CarPlaying with my heart strings
The good news for this report is that the replacement has gone, and I now have the original car (with fixed software) back on my driveway. I guess it’s nice to know that if there are any issues with your Dolphin when it arrives, it can be sorted with some tweaks to the software. So now I have CarPlay, HURRAY, and that very annoying low speed hum has quietened down so you don’t feel too embarrassed driving around under 15mph.
Motorway range muncher
Right, efficiency…..hmmm, not the best. When nipping around town and in cities I promise you, you will easily get over 4 miles per kWh, which is great. The frustrating part is when you go over 50mph then you’ll just watch your range dwindle. Yesterday I did a trip up to Oxford for an electrifying shoot. The trip there is 75 miles and it ate up 130 miles of range. You have to remember this is pretty much a whole motorway journey (M25, M40 etc) but 130 miles is a lot isn’t it. This is 100% a city car through and through. Speed wise though, it’s decent at overtaking and getting up to speed on slip roads, you won’t have any issue there. It doesn’t feel sluggish at all, but just don’t forget that those overtakes are going to cost you on range.
I scream for ice cream?
When I arrived at the shoot, Mike Askew (fellow Electrifier) had a little play around with the settings in the car and changed that low speed hum to a VERY creepy jingle. The only way to describe it, is its like a delicate ice cream van. So remember to keep that bad boy turned off otherwise people will be chasing you wanting a 99 with a flake and strawberry sauce. He, of course, thinks it’s great, but he’s not the one having to drive it in built up areas and getting the odd looks. Maybe I’ll change the menus on his IONIQ 5 to Korean to see how he likes other people messing with his settings.