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There’s a reasonable possibility I’d already be in an A290 but for the nearest dealer being 100 plus miles away. Would anyone trust a French car with a dealer that far away? Caveat emptor.
The comedy of it is the Alpine dealer would probably push the work onto their local Renault dealer owing to the amount it costs to have a suitably trained high voltage specialist techie on the books.

Anyway, a car of that size would suit my uses very well and as I rarely do dual carriageway driving never mind motorway driving the range wouldn’t be a huge issue for me. One just has to adapt to these things.
The size of the R5, Raval, ID.Polo etc puts them more in the small family class for commuting and more local use rather than the bigger ID range - the ID.3 GTX has a large battery and decent range and more room for suitcases and passengers.

Interestingly the Corsa GSE has 280 PS and will probably be priced similarly to the GTI and VZ (& A290 and Leccy JCW)

Agree, it looks good and it’s pleasing to see that VW have upped their game with the quality of the interior compared to their efforts on the early EV’s, and the return of more user-friendly controls for often used functions such as HVAC. I’m not sure about the ID.Polo’s rear profile though, particularly the red light strip and the red illuminated VW roundel on the tailgate - a bit tacky IMHO, but then VW aren’t the only car manufacturer doing this.

If I was to choose between the ID.Polo GTI, the Raval VZ (or VZ Extreme) or the Alpine A290, I’d go for the Alpine for the following reasons;

• it qualifies for the Band 1 Govt. grant of £3,750. I think all VW’s EV’s have so far only qualified for the Band 2 grant of £1,500 so I’m assuming (maybe incorrectly) that the ID.Polo will also qualify for the lower Band 2 grant.
• the A290 has independent rear suspension and it gets a heat pump as standard (as does Renault’s R5 EV. The ID.Polo has a beam rear axle and no standard heat pump; very few if any VW EV’s get a heat pump as standard; it’s currently a circa £1,150 extra cost option.

On a practical note, the A290 has a smaller boot than both the ID.Polo & Cupra Raval and it looks as if the A290’s rear seat passenger accommodation is less spacious. However, I rarely carry masses of luggage and even more rarely carry rear seat passengers, so those factors wouldn’t be an issue for me.

I spoke with him but logistically it wasn't going to work so I went with RAD which is local to dealer so I can have vehicle done prior to delivery and collect then from dealer. If I was more local to him I definitely would have used him, really nice guy and the PPF he uses looks great. Its expel I've gone for with Gtechniq coatings, the more I thought of it I felt the PPF was a must especially with other forum users comments.

It’s expensive but you won’t regret it.

I know of RAD too, good guy also, I’ve heard great things about him.

Yes I agree no one really does care about the plate and it definitely doesn't add anything value wise. My detailer is way until June 8th as on annual leave from end of next week, vehicle probably won't hit dealer until week after next depending, so I'm caught really. I think id rather have car PPF'd prior to hitting the rd. So basically all going well vehicle ready for 12/13th June.

I heard you were in contact with Ama in Fb detailing. Did you go with him or someone more local?

Yes I agree no one really does care about the plate and it definitely doesn't add anything value wise. My detailer is way until June 8th as on annual leave from end of next week, vehicle probably won't hit dealer until week after next depending, so I'm caught really. I think id rather have car PPF'd prior to hitting the rd. So basically all going well vehicle ready for 12/13th June.