Vauxhall Ampera

More questions than answers...

1) It's a LHD vauxhall (now that would be a first)
2) why a heavy, thirsty 1.4 4-pot for a mere 75hp? Surely a 3-or 2-cylinder turbo (petrol or diesel) would have made more sense in what is supposedly a forward-looking car, also considering that it's supposed to be a dead weight most of the time
3) So idea that the combustion engine is linked to the batteries but not directly to the transmission is admittedly a failure and will be rethought. How is it going to be different from a plug-in hybrid then?

By giulivo on 28 June, 2010, 2:47pm

Never mind the quality, feel the hype

It looks like the love-child of an Astra and a Honda Civic, and appears to offer little by way of truly new innovation. giulivo's point above about the lack of imagination when it comes to the motor choice is well made. Vauxhall, with its engine partner FIAT, has access to small diesels and efficient petrol engines. The Ampera seems to offer little more than increased purchase costs, increased weight and the artificially-calculated and so largely-theoretical 175 mpg promise. I'll believe it when I see it.

By snappyuk on 29 June, 2010, 8:53am

Not good...

"But more of a problem is the poor high-speed acceleration."

I think we see the crucial difficulty here. Engine adds range, but weight and delay in power reaching road wheels makes it all a bit rubbish again.

So much for the solution to the EV range issues.. I wonder how many compromises people will be willing to make?

By Oilburner on 29 June, 2010, 10:28am

A Vauxhall with German number plates?
Be honest.Its an Opel.
My first car was an Opel Kadett Coupe.
Better built than the Chevette.
More reliable.
Better image.My Grandad had the Vauxhall.

By toycollector on 29 June, 2010, 11:39am

"The 30-litre fuel tank gives 311 more miles of range. Economy is calculated at an incredible 175mpg"

Running on petrol, I calculate 10,4 MPG....

By AdvanderMeer on 29 June, 2010, 1:33pm

If it's a 30 litre tank, then that is 6.6 gallons which for 311 miles gives 47 MPG once the generator kicks in.

Good, but not really blowing away any diesels.

Why can't Vauxhall be honest and say what this does, rather than some made up 175 MPG number.

If you drive:

40 miles = infinite MPG
80 miles = 94 MPG
120 miles = 70.5 MPG

etc.

The longer you go, the more petrol you use, the worse the economy - tailing towards the 47 MPG number.

By dpeilow on 29 June, 2010, 2:29pm

And just to follow that up, you get the 175 MPG figure when you drive... 54.7 miles (give or take a few yards).

By dpeilow on 29 June, 2010, 3:02pm

Nice design

So far the design is very appealing but as others have suggested the MPG might be slightly out a tad! In picture 2 the driver must not break the law by taking his eyes off the road which is not a good advertisement for Vauxhall (or in this case Opel)! The front end of the sporty version (in pic 5) is looking promising.....

By aarontp on 30 June, 2010, 6:50am

Come on, this is the most practical hybrid yet.

You can actually drive it as an EV for most trips but it still has the capacity to make long journeys. It combines EV capability with halfway reasonable battery costs.

The choice of a 4 pot petrol backup unit probably has more to do with packaging, cost and vibration issues than anything else. This is a prototype after all. Better software which can understand the journey profile and manage battery assistance to improve the high speed acceleration experience should help.

By haggardpete on 30 June, 2010, 3:47pm

In the real world...

Let's think about this logically, i live 50 miles from work, which means i can do 40 miles on battery power and 10 miles with the motor running, I'm sure there will be a quick charge feature giving 80% battery charge, and i'm sure with the bosses permission he will allow me to charge the battery at work so i've then got 32 miles on the battery and 18 miles on the motor for the return journey, meaning on a daily basis the motor is only running for 28 miles.

This mean a full tank of fuel (30 litres) would last me 11 working days, and only cost £36 to fill up. Let's compare this to my Peugeot 306 2.0Hdi where i average 55mpg, costs me £75 a week to fill up and average 600 miles to a tank, over a months driving i would be saving a whopping £228, not forgetting no congestion charge, road tax etc etc.

This is a massive step in the right direction if you ask me, and don't get me wrong, i haven't just jumped on the green train for the sake of it, i'm a petrol head through and through, running an M3 for the weekends, the reason i think cars like the ampera are such a great idea is beacause it will allow me the continued joy of taking the M3 out for a spin without the car being taxed of the road through continuing fuel price hikes, road tax and so on and so forth.

By drewbagz on 3 August, 2010, 11:09am

Vauxhall Ampera

Been reading the reviews on Ampera not exactly convinced its
a good buy at £28,000> i think Vauxhall are close but no cigar
quite a way to go for improvement

If it has 134bhp electric motor, why has it such a large
uneconomical 1400cc petrol engine to basically charge
the battery, surely a small sub 500cc single or twin cylinder diesel engine could acheive that, then you could run on
electric all the time..

Is a 134bhp not powerful enough to power the car on
its own, without the need for petrol power....???

Come on Vauxhall get your finger out and design us
a car that we can use economically.....!! and last of
all lower the prices so the masses who are interested
can afford to buy one, we are not all company directors...

By huey45 on 20 April, 2011, 1:11pm

Hasselblad

Drewbagz with his/her 50 mile trip seems to be hitting the nail on the head.
Hybrids like the Ampere are the 'best fit' for most car users. EVs like the Nissan Leaf are invariably a waste of space.

I have had two hybrids and they have both reduced my running costs significantly. They have both failed by not being able to utilise house mains power.
The Ampere goes some way to solving that problem and will enable me to go an entire working week on elecrical input only.

However, it is not ALL GOOD!

If you charge the car overnight on Economy 7 'cheap' electricity you will have to factor in the big INCREASE in cost of all your daytime electricity........usually over twice the night rate and a lot more expensive than standard unit costs. It will make having the plasma TV on a decidedly nagging decision! Maybe.

Also, these electrical alternative cars are NOT environmentally clean. Power stations average between 400 and 700g of CO2 for every kilowatt hour they pump out. Multiply that by the battery capacity and divide by the ACTUAL range you get, and you will see what I mean.
In most cases, its a con!

But, then again, do you have any evidence that anthropogenic CO2 is the cause of our weather patterns changing?............there are some good books out there that will help!

By Hasselblad on 15 May, 2011, 7:34am

Got to start some where

This car is about fitting the needs of those people who do the 40 or so miles a day rat run and don't park on the street so its not for everyone.

But if you fit the category and I'll wager there are a lot of others out there this is going to be a unique solution.

And at the weekend with longer journeys well the car just drops into petrol mode and does that too,

Its really that simple.......its a solution for a vast market,,,,,,like all good design its a balance of compromises where the balance is right for the moment.

Yes its expensive so maybe only 20% of its potential market will even consider it but that's 20% of a lot of people.

And every price rise at the pumps just tips the balance in favour of the Ampera.......lets face it the days of petrol prices dropping have gone,,,,,,its just a question of how long we cling to vehicles with no alternative fuel source.

By slartybartfarst on 24 June, 2011, 9:26pm

I have driven it!

Saturday 26/11 as a guest of Vauxhall, I took a LHD German built Ampera out for a spin. Great acceleration, firm suspension giving a comfortable and compliant ride! With a Toyota or Honda badge, I would leave a deposit ... But as Vauxhall figure so badly in JDP and customer satisfaction, with depreciation faster than burning £5 notes ... I am frightened to invest £28K+ until Vauxhall prove they can guarantee build quality. A lifetime warranty is fine, but not if it spends 2 days a week at the dealers! GREAT car ... Shame it's a Vauxhall.

By Tatman on 29 November, 2011, 5:32pm

STYLE

Well it doesnt look bad. looks like a modified earlier chevy design with a bit of civic at the back and a lot of Saab at the front, in fact it could have been badged as Saab. I like the idea of the isolated IC engine as just a generator. I would like to know more about the drive, is it a motor in each wheel or conventional front drive. Where is it built because if its in the US the build quality and dynamics will be terrible.

By STILLO52 on 2 April, 2012, 2:49pm