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First impressions

3K views 17 replies 9 participants last post by  JayEM 
#1 ·
Firstly, I'm from West Yorkshire, UK, so it's RH drive UK spec Touring. My daily is a BMW i8.

My wife's Solterra was ready to be picked up yesterday (arriving months ahead of the original delivery date), so I was dispatched as she's not too driving "new" cars. 10 miles on urban single and dual carriageway roads. First impressions? It's bloody brilliant, drives really well, quick and sure-footed, and the tech enhances the drive.

A couple of early observations:
  1. Switching the A/C on drops the range by 50 miles. Yikes. So I left it set with heated seats and wheel. Range fully charged showed 255 miles - temp was 8 degrees celsius - or 205 when the A/C is on.
  2. It feels long. Maybe it's the slight cab-forward layout or the limited natural view from the RVM.
  3. The LCD rear mirror takes some getting used to, but it's really good as are the 360 camera views.
  4. It's quick, much quicker than the 0-60 time suggests.
  5. It's huge inside and easy to get comfortable. Acres of space in the back.
  6. The "you look over the steering wheel" thing takes about 5 mins to get used to.
  7. Lots of random bings and bongs, I need to read the manual
  8. Easy to park, and our drive is quite tight
  9. The stereo is epic, but Carplay on Youtube Music seemed to stutter in and out a bit
  10. Looks nice in red
  11. The panorama roof is good, it lets lots of light in on a gloomy day with a car wearing a black interior.
  12. Heated seats and wheel are good, better than most
  13. The forward view out is excellent
  14. It's tall, esp at the back
  15. Some ergo (the close and lock button on the boot) take a read of the manual to understand WTF is going on
  16. Charges pretty quickly on my 7kW home charger
  17. Headlights are good
  18. Massive screens and LCD mirror does not distract and work really well
  19. One-pedal driving doesn't work when the battery is full
  20. Stepped regen is ace and very controllable. And it feels natural to use.
  21. Gear selector is fiddly but I'll get used to it.
Will report back but super impressed so far. Oh, and hello
 
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#3 ·
Great notes and congrats on the (early!) delivery!
Can you expand on what you mean about it being tall in the back - is that liftover hight for loading cargo, or something entirely different? Maybe everything feels tall to an i8 driver!
And when you say one-pedal doesn't work when the batter is full, I get that there's nowhere for the regen to go, but does that mean the car doesn't slow as aggressively when you lift off the accelerator?

Share some pics if you can. I'd love to see it in red!
 
#4 ·
And when you say one-pedal doesn't work when the batter is full, I get that there's nowhere for the regen to go, but does that mean the car doesn't slow as aggressively when you lift off the accelerator?
My Kona was the same way. But once a few miles are driven off, regen returns. Remember, it is only at 100% this happens and you don't charge to that all the time.

I have an electric bike, and it also does the same thing.
 
#14 ·
Quick replies
  1. Carplay is wireless on the QI charge pad. Works well aside from YT music stuttering which I will investigate more when I get a chance
  2. Colour choices are a bit dull, red seemed to brighten up what is a fairly slab-sided lump of metal & plastic.
  3. Boot opening is height adjustable and a job to do since wifey struggles to reach the close button
  4. I’ll take some more shots in darker settings
  5. Consumption is currently showing 2 miles/kWh but the car is new and driving is not really representative of normal use yet

 
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