Automotive

While the previous two drives were of low and lithe two seaters (the Alpine A110 here: www.watchprosite.com and the Lotus Emira here: www.watchprosite.com ) , I figured it’s time to try out electric mobility in parallel. As there’s currently no comparable...  

Good for those who have to move in short distances... Bad for the others. And, moreover, this makes me think of quartz watches ( super accurate ) versus mechanical watches. One has soul, the other has super accuracy. No, not for me. And on a track. One a ... 

How many days a year do you effectively drive 500 km PER DAY ? Cause only on these days you will have to charge for 20-30 minutes while your petrol car is filled up in 3 minutes. But hey ... 500 km means you probably drove 4-5 hrs ... a 20-30 minutes brea... 

at least not in Belgium. Most of my colleagues have an electric car. Simple reason, when you get a company car in belgium it must be an EV. Those are subsidised by the government while gas/diesel is punished. So they are way cheaper. During the last years... 

You will be impressed too! I don’t say, you will like it, I just say you will be impressed!

.. a little bit impressed. 2300 kilos will be the real issue, versus the 1050 kilos of his A110. I was 'impressed' 10 years ago when I tried the P85d Model S, but it felt soulless and even though it handled 'well' you were aware of the weight and the 'NON... 

I myself am a big fan of Alpine A110. I never drove a car with which I felt so much in control! I would never consider the Hyundai as an alternative, but it’s not a raw car as the Tesla was 10 years ago…

And for me they are not meant to be compared. The Alpine is a fun toy, the 5N a much more daily use car for the whole family.

If I had to buy 2 cars, one fun and one family, one has to be EV (the real fun car can't be EV yet) I would definitely go for these two. I would 100% prefer the Hyundai above a Plaid or Taycan ... although I would have to try the newest Model 3 Performanc...  

One family friendly car, which might well turn out to be a fully electric one, and then a fun one like the Alpine for the rest of the duties, i.e. mountain pass and road trip fun. As an alternative maybe a Yaris GR thrown in - that one has at least offici... 

... a Megane RS ...or .... if you like the Yaris you can go for a car that's a lot cheaper and also slower but has loads more character and especially fun ... Clo 3 RS, buy one for 15 K and spend another 10K: KW V3 Brake upgrade Spacers LSD and gearbox ov...  

But hopefully one day soon 🤞🏻 Definitely like the Megane and in the latest iteration it was even wife compatible (automatic). Still a possibility 😉

And initially quite some issues were there, especially with not all stations accepting all cards etc (Tesla did it better from the start). In the meantime it’s much less of an issue. And as you say, especially if you have solar panels on the roof the oper... 

.. une société ;-) ...  

The more I drive it, the more I start to like it. I always had diesels since 1996 when I bought a 90hp/200Nm 1.9 Tdi. Back then it was quite a fast and very smooth car, I do suspect it had more than 90 hp . I've always liked the torquey character of the p... 

As you say. Many people who have their own solar panels and rarely venture far basically get their 'energy' for free. But with the fast charging network the companies are trying to cash in at the moment, as there's still not a sensible competition. Some b... 

I've never charged except at home or a family member's house. I have tried 4-5 times and got: errors, not a charging system member, credit card reader broken, try again later, etc. I'm not a joiner, especially when each batch of charging stations has its ... 

In some countries and a reason why the spread in China has worked a lot better - there you have the same payment system over all the stations, making it incredibly easy. Likewise with Tesla, where you also do not have any issues in that respect with the S... 

But speaking to people who do 60k km+ annually with electric cars they all claim that it really isn’t an issue 😊

But it’s coming irrespective 😊🤷🏻‍♂️

As there is currently no electric alternative to the Alpine 🤷🏻‍♂️ The much closer comparison is the E63 and the Hyundai. As there’s no successor to the E63 on the market currently and as the new M5 is even heavier than the 5N it’s a tricky one. One can on... 

When I said the biggest problem was the boot I meant the Hyundai not the Alpine - that would be a pure fun car and doesn’t need nearly as much practicality so the boot is not an issue.

I need to refill the 80 liter tank every 350km or so and that takes at least 10 minutes in total. So not that much time saving 😉

So not that much of a difference 😊 A Lucid will give you 750km and more but is not as much fun (unless you go for the 1200 hp Sapphire one but then we’re talking a very different price range).

He said, he charges whenever he can, for 10 minutes, for 5 minutes, wherever there is a possibility. It’s not driving until your “tank” is empty… The good thing is, specific apps are helping you to find the right spots to get a quick up fill.. And yes, ch... 

It was also interesting to compare the inbuilt satnav against GoogleMaps. I usually use the latter for test drives as I can predesign my intended route without the need to fiddle with the inbuilt unit. Here I wanted to compare the two and the inbuilt one ... 

It’s really been track tuned to ensure the battery doesn’t overheat and that you can get maximum performance from it both on track and the road. As for the 750km drive, yes, you will have to refuel once. But unless you drive a diesel you will have to do t... 

But they are set to disappear irrespective of that. And I can see why they would slowly bow out for cars if daily use, as soon electric cars will objectively do everything better. And here the comparison with quartz vs. mechanical is not appropriate, as c... 

But I enjoyed this post very much! Lots to learn!

but I have a couple of questions. what really happen to those batteries after the vehicle is done with? are the power generated for the charging of the EVs really that "clean"?

In some countries it will be extremely sustainable in others less so. Even if the electricity is generated from less clean sources the much lower losses will still produce a better environmental footprint than with an ICE engine. As for the batteries, the... 

I also find a recent McKinsey survey on EV owners interesting. amongst the results, 46% of current EV owners in the US said they intend to switch back to ICE.

And the question is, who did the survey? Who was the audience and with what intent was the survey done? 😉

Quite some car manufacturers are currently artificially limiting supply of their electric vehicles for two reasons - first of all they are not nearly as profitable with them as with the ICE ones, and secondly, especially in leasing and other setups, where... 

They tend to be constructed just as durably as ICE cars - in fact if you look at cars such as the iX it brings so much expensive technology to the table which they would never put into a humdrum ICE car. And the life of a battery will most likely be much ... 

And with new battery technology they will get increasingly better 😊👍🏻

Not really sure about that mon ami. I have already heard some horror stories about people with their BMW X5 45e ... batteries going crap after a couple of years just out of warranty. The dealer told them it was better to buy a new car than have the batter... 

And those batteries easily lasted for about 15 years.

You know I do like the new A290, it would be a fun extra car next to the Clio and Megane. You know my Clio is almost 15 years old now and it is still as fresh as the day I bought it, thanks to good use and maintenance off course. So now start thinking abo... 

Third battery would be excessive IMHO - in principle it should still be on its first…

In my case the electrical charging is about the same per mile as petrol, if not higher

In Europe this is the key question - if you use public fast chargers they are comparable in price per mile, at home it’s quite a bit cheaper, and practically free if you have your own solar panels (a steadily increasing share of households, given the rapi... 

That is currently an issue especially for the more expensive ones. In the transitional phase, where each new generation brings significant performance improvements it’s understandable that people are reluctant to saddle themselves with what could be old t... 

Seriously, very nice review. But next time, how about something utterly 'silly' 😎

By sensible I actually meant something that would be likely fun to drive. Whether it’s sensible having something with so much performance is another question altogether. As for silly electric vehicles not that many around. Something like Tesla’s Model S P... 

I heard exactly what you said: IMPRESSIVE! Not from one source, from many! If a car like that is coming with a nice exterior, this would be something! But, and this is the but, to me at least, the car doesn’t look good! Exactly because of what you said: i... 

The Ionia 6N will come. Now its looks are also not conventional but it’s a car that’s much lower and with better aerodynamics, so that should make it an even more natural drive and aid the range somewhat, too. And as you said, others will definitely come ... 

Otherwise it looks not much different from a 3 series on the road The much lower seating positing and centre of gravity will definitely help further.

When I requested the info last time, they were around 4.50m.

And yes, you’re fully right. The cars all seem to have undergone decades of elephantiasis 🤷🏻‍♂️ Said 3 series in the M3 Touring version weighs 1,9 tons, far removed from where things started. Weight and space are both an issue.

My neighbor drives the standard version, and I've always wondered what it was like.... I also enjoy that type of retro design, and totally agree this iteration has something favorably in common with the Lancia Delta.... Thanks a lot for the write up and q... 

And too kind on the photography - I really just used the mobile phone and didn’t have that much time to take proper shots 😊🤷🏻‍♂️

.. handle this well, so now just imagine how much better a 220 hp 1480 kilo A290 will handle and drive. I've already saw the tests on Youtube where the journalists explain how 'natural' this car feels compared to the high-tech aided Hyundai. Considering a... 

The possibilities for making heavy cars handle are certainly being used - I mean the new M5 comes in at 2,5 tonnes and still handles well. F you make cars fully electric this allows you so many more options for optimizing handling on top, not just with in... 

If I find the time .....

Maybe next week, we'll see.

Whenever you do find the time we’ll be happy to read about it 😊👍🏻

.. I just discovered a new hobby

Collecting (hoarding) Hot Wheels ...  

There should be an A110 but I fear it already sold out :-( I already bought over 150 .... hihi. My wife thinks I'm going senile. ...  

Cant' seem to find it :-(

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