Articles
Nissan Ariya Nismo
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By Tim Saunders
If a large, spacious car is your main requirement then you can’t go wrong with the Nissan Ariya Nismo luxury SUV. Five occupants can sit in comfort, stretch their legs and watch the world go by. Fold the rear seat down and there’s a cavernous space that will swallow a 6ft door. Tech addicts will be sure to love everything about it from the touchscreen to the power heated front seats and wing mirrors. And don’t forget about all the lights inside and out.
I take my son, Henry, to football training one evening and there’s a torrential downpour for the entire hour. So when we return to the car, cold and damp, I’ve also got really cold hands. The heated front seats and heated steering wheel soon get me feeling better, although try as I might I cannot find a way of directing warm air to my feet. This is a common problem in my experience of electric cars.
When it’s delivered it is 74 per cent charged giving a range of 161 miles. Fully charged it’s expected to travel 247 miles. It’s parked on the road directly outside my house so I move it on to our driveway, metres away. I leave it until the following morning and when I push the start button to go on the school run the range reading has instantly plummeted to 154 miles. Ouch. These readings can relate to previous journeys and change accordingly but that doesn’t help me. Fortunately, I am only using it for local driving. “That’s what they’re best for,” says fellow football dad, Dan.
The Nismo has a clever e-pedal, which when engaged uses energy efficiently, with some motorists claiming that it even increases range. Basically, there’s little need to use the brake when this is engaged because the car automatically brakes when the driver’s foot is taken off the accelerator. Apparently this device is best used in crawling town traffic.
“It looks just like a VW,” announces my nine year old son, Henry, when he returns from school to find it. He has to dash out and give it the once over. “It’s nice,” he concludes. To me it looks like a cross between a Qashqai and a VW.
It’s easy to drive, with a simple push button start and an automatic gearbox. Whenever you walk past it with the key the car unlocks and the wing mirrors unfold. This is all very well but has me worrying about the battery charge. This is the major problem I have with these vehicles and it’s not getting any better; they are loaded with energy guzzling features from power heated seats to electric windows and so many lights it’s like the Blackpool illuminations. To me it doesn’t make sense. But this is a luxury electric car so I suppose such owners embrace these fancy frivolous features.
We like the sectional flooring in the boot that is easy to remove and clean if necessary. The textured plastic and luxury fabric on the dash is appealing and the seats are supportive and comfy.
Overall, the Nismo has grown on me over time with me looking more favourably at it as I say au revoir.
Facts at a glance
Hyundai Ioniq 5
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By Tim Saunders
Time is the most valuable commodity. My time especially. You see my seconds, minutes and hours are devoted to the most important thing in my life, my family (my wife and three children) and keeping the wolf from the door and no one or anything will get in the way of this mission.
So when the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N Line S 84kWh 228PS RWD is delivered to me and the driver says, “It’s got 60% charge, 180 miles but you can charge it can’t you?” I’m not surprised but am unimpressed. He adds: “It’s only got 600 miles on the clock.”
“I’m not surprised,” I mutter.
I do not have time to wait for a public charging point to become available and do not choose to have an unsightly box on my home. Range anxiety is no good for my health either. So I shall be using this vehicle – as I use all electric vehicles, purely for local driving instead of planned trips to Dorset and Oxford. Life, as I am sure you will agree, is all about priorities. So, instantly you can see that I am not the target market for this vehicle.
“I suggest that this car is best suited to either a singleton or a retired person with time on their hands,” says my wife, Caroline.
I wholeheartedly agree.
It takes a little bit of head scratching to figure out how to engage drive mode. While the push button start is easy enough to find on the dash I am left a little perplexed when I cannot find the usual gearstick. Ah, it’s been moved to the right of the steering wheel and is a stalk reminiscent of the gearshift found in some 1950s vehicles much like the one for the windscreen wipers behind it. It’s simple enough to turn to select drive, reverse or neutral. But how to engage the handbrake? Heidi (12) says press the button on the end of the handle. And lo and behold it works. All of this palaver is unnecessary, I feel. The stalk looks out of place to me. Change for change’s sake… And it doesn’t feel natural.
Recently, we’ve been moving things around at home – the cutlery drawer is now in the island – and I still find myself going to the old location because I’m so used to where it was. The exact same thing happens to me in the Ioniq. Will I feel more comfortable at the end of the test? I wonder.
From outside when it’s moving, there’s that electric buzz accompaniment once only associated with the hover boards on Back to the Future. I can’t say I’m a fan of that sound. This five door hatch is spacious enough inside with a good size boot. The seats are comfy and Henry (9) is at home with the ‘infotainment’. He likes scrolling the screen. The black interior does its job. Externally, it looks different from the competition thanks to the unique door styling and the matt paint finish.
Did I make the right decision about which car to take to Oxford?
The Friday rush hour journey started off with a major accident on the M27 which ultimately turned the one hour journey from our home to Oxford into a two-and-a-half hour one with diversions that made the journey longer. The full tank of fuel in our reliable old Corsa ensured that I had no range anxiety whatsoever but the journey was still stressful as we crawled along in start stop traffic for five miles and we wondered whether we could get to our destination that evening. Once in Oxford major construction work had meant that the usual routes had diversions in place adding many miles to usually short journeys and increasing journey times from five minutes to well over an hour, forcing unfortunate motorists through the clean air zone so that the council could charge drivers of petrol or diesel cars £5 a day – what a great money making scam for the council. So we had to pay £10 to the council before midnight on the day we returned or face fines. Despite this though we feel that this is £10 well spent because if we’d been in the electric car we wouldn’t have actually reached our destination and been unable to see anything of Oxford because we would've been hunting for charging points all the time.
Facts at a glance
Honda Civic 2.0 i-MMD
By Tim Saunders
The Honda Civic 2.0 i-MMD Advance is a mid-size family hatchback. Its nearest competitor might be a Mazda 3 or similar. I take it for a road test to Guernsey where it tackles the challenges of getting on to the Condor Ferries Voyager catamaran as well as pootling along narrow country lanes. Taking it on the M27 motorway from Hampshire down into Dorset allows us to travel at up to 70mph if we’re lucky, the automatic box making light work of the journey. There are paddleshifts for more entertaining driving. I discover that there are different driving modes too: economy, normal, individual and sport and that in individual it is possible to adjust things like the steering and powertrain if you wish, tailoring the car more to the driver’s requirements, which is a nice touch and enhances that all important driving experience. When in sports mode there is a hearty roar from the exhaust when the accelerator is fully pressed down. It raises a smile. “Go on, do it again Dad,” urges Henry (9). Some tailgaters get short shrift and give up, only to undertake in a traffic jam. There’s some pretty awful driving out there.
Arriving in Guernsey motorists seem to be more amenable and of a better temperament. It is necessary to drive with extra care due to strict speed limits rarely exceeding 35mph and there are some very challenging roads. The sat nav insists on directing us down the most awkward of these; single lane roads where there are stone walls either side and sometimes large stones protrude from the edge of the road making it even more difficult to manoeuvre. It’s no surprise that there are quite a few damaged cars about and yet we see a good number of large luxury vehicles. How on earth do the chauffeurs manage? We find ourselves down one road that is so narrow that when we realise we’ve gone wrong we can’t actually get out of the situation and so just have to continue with extreme caution down this road. Eventually a local helps us to find our destination. Unfortunately, not all the roads are listed on the sat nav and we find that following a traditional map is more reliable.
The Civic is a comfortable car with supportive leather seats and a good driving position. The suspension is pretty hard and this sports car is quite low to the ground, which I do enjoy. There are no complaints from my temperamental rear passengers either and there’s a good size boot for our luggage.
We like the honeycomb pattern on the dashboard and the front grille, which reminds us of the importance of bees – how nature inspires design. There’s rear privacy glass. The good size electric glass sunroof makes the black cabin a lot lighter and when the weather allows I drive with the sunroof open. Externally the metallic red Honda with its smattering of chrome around the windows, striking black grille and black alloy wheels really does look the part and we like it a lot.
Facts at a glance
Honda HR-V 2025
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Truly silent. That’s the claim from Honda with its HR-V self-charging hybrid. Apparently mild hybrids are noisy when in electric vehicle (EV) mode. But this full hybrid is quiet as a mouse. And I can vouch this is true.
These days I am most interested in economy and note that this SUV will travel over 400 miles on its 40 litre fuel tank and is capable of returning up to 70 odd mpg. The only way to test this is to take it on a long journey and so a trip to North Devon, with its good variety of roads, seems ideal. It’s more than 150 miles from our Hampshire home and takes the best part of three hours to travel to Ilfracombe. While the bulk of the journey is on unadventurous main roads, the sat nav soon introduces us to the narrowest country lanes known to man where caution is certainly required. We discover parts of Devon we never knew existed. I often hanker after a manual gearbox but find that the automatic with paddle shifts in this HR-V is a blessing over the course of this journey, not least because of worryingly steep inclines. On a couple of occasions I am left very surprised that the front wheels have not actually left the road altogether. How people live on such steep hills I will never know. But the Honda takes it all in its stride. I even manage to parallel park on a hill at Combe Martin.
“I love it when you drive on the wrong side of the road,” says my son Henry (9) as there are no oncoming cars and I straddle the centre line on driving round a slight bend – a safe manoeuvre, allowing me to see further ahead. The Honda, with its 1.5-litre petrol engine is a swift vehicle reaching 60mph from standstill in under 11 seconds and a top speed exceeding 100mph. When pushed, that engine sounds like a motorbike under pressure and we all like it.
Homeward bound we have over 170 miles range so I am confident that I won’t need to refuel. However, steep hills soon put pay to this idea making the fuel range unreliable when there is a declining amount of fuel in the tank. And once the range hits 25 miles this reading suddenly disappears from the dashboard altogether to be replaced by a fuel refill sign – very unhelpful and unnecessarily stressful for the poor driver. The only way to keep a check on the remaining miles is to faff about finding the trip computer which then does provide the correct reading. Adding £5 of fuel to the tank does not seem to alter the remaining range and in fact adding another £5 makes little difference either. The remaining miles we have left to travel exceed the range but through slow driving I am able to claw back four miles as we reach home. It seems that here is a car that is happiest when it is above half full – the driver certainly is! Anyway we make it home with a few miles range remaining, no doubt helped by crafty use of the speed limiter at 56mph.
“It’s how it’s made,” says the collection driver. “In my experience there seems to be about 20 miles extra in the tank when it says there's low range.”
EV mode can be used at speeds of up to 60mph, I discover.
My three children complain a bit about the size of the seats in the rear with Harriett (14) and Heidi (12) taking it in turns to sit in the middle. “Henry shouldn’t have taken his car seat, which he doesn’t need now anyway,” says Heidi. Apart from that though, the interior has some neat features including the touch sensitive roof lights, similar to those LED lights you find in houses these days. The black cloth seats are of a good quality – and heated in the front - and I like the feel of the heated leather steering wheel. The power folding wing mirrors are a great help when you find yourself down a narrow country lane having to tuck in to let a tractor get by….
The boot is big enough for a couple of suitcases and a week’s supply of food but it would be helpful if the flimsy rear parcel shelf could be easily removed when travelling with such cumbersome luggage.
Finished in seabed blue pearl it is eye-catching and the plush alloy wheels enhance its side profile featuring hidden rear door handles.
Facts at a glance
Mazda3 e-Skyactiv saloon
VIDEOS
By Tim Saunders
Driving from Hampshire to Cornwall really puts a car through its paces. I do this with the Mazda3 e-Skyactiv saloon.
Externally it is a smart looking saloon, noticeably lower to the ground than many, which does give it a sporty edge. This of course means that you are nearer the road, which somehow makes it feel faster. It’s a welcome return to driving a Mazda for me, reminding me a little of the Xedos 6 I once had the privilege of owning.
I am taken aback by the size of the boot, it easily swallows two suitcases, a week’s worth of food and my son’s scooter. This would be a struggle in an SUV.
Previously I have tested the Nissan Qashqai Design e-power and was astounded by its efficiency, covering well over 500 miles on a single tank, which allows me to drive to Cornwall and back as well as do a little pottering around and still have 55 miles left to play with. Sadly the same cannot be said of the Mazda3, which I had expected as I have always found Mazdas to like their juice. This model is a 2-litre petrol hybrid whereas the Nissan Qashqai was a 1.5 litre. That 500cc difference does seem to make a difference in terms of fuel economy but then it does have a slightly bigger fuel tank too at 55 litres. The Qashqai had a neat little EV switch that you could press to ensure that it was actually on ev mode. You’re never quite sure what the Mazda is up to. This model is a six speed manual, the Nissan was an automatic. I love my manuals and the Mazda is a joy to drive despite its electric handbrake but it is not as fast as I was expecting, although its performance is quite reasonable with a sub nine second 0 to 60 time. It is necessary to fill the 51 litre tank up to return home to Hampshire and there remains a 50 mile range when we arrive.
The driving experience is good. The driver’s seat is comfortable and all controls are close to hand. I do find though that my preferred position of driving with my arms outstretched is just not possible. If I want to drive like that I can’t reach the pedals! So I end up adjusting the steering wheel so that it’s lower and suffering slightly bent arms. Often my right elbow rests on the door’s armrest, which isn’t all that comfortable.
Caroline falls asleep over the long journey, which shows that her seat must be comfortable and my three not so little occupants in the rear (Harriett 14, Heidi 12 and Henry 9) seem reasonably content.
The black cloth seating is hardwearing and I must say I prefer this to the usual leather that you find these days. There’s also an electric tilt/slide sunroof, which I like.
The sat nav is annoying because it can be slow to give commands and is even wrong on one occasion when it fails to acknowledge a new road layout in Cornwall. Henry reckons it’s old technology but that’s probably unfair. Unlike many it is operated by a dial which is slower to set up than normal but if there is time it’s quite enjoyable to use. Speed limits are often wrong, for instance I am advised that I can drive at 80mph in 10mph, 20mph and 30mph zones on three or four separate occasions. While I freely admit that I am grateful to the sat nav for getting us to Cornwall with minimal fuss, it goes to show that you cannot fully trust technology and that it is imperative to read road signs and use your common sense or suffer the consequences. Even the cruise control cannot be relied upon to rigidly stick to 50mph on the M27; it fluctuates between 50mph and 54mph, which is no good when there are speed cameras, so I have to brake. I find the head up display which projects the speed on to the windscreen helpful.
The roads in Cornwall can be extremely challenging; very narrow and steep on occasions. The auto hold is certainly helpful for hill starts of which there are many. I am left open mouthed at a moronic AO van driver who is barely able to stop as we meet down a narrow country lane but fortunately my sensible speed allows me to stop quickly. Many heart in the mouth moments occur but the Mazda handles them with relative ease.
Facts at a glance
