Great review! Nice to see one that isn’t just wannabe Clarkson. Irish motoring journalists are especially funny, echoing UK concerns about range on an island only 600km at its longest by road. In Europe, many are realistically chosing between 1.5 petrol, 1.6 diesel and EVs. I think better performance (5-8s 0-100 vs. 9-11s for ICE) is an actually a selling point for those into cars, without the means to run larger engines. Ireland misses out on most fun engines, with precious few automatics if you needed one. We are many years ahead of you… in struggling to get fun cars that aren’t incredibly expensive. 😅
I've heard a lot about the car selection (or lack thereof) over there - we are really lucky here in New Zealand to get access to all sorts without heavy tax penalties. I remember when the Kodiaq RS first came out and it was a 2.0 diesel. We got that here too, but it was confusing to be competing against all the higher power GLC, X3/X5, Q7s. Then I drove one and was really impressed. I can imagine living in a country where small displacement or EV are the main choices and you'd learn to love what you have. Thanks for commenting, mate!
Certainly there is an element of learning to love what you have, I picked on EV over what I had access to, but something like the 193hp 2.0 hybrid Corolla tourer would have been mighty tempting if they sold it here, we only got the 114hp 1.8 at the time, and the Fiesta ST was on its way out at mad prices of near €40k. I love the little ST but it just isn't worth €40k, and the new baby ST in name only now it's a 1.0l Puma. Outside of Ireland I probably have made totally different choices, most likely being a two car household for a start. I did look at an id3 and didn't like it at all though. Styling, interior, driving and value there are competitors that beat it on all fronts for me. I picked up a MG4 and it's been very good, really cheap, no issues to report, it has been a brilliant cheap car. No cache whatsoever, but it drives very well. With €6k total in EV grants, €4 something to fill overnight vs €1.88 a litre, one pedal (OPD) in stop start traffic, remote heating/cooling, and instant torque... I would be wanting a lot more to go back to ICE. The sums also worked for me, but I see how they really don't for many, particularly based on where you are. You are very right on OPD and efficiency, looking ahead you can almost always eek out more efficiency by coasting than you can trying to manage balancing full OPD at motorway speeds.
Great review! Nice to see one that isn’t just wannabe Clarkson. Irish motoring journalists are especially funny, echoing UK concerns about range on an island only 600km at its longest by road.
In Europe, many are realistically chosing between 1.5 petrol, 1.6 diesel and EVs. I think better performance (5-8s 0-100 vs. 9-11s for ICE) is an actually a selling point for those into cars, without the means to run larger engines.
Ireland misses out on most fun engines, with precious few automatics if you needed one. We are many years ahead of you… in struggling to get fun cars that aren’t incredibly expensive. 😅
I've heard a lot about the car selection (or lack thereof) over there - we are really lucky here in New Zealand to get access to all sorts without heavy tax penalties.
I remember when the Kodiaq RS first came out and it was a 2.0 diesel. We got that here too, but it was confusing to be competing against all the higher power GLC, X3/X5, Q7s.
Then I drove one and was really impressed. I can imagine living in a country where small displacement or EV are the main choices and you'd learn to love what you have.
Thanks for commenting, mate!
Certainly there is an element of learning to love what you have, I picked on EV over what I had access to, but something like the 193hp 2.0 hybrid Corolla tourer would have been mighty tempting if they sold it here, we only got the 114hp 1.8 at the time, and the Fiesta ST was on its way out at mad prices of near €40k. I love the little ST but it just isn't worth €40k, and the new baby ST in name only now it's a 1.0l Puma.
Outside of Ireland I probably have made totally different choices, most likely being a two car household for a start. I did look at an id3 and didn't like it at all though. Styling, interior, driving and value there are competitors that beat it on all fronts for me. I picked up a MG4 and it's been very good, really cheap, no issues to report, it has been a brilliant cheap car. No cache whatsoever, but it drives very well.
With €6k total in EV grants, €4 something to fill overnight vs €1.88 a litre, one pedal (OPD) in stop start traffic, remote heating/cooling, and instant torque... I would be wanting a lot more to go back to ICE. The sums also worked for me, but I see how they really don't for many, particularly based on where you are.
You are very right on OPD and efficiency, looking ahead you can almost always eek out more efficiency by coasting than you can trying to manage balancing full OPD at motorway speeds.