Sean.
Active Member
Thanks for the detailed and interesting write-up.So I went to MK yesterday and I had a test drive of an Ocean as find it an interesting car so was curious. A few points:
Good
Undecided
- Test drive car was on 70% with 270 miles of range showing left. I think this is really damn good.
- This has to be a GOM as 100% wouldn't equal their WLTP but means it's estimating 385 miles on 100% based on how that car is driven in the winter.
- This was a car on 22inch, you need the smaller 20's as always to get the highest range.
- Test route didn't have any 70's but had some 60's and obviously floored it a few times in different modes to see what it's like.
- It was warm as had just come back from a test drive before but they didn't look very busy at all so they might be cold running.
- Low temps, maybe 6C I think I remember yesterday.
- The suspension on 22's is very good. I don't think anyone in UK will have issue with that.
- It's not air suspension but it was soaking up bad roads and we went down some really nicely.
- Much better than a Tesla and more than good enough for our roads.
- California mode is cool, you are close to convertible with just pillars around you
- The solar roof also opens up and does so with an opening far bigger than I've seen on any car I've ever had where the panoramic roof opens. People in front and even rear seats will have sky and not roof over their heads
- The taco trays as they call it make sense to me. I never use my glovebox really so wouldn't miss it but these might get use on occasions.
- Was expecting a lack of video apps but it had Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney, YouTube and maybe odd other one, mainly missing was Netflix but it'll probably come.
- Screen in back arm rest to control climate and heated seats. It's just a mono screen but would do the job.
- Not as fast as a Model 3 Performance but still pretty quick. Feels like it skips on the instant jerk and smooths that a bit then builds power instead. I kind of like that, similar to Eletre.
- Looks good and a nice selection of colours and interiors.
- Was expecting back space to be tight but took my 6 foot eldest along and he said he had loads of space. So roomy.
- Warranty is 6 years or 60,000 miles which ever comes first. Think that's pretty good. Battery was of course even longer.
Bad
- Seats were maybe not massively padded. Hard to know if this might be an issue on long journeys or with the nice smooth suspension would be fine.
- Heatpump was pretty loud. Not sure it's a bad but certainly when kicked on in their showroom they quickly turned it off so maybe people didn't notice.
- Both accelerator and brake were a bit spongy. You need to push the pedals a bit more for anything to seem like it's happening. Not sure it's bad, just different.
- Unsure on the region braking, seems you need the brake but it'll regen also but test drive not long enough to really make my mind up here.
- Boot isn't massive but probably big enough for most, a bit of underfloor for cables but not really much else.
I think for range and comfort alone, it's a solid choice but they need to sort the 12V issue and the vampire drain before I could ever tell anyone to buy one. If they can do something to improve the infotainment speed then they deserve to do quite a few sales. Just not sure they will and bit risky on if they'll be around for the long haul.
- Car mentioned low battery on startup yet it had 70%. I did a quick Google on this and it seems the car doesn't yet properly charge the 12V from the High Voltage battery so it would be that. That's an issue that they obviously will after to resolve quickly
- Front bonnet doesn't open so to charge the 12V you have to pop some trim and remove some bolts as saw a video on this. So not easy to charge yourself.
- Again from a google when I was looking about low battery, it seems the car has massive vampire drain. Can loose like 3 - 4% a day which is stupid and that also needs fixing. You'll be wasting massive amounts of range and electricity when it's parked up currently.
- Infotainment is pretty slow. It's not unusable but think more old Land Rover / Jaguar before their current Pivi Pro.
- Not a deal stopper but it probably would annoy you, especially if you were used to Tesla which is the other end of the scale.
- Personal one for me but music apps it only had Spotify. I'm an Apple Music person but some others might want Tidal as the other common choice. Hopefully they add at some point but compared to the video apps, this was lacking.
I'd be right up for that as well to be honest. Also different kind of car but I'd quite fancy a R1S also.
Are you still holding your Eletre order? I'm still holding mine, but prevaricating a bit. Test drive I had in November was great but if I'm being honest I think I'll take a massive haircut on residuals in this market. Its brutal currently.