So we did our test drive today. I did say to the car salesman that I was surprised to see the Soul on the scheme, and he said so were they.
The boot is big enough to get my manual wheelchair in, folded up of course. But not a lot of space for much else, partly because wheelchairs are a bit of an awkward shape.
It was a comfortable ride with excellent acceleration (well compared to our 11-year old Touran anyway!). Took it down the dual carriageway it wasn’t noticeably noisy despite the boxy shape. Very nippy, and held the road very well along the country lanes. We live in a rural area, so a vehicle like this is good on the narrower roads we have.
My husband loved driving it, he said it would be a pleasure to drive it on a long journey. He felt that it was nicer to drive than either the MG ZS or the e-2008.
The top level of the regenerative braking is quite strong, probably only practical for city driving.
The lane assist thing does bong when you change lanes which is a bit irritating but I expected it can be turned off.
Rear reversing camera is clear with good guide boxes. Little light in the charge port so you can see where you are plugging in if it is dark.
We stopped in a lay-by to discuss what we were going to do and then couldn’t work out how to get it started again. Doh. Good job the manual was in the glove box! Not as intuitive to start as the MG or the e-2008.
Nice sound system and touch screen for the dab radio, sat nav, various menu’s. Not laggy when choosing options.
The big plus though, is the the range of about 260 to 280 miles. After some discussion we felt that the range outweighed the disadvantage of the smaller boot.
The car will be suitable for us about 95% of the time. The only time when it probably won’t be big enough is when our nephew’s come to visit and we all want to go out for the day. But they only come 2 or 3 times a year, so we will probably explore a roof box for those occasions.
We have been talking about changing cars for about 9 months. The Touran is 11 years old now and we wanted to go electric.
Also we factored in the uncertainties regarding Brexit and coronavirus both of which have the potential to result in disruption of supply. Had it not been for these two 2 factors we probably would have hung on to see what comes on the scheme next year.
But taking everything into account, including that there is no guarantee how long the Soul will stay on the scheme, we decided to go for it.
We were told we could have the one that we took for a test drive. Only 34 miles on the clock including the ones that we did today. Current lead time only about a month though.
Motability will need to do their paperwork and sort out a charge point with BP chargemaster.
I suspect BP chargemaster will be the point of delay. But hopefully I can update you in a few weeks and let you know how smooth the process has been.
Oh and it’s the blue one. 🙂