Ampera, talk to me.

[conanius]

Hi everyone,

Really interested in one of these.

I've seen online people saying you must buy a 2014 car and ensure the build date is 2014, not an early car, something to do with a battery revision.

However, all I can find is that the batteries went up .5kw.

Does anyone have more detail on this ?

[E31Shrew]

I read that somewhere too but couldn't justify the extra cost for a later model.

I get around 40 miles per charge on a 12 plate but it had only done 28000 when purchased a couple of months ago. So far so good!

[conanius]

Thanks.

Stupid questions continue:

Does the warranty (8 year/100k battery and voltec drivetrain & 10 year/100k rest of car) auto transfer or do I need to tell Vauxhall.

Also interested to hear people's stories about servicing. It appears the Swindon Vauxhall garage is my nearest that will service it.

[Ste1987]

I'm currently toying with the idea of getting one of these. I'm seeing a few with nearly 100k on the clock, any idea what they're like at this kind of mileage? Also, my daily commute is over 70 miles a day, mostly motorway, what would the fuel economy be like? I'm currently running a 1.0l Peugeot 208 at between 50 and 55mpg, would I notice a major difference with an Ampera? Finally, would the ICE charge up the battery or would I have to plug it in to get the full benefit?

[Bonefish Blues]

You have to charge as they are relatively uneconomical when self-generating. Both ends of your commute would see you maximising efficiency.

[E31Shrew]

Ste1987 said:

I'm currently toying with the idea of getting one of these. I'm seeing a few with nearly 100k on the clock, any idea what they're like at this kind of mileage? Also, my daily commute is over 70 miles a day, mostly motorway, what would the fuel economy be like? I'm currently running a 1.0l Peugeot 208 at between 50 and 55mpg, would I notice a major difference with an Ampera? Finally, would the ICE charge up the battery or would I have to plug it in to get the full benefit?

At full charge, in this weather , I'm lucky to get over 30 miles. The previous owner used it pretty well all the time on battery so perhaps they're not holding as much charge as they should be? On Tuesday it showed 26 miles when I left home and after 5 miles this had slumped to 15. It was incredibly cold though and seats, rear window and front defrost were all running.
I average between 45 - 50 mpg on petrol only.
Two faults that seem to be quite common, and worth bearing in mind. The steering service light can come on. It leaves you unable to take out of park, unable to turn the 'ignition' off so you'll need to be lifted to a local Ampera dealer, which are few and far between. It happened to me.
Secondly there was a recall on the tailgate gas struts, but it is a lifetime one so can be carried out at any time. Basically the struts don't support the tailgate and when it hits the back of your bounce, it hurts!
All in all I'm really happy with the car.
By the way the petrol engine doesn't charge the battery. It just generates electricity to the drive set up. The regenerative braking doesn't particularly do a great deal either., but at slow speeds, even with the battery on empty, it does drive on electricity alone.
You can also switch over manually from ICE to electric, to use the latter say in towns.
A friend at work has an i3 Rex and to be honest, in day to day use, the Ampera wins hands down. Total range with a full tank and fully charged is in excess of 350 miles whereas her i3 struggles to do over 150. Plus it was £20k cheaper

Worth looking on speakev.com for a lentil, beardy point of view

[Evanivitch]

Just bought a 2014 Ampera. 500 miles in 3 days and only 2 charges (but a few fill ups). Still think it's brilliant!

I get 45MPG on just petrol on a motorway run, which I think is reasonable in something that is inevitably out of it's comfort zone at that point. Just did 40 miles on a charge too, not bad when it predicts 30 at the start.

[Evanivitch]

5,000 miles in 2 months, car has been a dream!

Really can't recommend these enough for someone looking for a PHEV on a budget. Better range than many PHEV on the market and certainly not a slouch.

[Otispunkmeyer]

They are tempting I must say. Would be ideal for my current commute as it's maybe 16-20 miles total (round trip)

But that might be changing to 66 miles round trip. So might do me full electric in the summer (and I can charge at either end by the looks of it).

Still, they don't seem that cheap. Plenty on AT for mid teens money and I'm not sure they're worth that much.

I actually like the volt better in terms of looks. But there are very few if any for sale. I think they have different settings as well? Volt doesn't have hold mode? And possibly a different ICE?

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Saturday 15th July 23:06

[Evanivitch]

Otispunkmeyer said:

They are tempting I must say. Would be ideal for my current commute as it's maybe 16-20 miles total (round trip)

But that might be changing to 66 miles round trip. So might do me full electric in the summer (and I can charge at either end by the looks of it).

Still, they don't seem that cheap. Plenty on AT for mid teens money and I'm not sure they're worth that much.

I actually like the volt better in terms of looks. But there are very few if any for sale. I think they have different settings as well? Volt doesn't have hold mode? And possibly a different ICE?

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Saturday 15th July 23:06

Keep an eye on AT and the CarShop cars that come up. Usually around the £12k mark, ex lease.

Volt has same as Ampera. Cars have different modes depending on year of manufacture (not always correlating to year of registration). Check SpeakEV forums for full background. ICE is the same in all, later models have slightly larger battery capacity available.

You won't do 66 miles in EV, 30-40 generally, maybe 50 at a push.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Evanivitch said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

They are tempting I must say. Would be ideal for my current commute as it's maybe 16-20 miles total (round trip)

But that might be changing to 66 miles round trip. So might do me full electric in the summer (and I can charge at either end by the looks of it).

Still, they don't seem that cheap. Plenty on AT for mid teens money and I'm not sure they're worth that much.

I actually like the volt better in terms of looks. But there are very few if any for sale. I think they have different settings as well? Volt doesn't have hold mode? And possibly a different ICE?

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Saturday 15th July 23:06

Keep an eye on AT and the CarShop cars that come up. Usually around the £12k mark, ex lease.

Volt has same as Ampera. Cars have different modes depending on year of manufacture (not always correlating to year of registration). Check SpeakEV forums for full background. ICE is the same in all, later models have slightly larger battery capacity available.

You won't do 66 miles in EV, 30-40 generally, maybe 50 at a push.

Yes I know it won't do 66, hence charge at both ends , so it should do a trip there just about in summer, charge at work and then back. Perhaps a few miles on ICE for the rest of the time... Seen some graphs, sub 30 miles average at zero degrees and the engine comes on regardless (intermittently) below -4 degrees.

Leaves the option to use it as a more normal car...ie long trips if we need to. So I guess still worth a look in.

Mid 40's mpg with the ice on is manageable too.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Sunday 16th July 00:16

[manracer]

I'm seriously considering one of these, but as a put me on until my model 3 arrives late next year. I just want something that will depreciate minimally, and I'm not sure how this car would fare with me adding 25k to it.

[Otispunkmeyer]

manracer said:

I'm seriously considering one of these, but as a put me on until my model 3 arrives late next year. I just want something that will depreciate minimally, and I'm not sure how this car would fare with me adding 25k to it.

In terms of depreciation I have no idea...

But, mechanically, according to my research it shouldn't even blink at another 25k miles. Take a look at Voltstats.net there folk on there with astronomical mileages on these things and they're still going strong. For the most part GM have engineered this car very well and their conservative stance with the battery; 10.5 kWh usable out of 16.5 kWh (so only ever being used between 80-20%), the slow 3.3kW charging and proper thermal management system means the battery is kept right in the longevity sweetspot.

I am currently looking at an EV or PHEV/REEV and I keep coming back to the Ampera/Volt. It just seem to tick all the boxes.

[Evanivitch]

manracer said:

I'm seriously considering one of these, but as a put me on until my model 3 arrives late next year. I just want something that will depreciate minimally, and I'm not sure how this car would fare with me adding 25k to it.

Mechanically they're pretty robust. As cars start to approach the 100,000 mile mark and the EV warranty expires that tends to be when prices drop the most.

I plan to smash through 100,000 and hopefully onto 150,000 by the time I consider moving away from it. Hopefully even then it will remain in the household.