Have you seen the reliable range for the Enyaq? 300 miles. I agree that the inside of the Enyaq is miles better than the VW offerings, if only the pack thing wasn’t an issue. The Kona is a nice car, it was front runner in terms of what you could buy for a reasonable price for a long time with greater range and decent spec. Did you like it? Once you get into the habit of plugging the car in at night, it’s simple to come home, park on the drive, plug in and you’re ready for much more than the car will get used tomorrow. Of course, if you can’t be bothered in the wet when you get home, there’s probably no issue depending on what you’ve done/will be doing. I’m pretty sure that the local Skoda dealership will be getting my business when the time is right, the longer range has meant that the competition between price and spec has favoured (for me) range and the price for the long range isn’t beyond what I was going to have to pay for whatever of the 3 options I’d have gone for. In fact I can add the pack and still be paying only £50 more than the Ariya would have cost last month. The ID family (4 and 5) my wife sat in today and got out very quickly complaining the seats hurt her back (degenerative spine). She got in the Skoda and promptly declared it was the most comfortable seat she’d been in all day. The Niro and Ioniq are both undersized, although the Ioniq was a nice car to sit in, it just wasn’t as nice for the passenger, who got the hump mine move with buttons. The Niro was the best specced car on offer but was so much smaller than the Skoda it felt cramped. It even feels smaller than the ZS. So, I’ll have a chat with the dealer who will be able to have a look at the cars available quickly and we’ll discuss spec then. He’s got a few there so, hopefully, we’ll find something with a bigger battery, base spec plus a few extras that’ll fit our needs and be ready soon.
The relatively few EV’s Ive looked at, I always try to find the winter range range first and then try to keep working up a few degrees from there, which I expect is backwards compared to others. One of the first sites I look at is the EV database (evehiclesdb.com) for Norwegian winter range from 0c to -10c. The Enyak 80 range was reduced by almost 32 percent, I then look at British tests from the likes of Parkers, Auto express and drive electric etc.
Did I like the Kona- Well I did look at it on my last vehicle change, as I guess I was curious after following the Kona thread, along with advicing about charger installation as I use to be registered installer albeit on a commercial basis. The Kona would be too small for our needs, as for driving it, well I’m no stranger to them having driven EV’s before. I also got to drive my brothers EQS he had in March over the weekend, That was rapid, which I liked especially coming from a racing family. I think, I remember my brother saying a range of 350 miles, however his money tree is still in full bloom, where as mine not so much anymore lol.
I’m following with interest BYD’s new Blade (lifepo4) battery, that apart from being the safest to date (so they say), its also temperature stable, which reports say won’t be prone to external temperature fluctuations as much, compared to others-we will see. I do however like the BYD Han.
Yes I’m at an halfway house with some of the new EV’s interiors, especially those built from the ground up, like those from VW, MG4… I could just see myself reliving my youth driving down the road, doing the big box, little box dance. On more of a serious note, the asymmetrics don’t sit well with me and the interiors are rather bland looking, so I was pleasantly suurprised the Skoda took a different stance. However were all different in life with what we like.
I’m in two minds currently on whether to stay or leave the scheme. I need auto and have already discussed with Mb about an early termination. I nearly left beginning of of last year because there was nothing really on the scheme suitable but, mrs kezo like the Tuscon and I thought I cope with manual for 3yrs. Again its down to individual choice but I’m not a fan of paying around £20k (award + AP) and have nothing to show for it at the end. I was hoping the X Trail Tecna E-power joined but it didn’t and the Qahqui E-power increased by £800 to £4k AP! I have a lot of thinking to do mate, not helped with my father’s cancer, the distance from them which if Im honest scares me not to want an EV at the moment 🙂
However I’ll be following your journey and please do let me know what you choose 🙂