zoominbc
Active Member
OK, I'll make sure not to hog the charger! I understand some of them can be quite busy, the one I went to is very quiet.
My new Kona Electric and my first impressions
- Thread starter Domenick
- Start date
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EnerG
Active Member
Sometimes you can get skills that are available in USA by using a VPN.
Canada Dan
Member
I've had my car for just over 24 hours now. First impressions:
- Love the heads up display. Current speed, speed limit, blind-spot warning, navigation directions all show up there. If you have adaptive cruise control on it shows the speed you have it set to (if you are going slower due to vehicles in front of you). It also shows how many car lengths gap you have it set to.
- Flappy paddle braking took a few minutes to get used to, but then became second nature. However, when I wanted to brake while the wheel was turned going around a corner, the paddles of course had turned with the steering wheel and it took me a second to remember to use the actual brake pedal instead.
- I'm preferring drive mode in normal, rather than eco or sport, but I still need to play around with that more.
- I change the regenerative braking setting frequently depending on the type of traffic. On the highway I had it set to zero mostly, so that I could coast, and upped the setting depending on the situation. In town I was using level one the most.
- Having adaptive cruise control on is getting close to self-driving, but it only corrects the steering once you're very close to the lane markers. The highways have lots of twists and turns here in the interior of BC, so that kind of bounces you around frequently if you try to go hands free (which I know isn't its purpose, just wanted to see what it would do). It also was a test of my confidence when it came to stopping itself, but it did it fine. I would have slowed down sooner though, and a few times hit the brakes myself (flappy paddle braking doesn't work when in this mode, so I found).
- I tried out a DC charger just for the experience, charging from 70% to 80% (no one else was around, otherwise I would have given them the spot since I didn't need a charge). I didn't like that I had to create a Greenlots account to get the thing going, but that's done now so won't be an issue in the future. From 70% to 80% took 16 minutes, and the speed I was getting fluctuated between 23 and 24 kW/h. I think this particular charger is rated at 60 kW according to Plugshare.
EnerG
Active Member
What was necessary to get this running. I can't seem to get past the VIN number and it is also asking for a Registration code but I don't have a clue what that is or where to find it.
CJC
Well-Known Member
Nice little review! Do you have any impression of using Auto Recouperation/Smart Regen? I gather it is a bit like Smart Cruise Control without setting a speed or taking you back to speed i.e. the radar recognizes cars ahead and slows you down. I noticed that in Canada the one driving mode is called "normal" and in the UK it "comfort". Good tip about the left paddle moving when you are in a tight corner so one could flounder trying to find it so good idea to use the brake pedal now and again. I remember reading Nigel the Brit reviewer saying he worried about forgetting the normal things due to so much automation.
Keep the tips and reviews coming as it will keep us from getting so crabby while we wait for our cars. lol
zoominbc
Active Member
You don’t need a registration code but mine took about 3 days before the VIN was recognized.
tran604
Member
Brennan Raposo
Well-Known Member
Evening all!
Just a random question after watching the Kona Electric Canadian promo video for the 15th time while I patiently wait to pick up my Kona tomorrow. When it’s showing the reverse camera, it also have a top-down 360 camera view on the screen. Is this actually a feature? It’s not advertised anywhere If that is the case! Can any current owner confirm or deny? I’ve attached a screen shot of what I’m talking about. I guess I could just wait until tomorrow but it’s such a cool feature that I thought I’d be living without!
Just a random question after watching the Kona Electric Canadian promo video for the 15th time while I patiently wait to pick up my Kona tomorrow. When it’s showing the reverse camera, it also have a top-down 360 camera view on the screen. Is this actually a feature? It’s not advertised anywhere If that is the case! Can any current owner confirm or deny? I’ve attached a screen shot of what I’m talking about. I guess I could just wait until tomorrow but it’s such a cool feature that I thought I’d be living without!
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Brennan Raposo
Well-Known Member
Really weird. I wonder why they would show that in the official CANADIAN launch video.
KonaTom
Well-Known Member
In your settings, set the LKA to active, and it will drive down the center of the lane. I just keep my hand on the wheel and give a little torque pressure once in awhile and the car wont keep reminding me to put hands on wheel. With adaptive cruise control and LKA set to active, it pretty nearly drives itself, but can be a little scary at times.
CJC
Well-Known Member
That sounds really cool! Scary though for my nature which is chicken like versus hawk like lol. I just read in a FB post that you can set your rear windshield wiper to come on automatically when you back up. That sounded cool too.
Brennan Raposo
Well-Known Member
Just got my baby delivered!
My dealer said it was the first in Ontario! Not sure if that’s true or not?
I’ve only driven it for about an hour but I’m absolutely in love. The Active Lane Keep Assist is brilliant. I used it for about 15km and it worked flawless even when snow blocked the lanes. Will provide more of a feedback once I get a few more KM on it!
My dealer said it was the first in Ontario! Not sure if that’s true or not?
I’ve only driven it for about an hour but I’m absolutely in love. The Active Lane Keep Assist is brilliant. I used it for about 15km and it worked flawless even when snow blocked the lanes. Will provide more of a feedback once I get a few more KM on it!
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CJC
Well-Known Member
I do really like the red colour. Looks like a lovely car. Nice that the LKA is working well in the snow. Maybe you have the active portion of LKA selected which someone on another group commented on as being the bee's knees. lol Keep the reports coming as you get more miles on it. Thanks for the first report.
Domenick
Well-Known Member
Looks great! May it carry you many happy miles.
Canada Dan
Member
My god this thing is smooooth! The immediate and consistent power delivery, no shifting of gears, and lack of engine noise just feels so good. Being a brand new car probably helps vs what I'm used to, but it's really like nothing I've ever driven. I know some of you have had sour experiences with delivery (or lack of), but once you're driving this car that just melts away.
tran604
Member
I really wished the Active LKA had the chime like the European version. when it engages and disengages you cant tell except for the color lines, green or white.
On slightly sharper turns it will assist then suddenly disengage. Really scary stuff if hands are not slightly holding the wheel, actually dangerous if not paying attention.
Love driving the car, over 1500kms in 2 weeks.
I found with winter tires and heater on all the time, eco mode I get 376kms 100%charge. Average 17kw/100km feathering the accelerator, 60/40 highway.
Funny in Sports mode i get 385kms average 16.6kw/100km
I drive 100km just to buy milk for the mrs.
Then another 100km for the bread
On slightly sharper turns it will assist then suddenly disengage. Really scary stuff if hands are not slightly holding the wheel, actually dangerous if not paying attention.
Love driving the car, over 1500kms in 2 weeks.
I found with winter tires and heater on all the time, eco mode I get 376kms 100%charge. Average 17kw/100km feathering the accelerator, 60/40 highway.
Funny in Sports mode i get 385kms average 16.6kw/100km
I drive 100km just to buy milk for the mrs.
Then another 100km for the bread
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In Ontario as well and surprisingly got a call that mine arrived last night at the dealership. How did it handle in this lovely snow that just dropped on us? Did you get winter tires installed or planning to?
Pushmi-Pullyu
Well-Known Member
If you're staying with the car while charging and there is no one waiting in line to use the charger, then certainly there shouldn't be any objection to you charging to 100% if that's what you want to do.
For most plug-in EVs capable of fast-charging, the charging slows significantly above ~80%, but perhaps the Kona is engineered differently. It's interesting to keep finding, as I read about different EVs, that what's a rule for one or most may not apply to some others.
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Thank you, Zoominbc, for your frequent reports here, and I hope you'll continue to keep us updated on your experience with the car!