Brand new owner - some first questions please?

[NickJ]

Hi everyone,
I've just picked up my HS Phev from a dealer in Sheffield after several test drives near home on the south coast. Car offered - 21 plate, Exclusive, red leather, 3000 miles was worth the train journey and a 240 mile return trip! I love the car - it's so easy to drive. I do have a few questions to get going with. I would be grateful for any answers/ advice.
1.The dealer put in what he said was a full tank of fuel but when I got in the car, the gauge only stated 243 miles left. Once I got going the gauge did go up to over 300 miles at one point but did fluctuate a lot on the way home. In the end I got about 41/42 mpg on the journey home and still had a couple of blips left. Does that sound about right or should I be getting more? Didn't use EV. I've just filled up for the first time and it took 34 litres - about 49 quid. First look at the cumulative readings for the first 300 miles showed 43.5 mpg with a bit of EV driving. Again does this sound fair? Thought I may have got a bit more.

2. The day I picked up the car was the day the electric hike was announced. Does this car still offer good running costs value in others opinions? Not really too bothered cos love the car.
3. Have only got the supplied plug socket charger at moment. Can I pick up a type 2 to type 2 cable from anywhere or does it have to be MG? Any suggestions / prices?

And finally,
4. The free charging at Tesco seems too good to be true! Is this likely to remain with electric prices going through the roof??

Grateful for any responses. Just about to plug in for the first time.
Thanks,
Nick

Ps - hopefully I'll stop thinking about economy factors soon and just enjoy the car!!!

 

[Jto]

Hi Nick
you find that the petrol gauge will go up and down depending on the road you go on if you go from 30mph road on to a 60mph it will increase as you are getting better miles per gallon. Over time and as the car runs in it will get better. Depending on the price of petrol it’s about right.
I got a cable from ebay for £99 from EV charging I think it was, as to Tesco charging I have used one con holiday when there was the big queues and it work well no problem just down load the pod point app and follow the instructions and check the parking times as yours could be 2 hours in summer and 3 hours max in winter.

 

[Jto]

What electric price you have at the minute I spend less then a pound a day to go to from work Using EV and ICE and put in £20 every 15 to 28 days depending on the out side temperature.

 

[NickJ]

That sounds good. I'm not exactly sure - can't access my British Gas account but just come out of fixed rate. I imagine it's about 20p.
I'm guessing an average week will see me go about 100 miles local travel max mainly in short journeys. I'm thinking if I can charge at a free station once a week and maybe charge a couple of times at home, that may well cover most of those?

 

[chilljohn]

Sounds like the one at Eric stead , if so looked a loverly car when I had a look at it while mine was getting booked in for work , don't forget to charge on the Tesco you will need the pod point app to confirm the charge or will stop after 15mins , I've changed in Worksop Tesco from flat took about 4 hours so after a shop and a film in the car all was good

 

[Iain]

Hi Nick, Your battery will not be so efficient at the moment due to the colder weather. But you should still easily achieve over 3 miles per kilowatt. If you were to drive a 40 mile journey this would use approximately 13kw of electricity. Assuming your leccie cost of 20p per kw your 40 mile journey would cost you £2.60. Try buying a gallon of Petrol for that amount.
Before all the mathematicians out there criticise my figures they are only rough to give you an indication of how much cheaper it is to run on electric.
Also when the weather gets warmer the battery efficiency will improve giving even better results.
Obviously any free charges you obtain the better still.

 

[jem111111]

Welcome to the forum.
There is a lot of great information on the forum re fuel economy , Warming in winter , how's the best to drive it ( leave it in hybrid , or manually force it into EV) . Known issues etc.
Take a look at all those and hopefully it will answer most ( if not all ) of your questions.
If you still have questions , then this is a great place to to ask those questions and get a good range of answers from a lot of good people with a good knowledge of the car.
You are right its a great car , and I love driving it

 

[NickJ]

Hi Nick, Your battery will not be so efficient at the moment due to the colder weather. But you should still easily achieve over 3 miles per kilowatt. If you were to drive a 40 mile journey this would use approximately 13kw of electricity. Assuming your leccie cost of 20p per kw your 40 mile journey would cost you £2.60. Try buying a gallon of Petrol for that amount.
Before all the mathematicians out there criticise my figures they are only rough to give you an indication of how much cheaper it is to run on electric.
Also when the weather gets warmer the battery efficiency will improve giving even better results.
Obviously any free charges you obtain the better still.

Thanks for that. I think the battery is doing ok on EV mode at the moment to be honest. It's now reading 11 miles but I'm sure I've done more than 20 miles on it. Just thought I may get more on hybrid but will see how it goes.
Thank you all for your help. Any more suggestions on a charging cable ?

 

[NickJ]

Sounds like the one at Eric stead , if so looked a loverly car when I had a look at it while mine was getting booked in for work , don't forget to charge on the Tesco you will need the pod point app to confirm the charge or will stop after 15mins , I've changed in Worksop Tesco from flat took about 4 hours so after a shop and a film in the car all was good

Yep - was Eric Stead. Very good service to be honest. The car is Very red and black but as a Brentford supporter , suits me fine!!!!!!!

 

[NickJ]

Sorry - me again!! Should the mileage drop from 283 to 275 whilst it's warming up/ de misting before drive off. Seems extreme!! Hopefully will go up when start driving!

 

[GCB]

The ICE range indicator is complete rubbish. I wish it could be turned off as it annoys me when I drive 5 miles and it drops about 20 sometimes!! It takes a far too small time/mileage sample to work out the range. This results in drops to the range indicated when the engine is warming up and giving about mid 20's mpg. Once you are running normally and on normal A roads the ICE is much more efficient and the range suddenly starts increasing as if you are using no petrol! It's best to just look at the trip readouts and the normal petrol gauge, in my opinion.

Just as a heads up, from my usage (7000+ miles now), I get the following in hybrid (auto) mode without juggling the ev mode manually to get more (which I tend to do to arrive home with an exhausted battery):

Fast A road/Motorway i.e. constant 70mph: minimum 40mpg up to mid 40's.
Single carriagway A/B roads when the electric motor can help more: Mid 50's mpg.

Overall, with using ev for short journeys and trying to maximise ev use on longer journeys, I'm getting about 70mpg plus the electric usage, obviously.

Hope this helps.

 

[NickJ]

Thanks for that GCB. That's all really reassuring. I've just plugged it in at home for the first time and my smart meter is showing 34 p an hour. On my calculations that mens it should fill for about £2.40? Sounds a bit too good. Anyway I'll stop worrying now and just enjoy driving.

 

[hewguy]

Hi everyone,
I've just picked up my HS Phev from a dealer in Sheffield after several test drives near home on the south coast. Car offered - 21 plate, Exclusive, red leather, 3000 miles was worth the train journey and a 240 mile return trip! I love the car - it's so easy to drive. I do have a few questions to get going with. I would be grateful for any answers/ advice.
1.The dealer put in what he said was a full tank of fuel but when I got in the car, the gauge only stated 243 miles left. Once I got going the gauge did go up to over 300 miles at one point but did fluctuate a lot on the way home. In the end I got about 41/42 mpg on the journey home and still had a couple of blips left. Does that sound about right or should I be getting more? Didn't use EV. I've just filled up for the first time and it took 34 litres - about 49 quid. First look at the cumulative readings for the first 300 miles showed 43.5 mpg with a bit of EV driving. Again does this sound fair? Thought I may have got a bit more.

2. The day I picked up the car was the day the electric hike was announced. Does this car still offer good running costs value in others opinions? Not really too bothered cos love the car.
3. Have only got the supplied plug socket charger at moment. Can I pick up a type 2 to type 2 cable from anywhere or does it have to be MG? Any suggestions / prices?

And finally,
4. The free charging at Tesco seems too good to be true! Is this likely to remain with electric prices going through the roof??

Grateful for any responses. Just about to plug in for the first time.
Thanks,
Nick

Ps - hopefully I'll stop thinking about economy factors soon and just enjoy the car!!!

Hi Nick, Do not worry, you will love it the more you use it, top up at Tesco's as much as poss., I picked mine up from Luscombes Leeds, 250 mile trip home with overnight diversion to keep on slower roads to run in, got home with about 119 miles in tank and 2 miles on charge, that added makes 370 in auto use, hyper-mile as much as poss., basically don't use the brakes, when I fill up now, 9 months in, it registers nearly 400 miles with full charge, overall states 68ish mpg, and 50ish on the fuel, not so economical as my Kadjar, 70mpg, but mostly local use on EV, keeps costs down, and very eco friendly

 

[sky0000547]

Thanks for that GCB. That's all really reassuring. I've just plugged it in at home for the first time and my smart meter is showing 34 p an hour. On my calculations that mens it should fill for about £2.40? Sounds a bit too good. Anyway I'll stop worrying now and just enjoy driving.

You should start looking at other electricity tariffs. Some of us are on Octopus Go charging at night at 5p/kWh so charging the battery full costs about 65p or equivalent to 2p/mile driving in EV. But of course electric prices are going up, I believe 5p/kWh is becoming 7.5p.

As for the petrol gauge. Don’t forget the car only has a 37L fuel tank compared to a normal 55L tank petrol car. The fuel gauge will fluctuate depending on the MPG you are getting. Every journeys are different.