New owner impressions

Have been driving my 2019 PHEV GT for 2 weeks now. While I am still learning some of the features (I call it a computer on wheels!) I do have some early observations on the ergonomics of the car.

Which designer decided that you should push the selector lever forwards to go backwards, and pull it backward to go forward? This is completely counter intuitive, especially if you have been driving a stick shift car for many years.

The same designer must have determined that you should pull the - (minus) paddle to increase the braking effect, and pull the + (plus) paddle to reduce the braking effect. Again, this is nonsense.

Why place the seat warmer switches in a position that you cannot see the switches from the seat? There is so much room to the right of the selector lever that could have been used for these switches.

Lastly, I hope that a future accessory will be a retrofittable driver's seat memory switch. My wife is about 2 feet shorter than me, and having to reset the driver's seat every time one of us gets into the car is literally a PITA.

Hi welcome on the forum,

Yes this is some special type of car.

The shifting reverse to the front feels funny but is normal for any automatic. P R N D front to back

Yes the seat heating is not visible but you need the “feel memory of your fingers for this” works fine for me.
More irritating is the row of buttons for venting and demist, I find this not easy to feel without looking. Would prefer old type switches and buttons.

Think about the minus on the paddle as “less speed”

Can’t help you though on the memory of driver’s seat.

Overall the car works fine for us here, taking account the daily drive and transporting 2 gun/hunting dogs, who complained on the boot size of other “all electric” vehicles

BIKERMGA said:

push the selector lever forwards to go backwards, and pull it backward to go forward?

Click to expand...

I posted the same observations when I first got mine; it is just weird.
I am glad I added reverse sensors as I sometimes still push it forward to pull off (after 4 months of ownership) but get a nice beep from the sensors to remind me!
Before I fitted them I nearly reversed in to a car parked behind me twice

I've got used to the backward and forward motion of the selector lever - after about three years. I'm surprised they haven't moved the heated seat buttons by now but as suggested you do eventually get a feel for them. I have a 2014 GX4h and about the only thing that annoys me (especially at this time of year) is the fact that the wing mirror selector/movement switch and the electric window switches don't light up, so you can't find them in the dark. Even my 1998 Jeep Cherokee had illuminated door mounted switchgear. Unless of course mine should actually light up but have never worked? (EDIT: actually, I've just noticed that the driver's window switch does in fact light-up! It's so dim I've never noticed before. Either that or I'm so dim for not noticing that it lights-up before?)

Oh - hang on - one other thing, I really wish the cabin pre-heater could work more than once a day without having remember to manually re-select (and de-select) it on the MMCS. Is this now possible on the newer versions? I've never bothered with the phone App thing. The pre-heater has also been known to set my alarm off too (mentioned elsewhere on this forum). I've had to switch the alarm off on the MMCS just in case.

The paddles are meant to be the same as with a normal ICE car. I was lent an Eclipse Cross while mine was having some work done under warranty and the paddles looked identical. When I was slowing down, '-' changed down a gear and increased the rate at which you slow down, just like in the PHEV.

So it's not nonsense. The engineers aren't stupid, even if their reasons aren't always obvious.

Thunder.

Your observation would be valid if the "B" number did not go up as you pulled the "minus" paddle. As there are no gears in a PHEV, you are not actually dropping down through the gears as you may be in a conventional automatic car. As I said, these are initial observations, and I am sure I will get used to the anomalies the more I drive the car.

One thing I forgot to mention was the master lift gate switch, if you have the power option. This switch is unmarked, unlit, and you cannot tell if it is on or off without touching it first. Makes me wish we still had the old toggle and rocker switches from yesteryear.

BIKERMGA said:

Why place the seat warmer switches in a position that you cannot see the switches from the seat? There is so much room to the right of the selector lever that could have been used for these switches.

Click to expand...

They must have bought an endless stock of these seat heater switches with a large discount in 1990 (as they were getting oldfashioned at that time) and they're determined to use every last one of them. That's why they place them out of sight :mrgreen:

BIKERMGA said:

Your observation would be valid if the "B" number did not go up as you pulled the "minus" paddle. As there are no gears in a PHEV, you are not actually dropping down through the gears as you may be in a conventional automatic car.

Click to expand...

I never said it had a gears! As I said, it is designed to feel the same as changing down the gears. So pulling '-' slows the car down more quickly just like in a car with a paddleshift 'box, regardless of what it does to the actual 'B' number. It was designed to make people switching over from a paddleshift 'box feel more at home.

And make running down hills more convenient. "B" presumably stands for "Brake". Thus it is logical to call no regen brake 0 and maximum effect 5.

jaapv said:

And make running down hills more convenient. "B" presumably stands for "Brake". Thus it is logical to call no regen brake 0 and maximum effect 5.

Click to expand...

Agreed! Which makes it harder to understand

• Just pull the Plus-paddle if you want less regen and a lower number in your display

• And if you want more regen and a higher number to go with it, of course you should use the Minus-paddle

Don't care as I know now, but would have lost any bet guessing this in advance :lol:

If the algebra is the issue, consider B as a -1.
The ‘+’ paddle will get you from -5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 0.
The ‘-‘ paddle will get you from 0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5.

I think my 12yo daughter will agree with me

Tai

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Mine would be, the short armrest cubby is too short to get a phone and charger in.
Noisy and engine vibration on the motorway cruising at 75 to 80, the engine seems to be working too hard and its quite wearing in the cabin, I did a 130 mile journey and wanted some earplugs.
Headlights set too high , the first night out I kept getting flashed by angry drivers, so within 6 hours of getting it I was under the bonnet with a screwdriver, bringing the lights down to a a sensible level. Now no problems.
The rear camera gets dirty every day grr. (my previous merc had it on a motorised flap that was always clean)
No satnav I cured by putting an old phone with offline android auto in the glovebox, running in a usb cable. Only thing I cant work out is how to have another phone connected by bluetooth for calls?
Other than that for wafting around in, its a surprisingly fun drive.

Of course, if you insist on breaking the speed limit …………………………………... :lol:

There must be something wrong with your engine - I find the car quite smooth and not too loud at high speed. There certainly are no vibrations. And what size phone do you have or is the cubby shrunk on the new model? I can get about five iPhones and chargers in.

jaapv said:

There must be something wrong with your engine - I find the car quite smooth and not too loud at high speed. There certainly are no vibrations. And what size phone do you have or is the cubby shrunk on the new model? I can get about five iPhones and chargers in.

Click to expand...

Yep, the cubby shrunk...
I also don't have any vibrations. When the engine kicks in on the highway, I often don't even notice it (and according to my wife I'm quite neurotic about noices and vibrations, so I would have noticed :lol: )

KWh said:

jaapv said:

There must be something wrong with your engine - I find the car quite smooth and not too loud at high speed. There certainly are no vibrations. And what size phone do you have or is the cubby shrunk on the new model? I can get about five iPhones and chargers in.

Click to expand...

Yep, the cubby shrunk...
I also don't have any vibrations. When the engine kicks in on the highway, I often don't even notice it (and according to my wife I'm quite neurotic about noices and vibrations, so I would have noticed :lol: )

Click to expand...

Same for me, have to turn off the radio to check.

So quiet it could almost justify an "ICE Running" indication on the dash.

michael8554 said:

So quiet it could almost justify an "ICE Running" indication on the dash.

Click to expand...

It has one with the power distribution option on the central display, though for some reason it doesn't always display the arrow even when you can hear the ICE running

For those who like to control their Infotainment system with their phones, I don't like how I don't have a place to put my phone down.
In my 2018 Leaf, there's a slot next to my cup holders specifically for my phone.

Any suggestions besides putting it in the cupholder?