Electric cars

[flook]

Marketing fluff in my opinion. The charging comes from a petrol engine, there is no other source of power. Yes, it is energy recovered from braking etc. but 'self-charging' implies some kind of magic pixie dust.

I'd just buy whatever Japanese petrol car takes your fancy at your budget.

Why Japanese as a matter of interest? At the moment my choice seems to be the self charging hybrid which gets me 50-60 mpg or keep my land rover, which I like, but which gets me a pretty shitty 35 ish mpg. I'm seeing little benefit in swapping for a petrol engine which returns similar

 

[SCEtoAUX]

Why Japanese as a matter of interest? At the moment my choice seems to be the self charging hybrid which gets me 50-60 mpg or keep my land rover, which I like, but which gets me a pretty shitty 35 ish mpg. I'm seeing little benefit in swapping for a petrol engine which returns similar

Japanese for legendary reliability, especially in their petrol engined vehicles. I've owned almost nothing but Toyota since I passed my test in 1980. I have never, ever had a repair bill, let alone any kind of breakdown. The only costs have been routine ones. Honda owners will tell similar tales.

I am however nothing like an expert, but if you would like expert opinions and recommendations then head over to the car buying forum on Pistonheads, and start a "What car?" thread. They don't bite, just tell them your situation, budget, requirements etc... and you'll get some very sensible replies. Two posters in particular "ZX10R NIN" and "Georgeboy12345" really know their stuff.

As a side note, 50-60 mpg should be achievable on many modern petrol cars, but if you aren't covering many miles the other costs (such as depreciation) can outweigh fuel costs. Also, the cost of a self-charging hybrid will be more in the first place.

This is a hybrid Toyota Auris:

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Eight years old, 42k miles and £12,000

This is a non-hybrid:

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Half the age, same miles, same price

Non-hybrid 2014 car:

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Same age as the first one, but lower miles and £2k cheaper

In other words, whilst saving a bit of money on fuel is a good thing, it doesn't necessarily make financial sense if you have to spend more in the first place.

Sorry for the long post, Pistonheads will sort you out though :-)

 

[flook]

Sorry for the long post, Pistonheads will sort you out though :-)

Thanks for taking the time :), I had a pistonheads account in the early days of the interweb, I suspect it no longer works.....

 

[PragueBlue]

Down Lindum Hill, up Cross O'Cliff on the way to work and the reverse on the way home.

Going down Cross O'Cliff I can get up to 42mph on a good day with a tail wind ;-)

I remember trying to cycle up there once. Only tried it the once though!!

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

I remember trying to cycle up there once. Only tried it the once though!!

Took it nice and steady this morning. Still bloody hard work though ;-)

 

[bluethrunthru]

Andrew has gone EV and gives a decent precis of what can be expected from a very modern EV - you'll note its the 3rd in a series

 

[kinkyblue]

I remember trying to cycle up there once. Only tried it the once though!!

Used to run up and down there a lot!

 

[PragueBlue]

Used to run up and down there a lot!

You're mad!! Drive or bus it!

Lived at the top of that hill for many a year. Haven't been back for a long time though.

 

[forevermancity]

Looking to buy a car in the next 6 months, after speaking to several car dealers I think it’s best to buy a petrol one last time, 2/3 years old and hopefully by the time I need to upgrade the hybrid/electric route would have ironed out their flaws. Logical thinking or am I missing something?

 

[itsnevereasy]

Looking to buy a car in the next 6 months, after speaking to several car dealers I think it’s best to buy a petrol one last time, 2/3 years old and hopefully by the time I need to upgrade the hybrid/electric route would have ironed out their flaws. Logical thinking or am I missing something?

Depends on your usage and needs really. Are you buying or leasing? Petrol prices are only going one way but as are electric prices, if you don’t have a drive and can’t charge at home then an electric car is no cheaper to “fuel” than a petrol car. Electric cars cost more up front but don’t need to be serviced as much etc. Used prices are crazy at the minute but ordering a new car can leave you waiting for over a year depending on model.

I’ve ordered our new car in March, fortunate that it’s a company car so have gone electric as it will save me approx £240 a month in tax. But estimated delivery date is November.

Current EV drivers who use public charging - check out the Bonnet charging app, decent discounts on a good range of charging networks and a fair few promo codes for free charges