EVs - Test Drives and Impressions of NZ Available Models

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#3078837 23-May-2023 07:46

@sultanoswing

Thanks for the review. I have taken the Enyaq for a short drive that, because of Auckland traffic, only ended up being a crawl along the motorway to the next off-ramp and then back to the dealership, so not enough to do a proper assessment.
My impression was that it was well built and reasonably well appointed with good internal space for a family. I would be interested to know how you found the Skoda skinning of the VW Group infotainment system.

As with the Cupra, I think Skoda is ‘offline’ in Australia and NZ, so some of the features available in overseas markets (apps etc) and shown in their video reviews, don’t work here. Gavin’s reviews are always good value, not least for the storage amount being measured in potatoes.

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Obraik

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#3080785 29-May-2023 12:58

I was up in Auckland this weekend and with a bit of time to spare before my flight home I thought I'd go for a drive to have a nosey around the old neighbourhood I used to live in. Since I'd previously set up a Mevo account I figured I'd hunt down one of their vehicles for the task. Anyway, one of the vehicles available was a Polestar, which as a long time Model 3 owner, I had been curious about taking for a test drive. I ended up driving it for around 2.5 hours before leaving it at the airport for my flight home. This particular Polestar was a 69kWh Standard Range FWD variant with almost 16,000km on its odometer.

Driving dynamics felt fine but, it felt like the take off power is artificially restricted. While I have a Performance Model 3, even the RWD version I've driven previously feels like it has more instant power than this car did whereas the Polestar feels like it's trying to ease you into the power. I guess some people might prefer that but isn't that why I have an accelerator pedal, so I can control how much I want at a given time? It also felt like you go from having not much to suddenly being given all of it, which doesn't feel as smooth.

When it comes to the interior, I can see why some say that it feels claustrophobic. From the outside, it looks like a large car but when you get in you feel crammed in. All the windows feel like they're tiny and you don't get a lot of vision out of them, including the front window. The front dash feels like it's sitting too high and cuts into your visual space. It feels like you need to rise your seat up, but I already had the seat at a height where it was starting to become an issue for head clearance. I've heard some say that the centre console is quite wide but I didn't find it to be an issue, but the location of the cup holders means that if you and your passenger both have a drink you no longer have an armrest since you have to lift away the centre armrest to access the cup holder. The material used for the centre console also felt and sounded like cheap hollow plastic and I believe it was the source of one of the rattles that this car had when driving on chipseal. Whatever material they use on the seats also felt "cheap". Having clipper cut hair on the sides of my head, my hair felt like it was poking between the weave of the fabric on the head rest and due to the type of fabric used, I could constantly hear the scratching noise of my hair rubbing over it. Overall, the interior felt less premium than my Model 3 interior.

I thought the infotainment system was great though, even though I mostly used it for navigation. Having Google Maps built into the car was great. Most importantly, it was responsive and it didn't feel laggy like a lot of other touchscreen systems do. Although the navigation is displayed on the dash cluster, out of habit I kept finding myself looking at the main centre screen instead.

Over the 100km I drove, I did get to do a bit of playing around with the driver assistance features. On the motorway it felt good and felt like it was actively keeping in the lane rather than ping ponging between the lane lines like I've experienced in some other vehicles. However, it seemed to struggle with even the slightest bend in the road, even on a motorway. There's a very slight corner on the Southern Motorway just beside the City Impact church before Sylvia Park, however it was almost touching the left centre line while I was in the right lane passing someone at around 105km/h and I felt like I had to take over to prevent it going further - even my passenger was nervous. I did confirm that it was indeed on lane keeping mode, and this happened a few times on the motorway at slight bends. In comparison, these kind of bends on a motorway are nothing for the similar system in my Model 3 (known as Autopilot), which I had driven on this stretch plenty of times prior to moving away. On some slightly rural roads out near Whitford I kinda gave up on the lane assist feature as it was pretty clear that it just can't cope with corners. Sure, it's probably more of a motorway feature and so is Autopilot but, the latter at least does a decent job of non-motorway roads in most scenarios, only really requiring assistance from the driver in sub-80 corners.

However, its TACC feature was very good at reacting to slowing to traffic (no last-minute heavy braking) and maintaining a following distance. One thing that it seemed to struggle with was maintaining a speed going downhill, where at some points it was going almost 5km/h faster than the set speed. This was surprising given how good its one pedal driving is when manually driving so I'm not sure how maintaining a speed going downhill was a struggle for it. I actually had to take over due to there being a speed camera at the bottom of one of the hills because the runaway speed was probably high enough that it would snap me. Again comparing to my Model 3, it holds a speed very well - I don't think I've ever seen it deviate more than 1km/h, even on a steep downhill road. On the topic of speed keeping, it would have been nice if it would also react to the speed signs that it reads or at least give the option to be able to change the current TACC speed to the new speed limit.

I could cover other various feature but overall, I'd say it's a nice car but to me it just seems that the Model 3 does things better in most categories, including price. I was left wondering why you'd pick a Polestar over a Model 3 and I guess the one thing it has going for it that might be appealing to some is that it's not a Tesla

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Batman

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#3080876 29-May-2023 14:26

Obraik:

Driving dynamics felt fine but, it felt like the take off power is artificially restricted. While I have a Performance Model 3, even the RWD version I've driven previously feels like it has more instant power than this car did whereas the Polestar feels like it's trying to ease you into the power. I guess some people might prefer that but isn't that why I have an accelerator pedal, so I can control how much I want at a given time? It also felt like you go from having not much to suddenly being given all of it, which doesn't feel as smooth.

you cannot instantly accelerate a FWD

if you try that, all the weight of the car transfers onto the rear wheels and the front wheels have no weight pushing onto the wheels and you will wheelspin for the next 100 years

there is another reason not to instantly accelerate something an EV, but unrelated to this. the electric motors have so much torque if you instantly whack in all the power it will rip the driveline to shreds, there are a lot of designing into cars that give you instant acceleration. i was testing a demo EV6 AWD that had 2800kms and when i floored the pedal i could both hear and feel a metallic bang, which is driveline lash where the electric motor is doing some heavy whacking of the driveline somewhere, and that noise is a bit scary for such a new car.

Obraik

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#3080907 29-May-2023 15:26

Batman:

Obraik:

Driving dynamics felt fine but, it felt like the take off power is artificially restricted. While I have a Performance Model 3, even the RWD version I've driven previously feels like it has more instant power than this car did whereas the Polestar feels like it's trying to ease you into the power. I guess some people might prefer that but isn't that why I have an accelerator pedal, so I can control how much I want at a given time? It also felt like you go from having not much to suddenly being given all of it, which doesn't feel as smooth.

you cannot instantly accelerate a FWD

if you try that, all the weight of the car transfers onto the rear wheels and the front wheels have no weight pushing onto the wheels and you will wheelspin for the next 100 years

there is another reason not to instantly accelerate something an EV, but unrelated to this. the electric motors have so much torque if you instantly whack in all the power it will rip the driveline to shreds, there are a lot of designing into cars that give you instant acceleration. i was testing a demo EV6 AWD that had 2800kms and when i floored the pedal i could both hear and feel a metallic bang, which is driveline lash where the electric motor is doing some heavy whacking of the driveline somewhere, and that noise is a bit scary for such a new car.

Sure, I hadn't considered the FWD aspect. However, I'm not even meaning planting my foot to the floor but just trying to give it a "shove". It's something that Tesla seems to be able to allow without destroying the drivetrain.

Maybe it'll be better in the upcoming Polestar refresh that changes the single motor variant to be RWD instead.

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Jase2985

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#3080923 29-May-2023 16:06

Batman:

you cannot instantly accelerate a FWD

if you try that, all the weight of the car transfers onto the rear wheels and the front wheels have no weight pushing onto the wheels and you will wheelspin for the next 100 years

there is another reason not to instantly accelerate something an EV, but unrelated to this. the electric motors have so much torque if you instantly whack in all the power it will rip the driveline to shreds, there are a lot of designing into cars that give you instant acceleration. i was testing a demo EV6 AWD that had 2800kms and when i floored the pedal i could both hear and feel a metallic bang, which is driveline lash where the electric motor is doing some heavy whacking of the driveline somewhere, and that noise is a bit scary for such a new car.

what are you talking about

most of what you have said is incorrect. do yo unot think the OEMs wouldnt have tested the otorque and the drivelines to see if this was the case? pretty sure they wouldnt be selling them if it was.

Batman

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#3081136 29-May-2023 21:34

Obraik:

Sure, I hadn't considered the FWD aspect. However, I'm not even meaning planting my foot to the floor but just trying to give it a "shove". It's something that Tesla seems to be able to allow without destroying the drivetrain.

Maybe it'll be better in the upcoming Polestar refresh that changes the single motor variant to be RWD instead.

my own Nissan Leaf at 80kW and some 250Nm torque will display driveline lash when i floor it, and the one before that. i had an ICE sports car, that had very bad driveline lash.

the Mach-e also has this:

apparently "Numerous judges pointed out another strange occurrence. "I felt what I can best explain as a driveline lash, which makes no sense on an EV," Dickie said. Markus agreed: "There's a clunking that feels like slop in the drivetrain when transitioning from coastdown to near stop and then onto the accelerator." Why is this odd? Because the Mach-E uses a single-speed transmission, not a traditional drivetrain with clutches or gears or other components that can go click, clack, clunk."

https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-mustang-mach-e-motortrend-suv-of-the-year-finalist/

Tesla are the pioneers of this tech so they seem to know how to design these. but this i tell you - the 1 million mile Teslas we hear of - they are probably not drag raced at traffic lights at every opportunity but rather they are driven with efficiency in mind. when i get my hands on a Tesla i'll let you know if it has it too. nothing wrong with driveline lash, it happens because of the intense instant torque. due to the simplicity of the drivetrain to design they are likely to be fine for a million miles, probably, but time will tell.

Dingbatt

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#3085727 6-Jun-2023 20:05

Hyundai Ioniq6

As driven: 53kWh 2WD, white with black one tone interior, $79990 (field days special adds home wall charger, or upgraded wheels, or a towbar at no extra cost).

TL:DR

Similar vibes to the Ioniq5, more economical, smoother and quieter, but way less practical.

A colleague expressed an interest in the Ioniq6 when we were discussing EVs, describing it as “a poor man’s EQS”, mainly because of its ‘streamliner’ shape. He asked me what I thought of them, and that was a good enough excuse for me to have a nosey. He doesn’t have children at home anymore so the vehicle is essentially for two people.

Trims:

53kWh 2WD (base model) $79990

77kWh 2WD (base model) $94990

77kWh 2WD Elite $104990

77kWh AWD Limited $124990

As always the exterior looks of the car are subjective. In my opinion the car looks best from behind, with just a hint of Porsche going on. It is not as polarising as the Ioniq5. It’s quite a long car at just under 4.9m (1.9W, 1.5H). The 53kWh is 1.8T, the 77kWh 2WD is 2T and the 77kWh AWD is 2.1T.

The streamliner shape means its boot is a bit compromised. It has a small opening, and although quite long it is pretty shallow and not that wide between the wheel arches. There is enough space under the floor for a puncture repair kit. There certainly didn’t seem to be room under there for cables. The 2WD probably have enough space to store the (provided) type 2 and granny charger cables. The AWD frunk will probably fit a packed lunch if you’re not too hungry 😁.

The interior had an electrically adjustable drivers seat (only the Limited had passenger seat electrics) but pleasingly it had adjustable lumbar and thigh support. The seat was quite firm though and cloth (faux leather on tops 2 trims only). This car had the dark trim and I think the grey/cream trim option would be better if the Ioniq5 I drove was anything to go by. Only the higher two trims have heated seats (front and back) and the “Limited” has ventilated. IMO all EVs should have heated seats to reduce the requirement for energy sapping cabin heating.

The back seat is compromised by the streamliner roofline meaning there is a lack of headroom for adult sized passengers.

It has the same driver’s and infotainment displays as the Ioniq5 with some physical controls (under the centre display) for things like climate and to bring up things like navigation, map, media or “favourite” and to toggle cameras and sensors. They seem a little less fiddly than the ones in the EV6. The displays are a good resolution. I only tried (wired) Android Auto and its presentation was good. Hyundai voice assistant wasn’t great (for me) so would stick with AA/Siri.

As with the Ioniq5 and EV6 the top corners of driver’s display were obscured by the steering wheel arc. I was able to find a comfortable position so I could see the digital speed readout but things like the drive mode and speed sign were still obscured. The drive mode selector is behind and below the indicator stalk on the right side and couldn’t be seen without moving your head. While I’m sure you’d get used to using it by touch, not being able to see what you’ve selected on the display is a nuisance. Only the Limited model has a HUD and 360 camera. The audio was “okay” in the base model.

For the test drive, the salesman let me manoeuvre it out of lot. The view out the rear window was better than my Model 3 by virtue of the parcel shelf being lower but necessary because the reversing camera was no more than ‘adequate’. I followed my usual motorway, urban and extra-urban test drive route. The car was one of the quieter EVs I have driven in road, wind and motor noise (almost as good as the i4). It does have a “pedestrian warning tone” which is audible inside the car and is irritating. Why does the driver need to hear it? Surely as long as the pedestrian can hear it that is what matters. Seating position was very much at sedan level and visibility was pretty good all round although the binnacle that the rear vision is mounted on comes quite a long way down the front windscreen. Something I noticed on the Niro EV, making it difficult to look up and left at things like traffic lights.

The adaptive cruise (“smart cruise control with stop and go”) is very good and easy to operate and the “Lane Following Assist” keeps the car centred in the lane well. It requires quite a bit of force on the steering wheel to stop the amber nag on the display. Much more than the light touch on the Model 3. I did like the fact that when you indicated and manually changed lanes, as soon as you were in the new lane and turned the indicator off, the Lane Following re-engaged.

The “Lane Keeping Assist” is very aggressive when you get close to the line while manually driving and if you need to cross the line for some reason you have to fight it. The LKA can be turned off by holding the button on the steering down for a few seconds but has to be done every time you commence a drive. It has lots of beeps and bongs, for things like recognising a new speed limit signs and for creeping even a couple of km/h over the posted limit. And I’m sure there were other things it was warning me about but they were so numerous I’m not sure what they were. It’s always dangerous when warnings are so frequent they fade into background noise. The salesman said they could be turned off.

With my normal driving style in “normal” mode (it has eco and sport modes as well) the car had less ‘go’ than my TM3. It has adjustable regen using the “flappy paddles” on the steering wheel and iPedal mode (single pedal driving) should be accessible via the paddles but I couldn’t get it to engage. I completed the test with a figure of 144Wh/km. So for 53kWh (which I assume is usable) NMC battery, that gives a range of 368km (WLTP 419km). To extrapolate to the 77kWh model (yes it’s 150kg heavier) would give 537km (WLTP 614km) from a full charge. The 53kWh has a 750/750kg towing capacity, all the others are 750/1500kg.

So would I consider this to replace my TM3? No, is the simple answer. The boot is too small, the range in the 53kWh isn’t enough and some of the aggressive safety features would get on my nerves. If you look above the rebate limit and must have a sedan, then the next model up is going to give you a pretty impressive range, but I would have the EV6 or Skoda Enyaq over it for that price. And when you step up to the better specced models you are up into EV6 GT and BMW i4 territory.

I’m sure this will find a niche, but if you really want a medium sized Hyundai EV, the Ioniq5 is a better, more useful, all round vehicle.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

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ShockProof

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#3090992 17-Jun-2023 12:53

Dingbatt:

Hyundai Ioniq6

...

The adaptive cruise (“smart cruise control with stop and go”) is very good and easy to operate and the “Lane Following Assist” keeps the car centred in the lane well.

I recently purchased an Ionic hybrid which has this LFA feature but I hadn't tested cruise control before purchasing as I assumed it would be normal albiet with the radar thing included. I was not pleased to find the car steering itself via LFA on a recent trip on a second grade highway. It doesn't let me drive the car like I want to, turns too early and makes me feel unsafe. I drove over 400 km with a lot of cruise control active and this is one feature which I think is truely awful. I have found a setting where it can apparently be truned off, but I haven't highway tested this yet, so can't report whether this worked. I also turn off the LKA - that's super annoying on the raods I drive on (same annoyance as the TM3 which I also drive on the same roads), and some other thing that beeps relentlessly unless turned off. These might be accepatble on multilane motorways, but on the roads generally around NZ, a pain to pleasurable drivng experience.

maoriboy

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#3091948 19-Jun-2023 11:51

I had the chance over the weekend to take the Skoda Enyaq Sportline Max 80 for a quick drive. Initial impressions are good. Looks a lot better in real life than I expected. It has a real presence about it but not in a shouty way (other than that crazy grill!).

The drivers position was fully adjustable and it didn't take long to find a comfy driving position. Was impressed with the AV interface and the Canton sound system was amazing! Like the small drivers display and hud combination.

Heaps of room in the boot to carry a body or 2 (I fitted in there with room to spare). Back seat was comfy with all the plugs to keep devices charged. headroom wasn't as much as I expected. I'm about 1.8m and found there was about a handspan between my head and the roof. If you have taller family members, maybe get them in the back seat to try it out first. Plenty of leg room though and that flat floor means 3 people can be seated in there in comfort. I did find the interior quite dark without a sunroof though.

Driving was non eventful. Acceleration was steady without being spectacular. I did like how it kept building smoothly and effortlessly. Regen braking can be adjusted on the flappy paddles and was effective. The ride itself was smooth and serene on some pretty rough Palmy roads.

Overall I'm quite impressed with it and at $80k for the Sportsline 80 I think it's a very good option for those looking for a bigger vehicle. I'd definitely consider it as a replacement for the aging Outlander.

sultanoswing

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#3091973 19-Jun-2023 13:03

@maoriboy - apparently that arctic silver sportline 80 in Palmy is one of the few (only?) Enyaq's available to test drive in NZ at the moment...and there are no coupés, since that's the car we've put our hard-earned down for, precisely because of the panoramic glass roof (and noting the boot space is practically the same - 570 vs 585L).

Would have been nice to have been able to test drive the coupé, but again, there aren't any cars in NZ at the moment.

....and it was a very nice phone call a couple of weeks ago advising of the price drop by $13k.

Batman

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#3091986 19-Jun-2023 13:25

Tested the Sportline Max wagon thingy.

Bad things first

Canton sound system is the worst premium audio i've ever tested. I think worse than the Meridian in the EV6 GT but it's a toss up. Every frequency was there, sound is clear but they don't come together as a whole. Doesn't give me aural pleasure, in fact there was displeasure sometimes. I guess it depends on the ear of the beholder. When you put the midbass up by one notch the front of the car rattles like an earthquake.

No one pedal driving, has B mode like a Nissan leaf which means you're not getting the full regen possible. Max regen is not bad, but only happens at high speed down a very steep hill.

Throttle pedal - the response is sometimes immediate sometimes delayed not sure why, when it's super responsive it's fun, but sometimes it decides for the same amount of input it should hold back a bit.

The car is slow for an EV but that's not a bad thing. Just don't expect Tesla Model 3 acceleration. Brisk enough to pull out and not be dangerous but no more.

Heated steering wheel is hot at the top, warm at the sides.

Rear drum brakes.

The good

Good turning circle, same as Nissan Leaf

Comfortable, absorbs most bumps well, low road noise. BUt this car has dynamic chassis control so not sure how the cheaper one will feel.

Corners well but leans a little.

It drives very well. RWD is fun, very fun, it allow slippage but without getting you out of control. Maybe there isn't enough power to get out of control but it will go sideways and wheelspin off a slippery slope without cutting power too early.

Has individual buttons that take you straight to certain menus - eg Climate control, etc

The size of the car (rear seats, boot) is the same as a small-medium or medium wagon, about the same as a 2023 Audi A4 wagon.

If I recall correctly (and checking measurements on the internet), the EV6 is a larger wagon.

Batman

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#3091989 19-Jun-2023 13:30

maoriboy: Regen braking can be adjusted on the flappy paddles and was effective.

I missed that, the salesperson wasn't too interested in showing me around the car as he makes no money off it. Take it or leave it.

Question - does it have one pedal drive mode to eek out every electron of regen? I had it in B and had to use friction brakes quite a bit.

RunningMan

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#3091997 19-Jun-2023 13:44

maoriboy:[snip] the Canton sound system was amazing!

Batman:[snip] Canton sound system is the worst premium audio i've ever tested.

Hmmm, same, but different.

maoriboy

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#3092003 19-Jun-2023 14:00

RunningMan:

Hmmm, same, but different.

Admittedly I'm coming from a low level, with the MG ZS ev sound system being below average. In comparison the Canton system was far superior 😆

maoriboy

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#3092005 19-Jun-2023 14:07

Batman:

I missed that, the salesperson wasn't too interested in showing me around the car as he makes no money off it. Take it or leave it.

Question - does it have one pedal drive mode to eek out every electron of regen? I had it in B and had to use friction brakes quite a bit.

I didn't get a chance to test the strongest regen setting unfortunately. The salesperson who accompanied me was rather pushy and was very strict on a short test drive "due to demand". Like you, the salesperson with me didn't seem all that interested in explaining the features all that well and I had to constantly ask questions to get anything.

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