And what if anything do you do differently now driving wise to prevent recurrence of the issue?
.sjb
And what if anything do you do differently now driving wise to prevent recurrence of the issue?
.sjb
I use the regen less. I switch it off on the motorway for instance and use the brakes a little more. I have not really noticed any change in consumption.
I have owned an i4 for two years and have never used the climate control to heat or cool the car interior prior to departure. Like you, I am retired and have no regular set departure times. Whatâs more, I donât personally feel I need to set the interior temperature before departure. The heating/air conditioning systems, maybe combined with open windows on hot days, work well enough for me to be comfortable within a few minutes. If I lived in Canada or the Middle East I suspect I would feel differently. Of course, another consideration is that use of the air conditioning consumes a significant amount of energy so would affect the vehicle range. Thatâs why I drive in âEco Proâ mode most of the time rather than Comfort or Sport. Eco Pro cuts the energy usage of the air con system and reduces performance somewhat in order to optimise the driving range. This suits me fine, although others will no doubt prefer something different.
Neither have I ever used battery pre-conditioning prior to charging and have no idea of any benefits it might bring.
Thanks, Andrew. I started with the car on Comfort, but have changed over to Eco - like you I find it makes little difference in terms of air conditioning etc, but helps a bit with range.
I have used climatisation on a few occasions - mainly before longer journeys when I am charging overnight and know when I will leave - I assume that setting the cabin temp while the car is plugged in will help with range. But it is completely unclear to me whether getting the car and battery to a temp of say 21C is desirable for battery performance and longevity.
As I understand it, the point of the preconditioning is that you use mains power to heat or cool the car. That means that the battery doesnât need to do it once you start driving, preserving battery power and increasing range.
I have read that regen braking saves wear on the break pads, offsetting to some degree the increased emissions from tire dust due to the high vehicle weight for electrics. We press the brake pedal when stopped at intersections etc. and occasionally to scrape off rust on the rotors, as the manual recommends.
We tested the Mach-E, Ionic 5, EV6, and GV60 before buying the BMW iX50 Sport, the most expensive of all we tried. I am still shocked we made the choice we did, because we loved them all, especially the Genesis.
A lot of the BMW aesthetics plus the price turned me off to the point I never intended to consider it. But the reviews and safety marks were good, and my wife pushed for the test drive. Game over. And, we were ready for a treat after 30 happy years in Hondas.
I thought I did not like the BMW âsmartâ regen in D, and full one-pedal driving in B; but now I think it is genius.
The Kia, Genesis, Hyundai paddles work well for setting your precise regen pref. I thought I preferred that, but have changed my mind to the BMW way.
We donât drive much, and live in the city where we can recharge in our driveway. The three year lease at 7500 miles per year gives us what we need, with a known (steep) depreciation experience that beats what some friends have seen when buying outright, with the planned âopportunityâ to do something smarter in 36 months, with the newest tech. And with luck, we will not have to replace a set of expensive tires.
Nicest driving experience I have ever had in any car or SUV. Still love our Honda Pilot, but as easy and cheap as charging is at home (if you can do that), it is unlikely we would buy a non-EV when we replace the Pilot. Hybrids still make a lot of sense for high-milers, but thatâs not us.
Nick
Well, after a little bit more investigating, apparently the answer is in the Kia manual!
If there is a surface rust on the brake disc or squeal can be heard, select level 0 of the regenerative brake system.
The regenerative brake system will be temporarily deactivated to clean the brake disc.
Depressing a brake while driving approximately 10 times, the regenerative brake system will not be operated during Brake Disc Cleaning mode is activated (Regenerative brake system level 0). The energy consumption may increases.
After Brake Disc Cleaning mode operates, the regenerative brake system will activate again.
And apparently on some Kias but not my EV6 there is a brake cleaning mode that you can activate by holding down the auto hold button for three seconds.
.sjb
I cant every remember driving my i3s and not using the brake pedal. Yes, i use the regan braking, especialy around town, but it is beneficial to depress the brake pedal every so often. Especially when stopped at say lights.
Id not be overthinking too much of this. Drive it like youd drive a IC car and enjoy the additional " engine" braking.
âWe donât drive much, and live in the cityâ yet bought a large boat like the ix50 !
Regarding disc wear. When I walk round my car giving it a visual inspection prior to driving off (assuming that we all check our vehicles) looking at tyres and the like I also look at the disks, if they are rusty then I use the brake pedal a couple of times to clean the disc, even if in regen mode. Do check there is no one close behind as you will slow down quite quickly.
IIRC most EVs have automatic brake hold for when the vehicle is stationary. Sometimes this is implemented by a brake/hold mechanism on drive shaft sometimes by applying brakes, user manual may give answers for your particular vehicle.
Being a large old man now, I no longer fit into the 3 series the way I used to! I had an 88 325 I loved, before becoming a family man in the 90âs.
Seasons of life. ![]()
I rented an EQE sedan recently. Wonderful car to drive, but difficult for me to get in and out of at its height.
Having genuinely enjoyed driving in England, I have appreciated the real advantages of driving smaller cars on some of the narrow roads. Here in the US, everything is scaled for American cars of the 40âs and later. Full size American cars, common here in their day, peaked in 1976, when downsizing began. Those old boats make the iX feel quite svelte!
Nick
Still awaiting my Renault 5. In the meantime, Iâve been researching upgrading the stereo, given that the (apparently) superior Harmon Kardon version isnât an option in the UK.
Social media suggests adding a small âsubwooferâ under the passenger seat and 4 x Focal Speakers inserted to replace the stock ones in the doors. Fitted cost, just over a grand.
Is this THE âFocalâ by any chance ? If so then this all sounds very appropriate ![]()
Thatâs weird. We have the Harman Kardon in our Megane.
Most units in a carâŚâŚincluding Naim for Bentley are made by Harman Kardon, despite the branding. They might not design it, but they make most of the OEM car hifi.
HK is an option just about everywhere else in the world but, bizarrely, not the UK. Even on the top spec models youâre stuck with an âArkamysâ
system, which most drivers arenât impressed with. So aftermarket it is.
I see that Focal also do twin underseat subwoofers (I use the term advisedly), which I will also investigate.
I see the Alpine A290, which is basically an R5 with tweaks, has a Devialet system. Wonder what the design of that is and whether it may give way to aftermarket options.
Re the A290 stereo spec. The only things of real interest are a â615 Watt amplifierâ (obviously a meaningless figure) and a subwoofer in the boot. But that takes up the charging cable space which is far from ideal.
Focal recommends use of their smallest amp with the underseat subwoofers, but things will be getting a bit crowded in the R5 by now.
Comments online tend to centre on the fact that this is all very unimportant compared to having a heated steering wheel or lumbar support etc option, but Iâd happily forego those for decent sound as standard.
We have the top spec Megane. The two main things that differentiate it from the model below are the aforementioned HK stereo and all round cameras. While the HK is good, itâs the cameras we find really useful. It makes reversing into parking spaces so much easier. It apparently has self parking too, which weâve not tried. In fact Iâd forgotten about it until writing this!
I am now driving this I5 with all wheel drive since January this year. Consider me a convert as I had big diesels before. In general quite happy with the experience. And the driving part is actually fantastic.
My normal pattern is to charge when I am in the gym at work. So that charging doesnât hurt. And on long distances like driving to the Netherlands or Italy I find the charging normally not an issue as you also with any other car make a stop to eat and later again to pee and have a coffee. The only disadvantage is that you often end up on a place which is not directly on the autobahnâŚ., but one getâs used to that and starts to know the spots with preference. When I need to change again in 2,5 years I am sure I will get another EV as I also belief that by then range has further increased. Now in winter 360 or more and in summer 460 ish. The only change in driving behavior is that before I drove topspeelster when possible (260) or anything under that what was possibleâŚ. Now I donât hit topspeed so often as the consumption price is too high and your range getâs too much affected. So now normal cruising speed on the autobahn is 160-180âŚ
You really need to try the self parking. Had it on my top spec 2016 VW CC.
First attempt, having not bothered with reading the instructions, the car parked itself perfectly parallel. Unfortunately i was hoping to park in a bay. It parked 90 degrees from everyone else beautifully, taking up 3 bays.
When you watch what it does parking itself you can learn a lot about how you really should park. Definitely worth using if only to see how it should be done.
But, if honest only used the feature when i was showing to others.