Is it worth changing Prius for an Opel Ampera?

HELPDESK: From AQ: I've read the reports on the Opel Ampera and as the owner of a four-year-old Toyota Prius I'm tempted to make the move. I've considered the Nissan Leaf but I'm still not convinced by the recharging options.

The Ampera is the next phase of the most practical electric car to date, a step up from hybrid but not electric-only transport, and the consequent range anxiety. While the Nissan Leaf has early adopters in its thrall, they don’t seem willing to part with the €30,000 price tag until the requisite recharging infrastructure is in place.

And it clearly is not, with barely 10 per cent of the promised 1,500 charging stations in situ. Similarly, while you might only drive about 40km a day, what happens when you need the car for that trip to Cork? Must you hang about a filling station for 30 minutes waiting for the car to recharge so as to finish the journey?

There’s a host of electric cars on the way. Renault has introduced its new e-Fluence, Ford will bring an electric Focus to market next year, along with BMW and Audi. But none promise to resolve the range anxiety issues. The Ampera offers a range of 60-80km on electric power. After that the 1.4-litre petrol engine works as a generator to recharge the batteries. It’s a different take on the normal hybrid approach, but it means a range of 500km. Even then, you can fill up the tank for the petrol engine if you don’t have time to plug in. The problem remains the price: at €42,000 or more that’s a big pay-out when it arrives this spring.

If you’re determined to feed your early adopter urges but need some practical balance along the way, then the Ampera may well be the answer.

What can I do about my ‘clocked’ car?

From WO’D: I suspect that my car has been clocked. A mechanic said the information on the key fob (it holds mileage info) was different from the reading on the car by 25,000 miles. I tried contacting the person I bought the car from but without success. What can I do? There should be some type of central store of mileage information that people can check. I feel cheated but I’m also worried about being stopped by the Garda.

You will not have a problem with the Garda but provide them and the National Consumer Agency with details of the previous owner as he/she may still be trading clocked cars. It’s not illegal to clock a car nor own a clocked one. The only offence occurs when you go to sell it, or benefit from warranty, etc, without correcting the mileage. When buying a car, websites like motorcheck.ie and cartell.ie check mileage as part of their background checks. These sites use services, like the Irish National Mileage Register, in which dealers keep each other informed of the mileage on vehicles. This should be a central pool of information open to the public on mileage. It would seem a simple exercise for the NCT to record mileage during the tests and make that information public to potential buyers.

Got a query? Send it to motorshelp@irishtimes.com