• Summary

    4 out of 5 4.0

    What does this car say about you?

    Left field.

    What do your friends / family / neighbours think of the car?

    Generally fascinated by it and all my passengers have loved travelling in it.

    Would you buy this car again and why?

    Yes, when I get in friends and colleagues cars now and they are very dull and plain.

    What are you likely to buy next?

    The next generation of the same!

  • Buying experience

    4 out of 5 4.0

    Type of dealer you bought from?

    Franchised

    Did you buy this car new?

    No

    What price did you pay?

    £19,700

    When did you buy the car?

    June 2014

    Did you get a good deal and why?

    Very good deal for a low mileage ex demo car with a number options spec'd.

    Is there any special reason why you bought this car?

    The combination of Tax benefits, very low emissions and hybrid technology work extremely well for my renewable energy business. It doesn't hurt that its also a stunning looking car from any angle!

    What was the dealer like?

    The supplying dealer (Bentleys Warrington) were recommended to me and the deal was exceptional. Nothing special regarding service though.

  • Driving it

    4 out of 5 4.0

    What's it like to drive?

    Blend of serene electric drive in town and fairly muscular diesel on the open road is great. The handling on 18" 45 profile tyres is firm and sporty and nowhere near as harsh as media reports, driven an M sport, S Line or AMG recently? It is very sensitive to tyre wear though, the fronts were replaced at 14k miles with 3 mm average tread but the car was tramlining and skittish on wet roads, the directional accuracy and stability has returned with the new tyres.

    What's it like to park?

    Sensors back and front with a camera, it almost parks itself! It will generally switch to electric (or as it says on the info screen Zero Emissions Vehicle mode) which makes it very smooth to manoeuvre.

  • Living with it

    5 out of 5 5.0

    Have you had any problems with the car?

    I bought with 9700 miles on the clock and by 11000 miles the start stop and Hybrid system did not activate at all. My local dealer (Yeomans in Exeter) had it in for a day to diagnose the problem. the vacuum control on the start stop was found to be at fault. The car was booked in later that week but it did take 10 days to rectify. The dealer was excellent with their communication and to be fair to them the part took a week to arrive from France. The car performed brilliantly after this and has done ever since. Oh, the sat Nav is terrible!

    What's most practical about your car?

    Its a difficult car to say whats practical about it. Its a big 5 door hatchback.

    Favourite gadget, option or accessory?

    With more buttons that the starship enterprise its difficult to choose! I would have to say for driving pleasure, rotating the control to sport mode is great for damp/wet traffic light starts ;).