GavinJ
Standard Member
Second road trip of the summer, this time to visit my wife's family in Northern Ireland. This involved a drive from London to Cairnryan with a stop off in each direction half way (Preston on the way up and Kendal on the way back). MG5 fully loaded with all sorts of paraphernalia as usual.
Started with 100% from home. Trip North was in the dry on Friday (with really bad traffic). Needed to divert on M5 vs M42/M6 around Birmingham. Stopped off at Sandbach (good rapid chargers) before spending night just North of Preston. After a top up at Booths in Garstang (nice Instavolt chargers and good cafe) headed off in the torrential rain to Cairnryan. Quick recharge at Ionity Gretna (free charging still 6 weeks at my last visit) before the long slog along A75. Arrived in Newtownards with 25% charge (econ 3.9 miles/wh) mostly in pouring rain.
Did quite a bit of local driving in and around Down and Belfast. Struck by lack of rapid chargers here, though ESB network of chargers seemed to work. Mostly relied on granny charger at my father in law's and that worked well.
Return journey really smooth and uneventful. Recharge at Carlisle, then top up at hotel (Castle Green) at free destination charger. Finally charged at Stafford before reaching London. This was free from Ecotricity.
Total cost of charging for the journey was £24.06. Total costs (not including father in law's electricity or my charges at either end). Not bad for just over 1100 miles.
Other reflections on the trip. The comfort was appreciated by all. Noise levels were low. The low to mid range acceleration was really useful to ensure it was possible to get past the inevitable slow trucks and caravans on the A75 to maintain a good average speed. Economy for the whole trip around 4m/kwh using eco with a/c on eco cruising at max speed on A roads and 68 ish on Motorway. While it would be more useful from a peace of mind perspective to have the long range, in all honesty you need to take a break after 2 to 2.5 hours anyway, so I found the standard range enough (at least in summer). Only gripe is infotainment, when sometimes it is reluctant to connect to Android Auto. Also, it would be handy to have a warning light to indicate charging flap is open. I was distracted when disconnecting and drove off with it open. Finally climate control is not intelligent on eco mode. When o/s temp falls below 15c, inside temp set to 20c and it is raining, the windscreen fogs up. I suspect compressor is switched off then and the ambient air is passing over cold coils onto screen. Never had this problem with previous car (Auris Hybrid) on Eco in similar circs. The only cure is to cycle between eco and defrost.
Hope this is useful. Let me know your comments/feedback.
Started with 100% from home. Trip North was in the dry on Friday (with really bad traffic). Needed to divert on M5 vs M42/M6 around Birmingham. Stopped off at Sandbach (good rapid chargers) before spending night just North of Preston. After a top up at Booths in Garstang (nice Instavolt chargers and good cafe) headed off in the torrential rain to Cairnryan. Quick recharge at Ionity Gretna (free charging still 6 weeks at my last visit) before the long slog along A75. Arrived in Newtownards with 25% charge (econ 3.9 miles/wh) mostly in pouring rain.
Did quite a bit of local driving in and around Down and Belfast. Struck by lack of rapid chargers here, though ESB network of chargers seemed to work. Mostly relied on granny charger at my father in law's and that worked well.
Return journey really smooth and uneventful. Recharge at Carlisle, then top up at hotel (Castle Green) at free destination charger. Finally charged at Stafford before reaching London. This was free from Ecotricity.
Total cost of charging for the journey was £24.06. Total costs (not including father in law's electricity or my charges at either end). Not bad for just over 1100 miles.
Other reflections on the trip. The comfort was appreciated by all. Noise levels were low. The low to mid range acceleration was really useful to ensure it was possible to get past the inevitable slow trucks and caravans on the A75 to maintain a good average speed. Economy for the whole trip around 4m/kwh using eco with a/c on eco cruising at max speed on A roads and 68 ish on Motorway. While it would be more useful from a peace of mind perspective to have the long range, in all honesty you need to take a break after 2 to 2.5 hours anyway, so I found the standard range enough (at least in summer). Only gripe is infotainment, when sometimes it is reluctant to connect to Android Auto. Also, it would be handy to have a warning light to indicate charging flap is open. I was distracted when disconnecting and drove off with it open. Finally climate control is not intelligent on eco mode. When o/s temp falls below 15c, inside temp set to 20c and it is raining, the windscreen fogs up. I suspect compressor is switched off then and the ambient air is passing over cold coils onto screen. Never had this problem with previous car (Auris Hybrid) on Eco in similar circs. The only cure is to cycle between eco and defrost.
Hope this is useful. Let me know your comments/feedback.
