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Post by commerdriver on Jan 5, 2018 9:50:51 GMT
So the Passat GTE is available to order - change your order? Bigger/better car and still low BIK. Past the stage where that's possible now, besides, if I wanted a Passat I would have ordered a Passat, for that size of car I would probably have gone for a BMW 330e I wanted, and still want, the whole package of the Golf, waiting an extra 4 months and possibly longer is worth it, company car so no issue in having on to my current GTD Golf, which I still like a lot |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2018 22:52:50 GMT
So the Passat GTE is available to order - change your order? Bigger/better car and still low BIK. Past the stage where that's possible now, besides, if I wanted a Passat I would have ordered a Passat, for that size of car I would probably have gone for a BMW 330e Probably not if you'd taken one for an extended test drive. I had one as a hire car for a week and wasn't at all impressed. It's biggest weakness is that below 2000rpm (where it will spend most of its time with ~40mph/1000 rpm in top), the 4 pot engine is very rough. So, at motorway cruising speeds it is tiring. Also, although most of the time the electric motor and ICE work well together, there is a very noticeable delay if you suddenly ask for more power eg. overtakes, sliproads or busy roundabouts. It's as if the ECU says: "You want more power? I'll give you the electric motor." "Ohh! you want more than that? I'll open the throttle and wait for the turbo to spool up." "More than that? Jeez, I'll ask the gearbox if he would be so kind as to give us a lower ratio, I'll get back to you." "OK, here you go." |
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Jan 7, 2018 17:33:48 GMT
Sounds like something was wrong with your hire car. I have the same ICE in the current car and had it for 3 years in the A3. It was silent.
When I had the Passat GTE for a 4 day test drive, you wouldn't know on the motorway which was powering the car (below 80mph) unless you looked at the graphics showing where power was coming from etc. Unless of course you turn on the GTE mode. Then it uses artificial sound through the stereo to pretend there's a large engine in there and it would be very tiring using it in GTE mode, particularly on a motorway journey.
And with this petrol engine, there is no noticeable lag from the turbo.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2018 19:33:12 GMT
Since when have VAG been using BMW drivetrains?
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Jan 7, 2018 20:59:39 GMT
Didn't realise you were referring to the 330e  He was talking VW GTE's... I know he said he's have considered a BMW 330e if he wanted a Passat sized car (well not quite Passat sized). I still think he'll be disappointed in mpg though. On a motorway run it will recharge the batteries so 'wasting' petrol IMO. |
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Post by commerdriver on Jan 8, 2018 10:28:11 GMT
Didn't realise you were referring to the 330e He was talking VW GTE's... I know he said he's have considered a BMW 330e if he wanted a Passat sized car (well not quite Passat sized). I still think he'll be disappointed in mpg though. On a motorway run it will recharge the batteries so 'wasting' petrol IMO. I shall tell you when I have had the car for a few months whether or not I am "disappointed in mpg" or not. I refuse to worry about something which is unverifiable at the moment and not something that concerns me particularly anyway. |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Jan 17, 2018 13:22:35 GMT
Ran a quick electric errand this morning to drop off a parcel. On the way back I encountered my first significant inaudibility problem. I was picking my way slowly past a line of parked cars, stopping completely a couple of times when balked by drivers I thought should have waited for me. After one stop, I found myself bearing slowly and silently down on a tradesman who'd stepped into the road and was blocking the gap, messing about through the open driver's door of his van. I stopped, of course. My problem was that he seemed not to know I was there. Parping the horn would have seemed unduly aggressive. In a manual fossil car I'd have discreetly blipped the engine with the clutch down; even in an automatic, I think he'd have heard the engine restart. But in the i3, there was nothing I could do. He finished fiddling, closed the door, looked up and seemed surprised to see me. Strange experience, though. Perhaps I should get some sort of sound-effect generator - duck quack, steam engine whistle...? Looking for something else, I found these thoughts by James May on the same problem. So: this bloke walked out right in front of the car, and immediately revealed a serious shortcoming with my BMW i3. You don’t hear it coming.
At town speeds, the Car of the Future is virtually silent. Even the tyres don’t make a noise, because they’re thin and eco and are concerned with higher tasks than merely gripping the surface. If you actually want to run over people, I can recommend the i3. But you’ll have to delete that collision-avoidance system, which I’m sure is there exactly because of this sort of thing.
What was I to do? Blow the horn? Didn’t really seem right. Obviously, he was ever so slightly a bit of a pillock for walking into the road without looking, but in the end he was a soft, fleshy (and, in this case, slightly pissed) pedestrian, and I was in a car. He didn’t really deserve to have a trumpet blown up his bottom.
It then occurred to me that I’ve never blown the horn on the i3. It might make a noise like the sliding doors on the Starship Enterprise. I found a side street and pressed the button. Parp! It sounded like the horn on a car. How disappointing.
What the i3 needs - what every car needs, really - is some sort of polite town horn, the equivalent of a cough or an ahem, or my mother shouting “I say” out of the window. Tonally, a typical car horn sounds confrontational, and like an admonishment. A bit bugle-like. Bugles are used to rouse armies and send them in to attack, I just want to warn a bloke that he’s about to die in the future. I need something like an oboe, or a kazoo. Perhaps Sir Simon Rattle could have a think about this. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2018 14:32:04 GMT
Another reason to choose a Leaf over an i3, proper wheels.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Jan 17, 2018 15:01:15 GMT
Even on yours?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2018 15:03:38 GMT
They all have proper wheels. Why wouldn't mine?
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Jan 17, 2018 15:09:04 GMT
Well, I've had two reliable Saabs and I'm now on my second reliable Mercedes. Whereas...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2018 15:35:04 GMT
Oh I see, I think. Well I seem to be in possession of a reliable Nissan. And I had a reliable Mazda. Several reliable Fords and FIATs, amongst others. Not quite sure why any of this would mean I have weird wheels on my Leaf still.........
34 cars, 5 lemons I can think of in that lot (Merc E, SAAB, Laguna, MG Midget, VW Beetle). It's bound to happen, it's just that 3 of them have bunched up together in recent years.
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Post by tyrednexited on Jan 17, 2018 16:28:24 GMT
...if you don't want a black interior, do want petrol, do want 6cyl, auto, etc. then push the boat out a bit further and.... tinyurl.com/nutterb-st-rd  |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Jan 17, 2018 16:51:10 GMT
Oh yes! Pure (Caversham) class.
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Post by Humph on Jan 17, 2018 17:58:28 GMT
I quite like Q cars. Many moons ago I had a Sierra Cosworth but had all the Cosworth badges taken off. Of course those who knew what it was, knew what it was, if you see what I mean, but I quite liked the fact that those who didn't know what it was, didn't know what it was, if you...yeah well, I knew what I meant...if you know what I mean...
😉
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