Displaying items by tag: Hybrid

Saturday, 24 October 2020 15:59

2021 Mercedes-Benz A 250 e AMG Line Premium Review

The numbers alone make the A 250 e hugely appealing as a company car, while the fuel savings and fantastic interior will be just as tempting for private buyers. We hope that the quality issues our test car suffered were an isolated thing, but we would prefer a slightly more forgiving ride. Even so, this PHEV remains one of the highlights of the A-Class range.

We’ve been used to exaggerated fuel economy figures for years, and things don’t seem to have improved with the ranges manufacturers claim for electric cars either. So surely Mercedes’ declaration that its new plug-in hybrid A-Class could average over 250mpg and run on electric power for 44 miles is pie in the sky? Let’s see…

Most plug-in hybrids will struggle to get near the 30-mile mark their makers claim, so 44 miles is quite a challenge. But Merc’s answer is to give its baby a 15.6kWh battery – hidden where you won’t notice (until you fill up the smaller-than-usual 35-litre fuel tank) – and a turbocharged 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine. Total power output is 215bhp, meaning the A 250 e’s 0-62mph time is a swift 6.6 seconds.
 
But what about those fuel economy figures? Of course, it all depends how you drive, but for our test of the car, we took a varied route over a mix of motorway, fast A-roads and urban stuff – further than the average driver will cover in a day.

We started with a full charge, although the range display only read 34 miles, possibly down to how the Merc had been driven before we got our hands on it. Of the first 30 miles we drove, the read-out showed that 28 of them had been covered on electric power, with the average fuel economy displayed on the read-out at its maximum of 99.9mpg and electric usage at 4.1m/kWh – both pretty impressive.
 
The range read-out showed 12 miles still to go, too, meaning a theoretical range just two miles shy of the 44-mile claim.

To be honest, if it hadn’t been for us being a bit forceful with the throttle to get the petrol engine to kick in, we suspect a whole 30-mile journey could be covered on electric power – and that means those huge economy claims are almost in reach for a great many people, as long as they plug their car in to charge regularly.
 
Plus, if your home energy costs no more than 13p per kWh, your first 40 miles will cost you a couple of pounds – less than half what you’d pay in a petrol-powered A-Class.

Then there are the company car tax savings, which will appeal to many. With its 32g/km figure and 44-mile range, you’ll only pay tax on 8 per cent of the P11D value (or just 6 per cent for the basic AMG Line version) versus a whopping 29 per cent for a petrol A-Class. Sure, your company will have to pay at least £32,925 for the cheapest A 250 e, but it could slash your company car tax liability by around a third.
 
The driving experience is a mixed bag, though. On electric power alone, the car is swift and quiet, as you’d expect. And when the engine kicks in, it doesn’t get that much rowdier unless you’re using plenty of revs, when things can get unpleasantly loud.

However, the throttle is super-sensitive and the lumpy eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox can make you think that the engine is cutting in even when it’s not. In electric mode, the power goes through the eight-speed DCT automatic gearbox, which is jerky going from first to second and feels as though the engine has fired up. You get the same kind of slight tremor you get when an engine cuts in, but it’s actually the gearbox just switching gears.
 
Really, the engine is only there for when battery power has run out. In most everyday driving situations, electric power will do just fine – even on the motorway at the legal limit. But if you want to match the exciting 0-62mph time, you’ll need to have both power sources working in tandem.

All four versions of the A 250 e come in sporty AMG Line trim levels, but they fail to match the fun of the full-bore AMG models. These aren’t the best A-Classes through bends by a long chalk, but they do an okay job as family transport.

Space is good in the front and back, the doors open wide to reveal decent access, all-round visibility is great, and the 345-litre boot will certainly be big enough for most buyers’ needs.

The A-Class is an easy drive, but not very rewarding: the steering responds okay, but has little feedback from the road, and while the tyres grip okay, they’re noisy – which is amplified by the quiet EV powertrain.
 
We were more disappointed with the ride, especially as our car had Comfort suspension. It’s not too uncomfortable, but other small hatches ride better.

More of a problem in the test car that we drove was the shiver that ran through the body and the subsequent rattles every time we went over cats’ eyes or hit a mild pothole in the road. It’s certainly not what you’d expect from a Mercedes.

Especially one with what is the best interior in any small car bar none. Our AMG Line Premium model comes in with a price of £35,980 – not too far from a fully electric Kia e-Niro. But as standard the Merc comes with the fabulous, seamless twin 10-inch screens, augmented-reality satellite-navigation that overlays directions on a live feed from a front-facing camera, wireless phone charging and the very latest in smartphone connectivity.

Above all, the cabin looks and feels high-end. There’s heated sports seats with red stitching, multi-coloured ambient lighting, a touchpad to run the infotainment (mirrored by touch-sensitive buttons on the wheel), aluminium trim and turbine vents.
 
Outside there’s a subtle AMG bodykit, smart 18-inch alloys and LED headlights – all of which doesn’t make the price seem too exorbitant, especially with the potential savings on tax and fuel. 

Source: mercedes-world.com

Published in Mercedes

The Land Rover Discovery Sport P300e plug-in hybrid promises 135mpg and an all-electric range of 38 miles, but does it deliver?

Verdict

The switch to plug-in electrification does bring a compromise or two to Land Rover’s most affordable family SUV. You’ll need to accept it as a five-seater only, and it comes with a pretty hefty price that may put off private buyers. But for company car choosers, the considerable BiK savings are impossible to ignore; this is a very practical vehicle that is still good to drive, and suddenly more affordable.

The Land Rover Discovery Sport really upped its game when it switched platforms as part of a mid-life update last year. Mild-hybrid power helped the family SUV to deliver much-needed efficiency gains - but now there’s the option of a plug-in hybrid version that could be ideally suited to daily commutes and school runs.

The Discovery Sport P300e shares its basic powertrain with the newly launched Evoque P300e. That means a 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine driving the front wheels, and 107bhp electric motor on the rear axle, delivering four-wheel drive when required. There’s 15kWh battery, too - enough, Land Rover claims, for the car to travel up to 38 miles on electric power alone. With a Benefit-in-Kind tax rating of 10 per cent, that should make this Disco Sport a hefty chunk cheaper for company car choosers than any of its siblings.

The adoption of the part-electric powertrain doesn’t affect the Disco Sport’s four-wheel drive credentials; the electric motor on the back axle is always on standby for slippery conditions and off-roading, even if the official battery capacity is at zero. It does remove the possibility of the Disco Sport’s occasional third-row seats, sadly - but the boot capacity beyond the second row is still cavernous, at 963 litres.

If you’re wondering if a three-cylinder engine-based powertrain can have enough shove to cope with such a practicality-focused model, you needn’t worry. The instant torque from the electric motor allows the Disco Sport to glide around town without much effort at all. It would feel quite at home completing a week’s worth of short school runs on EV power alone, frankly - and the ability to go from zero to 80 per cent of battery capacity in less than 90 minutes on even a 7kW home wallbox would make overnight recharges very easy indeed.

The car’s behaviour on the open road is a slightly different matter. We’ve been impressed with the P300e powertrain’s smooth transitions in the Evoque and that trait is present and correct here too, we’re glad to report. Keep the Disco Sport in Hybrid mode and should you extend the system to the point where the engine kicks in, you’ll barely notice the start-up. In this area at least, Land Rover’s is among the best set-ups that we’ve experienced.

The engine itself, though, is definitely more vocal in the Disco Sport than it is in the Evoque. It doesn’t appear to be revs-related either, but there are harmonies and chirps allowed through to the cabin in the Disco that simply aren’t present in its smaller, style-focused stablemate. We’re bemused by this - the installation ought to be damn-near identical - but perhaps there’s a layer of soundproofing that gets applied to Range Rovers but not to Land Rovers.

Either way, just accept that you will get some three-cylinder grumble here - but in the grand scheme of things it’s probably no worse than what you’d experience with a modern diesel. And as with the Evoque, you can use a natty gauge in the instrument panel to temper your attitude on the right-hand pedal and, battery level permitting, prevent the engine from being called upon at all, particularly around town.

The drive itself is every bit as accomplished in P300e form as it is in regular Disco Sports. The transmission in the PHEV is an eight-speed auto (compared with nine-speeds elsewhere in the range) but it’s a solid performer, smart enough to work with the driver and delivering smooth shifts when required.

There’s no getting around the fact that this is a tallish SUV, so there’s a bit of body roll in corners, but in general it’s well controlled and there’s bags of grip to give you confidence, even in slippery conditions. The steering remains slower than in the Landie’s German rivals, but it’s precise enough and makes it easy to place the car in corners. Front visibility is still a strong point, too, and the ClearSight digital rear-view mirror helps to eliminate blind spots behind you.

The 2021-model-year Discovery Sport gets Land Rover’s latest Pivi Pro infotainment system, which is a huge leap over what was previously offered. It delivers proper smartphone integration and the system has quick to respond to inputs.

Curiously, the P300e is being restricted to R-Dynamic editions of the Discovery Sport - although you at least have the option of S, SE and HSE once you’ve ticked that initial box. That means you get plenty of kit, even at the entry point that we’ve driven here, but it does bump the price up to the point where private buyers would need to think hard about the potential savings on running costs.

 Source: autoexpress.co.uk

Published in Land Rover
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