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So, Mrs K who would like a new car but isn't a car nut merrily carts the kids around in our 2008 2.0 Tdi Kuga. Showing the scars of 2 kids, London supermarket parking and multiple trips with bikes in forests its all good if not just old with 80k London miles mostly - and may need an after market DPF soon. The issue of a replacement reared its head when I realised we'd need to pay £12.50 a visit to the outlaws/ikea/her hair dressers as we are slightly north of the October ULEZ extension - £12.50 a trip.
Thing is, we want to go electric ideally, and I feel we are on the cusp of, but not quite easily electro-fyable in this country, and we don't want to spend £50k to get one. Although the vehicles trips will be 80% urban, it does need range capacity for 4 of us and 3 bikes on UK hols, visits to relations (Southampton) and various Essex/Suffolk bike races
We talked about getting an interim vehicle - say £5k of a Golf/Focus as long as she can get juniors bike on it when he's racing a different location to me, but I realised that 400 trips of £12.50 past the ULEZ, so thought we should keep the bangernomics going until the electric market is up to pace / has second hand availability.
Thoughts on this?
There were a shedload of silly cheap EV leases recently but they might've all been snapped up.
t does need range capacity for 4 of us and 3 bikes on UK hols
Or you need to stop and charge it up.
I would keep the Kuga if you can't go EV for now. No question. The money you'll save will go towards that EV.
Don't you have two cars anyway? Why not one E and one IC?
Your other option is a PHEV such as the Passat GTE - 30 miles of E but still a traditional petrol when you want to drive it like that. Are they ULEZ compliant?
Not on the specifics, but more a general observation based on implementation of the ULEZ round here in Bath - lots of people wailing and gnashing teeth about the cost to upgrade their vehicles (notwithstanding the ULEZ doesn't presently apply to private cars, so all those people running 'lifestyle vans').
It seemed to me all the people complaining it's going cost them tens of thousands to change their vehicle hadn't actually factored in that just paying the fee every time they enter the zone is likely to be considerably cheaper when compared to the actual cost to them of changing their vehicle.
At one point our car looked like it might be caught by the proposals*, but we figured one trip to the supermarket a week at £9 is probably significantly cheaper than paying hundreds a month on a new car to do the same thing.
*there were a series of alternatives, one of which included private cars, which was ultimately dropped.
Jakester - thats exactly the point. She probably does about 20 trips into what will be the new ULEZ a year, thats £250.
Don’t you have two cars anyway? Why not one E and one IC?
Yep, my 320d Touring. Thats stays as my car, the issue arises when I'm away from work/racing and they need a bigger car. Of course there will be times she can take mine into the ULEZ - mines OK (Euro 6) so will be free.
And you're right, we want the "town car" to be hybrid at least, but they still aren't cheap for the use we need out of it.
the issue arises when I’m away from work/racing and they need a bigger car
In that scenario why don't you use the smaller/electric car and leave her with the larger one? This is what we tend to do with our two cars (Golf estate and Zoe*), if we are both going different places then we decided which is more appropriate for each trip.
* with the more powerful motor this isn't so bad on the motorway. It's not as nice as the Golf would be but perfectly usable and comfortable.
Not a bad idea, something like and e-208 would do the trick I guess...
Yeah when we got our i3, it stopped being his and her cars and just became the right car for the job. 90% of the time one of us uses the i3, but on the occasion that we need to use both at the same time, the right/better tool for the job goes to that person. Motorway - ICE (3 series), in-town/b-road - EV (i3).
I have had to better train my wife in looking after the car, but hey ho, I've been trying for years and this made it stick. .
Surely that should encourage you to do less mileage in London and save the umpteen 12.50 charges?
(really not a useful comment but all I can see from reading your post - just don't go in to London as often - easier said than done, etc.)
Surely that should encourage you to do less mileage in London and save the umpteen 12.50 charges?
This makes sense. Change hairdresser, don't go to IKEA as often and reduce trips to in-laws if possible.
We're planning once the last child has learned to drive next year to move to a 'local' car and 'big' car.
One electric and small.
One big, and able to carry 5, plus bikes and boats on weekends away.
@Daffy has nailed it. Right tool for the job rather than his and hers. At the start of lockdown we had 'my' Model 3 and 'her' 320i. Obviously not a representative period of time given I've worked exclusively from home for the whole time.. but we ended up selling the 3 series (which was fully kitted out with roof bars, towbar rack etc. for longer/bike trips) while we wait for an ID3 to arrive in June. We would always default to the EV for all journeys and the ICE just didn't get used for months at a time.
Obviously I'm very lucky to be able to get an EV with a good working range for a reasonable price but even then I'm still a little dubious about going dual EV. For example Newcastle > Innerleithen and back is ~200 miles.. Model 3 shows 290 miles when charged to 100% and with a bike up top uses about 1.5 x distance.. so it's just out of range. No superchargers on that route and fast chargers are more sparse than down south.. but it'll be fine with a bit of forward planning.
Not sure where I'm going with this.. other than with 1 big ICE and a smaller city EV you'll be fine. Charging network is improving all the time.
Am I missing something here regarding the ULEZ?
You mention potentially replacing the Kuga with an interim vehicle, but then say that you will still have to pay the ULEZ.
You would only have to pay the ULEZ if you bought an interim vehicle that doesn't meet the requirements of the ULEZ.
You could get a Euro6 diesel or a Euro4 petrol and would not have to pay the fee.
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/cars
From that link
Minimum emission standards
Petrol: Euro 4
Diesel: Euro 6The ULEZ is enforced based on the declared emissions of the vehicle rather than the age. However:
Petrol cars that meet the ULEZ standards are generally those first registered with the DVLA after 2005, although cars that meet the standards have been available since 2001
Diesel cars that meet the standards are generally those first registered with the DVLA after September 2015
So, certainly most petrol cars you would be looking at would meet Euro4 & you would not need to pay any ULEZ fee.
Or have I mis-understood the ULEZ?
I've just looked up our cars - my Wife's 12 plate Ibiza would have to pay the ULEZ as it's not a Euro6 diesel, but my Leon is Euro6 diesel & there is no fee to pay.
I understand that you want to switch to electric, but if you think it might be better to get an interim option until prices come down or there are more options available you have plenty of choice.
Pay Ikea to deliver, cheaper in the long run...
Change hairdresser
Get the inlaws to come to you
Or just pay it... £250 vs the depreciation / lease on a new car...?