Vehicles that interest you.

[Basil]

Better stick with your Hyundai Veloster turbo then   

[arekaywhy]

https://www.driven.co.nz/news/flooding-exposes-extreme-risk-of-new-electric-cars/?utm_source=nzh&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=topbox

hmmm...so if you "believe" in climate change, this might be another problem to overcome, being a problem with the overcoming of the problem

meanwhile, if you want one as a cool toy, this is another dampening of the excitement *cough*

[arekaywhy]

https://www.driven.co.nz/news/stream-crossing-writes-off-couple-s-electric-car/?utm_source=nzh&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=nzh-home

less than ideal

[arekaywhy]

Not going well...

https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/130815615/fire-destroys-new-ev-in-wellington-car-company-launches-investigation

But I still want this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TptzkkbC1vE

[Basil]

Seems there's some new "Gee Wizz" stuff coming from BMW but not yet.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/bmw-ceo-says-neue-klasse-evs-will-offer-benchmark-range-prices/ar-AA16qNaP?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=ad78df5c5aae4cfebbe009a0a2e6d9e1

[Basil]

Giltrap making "friends" and influencing people, (NOT).
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-family-fight-for-refund-for-refund-after-135000-audi-damaged-by-faulty-ac-pipe/DLJQDCCANRBOJF5WOP67RR3DGE/
In my experience this is typical of "high end" vehicle dealerships.
You would think they would look after you but they take a very "commercial" approach.
If you think you are special and that paying a lot of money for a European vehicle means you'll be looked after in a way commensurate with how much money you've spent, you're setting yourself up for disappointment when something goes wrong.  They will generally do the absolute minimum they can get away with and remember the more technology that's crammed into the vehicle you are buying, the more things there are to go wrong.

[Basil]

Thanks, love John and his cynicism and the way he does his video's, what a character he is 👍
He makes some good points that I'm fully across.
He's absolutely correct. the fact is there are more efficient vehicles of that type, the most efficient being the Hyundai Tuscon hybrid at 4.9 L /100 km's, (probably test driving that later this week) and the latest Kia Sportage hybrid hybrid 5.4 L 100km's, just released here this week and will be test driven this afternoon, both of which run on 91 Octane.

None of these vehicles will attract road user charges and we don't want an EV due to fire risk, higher initial capex, road user charges and high depreciation due to my belief that we will have vastly better batteries, (solid state) in a few years).

John, as you would expect due to his background focuses on the engineering side of things.  What he doesn't cover in any depth is the drive experience.  Just sticking with the Nissan for a second because its the most recent winner of that mega SUV test, I absolutely hate CVT transmissions and there's a huge class action lawsuit against Nissan against their CVT's.  In addition, the standard vehicle produces a pretty miserable 244nm of torque at optimum revs whereas by comparison the e power produces 525nm of torque from zero revs, more than twice the torque so promises a very different driving experience.  That's especially relevant to me as I live in a very hilly area, (think Baldwin Street, colloquially known as Jaffa street in Dunedin), and frankly, 244nm would not cut the mustard around here....it would labour up our street with dreadful CVT drone.

Additionally, the e-power is considerably faster than the conventionally powered X Trail, about 1 second quicker to 100 km's (N.Z. Autocar got 0-100 in 6.94 seconds and 80-120 k.p.h. overtake in just over 4 seconds.  Those are very good numbers for a comfortable family SUV. and its very quiet too.

Further mudding the water is the top spec TIL X Trail has a vast array of equipment normally only found in a much more expensive vehicle and is one of only a very small number of vehicles on the N.Z. market available with the option of tan leather.  This dog has a real soft spot for tan leather.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=6hZYlguo&id=CC9437D665A5CF5EE4A6E0E48A5C1506B3B1209D&thid=OIP.6hZYlguoPd66HulTuNSDmAHaEQ&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fsimautomototive.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2022%2f09%2fNissan_XTrail_2022.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR.ea1658960ba83ddeba1ee953b8d48398%3frik%3dnSCxswYVXIrk4A%26pid%3dImgRaw%26r%3d0&exph=589&expw=1024&q=nissan+x+trail+epower+tan+leather+interior&simid=608033259433971263&FORM=IRPRST&ck=76B04A78BECF51859E23A73DAB11C555&selectedIndex=0&itb=0&idpp=overlayview&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0

As you can see mate, there's more to it than just what's the most fuel efficient but I will be test driving at least 2 alternative vehicles so I'll get a good feel for what's best for what I'm looking for..

[Waltzing]

Heres is some real racing ...

only in ireland...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NAjXgfi6PA

[Stoploss]

Seen this in England on a dual carriage way as well...

[Basil]

My own very subjective rating on the two vehicles based on a scoring system I devised that's unique to what's important to me, out of 10 is:-
Kia Sportage Hybrid "light" (pretty modest specification $53,990) 8.5
Nissan X Trail e power ST-L (mid spec $62,990)  7.5
Both very good vehicles for quite sensible money.
Presently awaiting the release of the mid spec Kia Hybrid in April / May and will have another look then.
Happy to post more detail on scoring and thoughts on them if anyone is interested.

[Waltzing]

well here is a car that you might not want to own...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/07/jaguar-i-pace-alleged-malfunction-driver-fear-life-m62/

[kiwi2007]

well here is a car that you might not want to own...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/07/jaguar-i-pace-alleged-malfunction-driver-fear-life-m62/

For me, more surprising than a £80,000 Jaguar I-Pace "going rogue" is that a 31 year old crisis support worker with children can afford one.

[Waltzing]

Must be why the Uk is broke!!!!!

[Basil]

New Audi etron out with more power than you can possibly use on N.Z. roads.
RS version has 680 kw's + 70 kw's more in boost mode for when 680 is not enough lol...my goodness that's over 1000 horsepower in the old terminology https://www.autocar.co.nz/audi-e-tron-gt-goes-for-taycans-jugular/

[JeffW]

New Audi etron out with more power than you can possibly use on N.Z. roads.
RS version has 680 kw's + 70 kw's more in boost mode for when 680 is not enough lol...my goodness that's over 1000 horsepower in the old terminology https://www.autocar.co.nz/audi-e-tron-gt-goes-for-taycans-jugular/

I have the base model of the one that this is replacing - "only" 470hp and sub 4sec for 0-100 so the new one will be a real monster!

https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/2128163373.jpg