Buying a used hybrid car

[crankedup5]

My daughter is talking about buying a 2015 A3 hybrid type car. She barely uses a car maybe a 1000 miles or so a year.
I have tried to put her off buying such a car as the maintenance / repair bills could be huge if something should go wrong.
I have advised her that perhaps taking out a lease plan for a new hybrid car would be a better option for her.
Am I correct or is that poor advise ?

[hxc_]

Any reason she wants a hybrid for 1000 miles a year? The cost of fuel is basically irrelevant.

I don't see how leasing a new car makes sense either.

[Sc0tchland]

a 2015 A3 Hybrid won't be great. It's a plug in hybrid if memory serves me right and you'll get maybe 20issssh miles on a full charge? Then it'll switch to the petrol engine charging the car. Average MPG's of say high 40's?

[elvismiggell]

Is she intending to still do 1,000 miles a year or would having a car allow her to do more convenient mileage?

At 1,000 a year I'd be looking at the maths of hiring cars as and when I need them to prove to myself that it's more cost effective.


As an aside, I ran an A3 e-tron for a little while. Actually really enjoyed it!

[Welshbeef]

hxc_ said:

Any reason she wants a hybrid for 1000 miles a year? The cost of fuel is basically irrelevant.

I don't see how leasing a new car makes sense either.

Any reason she wants a car for 1,000 miles a year.

Taxi - executive taxi where ever you want to go vastly cheaper.

[ZX10R NIN]

For 1000 miles a year she needs something with at least 5.0

On a more serious note for 1000 hell for even 5k a year she'll be better off with a petrol.

[Mark83]

1000 miles a year?

What's the cost per mile after buying/leasing/depreciation, insurance, servicing, MOT, etc.?! I think as mentioned above, unless that 1000 miles is one really long journey, taxis would be cheaper.

Or did you miss a zero off the annual mileage?

[johnjamesjack]

I actually have a 2017 version of this car! I bought it in 2020 and absolutely love it.
The thing I think your daughter might like is that it can do 30 miles if you’re careful in electric mode. I do about 15,000 miles every year - about 70% of those have been in pure electric mode, which costs about 3.7p per mile versus 11p for petrol! There’s also no road tax and currently no congestion charge (although that’s changing in November unfortunately). If you’ve got any other questions about the A3 e-tron let me know or have a look on Facebook, the A3 e-tron owners forum has been really good

[crankedup5]

Daughter wants the convenience of the car being available, runs her 8 year old around to various activity clubs, intends to drive into work once or maybe twice week (city worker). Usual shopping, family days and visiting pals & family. It may be 2000 miles year, but very low miles. Lives in outer London so is being hit with LEZ.
As a pure convenience she is prepared to pay a premium but not get mugged off with the excessive maintenance risk, hence my recommendation to lease a car.
Thanks for inputs from all posters.

[crankedup5]

elvismiggell said:

Is she intending to still do 1,000 miles a year or would having a car allow her to do more convenient mileage?

At 1,000 a year I'd be looking at the maths of hiring cars as and when I need them to prove to myself that it's more cost effective.


As an aside, I ran an A3 e-tron for a little while. Actually really enjoyed it!

Makes economic sense almost certainly but it’s a bit of a hassle and not much of convenience.

[crankedup5]

johnjamesjack said:

I actually have a 2017 version of this car! I bought it in 2020 and absolutely love it.
The thing I think your daughter might like is that it can do 30 miles if you’re careful in electric mode. I do about 15,000 miles every year - about 70% of those have been in pure electric mode, which costs about 3.7p per mile versus 11p for petrol! There’s also no road tax and currently no congestion charge (although that’s changing in November unfortunately). If you’ve got any other questions about the A3 e-tron let me know or have a look on Facebook, the A3 e-tron owners forum has been really good

Daughter tells me that her employer will install a recharge point at her place of work as one of her ‘benefits’. Guess that the one or two days working in office each week makes it viable from that perspective. I will advise her of the A3 e-tron owners forum. Cheers.

[pitchfork]

Second-hand Leaf with a leased battery?

[elvismiggell]

crankedup5 said:

Daughter wants the convenience of the car being available, runs her 8 year old around to various activity clubs, intends to drive into work once or maybe twice week (city worker). Usual shopping, family days and visiting pals & family. It may be 2000 miles year, but very low miles. Lives in outer London so is being hit with LEZ.
As a pure convenience she is prepared to pay a premium but not get mugged off with the excessive maintenance risk, hence my recommendation to lease a car.
Thanks for inputs from all posters.

Yeah based on this it wouldn't surprise me if she's going to end up towards more like 5,000 a year - once it's there, it'll be used.

I don't tend to lease myself, I prefer to own outright but I've seen there are some very cheap deals around for city arounds.

I probably wouldn't bother with a hybrid yet, just a cheap old Fiesta or Mazda2 etc until she knows how much mileage she's likely to do.

Of course, if she can afford it and wants it then why the heck not get the A3. I enjoyed mine and you only live once!

[Jasandjules]

Surely just a VW Up or something like a city car to run about in for 1k miles per year?