I test drove a Vauxhall Ampera at the weekend...
Discussion
Warning: If your standard response to any thread is "stick a V8 in it" you might find this thread boring.
It might have gone under many Pistonheadder's radars, but a small car show called Ecovelocity took place at Battersea at the weekend. Much as I hate the words "Eco", "green" and "environmentally friendly" when talking about cars*, I needed to go to the show for a meeting, and took the opportunity to play with a few of the cars on show. Unusually for a motorshow, you could test-drive almost anything on display around a perimeter track that represented a city-driving course.
I was initially extremely surprised to see a Vauxhall Ampera there at all, since it's not due for release until April 2012, and even more surprised that members of the public were being allowed to actually drive one. So fascination got the better of me, and I signed up for a go.
What I ended up driving was a pre-production car that used the final drive-train and chassis, but had a electrics from the Chevrolet Volt and interior trim that wasn't finished. However, it gave a great impression of what the car was about.
I drove the car entirely on electric-power at first, and was encouraged to stab the accelerator to feel how quickly it could accelerate. I'm pleased to report that it surged forward like a 2-litre turbo diesel, but with no need to change gear it felt like it had much more to go before I had to brake for the corner. On the subject of braking, the first few mm of pedal travel activates the KERS, and feels just like engine braking with a degree of driver modulation. Very pleasant.
I wasn't really able to test the handling properly on the short track, but it felt very comfy and refined on the rough surface. Very limo-like, but not exactly sporty.
The electric range remaining was stated as being 7 miles on the dash, and the guy who was in the car with me said that they could run the car at the show all day without ever starting the petrol-engine. But he manually over-rode it so I could experience the engine cutting in anyway. It was a waste of time... you couldn't see, hear, or feel any difference at all, which is I guess is the point!
All in all, it was very impressive, and a fantastic novelty that I think will be VERY popular when it is launched next year. It even looks pretty good.
Also at the show was the Honda Clarity fuel cell car, which I took a look underneath because I had been wondering since it was first announced what a fuel-cell car exhaust looks like (the same as any other exhaust as it turns out). The Hyundai fuel cell car, which was offering passenger rides, a few electric race cars, the Nissan Leaf, a strange but fun 3-seat van called a Mia, and lots of other geek-tastic cars. Not exactly a monster show, but plenty to see if you are able to ask the right questions, and also great to be able to test-drive so much stuff in one go.
*Not because I don't think it's a good thing, but mainly because they are terms dropped in for marketing/PR value, and often detract from the true benefits of using less petrol.
It might have gone under many Pistonheadder's radars, but a small car show called Ecovelocity took place at Battersea at the weekend. Much as I hate the words "Eco", "green" and "environmentally friendly" when talking about cars*, I needed to go to the show for a meeting, and took the opportunity to play with a few of the cars on show. Unusually for a motorshow, you could test-drive almost anything on display around a perimeter track that represented a city-driving course.
I was initially extremely surprised to see a Vauxhall Ampera there at all, since it's not due for release until April 2012, and even more surprised that members of the public were being allowed to actually drive one. So fascination got the better of me, and I signed up for a go.
What I ended up driving was a pre-production car that used the final drive-train and chassis, but had a electrics from the Chevrolet Volt and interior trim that wasn't finished. However, it gave a great impression of what the car was about.
I drove the car entirely on electric-power at first, and was encouraged to stab the accelerator to feel how quickly it could accelerate. I'm pleased to report that it surged forward like a 2-litre turbo diesel, but with no need to change gear it felt like it had much more to go before I had to brake for the corner. On the subject of braking, the first few mm of pedal travel activates the KERS, and feels just like engine braking with a degree of driver modulation. Very pleasant.
I wasn't really able to test the handling properly on the short track, but it felt very comfy and refined on the rough surface. Very limo-like, but not exactly sporty.
The electric range remaining was stated as being 7 miles on the dash, and the guy who was in the car with me said that they could run the car at the show all day without ever starting the petrol-engine. But he manually over-rode it so I could experience the engine cutting in anyway. It was a waste of time... you couldn't see, hear, or feel any difference at all, which is I guess is the point!
All in all, it was very impressive, and a fantastic novelty that I think will be VERY popular when it is launched next year. It even looks pretty good.
Also at the show was the Honda Clarity fuel cell car, which I took a look underneath because I had been wondering since it was first announced what a fuel-cell car exhaust looks like (the same as any other exhaust as it turns out). The Hyundai fuel cell car, which was offering passenger rides, a few electric race cars, the Nissan Leaf, a strange but fun 3-seat van called a Mia, and lots of other geek-tastic cars. Not exactly a monster show, but plenty to see if you are able to ask the right questions, and also great to be able to test-drive so much stuff in one go.
*Not because I don't think it's a good thing, but mainly because they are terms dropped in for marketing/PR value, and often detract from the true benefits of using less petrol.
Stick a V8 in it!
Now that's out of the way..
Interesting stuff, it's quite nice to know that even in what is quite an early pre-prod car, the system can operate seamlessly enough for someone to "not notice" - especially someone switched-on to exactly what problems it might present, such as the engine braking/KERS smoothness and so on. Sounds like they're doing quite an impressive job with making them function as cars, properly, rather than being over-committed only-good-for-economy-figures crap that hides behind the excuse of "it has to be like that to be eco-friendly".
I like
Now that's out of the way..
Interesting stuff, it's quite nice to know that even in what is quite an early pre-prod car, the system can operate seamlessly enough for someone to "not notice" - especially someone switched-on to exactly what problems it might present, such as the engine braking/KERS smoothness and so on. Sounds like they're doing quite an impressive job with making them function as cars, properly, rather than being over-committed only-good-for-economy-figures crap that hides behind the excuse of "it has to be like that to be eco-friendly".
I like
Edited by McSam on Monday 12th September 10:28
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