OV9

2 year eGolf lease over, BCA guy picked it up this morning - arranged a week early to avoid its first service. No costs (besides some electricity), had no problems at all.

Great cars if you can live with the limited (100-120 mile) range, although I did quite a few 250+ mile trips in it. Test driving lots of the alternatives last year really showed how nicely it rides and handles compared to a lot of the affordable, non-SUV EV market. Bit of a sweet spot too in having useful tech like adaptive cruise and AEB but not annoying things like lane keep assist (that in the ID3 you have to turn off each time). Very conventional car - normal key, analog dials, regular auto gear selector so just a normal Golf that happens to be electric, and so very easy to live with.

BCA will give you a price to keep it so I checked - £25500 No thanks, you can have it back...

A friend has an eGolf and absolutely loves it. £25K to buy it though after two years??? Do they not retail from about 28K?

Has anybody replaced their front number plate with a stick-on one? Looking at Chris Harris' GT3, it does look so much better without a traditional front number plate and holder.

Ascender wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 1:56 pm Has anybody replaced their front number plate with a stick-on one? Looking at Chris Harris' GT3, it does look so much better without a traditional front number plate and holder.

Yes.

Ascender wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 1:36 pm A friend has an eGolf and absolutely loves it. £25K to buy it though after two years??? Do they not retail from about 28K?

The price is basically retail but I can't find a similar one advertised for less, second hand prices have gone insane.

Pretty sure you could PCP one for about £23k at the time after grant, finance incentives and discounts - they were keen to move them which was why my lease was so cheap. Was expecting fairly heavy depreciation though as better alternatives came along, not a global pandemic or the resulting chip (and thus car production) shortage.

tim wrote: Thu Jan 06, 2022 1:50 pm So chalk one up for DIY spannering. Went out to it lunchtime and it was running like crap again, despite being absolutely fine the previous journey. With it running I methodically went through the whole engine bay manipulating whatever hoses/connectors I could, until... bingo! The wiring loom where it branches off to the injectors was rubbing on a metal coolant pipe.

Move it away - running fine - let it go - running rough and occaisonally sparking. I guess it had just worn through the insulation enough to short.

So taped it up, tie-wrapped it back out of the way of the pipe and all is good* again.

The XJ8 goes in to be fixed on Monday so hopefully the following week I shall be back on wafting duties.

*Well, you know.

Fresh from my air-punching fix of the '45, I went out to the chippy last night and the check engine light came on. FFS! It drives fine so I shall reset it via the medium of some black tape and carry on.

Drove through Thornton le Dale yestermorn. How lovely and unspoilt thought I...

Re. Esso 99; there might be some in Wales

Time to fettle the 320d today. Jobs were engine flush, oil/filter change, cabin filter and change rear disks/pads/wear sensor. Even at 78 my Dad loves tinkering so I set him to work getting the brake carriers off .

All went well and can't believe how much quieter the engine is! I'm also impressed with how well it looks mechanically. It seems to be in really good shape. The only other thing to get done is probably a gearbox oil/filter change but the garage can do that.

We've either had a sudden, very local and serious cold spell in Kent or the Zoe is being true to its French heritage...

Hairdryer trick.

The predicted range must have shat itself thinking it's that cold!

DeskJockey wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 4:32 pm We've either had a sudden, very local and serious cold spell in Kent or the Zoe is being true to its French heritage...

Is yours a pre facelift Zoe?

jamcg wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 7:01 pm

DeskJockey wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 4:32 pm We've either had a sudden, very local and serious cold spell in Kent or the Zoe is being true to its French heritage...

Is yours a pre facelift Zoe?

68-plate, so with the 41kwh battery. I think the refresh was from 19-onwards.

DeskJockey wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 7:23 pm

jamcg wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 7:01 pm

DeskJockey wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 4:32 pm We've either had a sudden, very local and serious cold spell in Kent or the Zoe is being true to its French heritage...

Is yours a pre facelift Zoe?

68-plate, so with the 41kwh battery. I think the refresh was from 19-onwards.

They took a load of safety stuff out for the facelift, they’re now a zero rated ncap

Yeah, that's causing a lot of outrage on the various forums.

Ah the old removing the automatic pedestrian braking sensor which somehow increases your chance of death/serious injury if you hit a post sideways at 30 mph gig...

Mito Man wrote: Sun Jan 09, 2022 9:52 pm Ah the old removing the automatic pedestrian braking sensor which somehow increases your chance of death/serious injury if you hit a post sideways at 30 mph gig...

The drivers head literally hit the pole in the EuroNCAP sideways test. Zoe tested in 2013 had a side airbag that protected head and thorax, current Zoe is thorax only.

I suspect that once the Megane EV is being delivered the Zoe will be quietly removed from sale.

That's fair enough then!

Renault 4 EV to replace the Zoe. The airbag thing is really quite a poor show.

1:30 for head to pole contact. And not the good kind