks nice having clean lines, but you’re forever having to open the doors for people who’ve never used a Tesla door handle before.
About 25 years ago I owned a TVR cerbera , they didnt have door handles at all, just a small button under the wing mirror that when pressed would pop the door open. That confused everyone...
Most manufacturers hit the lights around 1m/s2 for all the auto deceleration systems.
Would our Townstar have a decelerometer? Or is it as simple as setting #1 no brake lights, setting #3 = brake lights.
Its regen braking feels inline with a coasting ICE engined car in setting 1 but setting 3 is like using the discs&pads brakes and is fairly hard braking/regen.
Would our Townstar have a decelerometer?
No idea, it's definitely got a speedo though. It'll just measure rate of change of wheelspeed.
(Some cars do measure using accelerometers though.)
"I’m sure I read many pages back reference to avoiding the Jaguar I Pace. Anyone care to expand why?"
I've just got an I-Pace, one of the very last Jags before they become JaGUar..
A friend of mine had one and it was a nightmare, for the reasons @Julians has covered. I chose mine because I got a great deal on a new one, time will tell whether I've made a massive cock-up, but it's on a 3 year lease so I can get out of it if needed. It's a great car with some very nice features, definately feels special to drive.
Decided on a Hyundai Kona. Will collect it on Saturday. Looking forward to the heated steering wheel, blind spot detectors and adaptive cruise; all things that my e-Tron doesn't have.
Good choice. What battery? I don't use my heated steering wheel but the other features are gold. Assuming your adaptive cruise is the same as mine, it does full start/stop traffic crawling, which is the best feature this side of self driving.
Agreed on adaptive cruise in stop/start traffic, couldn't do without it now. In fact, that plus general smoothness and quietness of EV driving make it a completely calmer and much more relaxing experience.
Quick comment on first big negative tick against ID.Buzz - the stupid R21 Grand Prix car width tyres in 104/108 load rating for the heavy beast have zero All-Season tire options. Maybe one full winter that I can find, but that is disappointing. Summer tires and back up socks it is.
101/105 yes, but given how heavy the buzz is, especially if loaded up for a big trip, I am not keen on playing with tyres with a lighter load rating.
Yeah I am not a fan at all of big wheels. You might get lucky looking for used VAG wheels with the right offset in a more sensible size.
Quick comment on first big negative tick against ID.Buzz – the stupid R21 Grand Prix car width tyres in 104/108 load rating for the heavy beast have zero All-Season tire options. Maybe one full winter that I can find, but that is disappointing. Summer tires and back up socks it is.
Can't even find many full winters in those sizes and load ratings (3 for the fronts and 2 for the rears), and no all seasons at all.
Might be time for some winter wheels...
500 mile round trip to do on Friday (Coming back early saturday).
Googled Tesla charging points on route. Found 1 in stoke. Sent location to car. Job jobbed. I reckon a 30 min charge on the way there and a 30 min charge on way back and i will be golden. Total cost about £40 for the entire journey.
In fact, that plus general smoothness and quietness of EV driving make it a completely calmer and much more relaxing experience.
So today I had my first go in an EV and the big takeway from it was that it was just such a calm experience!
That and just how cheap it is to run 🙂
Did around 50 miles on all sorts of roads (motorway, A and little country roads) and it averaged out at 36kWh/100 miles apparently...... and it was in a car that's not exactly supposed to focus on economy!
Getting back into MrsSB's Boxster was quite a shock! I now get most of the stuff about EV's - it's not perfect for me as I can carry more in my current car and the other one doesn't allow towing, but it definitely ticks most of the boxes.
Very interesting.
Yeah I am not a fan at all of big wheels
Nor am I. The tyre options for the original BMW i3 weren't great and around £250 each, so that put me off the i3.
Googled Tesla charging points on route. Found 1 in stoke
I used the Trentham gardens Tesla chargers a few months ago. Busy at the weekend when I called in.
Any thoughts on the likely outcomes of the reported "fast track" consolation on EV sales?
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98dzyy850jo
I'm hoping for some strong incentives for private buyers but expecting it'll end up as a way for manufacturers to fudge the figures so they get appeased while the government doesn't have to back down on its targets.
Thanks for the headsup retrorick. I will be turning up at some quite unsociable hours so i am hoping that might not apply to me. Fingers crossed
FWIW on Hyundai Ioniq 5s and maybe 6s there is a factory option for 18" wheels rather than 20s, but it's not advertised because 20 is standard. The wheels are also available from dealers after market but they aren't cheap. They are aero though apparently which would be a bit more efficient than the usual aftermarket boy racer nonsense.
What sort of efficiency gain might you expect on smaller wheels?
Is this because they are just more aero?