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I've been musing on cars today, I currently own a Skoda Superb L&K 2.0tdi DSG estate.
When I bought it in Oct 2019, I was doing 22 miles round trip to work, plus driving for MTB for 15-30 miles pretty often, and then doing 5/6/7 trips per year away, to Scotland, lakes, peaks, Wales etc (all from Kent), so around 10-15k a year.
Currently, things have changed a bit and I've noticed the car doing an active DPF regen a hell of a lot more, probably due to me doing a lot less miles and much shorter trips. And the mpg has gone from a solid 45-50 on normal driving, to low 40's. I did under 4000 miles last year... I filled up in the middle of October and only on Friday did I hit reserve. I've been doing 2 days a week in the office for the past year, in a week that'll stop so my mileage will go down by 160 miles a month, that's 2000 a year!
So, if was looking to swap, based on my car being worth about 18k, is there a plug in petrol or diesel hybrid, or EV with:
1. All the options (my car has Android auto (non negotiable), keyless, adaptive dampers, active lane assist, adaptive cruise, all round heated seats, heated screen, 360 parking sensors, reversing camera, bi-xenon headlights with shutter things that blank out cars, canton 12 speaker system with sub, folding towbar...
(If I wanted a petrol car with only a few of the above, I'd get an older Skoda yeti or similar, and bank the rest. So this thread is for something with all the options ticked as I wouldn't like to lose many of these especially for trips to Scotland etc.) Which brings us to...
2. Good range. 3-400 minimum. I might be ok with 250 miles on a pure EV...
3. Would need to comfortably do local driving on electric if a hybrid. 5-15 miles etc.
In a perfect world, something that can carry 2 bikes inside with 2 people. If not then a factory towbar is a must. Estate preferably, I love a nice estate. Had a Legacy before the Superb.
Like I say, it's just idle musing at the moment, but I have said to myself if replace my car in 2-3 years it'd probably be for an EV. Or, I might get a van and a cheap petrol for local driving. Or, I might swap my current car for something that can do local stuff on electric but has a combustion engine for longer trips.
What ya got?! 😁
Go to auto trader.
Put in all makes and select fuel type electric/phev 20k limit+ nation wide.
See your choices and die a little inside.
Good luck.
I did the same yesterday you'll see that the options are limited.
Go to auto trader.
Put in all makes and select fuel type electric/phev 20k limit+ nation wide.
See your choices and die a little inside.
Good luck.
I did the same yesterday you’ll see that the options are limited.
1000+ cars. Ok, a quarter of those are 3 series but that's still quite a lot. Not like it the 50 cars. Or did you mean limited model choice?
PHEV/EV with all the option + good range for under £20k?
No.
No.
This is probably the case, I do think full EV's are a few years off for me.
Yeah limited model choice.
When I looked it seems to Boil down to an old low capacity i3's loads of battery lease Zoe's, a handful of battery owned Zoe's of varying specs and batteries . Significant amount of the small capacity leafs of varying specs and ages.
If you put in your range limitation..... It then curtails it back to 22 cars for me all Zoe's and leafs with one new Corsa.
Some of your current options seem as bit OTT for your new mileage, things like rear heated seats and a folding v removable towbar. Shuttery headlights, perhaps if you are doing lots of night driving but probably an acceptable compromise to lose for an ev.
I think a Hybrid is only worth considering if it's electric range is realistically going to cover your local journeys and you think you will be disciplined enough to plug in...one of those faux phevs that will do 10 miles as a tax dodge seem a bit pointless unless it gets you through a congestion zone.
Yeah limited model choice.
When I looked it seems to Boil down to an old low capacity i3’s loads of battery lease Zoe’s, a handful of battery owned Zoe’s of varying specs and batteries . Significant amount of the small capacity leafs of varying specs and ages.
If you put in your range limitation….. It then curtails it back to 22 cars for me all Zoe’s and leafs with one new Corsa.
Ok, yeah... You're not wrong. Nothing over 200 miles range EV. And hybrids you're looking at a c class that's been to the moon and back, a 3 series, outlander, or maybe a Kia. Or an i3...
Cripes. They want to get people out of petrol and diesel cars, don't they?
Some of your current options seem as bit OTT for your current mileage, things like rear need seats and a folding v removable towbar. Shuttery headlights, perhaps if you are doing lots of night driving but probably an acceptable compromise.
Was more an indication of what spec I currently have, a few I could live without for sure. But things like Android auto, adaptive cruise, etc I couldn't.
one of those faux phevs that will do 10 miles as a tax dodge seem a bit pointless
Ahh, the old tax dodge cars which have never been run on electric... Sigh...
Quickly beginning to realise there won't be much choice in this sector for a few years, unless you want to lease at 500+ quid a month.
Cripes. They want to get people out of petrol and diesel cars, don’t they?
Go to the electric car thread.....they want us all renting them.
adaptive cruise
Will you actually switch it on during the few trips you take?
Go to the electric car thread…..they want us all renting them.
Going to work really well for the carer on minimum wage who has to drive to people's houses. There is going to be a massive affordability issue when the transition to ev kicks in properly.
Prius plus or whatever ioniq is in range? Both often have lots of tech available
Going to work really well for the carer on minimum wage who has to drive to people’s houses
Oh I agree. If you like spending a large chunk of your income on a car (even not as a minimum wage employee -ita a significant jump up on current vehicle expenditure) then yeah it's for you.
For the real world it's not realistic.
I'm hoping for the Dacia spring to be availible in the UK. It meets all my needs -even looking like budgetary needs even when the various gov subsidies are removed from the euro price....
Will you actually switch it on during the few trips you take?
Maybe not, but when I do drive to Scotland, it's a flipping godsend. Sliced bread.
In fact I do often use it in 30/40mph zones on local trips too. Probably 30% of my commute to work too.
Can you hire something for the longer trips or cadge a lift with a mate?
Your budget and requirements are unrealistic. You’re hoping to trade a high spec car based on 15 year old tech for a high spec car based on 2 year old tech. I also suspect you paid £20k ish for your Skoda, so are hoping to do with 2 years of no depreciation. All used car prices have risen in the past two years, so your step up is likely to have become even larger, not smaller.
If you want a Tesla, iPace, Merc eq or similar, you will have to double your budget at least.
Think you will be lucky to find something second hand with all those options and range. My last car was a BMW 225xe which is a MPV. Nice car and bigger than it looks. Certainly better than the PHEV 3 series saloons if you need boot space and MPV practicality. There was also a phev VW Passat which may be ok. After 3 years of leasing the battery range was not as good as when new. Good luck
I paid 18.5k for the superb, but yeah it seems the tech needs a few more years before prices being attainable for normal buyers not leasing.
My first thought was Passat GTE advance. Should have all the bells and whistles you need and built on the same platform so familiar. The price is the issue. I bought my '18 GTE estate (non-advance) a year ago for £21k with 32k on the clock. Was £2-3k more than equivalent spec 2.0 tsi model. With the crazy used prices those figures will be a bit higher. I could make couple of £k on my car if I sold it now.
Skoda do the IV superb which is their take on the GTE.
The reason leasing makes sense is people look at the total cost of ownership. At only 4000 miles you're not going to save much cash on petrol by going ev, and nor will it make much difference to the environment, so there's not much point you hogging the lithium in a 200 mile range car.
If you're doing 20,000 miles per annum the 3k you save on fuel very quickly pays the depreciation difference between your current car and an id4 (or whatever).
Passat GTE although used prices are mental. Had a Golf GTE (same powertrain) and it works very well as a short range electric car, will preheat when not plugged in, and unlike some PHEVs you can use all the electric power and heat the inside without the engine starting up. Not bad economy for long trips either.
No chance for full eclectic at the money at the moment.