Performance and gadgets for £10k
Discussion
So it looks like our trusty ICE car may be approaching the end of its useful life and time to shop for a replacement. Wifey has a Leaf and an EV makes sense for me too so I’m shopping around with a budget of around 10k.
No strict requirements but would like a bit of performance, range of at least 200 miles and reliability (and that includes the software!) and some gadgets. Any recommendations? I like the M3P and LR which can be had in budget with 160k miles, but should I be looking at anything else? Mostly will be home charged but with the occasional longer trip.
No strict requirements but would like a bit of performance, range of at least 200 miles and reliability (and that includes the software!) and some gadgets. Any recommendations? I like the M3P and LR which can be had in budget with 160k miles, but should I be looking at anything else? Mostly will be home charged but with the occasional longer trip.
64kwh Leaf would be where my money would go:
https://usedcars.nissan.co.uk/en/vehicles/nissan/l...
100k fewer miles than those Teslas, E+ Tekna is decent spec as you'll know, main dealer, and whilst you wouldn't call it fast, 217bhp will shift the thing pretty well.
https://usedcars.nissan.co.uk/en/vehicles/nissan/l...
100k fewer miles than those Teslas, E+ Tekna is decent spec as you'll know, main dealer, and whilst you wouldn't call it fast, 217bhp will shift the thing pretty well.
Thanks for the suggestions. IPace horror stories scare me, although if it's got past the 100k miles mark, maybe it's a good'un! ID4 and 3008 may be a bit big and, while I like the Leaf, I think I need more performance and public charging/battery longevity is a concern ... plus my wife would always be stealing the keys to it 
I also see the MG4 is coming under 10k, although sadly not the XPower version yet.
Maybe I also need to explore what my options are putting the 10k towards a lease...
I also see the MG4 is coming under 10k, although sadly not the XPower version yet.Maybe I also need to explore what my options are putting the 10k towards a lease...
We've been cautiously impressed with our MG4. It's not exactly fast, at least not by PH standards, but 0-60 in 7ish seconds is acceptable enough if you're not expecting a rocket ship. Performance does start to tail off significantly past about 80mph, if that matters.
Two years in at the moment with no noticeable drop in range; one "breakdown" which turned out to be a flat 12v battery. Still not entirely sure why it went flat but I my best theory is that the charging cable wasn't properly inserted and it was repeatedly trying to drive the servo to lock it in place for the two days it was left like that. Obviously this is a flaw in the system, but at least an easy one to work around! The user interface isn't going to win any design awards (although it's better than the VAG one!) but it works well enough when you get used to it. Crucially for me, whilst it has no physical buttons for the HVAC, you can adjust it from the steering wheel controls; although annoyingly that doesn't extend to the heated seats/steering wheel.
Worth noting though, that our 64kWh car doesn't really meet the requirement of a range of "at least 200 miles", at least not without a degree of care. 90% of the time it would be no problem, but we've seen as low as 180 miles across two cold-starts (ie two shorter trips with enough time in between for the battery and cabin to fully cool down) in freezing weather with standing water on the roads, driving at motorway speeds. That's probably true of the other cars you're looking at all, though.
The charging curve isn't the best. It'll sustain about 120-130kW from 20% up to about 60% at which point it starts to drop off, dropping to about 60-70kW by 80%. I've never tried rapid-charging it past 80% but I suspect it would become painfully slow pretty quickly. On the plus side, unlike the Leaf, it seems to be able to do that multiple times on the same journey without any drop in speed.
Two years in at the moment with no noticeable drop in range; one "breakdown" which turned out to be a flat 12v battery. Still not entirely sure why it went flat but I my best theory is that the charging cable wasn't properly inserted and it was repeatedly trying to drive the servo to lock it in place for the two days it was left like that. Obviously this is a flaw in the system, but at least an easy one to work around! The user interface isn't going to win any design awards (although it's better than the VAG one!) but it works well enough when you get used to it. Crucially for me, whilst it has no physical buttons for the HVAC, you can adjust it from the steering wheel controls; although annoyingly that doesn't extend to the heated seats/steering wheel.
Worth noting though, that our 64kWh car doesn't really meet the requirement of a range of "at least 200 miles", at least not without a degree of care. 90% of the time it would be no problem, but we've seen as low as 180 miles across two cold-starts (ie two shorter trips with enough time in between for the battery and cabin to fully cool down) in freezing weather with standing water on the roads, driving at motorway speeds. That's probably true of the other cars you're looking at all, though.
The charging curve isn't the best. It'll sustain about 120-130kW from 20% up to about 60% at which point it starts to drop off, dropping to about 60-70kW by 80%. I've never tried rapid-charging it past 80% but I suspect it would become painfully slow pretty quickly. On the plus side, unlike the Leaf, it seems to be able to do that multiple times on the same journey without any drop in speed.
Edited by kambites on Monday 26th January 09:03
ScoobyChris said:
The ID hadn't been on my radar as the main theme of them on here seems to be glitchy software, especially the early ones. Similarly it's putting me off Polestar too (although they aren't quite in budget so a moot point!).
We've got a 2021 and the software updates seem to have ridden the car of various issues. Only had to restart the infotainment once, it's been otherwise absolutely fine. ScoobyChris said:
The ID hadn't been on my radar as the main theme of them on here seems to be glitchy software, especially the early ones. Similarly it's putting me off Polestar too (although they aren't quite in budget so a moot point!).
In my experience the ID3 isn't a good software experience, but it's a pretty good car in general.I'd take an I Pace over the ID3 any day of the week, although I wouldn't be surprised if the the ID3 is more practical.
I have a friend who runs a couple of Polestar 2's in his fleet and they haven't been faultless, but not overly problematic either. From his account, Polestar handled the repairs well enough, although he was missing the car for two weeks at one point.
Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff