Vauxhall Ampera

[rallycross]

There is a white one of these Ampera's that parks near my office and have to say ita good looking car.
Anyone driven one how well do they drive?
Is the Vauxhall one just a re-badge of the Chevy Volt or is it more eurpoean than just a name change?

[anonymous-user]

The hybrid bits are good (specifically the electric motors and transmission, seamless, decent performance even from rest etc)

The rest of the car, er, a lot less good. Woolly steering, wobbly handling, interior made out of left over yogurt pot plastics, and it's only a 4 seater (although the boot is a decent size)

[RumpleFugly]

I drove one (A Chevy Volt) for about a year when I was working in the US back in 2012. I really enjoyed it to be honest. Yes, dynamically it wasn't anything special and the interior felt a bit low rent compared to European cars but I really got attached to the little thing.

It would skip comfortably down the interstate, and I loved zipping silently round town. I just wished it had a little more battery in reserve as it drained all too quickly.

[Carparticus]

rallycross said:

There is a white one of these Ampera's that parks near my office and have to say ita good looking car.
Anyone driven one how well do they drive?
Is the Vauxhall one just a re-badge of the Chevy Volt or is it more eurpoean than just a name change?

A colleague commutes 40 miles daily in an Ampera, entirely in EV mode.

He reckons the car runs in EV mode 95+% of the time, and the ICE engine kicks in once or twice a month. In ICE mode it will extend his drive to a genuine 250/300 miles before needing more petrol. He fills it up once every couple of months !!

In 'sport mode' its fairly brisk at 0-60 in about 8 seconds.

I've driven it a fair few times and quite like it. Interior is ok for a £20k car (2nd hand) and he has loads of Vauxhall leather in it. Dash a bit plastically but nice futuristic mix of screens and buttons. Back seats strictly for 2 people due to hump in middle, and not much good if you're over 5ft 10 or so.

It looks better in the metal than photos, and for some reason reminds of something out of the original Robocop film.


Good review :-

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/vauxhall/amper...

[amstrange1]

They're a bit noisy in the back too, but in general I was quite impressed with the one we had at work. Didn't like the interior, but ours was a US-spec imported Volt, and the Vauxhalls look a bit better inside.

[Vince70]

I know nothing about the Ampera but from the reviews it sounds a fantastic car..
I just wonder if someone can tell me if there is any fundamental difference in the technology in the Ampera and I3 BMW.

It's just it seems that there was a great big fanfare when the launch of the I3 came about that the future was now here and although the Ampera was released first and got good reviews no one seems to know anything about the car..

Is it just a case of better marketing from BMW and badge snobbery that seems to of made the I3 the EV of choice or is there more to it..

[Carparticus]

Vince70 said:

I know nothing about the Ampera but from the reviews it sounds a fantastic car..

I guess its down to the fact that the UK is unique in generally hating EV's and hybrids, possibly partly related to the antics on a certain motoring program. There's only about 3,000 EVs on UK roads at present (or thereabouts) VS 30+ million ICE vehicles.

Vince70 said:

It's just it seems that there was a great big fanfare when the launch of the I3 came about that the future was now here and although the Ampera was released first and got good reviews no one seems to know anything about the car..

The local Vauxhall dealer hadn't got a clue what an Ampera was when I initially walked into the showroom, albeit back in 2011. I wasn't sure they'd know how to service one other than giving it to new boy kevin, who'd whack it with an hammer or sumthin . . A colleague owns one and it goes to a regional trained up centre, but its only needed one service in 20k miles.

Vince70 said:

Is it just a case of better marketing from BMW and badge snobbery that seems to of made the I3 the EV of choice or is there more to it..

My GF went off to test drive an i3 last week and loved it overall, but wasn't too keen on all the lightweight 'eggbox type' composite panels, as she put it. The general salesmans pitch was "We're big boy BMW and we invented EVs and no one can come close to our world class technology" which was kinda grating after 20 minutes. Its as if they cant bring themselves to acknowledge Tesla exist and are years ahead of them in many ways.

The forthcoming i8 looks absolutely stunning .. but I'm not sure how its going to be perceived since its an ICE Hybrid with a 20 mile EV mode (whats the point!), 0-60 in 4.4s, seats 2, and costs well over £100k specced up!!


The next few years of EVolution will be interesting to watch !

[anonymous-user]

TBH, i don't think you can compare the i3 and the Ampera. The i3 is a ground up design for really what is a pure EV, although, yes there is a range extender version, but really they are ultralow loss (low drag, low rolling resistance etc) cars. The Ampera is really just an Astra with an petrol electric powertrain. Yes, it makes some concessions to lower drag, but not to the same level as the i3

[Vince70]

Thanks for the informative reply..
It's just I don't know a thing about EV vehicles but it really does look like in the near future we will all be driving them..

Edited by Vince70 on Monday 24th February 22:11

[AER]

Chris Harris didn't get it sideways, but he gave it a pretty good rap here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-Hl0AUxtDw

[mids]

Vince70 said:

I just wonder if someone can tell me if there is any fundamental difference in the technology in the Ampera and I3 BMW.

I seem to remember that Max Torque has carried out a strip-down engineering appraisal of the Ampera for a competitor so probably not much more to add to his comments.

For the i3, if you google for production videos there is some good footage from the factory at Leipzig which shows how the car is assembled. It's pretty high tech stuff for a mass produced car. They start by assembling the battery pack to an aluminium/magnesium chassis to make a skateboard like this. They then manufacture a CFRP passenger cell and bond the two together like this.

The big benefit is obviously weight saving. The i3 REx weighs in at 1315kg compared to 1732kg for the Ampera. A quick test drive of the two of them should show you the main benefits of that but the other big difference is the electric/petrol range. The i3 has a lot more electric range, maybe 70 miles for the i3 compared to 35 for the Ampera (although these numbers vary a lot depending on how you drive) but the Ampera has a lot more range when driving on petrol (310 total range for the Ampera compared to about 150 for the i3).

If your typical daily driving is within the electric range of the Ampera then it's definitely a more flexible car than the i3 REx but it also comes down to how much you value 'dynamics'.

[JonnyVTEC]

Wonder how the frontal areas compare as the Ampera is the car with the lower drag coefficient!

[purpleperil]

We've had two Ampera for nearly a year now and covered around 35k miles between them. One of them does a 60 mile commute and as we have charging at work, then this is done wholly in EV mode. There wasn't anything comparable available to buy when we were looking so choice was limited but I don't regret it as they've been really good workhorses.

With leather seating and full air con they're a comfortable drive and easily cope with a 300 mile round trip to see a client.

Their biggest let down has been in the marketing and this is where BMW have done a much better job - albeit a visit to one of their dealers was a big let down - I'm sure BMW think their car will sell itself once the punter has seen it.

In answer to the OP's original question though - the Ampera is just a rebadged Volt and I believe it's the only one you'll be able to buy in the UK soon as Chevy is due to withdraw from our market.

[Amateurish]

Model knowledge at the dealer I visited was pretty rubbish. I booked a test drive for an Ampera, and when I turned up was presented with an Antara! The dealer knew nothing about the Ampera.

I had an Ampera for a month, and was very happy with it. Spec wise, it is very well equipped. It drove nicely, and with a decent turn of speed. The EV tech was very impressive, and I could manage 40 miles on pure EV. Fit and finish were pretty Vauxhall-like i.e. poor. It has a big advantage over the i3 of a decent size fuel tank, and bigger engine. So you could, if you so chose, drive it like a normal petrol engined car over long distances. It could also run directly off the petrol engine, which has the added benefit of being able to heat the cabin using excess heat from the engine, something not possible on the i3. So on a winter's drive you could start using the engine, drive a few miles to get everything up to temperature, then turn on EV mode. Ground clearance is miniscule, so you are constantly grounding out.

I've only driven the i3 for about an hour, but it is quite a different experience. Visibility is massively better than the Ampera, and interior space seemed pretty similar. The tech on the i3 seemed better integrated all round, and EV range is at least double. The i3 handling and ride is much better.

[AmitG]

Question, does the Ampera make any sense if you don't have the facility to plug it in for recharging? Is it still economical or is it just not worth it?

[Amateurish]

Not worth it. It's isn't that economical (I think I used to get about 40mpg) and you could get a better ICE car for less.

[crisisjez]

Vauxhall have a car park full of unsold Amperas, like the VXR8 eventually they'll be sod at a knock down price if you bide your time.