AndyC's car guide...

[bluejohn66]

Check out the Hyundai Ioniq mate, for the price it's a very, very good specification and a nice drive. Two of my mates have bought them and rave about them.

Drove an ioniq this week, really impressed with it's handling and all round performance. Comes with a cabin packed full of gadgets, much nicer place to be than the Prius.

 

[AndyC]

Drove an ioniq this week, really impressed with it's handling and all round performance. Comes with a cabin packed full of gadgets, much nicer place to be than the Prius.

I agree.
The Prius is getting a bit long in the tooth now, Hyundai have done a great job with the Ioniq.

 

[AndyC]

Especially for @Simon Buttle...

After a couple of days of driving nothing too spectacular, today saw an hours blast across the M62 in a 21-plate Mercedes-Benz C63S AMG and I think y'all will agree, in Everton blue, it's a stunning looking car.

With a 4-litre V8 twin turbocharged engine under the bonnet, the C63S has more than enough horses to play with in terms of tearing rubber off the rear wheel drive tyres - should you be that way inclined, and you seriously do not need to use the performance option. But if you do, prepare to be pinned to the seat as the acceleration is damned impressive.

The car is a coupe however, it's big enough for four adults proving the two in the front seats don't send the electric seats as far back as they will go.
The nine-speed automatic gearbox is superbly matched to the engine and offers a very smooth and seamless transfer of power to the drive axle.
Steering and brakes are the usual exemplary Mercedes standard and my only reservation would be the suspension feels a little hard, but that can most likely be attributed to the low profile Michelin tyres on the car.

Interior trim was plush, cloth seating in grey with silver striping and very comfortable, reducing the effect of the hard feeling of the suspension. For a coupe, the boot is quite large, big enough for a couple suitcases and overnight bags.
Externally, the car looks great in blue. For me, too many people spec cars of this ilk in metallic grey or silver when a brighter colour really sets it off, especially in the sunshine we're currently enjoying (in the UK)

Fuel consumption obviously given the engine and performance it affords the car leaves a little to be desired. Around town and in stop-start traffic, the C63S returns around 20mpg but once on the open road/motorway, and providing you're not crushing the throttle pedal into the floorpan, 35+mpg can be quite easily attained.

It's an expensive piece of kit the C63S AMG model at a new starting price of £85,000 and upwards, so it's probably a lottery win for most of us.

My marks out of ten...
Comfort 7
Fuel Economy 5
Performance 8
Reliability 8
Practicality 6.5

 

[peteblue]

How would you rate its cyclist killing capabilities?

Not a patch on the RRS, both on or off road.....you can go proper mountain biking or wade through a river and we can still get you...

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Not a patch on the RRS, both on or off road.....you can go proper mountain biking or wade through a river and we can still get you...

Finishing your birthday off with a thud and a scrape

 

[AndyC]

One review today on two almost identical cars, one white, one black - both brand spanking new BMW 320i

Had the pleasure of driving both these cars today, one into London and the second back from London to Warrington, so a mix of in-traffic and motorway driving, and let me begin by saying I found the 320i to be a nicer car to drive than the 420i reviewed earlier in the thread.

Both cars were petrol engined and both drove superbly. Quick off the mark, the cars have more than acceptable performance for what is intrinsically a family saloon car.
Steering is superb, absolutely no over or understeer was experienced when cornering quite hard on a couple of pig-tail motorway slip roads, and not as light as on the 420i.
The suspension felt nicer too than the slightly harsh feel of the 420i.
Brakes are excellent and shod with Pirelli from the factory, the tyres are well suited to the car giving it a very secure feeling on the road.

For connectivity, BMW have been clever in proving a USB port in the front of the centre console, and a a USC port under the centre armrest.

The seating (manual adjustment for legroom) was however comfier and the interior finish of these two brand new cars was also superior to that of the 420i making the whole package feel much more acceptable - if I were looking to buy a BMW and had choose between the two, I'd definitely choose the 320i.

Fuel consumption was excellent as you'll see from Picture 6 - averaging 53+mpg driving at everso slightly over the legal motorway limit.

Was there anything I didn't like, well yes. The car defaults to Comfort driving mode - see Picture 4 and you'll see the SPORT/COMFORT/ECO Pro buttons - and I guess this is how the BMW engineers see most people opting to drive, in Comfort mode. My tiny gripe is that after selecting ECO Pro (or SPORT), if you stop and turn off the engine, when you restart, it defaults to Comfort again and you have to remember to re-select ECO Pro (or SPORT). Not a massive issue, just something to note.

The other thing I thought I'd mention is the Lane Assist. Now most new cars have this option whereby if you stray over the white lines, you get a bit of a judder through the steering wheel to alert you to wandering. On both these 320i cars I drove today, the steering wheel judder certainly wasn't gentle, it was quite harsh, and there's an audible beeping too. Again, not an issue if you're paying attention to your driving and you would need to be practically comatose for it to not to bring you to your senses if driving when tired or at night.

Given I've said I've never previously been a fan of BMW, the 320i definitely impressed me. It's well built, has excellent performance, would suit a family, would be perfect for long journeys and if you're in the market for that kind of a car (starts at around £44,000), it's well worth a look.

My marks out of ten...
Comfort 8
Fuel Economy 8
Performance 8
Reliability 8
Practicality 8

 

[AndyC]

Hot on the heels of the Mercedes Benz GLE300d review on Page 7, and especially for @SerenityNigh and any others interested in a view on a hybrid, today’s review is of a brand new Mercedes Benz GLE350de 4matic

Now to all intents and purposes, this car is almost identical to the GLE300d previously reviewed, the car is big, comfortable, extremely well-appointed internally and a pleasure to drive. The real surprise given the badging of 350 – many might think it’s a 3.5 litre engine under the bonnet – is it’s actually only a two-litre... where it differs is that this car is one of the plug-in hybrids from the Stuttgart giant.

So this review majors on the hybrid element of the car. The Mercedes-Benz official website suggests the electric motors and battery pack are good for approx 66 miles which I personally find rather disappointing for a car that has a price tag of £63,000 or more depending upon the final specification.

In reality, on a full charge, the car is good for about 45 miles and the electric system kicks in from pressing the start button up to about 10mph when the diesel engine takes over, so the electric is really only of any use in urban, stop/start driving, certainly not for a long journey.

The time required for home charging for electric or plug-in hybrid cars varies on what system is employed. The cheapest/lowest/slowest level is using the three-pin cable, then there’s usually a second stage charging cable and then there’s the various supercharger stations on all/most motorway service areas and increasingly available in all major cities/towns.

The MB website suggests a charging time of just three hours and this might well be correct… if using a supercharger and not plugging in at home on the three-pin plug cable provided. Using the (slow) 3-pin plug cable charges at roughly one to two miles an hour of charge, maybe getting 15 miles of charge overnight. To get a full charge in three hours, you would definitely need to use a supercharger.

Whilst driving, the hybrid battery cells – located under the boot floor, so no room for a spare wheel - do get some recharge under braking and decelerating, and a tiny drip-feed of charge whilst driving… and it really is a tiny amount. On a run from Warrington to Glasgow, the car gave itself just three miles of electric charge and as soon as you hit slower, urban traffic, those three miles of electric are very quickly used.

The conventional diesel element performs exactly how you would expect an expensive Mercedes to perform. The 9-speed automatic gearbox is ideally suited to the 2-litre engine and provides acceptable mpg figures of 42+ for a car of this size and weight – the hybrid battery cells don’t come light – so let me stress again, this is only my opinion but, for the price tag the car commands I honestly expected a lot more from the hybrid element of it.

My marks out of ten…​

Comfort 8
Fuel Economy 6.5 due to the weight of the battery cells
Performance 8
Reliability 9
Practicality 8 the hybrid element would reduce this to 6.5/7

 

[Chewbacca]

Hope you get to drive a Polestar 2. I’m seriously thinking of getting one as my next car.

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

Especially for @Simon Buttle...

After a couple of days of driving nothing too spectacular, today saw an hours blast across the M62 in a 21-plate Mercedes-Benz C63S AMG and I think y'all will agree, in Everton blue, it's a stunning looking car.

With a 4-litre V8 twin turbocharged engine under the bonnet, the C63S has more than enough horses to play with in terms of tearing rubber off the rear wheel drive tyres - should you be that way inclined, and you seriously do not need to use the performance option. But if you do, prepare to be pinned to the seat as the acceleration is damned impressive.

The car is a coupe however, it's big enough for four adults proving the two in the front seats don't send the electric seats as far back as they will go.
The nine-speed automatic gearbox is superbly matched to the engine and offers a very smooth and seamless transfer of power to the drive axle.
Steering and brakes are the usual exemplary Mercedes standard and my only reservation would be the suspension feels a little hard, but that can most likely be attributed to the low profile Michelin tyres on the car.

Interior trim was plush, cloth seating in grey with silver striping and very comfortable, reducing the effect of the hard feeling of the suspension. For a coupe, the boot is quite large, big enough for a couple suitcases and overnight bags.
Externally, the car looks great in blue. For me, too many people spec cars of this ilk in metallic grey or silver when a brighter colour really sets it off, especially in the sunshine we're currently enjoying (in the UK)

Fuel consumption obviously given the engine and performance it affords the car leaves a little to be desired. Around town and in stop-start traffic, the C63S returns around 20mpg but once on the open road/motorway, and providing you're not crushing the throttle pedal into the floorpan, 35+mpg can be quite easily attained.

It's an expensive piece of kit the C63S AMG model at a new starting price of £85,000 and upwards, so it's probably a lottery win for most of us.

My marks out of ten...
Comfort 7
Fuel Economy 5
Performance 8
Reliability 8
Practicality 6.5

AMG GT-R in that colour...now you're talking.

 

[SerenityNigh]

Hot on the heels of the Mercedes Benz GLE300d review on Page 7, and especially for @SerenityNigh and any others interested in a view on a hybrid, today’s review is of a brand new Mercedes Benz GLE350de 4matic​

Ta, if we end up with a hybrid Sienna I'll give it a good review as well.

 

[AndyC]

Hope you get to drive a Polestar 2. I’m seriously thinking of getting one as my next car.

I would like to try one too but, the company I work for are currently using only Tesla and Porsche Taycan for full electric.
I’ve not driven the Taycan (yet) as the guvnor is hogging it

 

[nsno-chris]

Andy, I’ll give ye a one’r if you can make one of these cars “disappear” my way

 

[AndyC]

Andy, I’ll give ye a one’r if you can make one of these cars “disappear” my way

One of the girls in the office has a 57-plate Astra she’d like to disappear

 

[AndyC]

@Chewbacca might be interested in today's brief review - Audi E-Tron

Up front, let me say I only got to drive this car for about 15 minutes today so not really enough (yet) to offer a full opinion. Much of what follows are comments from a colleague who's driven it the most, over 300 miles.
Obviously, the E-Tron is the very latest model from Audi and being full electric is aimed at competing with the Tesla Model X and in this respect it doesn't match up to the Tesla... I've added a photo of a Tesla X purely for visual comparison, I'll get to a full review of the Model X soon.

Good points of the E-Tron are to be expected... it's German so build quality and the interior finish is excellent. The car drives very, very smoothly as do Tesla models thanks to the power from the battery cells going straight to drive. Acceleration is good, not as brisk as the Tesla on the short drive I had it but, certainly more than acceptable, brakes and suspension seemed excellent too.

One thing I did note that you don't get with the Tesla is a slight, certainly not annoying, whine of the electric power unit under both acceleration and braking. It's not obtrusive in any way but, it is there and in stop-start driving conditions, some might find it irritating.

The most noticeable new innovation from Audi are the exterior mirrors which are cameras mounted on stalks with the visual display on the interior door panel, so instead of looking at the mirror, you have to look slightly downwards at the door panel - see photograph 3.

As to the range of the electrics and Audi declare a range of 200-220 miles depending upon conditions - driving in rain at night will use more electric than driving in dry, daylight for obvious reasons. My colleague however advised that on the cars first full charge, he only achieved 170 miles before needing to hook the car up to a Type 2 charging point, so not as impressive a range as the Tesla X that will certainly achieve 280-300 miles on a full charge.
He advised that the T2 charge rate would need approx 10 hours (overnight) to fully recharge and on a standard 3-pin plug cable, a full charge would need 36-40 hours for a full charge.

The quickest charge would be at a 150kw Supercharger (Not a Tesla Supercharger!!) point becoming ever more common on the motorway services and from 25% full to a full recharge, my colleague guesstimated at least an hour.

The E-Tron comes with a significant price tag of £80,000+ depending upon specification and for me, with a lower range than the Tesla, people converting to all-electric and with deep enough pockets will likely choose the Tesla over the Audi. The E-Tron is a really nice drive but, range and recharge rates are all-important for electric car buyers/users.

As soon as I get chance to give this a longer drive, I'll update this quick review but, it might be a while as it's allegedly going out on a long-term contract.

 

[Chewbacca]

Sorry fella, I know German reliability is a total myth. Worst car I ever had was an Audi and I wouldn’t touch another with John Holmes’ appendage